Public Dialogues & Workshops
ICE organizes and promotes public dialogues in cities around the United States. Facilitated by Dartmouth theoretical physicist and ICE Director Marcelo Gleiser, these evening dialogues focus on fundamental questions central to ICE’s mission. The presenters—scientists, humanists, and spiritual leaders—are scholars and intellectual leaders of the highest caliber, capable of providing intellectual depth, breadth, and openness. The dialogues will be live-streamed to the world when possible, then made available on our website.
Past Public Dialogues
Friday, June 18, 2021 – Saturday, June 19, 2021
LIVE ONLINE
The Future of Humanity: Scientific and Humanistic Perspectives
We are bringing together scientists and humanists for two afternoons to discuss our collective future from different perspectives. Moderated by ICE@Dartmouth Director Marcelo Gleiser.
Speakers:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Human Rights Activist and Author
Mary Flanagan, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities, Dartmouth College
Adam Frank, Professor of Astrophysics, University of Rochester
John Haldane, Professor of Moral Philosophy Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, University of St Andrews; Professor of Virtue Theory, Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham; Professor of Philosophy of Education, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne.
Sue Halpern, Author and Scholar-in-Residence, Middlebury College
Elizabeth Kolbert, Science Writer and Journalist
Bill McKibben, Author, Educator, and Environmentalist
Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal of the United Kingdom, Trinity College, Cambridge University
Kim Stanley Robinson, Science Fiction Writer
Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University
Terry Tempest Williams, Author, Advocate for Free Speech, and Conservationist
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
7:00-8:30 pm ET
LIVE ONLINE
Rescuing Human Civilization: What Will It Take?
The annual collaboration between the Museum of Science and the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth College will feature Native American scientist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass) and Irish author and essayist Mark O’Connell (Notes from an Apocalypse) in a conversation led by Marcelo Gleiser, director of the Institute. Join us as we explore the intersection between issues of climate and social reform, and what it will take to rescue not only the world we inhabit but our civilization as a whole.
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
4:00 pm ET
LIVE ONLINE
View the poster →
Tribalism: A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation
From time immemorial our species has gathered in tribes. We still do, even if our notion of tribe has been greatly diversified to include socio-economic, religious, political, and many other tribal kinds. To what extent does tribalism serve us still? While the tribe protects and creates social cohesion, it also can segregate and ostracize. Join us for a timely live conversation with Duke University’s evolutionary anthropologists Vanessa Woods and Brian Hare—authors most recently of Survival of the Friendliest; National Book Award winner novelist and essayist M.T. Anderson; and ICE@Dartmouth director, physicist, and author Marcelo Gleiser.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
4:00 pm ET
LIVE ONLINE
What Is Life?
“What is life?” Surprisingly, there is no accepted definition. Life is one of those things that is easier to identify than to define. On Earth, living creatures have been found in the most exotic and forbidding environments, from under the Arctic ice sheet to the dark depths of oceans. What about in other worlds? Can we know if we found alien life if we don’t know what we are looking for? Join philosopher and director of the Center for the Study of Origins Carol Cleland, from the University of Colorado at Boulder and SETI Institute Affiliate, and mineralogist and astrobiologist Robert Hazen, from the Carnegie Institution and NASA Astrobiology Institute, in conversation with ICE@Dartmouth director, physicist Marcelo Gleiser, for a fascinating discussion of life known and unknown, here and, maybe, elsewhere in the cosmos.
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
4:00-5:30 pm ET
View the invite →
Future Society: Three Globally Renowned Icons of Science, Governance and Religion Share Their Personal Practices in Shifting Our World
Today, humanitarian and planetary questions abound: How will we create ways to exist and coexist as humans on Planet Earth? How will we ensure a future for the next generation and craft a more equitable and unified society? Is it possible to do all of this in joy?
Her Excellency Joyce Banda, Southern Africa’s first female head of state and one of the world’s most influential women, sits down for a chat with Pastor Barry Randolph, globally renowned spiritual activist at the helm of the Church of the Messiah in Detroit, Michigan; and Dr. Marcelo Gleiser, Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy at Dartmouth, acclaimed author and speaker. These three boundary-breakers will explore the convergences of science, politics, and spirituality as they pertain to our existential future as humans living collectively on Planet Earth. They will unlock the mysteries behind their unique processes and they will make friends. Curated and moderated by Everard Findlay.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
7:00-9:00 pm ET
Dartmouth College, Life Sciences Center 100 – Oopik
Hanover, NH
View the poster →
Plant Intelligence
We think of intelligence as being a brain-supported evolutionary asset. Large or small, brains have neurons connected by synapses. It is this interconnectivity—or so it is believed—that engenders intelligence. But is this too narrow a definition of intelligence? Could plants and ecosystems display some form of alternative intelligent behavior? If so, can (and should) it be studied using traditional scientific methods?
