General Events

Join us for a lecture in the Illinois Forum on Human Flourishing in a Digital Age Speaker Series with Ross Douthat. 

"How to Survive the 21st Century: A Guide for Human Beings"

Under the influence of digital technologies and in the shadow of artificial intelligence, human civilization is entering into an evolutionary bottleneck, a period of sustained pressure that threatens existing cultures, communities, and individuals with obsolescence and extinction.

Nothing human can be taken for granted, and survival will increasingly depend on intentionality and intensity.

Languages may disappear, art forms will vanish, religions and political worldviews and entire nations may fail, the reproduction of the species may be at risk—except among people who are somewhat fanatical in their belief in the value of the human person, and very deliberate and self-conscious about making sure that human things survive the cull.

About the Illinois Forum on Human Flourishing in a Digital Age

Housed in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Illinois, the Illinois Forum on Human Flourishing in a Digital Age supports study and research into the possibilities for human flourishing in contemporary society.

The activities of the Forum combine philosophical reflection on human nature and the human good with practical reflection on the possibilities for living well, and for designing tools that contribute to human flourishing, in a world shaped by digital technology. Learn more: https://fhf.philosophy.illinois.edu/