Past Events

Recent concerns about the long-term implications of artificial intelligence apps like Chat GPT have prompted journalists, academics and entrepreneurs to seek a temporary halt to the training of AIs saying "AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity." In this Forum, we consider the direct and also unseen impacts of utilizing a tool that has yet to be regulated or even fully understood. **Gary Marcus**, scientist, entrepreneur, and author of "Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence we can trust" is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neural Science at NYU and host of the podcast Humans versus Machines. **Jane Rosenzweig** is Director of the Harvard Writing Center, freelance writer and author of Writing Hacks newsletter. **Wesley Wildman** is a Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics + Computing & Data Sciences at Boston University.. **Andrew Kimble**, Director of Online Lifelong Learning at BU School of Theology, will act as moderator. ### Resources [The moratorim explained - Thehindu.com](https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/explained-the-moratorium-call-on-chatgpts-successor/article66689078.ece) [Guy Marcus' podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humans-vs-machines-with-gary-marcus/id1532110146) [Jane Rosenzweig's article in the boston Globe about what we lose when machines do the writing (published before ChatGPT was released)](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/what-we-lose-when-machines-do-the-writing/ar-AA13WJdW) [Jane Rosenzweig's newsletter](https://writinghacks.substack.com/) [Would AI replace jobs? From the BBC](https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230418-ai-anxiety-artificial-intelligence-replace-jobs) [Article on CDS Policy on Generative AI Assistance (GAIA) in courses](https://www.bu.edu/cds-faculty/2023/03/24/cds-adopts-generative-ai-chatgpt-policy/) [BU GAIA Policy](https://www.bu.edu/cds-faculty/culture-community/conduct/gaia-policy/) [Wesley's research center: The center for Mind and Culture](https://mindandculture.org/) [ChatGPT and large language model bias (cbsnews)](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chatgpt-large-language-model-bias-60-minutes-2023-03-05/)

Dipesh Chakrabarty holds a BSc degree from Presidency College, University of Calcutta, a postgraduate Diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and a PhD in History from the Australian National University. He is the Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in History, South Asian Languages and Civilizations. He is the Faculty Director of the University of Chicago Center in Delhi, a faculty fellow of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory, an associate of the Department of English, and by courtesy, a faculty member in the Law School. His publications include several monographs and many articles including Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference (Princeton, 2000; 2008); The Climate of History in a Planetary Age (Chicago, 2021); and One Planet, Many Worlds (Brandeis, forthcoming 2023). He is a founding member of the editorial collective of Subaltern Studies, a consulting editor of Critical Inquiry, a founding editor of Postcolonial Studies and has served on the editorial boards of the American Historical Review and Public Culture. He was one of the founding editors of the series South Asia Across the Disciplines. He served on the Board of Experts for non-Western art for the Humboldt Forum in Berlin and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board to the Center for Global Cooperation Research (Bonn and Essen) for a few years from 2012. He is also an Associate in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology, Sydney, 2018-2022. Chakrabarty is the recipient of the 2014 Toynbee Foundation Prize for his contributions to global history and of the 2019 Tagore Memorial Prize awarded by the Government of West Bengal for his book The Crises of Civilization. He was awarded the degree of DLitt (Honoris Causa) by the University of London (conferred at Goldsmiths) in 2010 and an honorary doctorate by the University of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2011. He was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta (conferred on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Institute in 2011). He was elected an honorary fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2006 and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.   Co-sponsored by The Park Street Corporation Speaker Series.

What is the role of the cartoonist in the today’s convoluted world? Is it poking fun at the powerful, parodying the absurdities of life or according to cartoonist Rob Rogers, acting as “a troublemaker”. He should know for when Rogers depicted Donald Trump too angrily, he was fired from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. So, stakes run high for picking up the artistic pen. But while Rogers poked fun at Trump, Scott Adams embraced Trump’s world view. Adams, whose “Dilbert” cartoon strip catapulted him to fame, recently courted controversy by describing Black people as a “hate group.” Consequently, more than 300 publications announced they would no longer be running Dilbert. Critics say his politics crept into his art when he introduced a token Black character to represent his negative views on racial diversity, albeit with greater subtlety. Is there still a role for Adams in the world of cartooning and are there any topics that are off-limits? Do cultural norms and political climates affect what is acceptable to ridicule? **Phillip Martin,** senior investigative reporter for GBH News will act as guest moderator for this timely discussion which features three prominent cartoonists. **Barbara Brandon-Croft**, the first black female syndicated cartoonist in America and author of a new book, “Where I’m Coming From: Selected Strips 1991-2005” says she drew cartoons because her voice needed to be heard. Brandon-Croft is joined by **“Kal” Kallaugher**, the international award-winning cartoonist for The Economist magazine, whose career spans 45 years, two continents and 10,000 cartoons. **Dan Wasserman**, from The Boston Globe will complete the trio. Wasserman began cartooning for The Globe in 1985 and drew for the editorial page for 35 years; his work has been syndicated internationally since 1980. In 1984, Wasserman was a finalist for the H L Mencken Human Rights Award for cartooning.