Join 2019 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction Richard Powers (The Overstory) and evolutionary ecologist Monica Gagliano (University of Sydney and ICE@Dartmouth Fellow, and author of Thus Spoke the Plant) for a truly mind-expanding conversation that is sure to reset the way you think about the nature of intelligence, plant behavior, and our place within Nature. Moderated by ICE@Dartmouth Director Marcelo Gleiser.
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
7:00-9:00 pm ET
Museum of Science, Cahners Theater
Boston, MA
MAKE, THINK, IMAGINE: Where Is Technology Taking Us?
In MAKE, THINK, IMAGINE, engineer and former BP CEO Lord John Browne guides readers through a wide sweep of history to remind us that technological progress is more essential than ever, but only when coupled with the two instincts that will always set humans apart: our imagination and our values. We should not slow the pace of innovation but instead think hard about how to prepare for its inevitable flaws. Is there a blueprint? Can these innovations help clarify what makes us human? Should we fear revolutionary technology like Artificial Intelligence? Should we really be worried about a machine take-over?
Join Lord Browne, author of MAKE, THINK, IMAGINE and Tad Friend, staff writer for The New Yorker, in conversation with physicist and public intellectual Marcelo Gleiser, to explore how our progress and innovation affects, and potentially impinges on, our humanity.
The event is free with registration.
Monday, April 22, 2019: 2:30pm – 6:30pm
Tuesday, April 23, 2019: 9:00am – 4:00pm
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH
The Blind Spot: Experience, Science, and the Search for “Truth”
A workshop with philosophers, physicists, and cognitive scientists
What is “truth”? Can it be objectively defined? To what extent are scientific statements “true”? Is the truth in the physical sciences different than in pure mathematics? This workshop brings together an international group of philosophers, physicists, and cognitive neuroscientists to discuss the nature of truth in science and its relation to our experience of the world. If we cannot detach experience from our description of the world, to what extent is science objective? Does experience influence and limit our scientific narrative of Nature? Join us for what promises to be a fascinating discussion on the foundations of science and its relation to philosophy
Moderated by ICE Director Marcelo Gleiser.
Speakers:
Michel Bitbol, CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
Adam Frank, University of Rochester
Chris Fuchs, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Jenann Ismael, Columbia University
Peter Lewis, Dartmouth College
Michela Massimi, University of Edinburgh
Robert Sharf, University of California, Berkeley
Mark Sprevak, University of Edinburgh
Evan Thompson, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Peter Tse, Dartmouth College
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
7:00-8:30 pm ET
Museum of Science, Cahners Theater
Boston, MA
Doubling Down: Preserving Our Humanity in the Digital Age
Are the big digital technology companies actually modifying our behavior? Will that be the means to a beneficial end? We are inside a global-scale experiment in data gathering about human behavior. We have devices on us all the time. The devices give us real-time feedback about our actions and provide that information to companies that are vying for our attention. Is this model of our society sustainable? Is it contributing to the demise of democracy occurring before our very eyes?
Join Jaron Lanier, the “father of VR,” and bestselling author Sue Halpern, in conversation with Marcelo Gleiser, physicist and director of the Institute for Cross Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth College, to talk about doubling down on being human, a step that just might rescue our world—and ourselves.
Thursday, November 1, 2018
4:30-6:30 pm ET
Filene Auditorium, Moore Hall, Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire
Special Guest Artists: The Passing Project music and dance
On Being Human: Mythic and Scientific Perspectives
What does it mean “to be human”? Are we special in any way? If, so, how? Join ICE at Dartmouth director Marcelo Gleiser in a fascinating conversation with three very special guests: ICE at Dartmouth Fellow, physicist, and novelist Tasneem Husain will present humans as storytelling animals; Dartmouth anthropology professor Jeremy DeSilva will place humans within evolutionary history; and ICE at Dartmouth Fellow and planetary scientist David Grinspoon will discuss humans from the perspective of life elsewhere in the universe.
☞ Q&A to follow
Thursday, October 4, 2018
8 pm ET
92nd Street Y
New York City
On Immortality: Siddhartha Mukherjee and Elizabeth Kolbert with Marcelo Gleiser
We live in an age when geneticists are working to advance our life span and improve our quality of life—but are we also inadvertently engineering the sixth mass extinction in the Earth’s history?
