On September 7, Phi Beta Kappa Secretary John Churchill participated in a forum on the humanities at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The central question addressed by the forum, “Are we losing our humanity?” The event was organized by Arizona State University as part of its Challenges Before Us series.
In a world of proliferating technology, intensifying competition for resources, and rising nation-states how will we be able to humanize the increasingly complex choices we must make as a society? As our interactions are progressively mediated through electronics, how will we educate for humanistic interchange? Can a re-infusion of humanist values and perspectives in the way we train our scientists, businesspeople, doctors, and engineers help them develop more efficient systems and have greater impact, while increasing the bottom line?
We invite our members to watch the forum and share their thoughts with us.
About the Event
The pressure of explosive population growth will increasingly require us to empathize, collaborate, and negotiate within our own small communities and as nations. Yet, vitriolic political rhetoric, more time spent with technology and entertainment, and evidence of religious and cultural intolerance despite a spike in diversity within nations may all be indicative of a decrease in a globally shared sense of humanity.
As a technological, economic, and political leader of incredible social diversity, the United States serves as a bellwether for world’s ability to “all get along.” What are the implications of diminished humanist values in an era when American business, political, scientific, and policy decisions have inevitable and repercussive global ramifications?
OPENING REMARKS BY:
Neal Lester
Associate Vice President, Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development
MODERATOR:
Rosemary Feal
Executive Director, Modern Language Association
PANELISTS:
John Churchill
Secretary, The Phi Beta Kappa Society
E. Wayne Holden
President and CEO, RTI International
Sally Kitch
Director, Institute for Humanities Research; Regents’ Professor, Women and Gender Studies, Arizona State University
Nick Lambesis
Chairman and Founder, The Lambesis Agency
Esther Mackintosh
President, Federation of State Humanities Councils
Cora Marrett
Deputy Director, National Science Foundation
Christine Rosen
Bernard L. Schwartz Fellow, New America Foundation and Senior Editor, The New Atlantis
Gene Schwam
Hanson & Schwam Public Relations
Rafael Rangel Sostmann
President, Tecnológico de Monterrey Foundation; Presidential Professor of Practice for Education Innovation and Special Advisor to the President, Arizona State University
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