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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Cambridge Forum

Let Cambridge Forum change your mind....

Cambridge Forum hosts free, public discussions that inform and engage, so that people can better explore the varied issues and ideas that shape our changing world. CF broadcasts its live events via podcasts, weekly NPR shows and online presentations via GBH Forum Network on YouTube.

http://www.cambridgeforum.org

  • Rwanda today ranks highest in the world in terms of women parliamentarians (64 percent); almost half the judges and president’s cabinet are female. In a merely two-decade span, Rwanda has forged progressive health, education, gender equity, and environmental policies along an extraordinary path that can serve as a model for the rest of the world. Longtime advocate for gender parity Swanee Hunt will speak about her experiences in Rwanda from her new book _Rwandan Women Rising._ Hunt interviewed more than 90 women (and men) who were key to rebuilding their country as they worked for peace after the genocide in 1994.
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Stanford Law's Mugambi Jouet discusses his new book _Exceptional America_ which tackles why Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, gender roles, abortion, gay rights, sex, gun control, mass incarceration, the death penalty, torture, human rights, and war. Why is America so polarized? How does American exceptionalism explain these social changes?
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    Cambridge Forum
  • As the climate science debate heats up, four panelists convene in a forum to discuss our earthly options. • Bill McKibben, author, educator, founder of 350.org • Dr. Gretchen Goldman, Research Director, Center for Science and Democracy • Tim DeChristopher, climate activist • Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, minister and activist By [PZmaps](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6039273 "") - Own work
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Krista Tippett, host of award-winning NPR program “On Being“, and poet David Whyte discusses several of the life-sized concepts addressed in Tippet's book, _Becoming Wise: an inquiry into the mystery and art of living._ In 2014, Tippett received the National Humanities Medal at the White House for ‘thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence.’ Her radio program, On Being, “shines a light on the most extraordinary voices on the great questions of meaning for our time. Scientists in a variety of fields; theologians from an array of faiths; poets, activists, and many others have all opened themselves up to Tippett’s compassionate but searching conversation." Whyte has been a guest on her show. In _Becoming Wise_, Tippett distils the insights she has gleaned from years of luminous conversation into a coherent narrative journey, over time and from mind to mind, into what it means to be human. Critics say the book is “a master class in living, individually and collectively. Wisdom emerges through the raw materials of the every day.”
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Brett Finlay PhD., a microbiologist at the University of British Columbia and world leader on understanding how bacterial infections work, talks about his new book “LET THEM EAT DIRT”, in which he questions whether our hyper-vigilant hygiene practices are helping or hurting our health. In the 200 years since we first discovered that microbes cause infectious diseases, we have battled to keep them at bay. But a recent explosion of scientific knowledge has led to undeniable evidence that early exposure to these organisms is beneficial to or health. Finlay argues that our super-clean approach to living is damaging our health and the health of our children. Indeed, the imbalance of these important microbes can lead to the development of obesity, diabetes and asthma. Photo Credit: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eating_Dirt_(3009282976).jpg "")
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Join the conversation as Cambridge Forum investigates one of the most urgent issues facing American society – loneliness. We will attempt to unravel some of the causes of this pernicious condition and consider the ways to ward off, or at least alleviate, the curse of loneliness. With the help of four great minds from different disciplines, all of whom have written extensively on the theme of friendship or loneliness, we will consider why loneliness is a such a growing sociological phenomenon in our hi-tech, super-wired world. Neuroscientific research seems to suggest that our brains are indeed wired to connect, but they prefer human rather than digital interaction. So what constitutes true friendship and can a device ever substitute for the power of human touch? Our panel consists of Dr. Terry Freiberg, a social psychologist and author of Four Seasons of Loneliness; Dr. Amy Banks, a psychiatrist at Wellesley Centers for Women and author of Wired to Connect: The Surprising Link between Brain Science and Strong, Healthy Relationships; Professor Alex Pentland, who directs the MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamics Labs and co-author of a recent study in the journal PLOS , Are you Your Friends’ Friend? Poor Perception of Friendship Ties; and Professor Alexander Nehamas, Princeton philosopher and author of the book On Friendship. Image Credit: http://www.cambridgeforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mobilephone.jpg
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Cambridge Forum in collaboration with [Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard](http://ethics.harvard.edu/ "") host a facilitated discussion with three authors who have recent publications on the complex issues of race and structural injustice, and the steps that citizens and governments can take to find practical solutions to problems such as mass incarceration, extreme poverty in disadvantaged communities, and problematic notions of black criminality. Professor Danielle Allen moderates the discussion with Professors Tommie Shelby, Elizabeth Hinton and Khalil Gibran Muhammed. Photo: Richard Ashurst/Flickr Photo: [Richard Ashurst/Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/-wichid/4670515071 "")
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    Cambridge Forum
  • In the past thirty years, the concept of parenting and the multibillion-dollar industry surrounding it have transformed child care into obsessive, controlling, goal-oriented labor intended to create a particular kind of child and thereby a particular kind of adult. In _The Gardener and the Carpenter_, developmental psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik argues that the familiar twenty-first-century picture of parents and children is profoundly wrong - it's not just based on bad science, it's also bad for kids and parents. Photo: [Pixbay](https://pixabay.com/en/family-together-parenting-lifestyle-492891/ "")
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    Cambridge Forum
  • In 1996, **Amy Goodman** began hosting a show on Pacifica Radio called _Democracy Now!_ to focus on the issues and movements that are too often ignored by the corporate media. Today _Democracy Now!_ is the largest public media collaboration in the US, broadcasting on over 1,400 public television and radio stations around the world, with millions accessing it online at DemocracyNow.org. Now Amy, along with her journalist brother, David, and co-author Denis Moynihan, share stories of the heroes - the whistleblowers, the organizers, the protesters - who have brought about remarkable change. In her book _Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America_ (2016), Amy Goodman looks back over the past two decades of _Democracy Now!_ and the powerful movements and charismatic leaders who are reshaping our world. She takes the reader along as she goes to where the silence is, bringing out voices from the streets of Ferguson to Staten Island, Wall Street, South Carolina to East Timor — and other places where people are rising up to demand justice. _Democracy Now!_ is the modern day underground railroad of information, bringing stories from the grassroots to a global audience. (Photo: ChrisEaves.com (Amy Goodman) [[CC BY 2.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 "CC License")], via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amy_Goodman_in_2010.jpg "Amy Goodman Democracy Now Cover"), image cropped)
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    Cambridge Forum
  • What is killing our honey bees and can we save them? Bees don't just make honey, they pollinate a third of our food supply - but bee colonies are disappearing at an alarming rate in the United States. In addition to being ecologically essential insects, bees are highly social and complex creatures that have been subjected to a barrage of attacks ranging from parasitic mites to high levels of exposure to pesticides and herbicides. In recognition of Earth Day, **Noah Wilson-Rich** from Best Bees and **David Hackenberg**, apiarist and owner of Buffy Bees, examine the plight of the poor honey bee. (Photo: [Flickr/Martin LaBar](https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinlabar/14164641808/ "All About Bees butterflyweed"), image cropped)
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    Cambridge Forum