The Veritas Forum

There’s a sort of spark to life — moments that stir up something inside of us that we can’t explain. Maybe you've experienced this while playing with your dog, or singing along at a concert, or seeing the Northern Lights. Perhaps these sparks are simply neurons firing, chemicals releasing, and muscles contracting. Or perhaps these sparks point to something like a soul, something transcendent. How do we know which it is? And what do we do when our evidence remains elusive? This episode is an excerpt from a Veritas Forum at MIT in 2016. You’ll hear from biologist Dr. Ken Miller (Brown University), and philosopher Dr. Alex Byrne (MIT), as they discuss the human soul, evidence, and what gods we do — or don’t — believe in. This vibrant conversation is moderated by Dr. Ian Hutchinson, a nuclear physicist at MIT. Watch the full Forum event here. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

If new and improved A.I. tools can write your next essay, create Picasso-style art, or produce a believable deep-fake, it’s fair to ask: Are we manufacturing human brains? In this episode, we dive into the complexity of the human brain — and what this means for morality, meaning, and purpose. You’ll hear from Dr. Rosalind Picard (MIT Media Lab) and Dr. Shahram Khoshbin (Harvard Medical School). This excerpt is from a Forum event at Harvard Medical School in 2016, and is moderated by Dr. Patrick Smith, a principal faculty member for the Initiative on Health, Religion, and Spirituality at Harvard Medical School. Watch the full Forum event here. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

A.I. is no longer the stuff of science fiction. From Siri and Alexa to Chat GPT, our world is now inundated with artificial intelligence. One senses that it’s time to think more deeply about A.I. — its implications and its assumptions. In this episode, you'll hear an excerpt from a Forum event at Iowa State University from March 2023. Josh Swamidass (WashU), a medical doctor and computer scientist, discusses the role of artificial intelligence today with Clark Wolf (Iowa State), a bioethicist and philosopher. Their conversation is moderatored by Alex Tuckness (Iowa State), a political science professor. Watch the full Forum event here. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives

Do the stories we tell about ourselves have the power to change us? Our guest today says they can. To wrap up our season on meaning and purpose, we talk with author Daniel Nayeri. In his award-winning young adult novel, Everything Sad is Untrue, Daniel writes from the perspective of his twelve-year-old self, sharing the story of how he, his sister, and his mother immigrated from Iran to Edmond, Oklahoma, after his mother’s conversion from Islam to Christianity. Although this immigration kept his family out of prison (or worse), life in the U.S. came at a cost, too. Through his storytelling, Daniel also processes what he left behind: his beloved stuffed animal ("Mr. Sheep Sheep"), a life of comfort in Iran, and his larger-than-life father. In this episode, we explore finding meaning through storytelling, the impact of an active imagination, and how the sustaining hope of the Christian story makes even a refugee camp in the Italian countryside a place of opportunity and joy. Order Everything Sad Is Untrue here Order Daniel's newest book, The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams, here Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

For the religious believer and the atheist alike, the problem of evil and suffering is troubling. If there is a God, why does he allow so much evil? And if there isn’t a God, how can we say that anything is evil? In this Forum event from 2014 at Harvard Medical School, Oxford mathematician John Lennox addresses one of the most challenging human questions: where is God in suffering? Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives

What matters isn't how much faith you have, but what you're putting your faith in. In this forum episode, University of San Diego mathematics professor, Satyan Devadoss, talks about how he trusts in Christianity for the same reasons that he trusts in quantum mechanics — not because he is has zero doubt about their veracity, but because he has faith that they are the best explanations for what he sees in the world. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives

Scholars, journalists, practitioners, and other thought leaders all agree — we’re facing a loneliness epidemic that’s as grave a threat to public health as obesity or substance abuse. Where do we go from here? In this Forum from 2019 at the University of Minnesota, psychiatrist Curt Thompson discusses human flourishing and community. When it comes to mental health, he says, don’t go it alone. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

At every age, we ask questions of identity, community, and meaning — Who am I? Where do I belong? What is my purpose? But college students today are asking them with unique urgency and anxiety. In today's episode, we interview Kara Powell, a researcher at Fuller Youth Institute and co-author of 3 Big Questions that Change Every Teenager. We discuss how young people can better determine their purpose in life, how they can prepare for that purpose to change, and what the Christian tradition might have to offer. Order Kara's book, 3 Big Questions That Change Every Teenager, here. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

Want to be successful? You might need to get better at failing. In this episode, Charles Lee (Stanford) and Andy Van Schaack (Vanderbilt) explore what it takes to be failure-resilient. In this Forum from October 2022 at Vanderbilt, they discuss success, failure, and how we might find a resilient self-worth. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.

With the average college student graduating with about $40,000 of student debt, you may be asking: Is college worth it? To answer that question, though, you have to ask another question first: What’s college for? In this Forum from April 2022, you’ll hear two Harvard professors — Nancy Hill and Rakesh Khurana — discuss the purpose of college, and whether or not the classroom is the only place where we learn. Sign up for our newsletter here. Visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and find more resources to explore the ideas that shape our lives.