As climate change accelerates and drought and rising sea levels become more common, millions of people in affected regions must uproot themselves and seek safety elsewhere. Who are these affected individuals, and how might the United States aid them, and be affected by the migration? Join us for a timely discussion of this topic with Dr. Karen Jacobsen, Henry J. Leir Professor in Global Migration at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. The program will feature expert remarks from Dr. Jacobsen, live audience Q&A, and time for networking and discussion with other globally-oriented participants. This program is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.

Join us for this celebration of two new books on education, poetry, and black life. In a public discussion centering their two newest books, School Clothes and Spoken Word, Dr. Jarvis Givens and Dr. Joshua Bennett explore a theme that structures not only these two works of nonfiction, but their careers as writers and educators to this point: the long-standing bond between black study and the pursuit of human freedom. This conversation will be moderated by Christian Walkes, Director of Education and Interpretation, Museum of African American History. This is a hybrid event. There is no registration requirement for virtual attendance. The link for virtual attendance can be found at maah.org/events (coming soon!). ABOUT SCHOOL CLOTHES A chorus of Black student voices that renders a new story of US education—one where racial barriers and violence are confronted by freedom dreaming and resistance Black students were forced to live and learn on the Black side of the color line for centuries, through the time of slavery, Emancipation, and the Jim Crow era. And for just as long—even through to today—Black students have been seen as a problem and a seemingly troubled population in America’s public imagination. Through over one hundred firsthand accounts from the 19th and 20th centuries, Professor Jarvis Givens offers a powerful counter-narrative in School Clothes to challenge such dated and prejudiced storylines. He details the educational lives of writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Ralph Ellison; political leaders like Mary McLeod Bethune, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis; and Black students whose names are largely unknown but who left their marks nonetheless. Givens blends this multitude of individual voices into a single narrative, a collective memoir, to reveal a through line shared across time and circumstance: a story of African American youth learning to battle the violent condemnation of Black life and imposed miseducation meant to quell their resistance. School Clothes elevates a legacy in which Black students are more than the sum of their suffering. By peeling back the layers of history, Givens unveils in high relief a distinct student body: Black learners shaped not only by their shared vulnerability but also their triumphs, fortitude, and collective strivings. ABOUT SPOKEN WORD A fascinating history of the art form that has transformed the cultural landscape, by one of its influential practitioners, an award-winning poet, professor, and slam champion In 2009, when he was twenty years old, Joshua Bennett was invited to perform a spoken word poem for Barack and Michelle Obama, at the same White House “Poetry Jam” where Lin-Manuel Miranda declaimed the opening bars of a work-in-progress that would soon revolutionize American theater. That meeting is but one among many in the trajectory of Bennett’s young life, as he rode the cresting wave of spoken word through the 2010s. In this book, he goes back to its roots, considering the Black Arts movement and the prominence of poetry and song in Black education; the origins of the famed Nuyorican Poets Cafe in the Lower East Side living room of the visionary Miguel Algarín, who hosted verse gatherings with legendary figures like Ntozake Shange and Miguel Piñero; the rapid growth of the “slam” format that was pioneered at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago; the perfect storm of spoken word’s rise during the explosion of social media; and Bennett’s own journey alongside his older sister, whose work to promote the form helped shape spaces online and elsewhere dedicated to literature and the pursuit of human freedom. Book sales will be offered in-person at the Museum of African American History. This program is presented in partnership with the Museum of African American History, The Teachers’ Lounge, the Black Student Union at HGSE, and the GBH Forum Network.

