May 12, 2018 · ▶ Video
The Completeness of Physics
The roundtable explores whether science's empirical success implies universal applicability. Key questions include: Does reality permit reductionist unification through physics,...
Joseph Kohn, Jonathan Kramnick, Tim Maudlin, Priyamvada Natarajan, Carol Rovane
April 21, 2018 · ▶ Video
Boredom
The roundtable explored philosophical and scientific perspectives on boredom, referencing classical definitions: Schopenhauer's characterization as "a tame longing without any...
John Eastwood, Jacqueline Gottlieb, Gerald Hurowitz, Mark Polizzotti, Josefa Ros Velasco
March 10, 2018 · ▶ Video
Transhumanist Predictions and the Human Predicament
The rapid development of technology in the modern era has inspired a movement known as transhumanism. Envisioned is a near future in which human bodies and minds will be...
William Grassie, Stephen Post, Ph.D., Francesca Rossi, Lee Silver, Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Ph.D.
February 10, 2018 · ▶ Video
Mind Matters: Past, Present, and Future
The roundtable traces humanity's evolving understanding of mind from ancient philosophy through contemporary science. Beginning with "Xenophanes' 6th c. BCE theory of divine...
John Krakauer, Jonathan Kramnick, George Makari, Kenneth Miller, Barbara Montero
November 18, 2017 · ▶ Video
American Poetry Today
The roundtable explores contemporary poetry through multiple perspectives. Opening with quotes from modernist poets Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams about poetry's...
Patricia Carlin, Amy Holman, Paolo Javier, Stephen Massimilla
October 14, 2017 · ▶ Video
"Fake" Knowledge: Knowing and the Illusion of Knowing
The event explores how humans have always relied on distributed knowledge through social contracts. It examines mass delusions and our collective intuition, questioning what we...
Paul Boghossian, Daniel Kahneman, Eric Kandel, Mark Mitton, Daphna Shohamy, Steven Sloman
May 20, 2017 · ▶ Video
Complexity and Emergence II: Visions of Cosmic Order, from Particles to People
The roundtable explores "what principles of order underlie the ascent of complexity, from the simplest particles of physics heralding the birth of the universe, through biological...
William Grassie, David Grinspoon, Tim Maudlin, Ilya Temkin, Tyler Volk
April 22, 2017 · ▶ Video
Design in Nature
Proof, in the form of step by step deduction, following the rules of logical reasoning, is the ultimate test of validity in mathematics. Some proofs, however, are so long or...
Elizabeth Alter, Adrian Bejan, Robin Collins, Mark A. Norell, Caleb Scharf
March 11, 2017 · ▶ Video
Music to Whose Ears III: Music and Healing
The roundtable explored therapeutic applications of melody and rhythm for cognitive and motor conditions including non-fluent aphasia, autism, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's...
Evelina Fedorenko, Marina Korsakova-Kreyn, Andrea Norton, Andrew Rossetti, John Schaefer, Concetta Tomaino
February 25, 2017 · ▶ Video
The Displaced and The Other
The roundtable explores human migration across generations and borders. As noted, "with more than 65 million refugees and displaced persons around the globe," the discussion...
Lisa DeBenedittis, Simon Deng, Uri Hasson, Athena Viscusi, Morris Vogel
February 11, 2017 · ▶ Video
Pain
The roundtable explores pain as both a biological and subjective phenomenon. Opening with an Aeschylus quote about suffering and wisdom, it examines pain's role in homeostasis,...
Apkar Apkarian, Inna Belfer, Anis Dizdarevic, Allen Fein, Rebecca Seal
January 28, 2017 · ▶ Video
The Library as Reality and Metaphor
The event explored libraries across multiple dimensions -- physical, digital, representational -- and their epistemic, organizational, and memory functions. The roundtable opened...
Daniel Goroff, Anthony Grafton, Carol Mandel, Alberto Manguel, Ken Soehner