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FUNDRAISING ANNOUNCEMENT

SDIS lecture fundraiser audience and speaker

Keep SDIS Thriving: Help Us Reach Our Goal

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$10,000

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Older adults learning together in a library

San Diego Independent Scholars

San Diego Independent Scholars brings adults together to learn, connect, and keep growing. Through welcoming lectures, study groups, and shared conversation, we make lifelong learning accessible, meaningful, and community-centered.

Monthly Lecture

Free Public Event

Saturday, Nov 28, 2026

1:30 to 3:00 p.m.

Held at: North University Community Library

8820 Judicial Drive, San Diego, CA 92122

Sounding Out Meaning: Improving AI’s Ear for Language

Molly Johnson previews her talk: “I discuss how language units such as phonemes, phoneme classes, and morphemes contribute to the unique meaning of each word, and how quantifying these units for machines can help us harness AI and enable semantic exploration.”

About Molly Johnson

Molly Johnson is an independent researcher. She has a patent pending for inventions in semantic language processing. Mrs. Johnson has studied ancient languages, the history of writing, literature, and philosophy, and has taught language arts and history to K-12 students. She currently publishes on Substack at Sounding Out Meaning.

In a prior career Mrs. Johnson was a software information architect and content producer for Warner and The Walt Disney Company. She has a degree in music from UCLA and enjoys playing a variety of instruments. She and her husband live in Washington state on Orcas Island, where they homeschooled twin daughters now in college.

Sponsored by the San Diego Independent Scholars (sdscholars.org). Attendance is free to the public.

Programs for Curious Minds

Science

Nov 6

Bioscience

1:00 p.m. · Dorothy Parker

Social

Nov 7

Faye’s Saturday Show

11:30 a.m. · Faye Girsh

Arts

Nov 11

Works in Progress

12:00 p.m. · Robert Glick

Lecture

Nov 28

Monthly Lecture

1:30 p.m. · Tom Pham

Activity Calendar

Study Groups

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Scholars Notebook

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Lectures

Watch talks from local speakers on our YouTube channel

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