Ocean conservationist and environmental advocate Alexandra Cousteau converses with Boston Public Library President David Leonard as part of our 2023 Lowell Lecture Series You are Here: Climate Change and What’s Next. Alexandra Cousteau builds upon the more than 60 years of global name recognition to engage people who expect to hear credible environmental information from the third generation of this pioneering family of explorers. Born into the family business, Alexandra joined her parents in Easter Island on her first expedition at just four months old. By the age of three, she had toured Africa, exploring Egypt, Tunisia, Uganda, and Kenya in the arms of her father. While many of those memories are now out of reach, the experience of those expeditions with her father’s crew has shaped her sense of purpose, her connection to the ocean, and her love of adventure. She could swim before she could walk and was one of the few who learned to dive with SCUBA from Captain Cousteau himself at the tender age of seven. Her childhood friends were the sea creatures that inhabit the rocky shorelines of the south of France. The ocean has been her guide ever since.​

With a total population of just over 6 million, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania nevertheless hold a key position on the border of Russia and the frontline of NATO and the EU. Challenges include not only potential expansion of conventional war beyond Ukraine, but also threats to shipping, commerce, cyber, and governance of states including significant Russian-speaking populations. At the same time, neighbors Finland and Sweden may join their strengths (and additional security needs) with NATO in the not-distant future. One year into the third massive conflict in Europe in just over a century, how do the Baltic states, and one of their main defense partners, the U.S., view the overall security of this vital region? Join us for WorldBoston’s annual State of the State Department special event, an opportunity to consider the U.S. State Department and American diplomacy within the context of U.S. national interests. This year’s program focuses on “The State of the State Department & Baltic Security.” For this discussion, WorldBoston hosts the ambassadors of the three Baltic states: Audra Plepytė, Ambassador of Lithuania to the United States and Mexico; Kristjan Prikk, Ambassador of Estonia to the United States; and Māris Selga, Ambassador of Latvia to the United States. The Ambassadors are joined in conversation by Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Harvard University JFK Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs and former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs.

Steve Hawley, author of "Cracked: The Future of Dams in a Hot, Chaotic World," will explore the ramifications of the extraordinary dam building boom of the last century that culminated in 800,000 dams worldwide today.

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the international bestselling Mars trilogy, and more recently New York 2140, Aurora, Shaman, Green Earth, and 2312, which was a New York Times bestseller nominated for all seven of the major science fiction awards—a first for any book. He was sent to the Antarctic by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers’ Program in 1995 and returned in their Antarctic media program in 2016. In 2008 he was named a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine, and he works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, and UC San Diego’s Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination. His work has been translated into 25 languages, and won a dozen awards in five countries, including the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy awards. In 2016 he was given the Heinlein Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction, and asteroid 72432 was named “Kimrobinson.” In 2017, he was given the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society. A prolific writer and speaker, his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Nature, and Wired, among many others, and he has lectured at more than one hundred institutions over the last 25 years. His novel, The Ministry for the Future, was selected as one of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2020. His most recent book, The High Sierra: A Love Story (May 2022) is a non-fiction exploration of Robinson’s years spent hiking and camping in the Sierra Nevada mountains, one of the most compelling places on Earth. Cosponsored by the Boston College Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies Program, the Lynch School's Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics, and English Department ### Resources [INTERVIEW - The New York Times: Ezra Klein Interviews Kim Stanley Robinson (transcript and podcast) ](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-kim-stanley-robinson.html) [REVIEW: The Guardian: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson review – how to solve the climate crisis ](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/20/the-ministry-for-the-future-by-kim-stanley-robinson-review-how-to-solve-the-climate-crisis) [OP ED/ PUBLIC WRITTING: Bostonia: Kim Stanley Robinson on the Importance of Imagination ](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/kim-stanley-robinson-the-importance-of-imagination/) [EXCERPT : EW: Sustainability is possible in this excerpt from climate change novel The Ministry for the Future]( https://ew.com/books/the-ministry-for-the-future-chapter-excerpt/)

Join for a presentation and a discussion with acclaimed Palestinian author and screenwriter, Sayed Kashua.

Prominent Palestinian author, screenwriter, and newspaper columnist, Sayed Kashua, once ‘The other” in his homeland of Israel now finds himself “the other”in his new home in the Midwest. Through humor and satire, Kashua shares the challenges and struggles of living in a foreign land and the difficulties of writing about home from a distance.