The Veritas Forum

You — like most of us — are likely fed up with social media. The apps that promised us more social connection and genuine communication instead gave us doom-scrolling, photoshopped vacation photos, and hordes of influencers. But in our quest for authentic community, have we looked in the wrong places? Can we express our true selves on social media platforms like BeReal or Instagram? And is *real* authenticity — whether online or in person — even possible? We explore these questions through a Forum from April 2022 at the University of Chicago. In it, a fashion designer and philosopher contemplate selfhood. What does it mean to “be ourselves”? The first speaker is Dr. Fiona Dieffenbacher, an Associate Professor of Fashion at Parsons School of Design. The second speaker is Dr. Benjamin Callard, a philosopher professor at the University of Chicago. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on our Youtube. 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.

We live in a culture saturated with technology. From a helpful autocorrected text to a friend to the suspiciously targeted ads in your Instagram feed to the deepfakes that can create your likeness without your consent. Given technology's prevalence today, how should we think about our relationship with it? What does this relationship mean for what it means to be human? And is it possible for our tech to become *more* human than we are? Our conversation today centers around these questions. In this Forum event from April 2022, you’ll hear first from Dr. John Lennox, emeritus professor of mathematics at Oxford. He’s the author of 2084: ​​Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity, and he discusses topics from this book with Dr. Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist at Arizona State University. Dr. Lennox and Dr. Davies explore the ever-expanding impact of artificial intelligence on our lives, the plausibility of creating human-like technologies, and the importance of ethical guidelines and agreements in these morally fraught developments. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on Youtube. 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.

Last week, you heard from Dr. Jennifer Frey about how you need other people to know who you are. That sounds great when these "other people" are kind, generous in dialogue, and want the best for you. But in our quest to discover what it means to be human, we will encounter other people whose ideas challenge us, expose us to new viewpoints, and uncover significant areas of disagreement. So what do we do? How can we engage with others across ideological divides? What would it look like to bring our unique insights to conversations — and see others’ contributions as meaningful, too? Today’s Forum is entitled “How to Disagree” — and it dives into the limits and virtues of intellectual charity. This conversation was hosted by the Veritas Forum at Harvard Law School in April 2022. The first speaker is Diana Hess, the Dean of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The second speaker is Randall Kennedy, a professor at Harvard Law School. And the third speaker is Steven Harris, the Senior Director of Academic Programs at the Center on Faith and Justice for Georgetown University. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on Youtube. 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.

We're going *beyond the forum* with Dr. Jennifer Frey, our guest from last week. Dr. Frey is a philosopher at the University of South Carolina, and she teaches the philosophy of Aristotle, Plato, and other perennial philosophers. We look at happiness in our relationships with others and how friendship plays a role in what it means to be human. In our discussion, we explore Aristotle’s three types of friends, how friendship and justice relate, and what it means to be a good friend. Check out Jennifer Frey's podcast, "Sacred & Profane Love," 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 you're wondering if you'll get the "happily ever after" promised by fairy tales, you're not alone. For the past three decades, the General Social Survey has tracked a slow decline in happiness in the United States. Responses in 2021 suggest the lowest percentage of "Very Happy" Americans (19%) since 1988. But, what exactly *is* happiness — or its lack thereof? Is it something that we can measure in a survey or promise at bed time? And, how does it contribute to what it means to be human? In today’s episode we dive into happiness — what it is, how we get it, and its purpose for us today — in a Forum entitled, "What Good Is Happiness?” This Forum event was hosted at the University of Chicago in February 2020. The first speaker is Jennifer Frey, professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Frey is in dialogue with Jonathan Masur, an economist at the University of Chicago. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on Youtube. 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.

How would you answer the question, "How much are you worth?"? Based on your body's iron, magnesium, oxygen, etc., you could sell your body for around $18. Or you could check your transcript and report your 4.0 GPA. Or with the help of social media, you could tally up your followers on Instagram and Twitter. But $18, a 4.0, and 3,000 followers are poor approximations for you and the worth of your life. How, instead, should we approach this question? Today, we’re exploring what it means to be human — holistically. How can we approach our humanness with an understanding of our bodies, minds, and souls? By the end of this episode, you’ll gain a better understanding of how you are worth more than the sum of your parts. This Forum event was hosted at Dartmouth in 2022. The first speaker is Praveen Sethupathy, the director for the Center for Vertebrate Genetics at Cornell University. The second speaker is Lori Alvord. She’s a General Surgeon at Astria Health. The conversation is moderated by Ross Douthat, opinion columnist at the New York Times. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on Youtube. 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 you find yourself frustrated by life's inefficiencies? Wouldn't it be better if we could live entirely productive, completely predictable lives? Surprisingly, minor inconveniences can be more beneficial to you than you might think. Perhaps they can even bring meaning to your life and remind you of your ultimate lack of control. In this episode, we’ll investigate how time impacts what it means to be human. Can we find meaning and purpose in our short lives? And how can we begin to see time — however much of it we get — as a gift? This Forum event was held in 2019 at MIT and features Dr. Alan Lightman, professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT, and Dr. Meghan Sullivan, professor of philosophy at Notre Dame. Sign up for our newsletter here. Check out this Forum event on Youtube. 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 only you had 15 more minutes, or were 5 years younger, or a year into the future — then, things would be better. Maybe even *you* would be better. But maybe time is more than a sparring partner. More than something you curse or see as a thief. It might just be an integral part of what it means to be human. In today's episode, we discuss with Dr. James K. A. Smith what it might look like to *partner* with time. We talk about Jamie's new book, How to Inhabit Time, and how we can learn to appreciate the fleeting, ephemeral moments of this life. Sign up for our newsletter here. Order Jamie's new book, How to Inhabit Time, 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.

Unveil the depths of desire and habits shaping our identity, ponder on choosing what to worship for true fulfillment, explore the quest for ultimate satisfaction beyond material possessions, and learn about intentional re-habituation to break negative patterns and foster change.

There's a lot that humans can do that other animals can't — we can make beautiful works of art and develop life-saving medicines. But, there's a lot we share in common. For example, we share 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees. You may wonder, then, where does our *humanness* lie? What makes humans unique? This program was recorded at a Veritas Forum event at Emory University in 2018. The original title was, "What Does it Mean to Be Human?" and featured Dr. Joshua Swamidass, professor of biomedicine at the University of Washington at St. Louis and Dr. Scott Lilienfeld, a professor of psychology at Emory. If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe! Sign up for our newsletter here Check out this Forum event on Youtube. 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.