Join physician and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee (The Emperor of All Maladies) and fellow Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Kolbert (The Sixth Extinction) for a fascinating dialogue on life and mortality, from the human to the planetary scale, moderated by Dartmouth theoretical physicist and ICE Director Marcelo Gleiser. Will living longer lives redefine what it means to be human? How much will it matter if our planet itself is in peril?
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
7 pm ET
Museum of Science, Cahners Theater
Boston
Reception to follow
Cyborgs, Futurists & Transhumanism: A Conversation
We’ve all heard of Terminator, Blade Runner, and other science fiction about cyborgs. But how far is reality from fiction? Can scientists transform humans into machine-like creatures, stronger, smarter and, who knows, even immortal? Join us for a unique conversation about our transhumanist future with neuroscientist Ed Boyden, leader of the Synthetic Neurobiology Group and associate professor of Biological Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the MIT Media Lab and McGovern Institute for Brain Research; humanist Mark O’Connell, journalist and author of To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death; and physicist Marcelo Gleiser, director of the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth College.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
7 pm MT
Marston Theater, Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona
The Mystery of Time
What is time? Can science alone provide an answer? In 1922, Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson, the world’s leading scientist and philosopher at the time, met for a face-to-face conversation about the nature of time. Einstein argued that the only time is the physicist’s time, while Bergson call him to question. There are other dimensions to time, he argued, beyond the scientific one. Where do we stand on this conversation today? Have we made progress in unveiling time’s mystery? Join award-winning physicist Paul Davies, director of ASU’s Beyond Center and author of the book About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution, and award-winning historian and philosopher of science Jimena Canales, author of The Physicist and the Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson, and the Debate that Changed Our Understanding of Time, for a conversation mediated by physicist Marcelo Gleiser that promises to illuminate, intrigue, and inspire.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
8 pm, 92nd Street Y
New York City
Q&A, 9:30 pm
The Nature of Faith: A Conversation on Science and Religion with Rebecca Goldstein and Alan Lightman
Even though we live in a world where science and technology dictate more and more how we live our lives, religious belief remains widespread in this and most countries. Why do so many people believe? Is there a difference between faith and belief? Can science contribute to this conversation? Or are science and religion fundamentally incompatible, belonging to two non-overlapping magisteria, as the late Stephen Jay Gould liked to say? Is there room for spirituality in science? Join world-renowned physicist and writer Marcelo Gleiser and his two distinguished guests, MacArthur Fellow and National Humanities Medalist, philosopher, and novelist Rebecca Goldstein and astrophysicist and acclaimed novelist Alan Lightman, for an evening where science, religion, the arts and philosophy will jointly address some of our deepest questions.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
6:30 pm CT
Venue SIX10, Chicago
Chicago Ideas Week Curiosity Series
Future of Intelligence: Human, Machine and Extraterrestrial: A Dialogue Between an Astronomer and a Philosopher
Advances in technology have fundamentally changed the way that humans consume information. Whether it’s the ability to seamlessly connect with people on the other side of the world or the never-ending flow of content through social media, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the future of humanity and the future of intelligence are one and the same. At this onstage program presented by ICE, Jill Tarter of SETI, a research institute dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and Patricia Churchland, an analytical philosopher of the mind, join ICE director and physicist Marcelo Gleiser for a thought-provoking conversation on what extraterrestrial intelligence might look like, the implications of a transhumanist society, and humankind’s greater quest to understand the universe.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
7:30 pm PT, Nourse Theater
San Francisco
City Arts & Lectures
The Nature of Reality: A Dialogue Between a Buddhist Scholar and a Theoretical Physicist
Alan Wallace, a world-renowned author and Buddhist scholar trained by the Dalai Lama, and Sean Carroll, a world-renowned theoretical physicist and best-selling author, discuss the nature of reality from spiritual and scientific viewpoints. Their dialogue is mediated by theoretical physicist and author Marcelo Gleiser, director of Dartmouth’s Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement.
Thursday, October 6, 2016
8 pm, 92nd Street Y
(Lexington Avenue at 92nd St)
New York City
The Mystery of Consciousness: A Dialogue Between a Neuroscientist and a Philosopher
Featuring neuroscientist Antonio Damasio and philosopher David Chalmers, and moderated by physicist Marcelo Gleiser, this was the first of a series of public dialogues on fundamental issues in the sciences and the humanities co-hosted by 92Y and the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth. The event explored what we know and don’t know about human consciousness, and whether science will ever be able to understand what makes you, you.
