7-1/2 Lessons About the Brain

Join us for a virtual conversation with Lisa Feldman Barrett to explore fundamental questions, like why we even have a brain and what that means for all of us.

When we think about the larger issues in our own society, and for humanity as a species, we don’t often focus on the role science plays in our understanding of these issues. But even when not explicitly involved in the discussion, the assumptions of scientific thought influence how we think about almost everything.

Feldman Barrett takes us on a scientific journey, in 7-1/2 steps, full of intrigue and adventure, inviting you to think about important topics such as: Are we rational creatures? If rationality is not the absence of emotion, what is it? Why does loneliness make people physically sick? Why do we create societies that grant individual rights and freedoms in spite of the human nervous system having evolved to be biologically dependent on other humans? What does this mean for notions of hate speech or free speech? For democracy? And most essentially, what kind of person do you want to be?

Lisa Feldman Barrett
University Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Northeastern University, With Appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Psychiatry and Radiology; Author, 7 1/2 Lessons About the Brain

In Conversation with George Hammond
Author, Conversations with Socrates











When: Tue., Dec. 1, 2020 at 1:00 pm

Join us for a virtual conversation with Lisa Feldman Barrett to explore fundamental questions, like why we even have a brain and what that means for all of us.

When we think about the larger issues in our own society, and for humanity as a species, we don’t often focus on the role science plays in our understanding of these issues. But even when not explicitly involved in the discussion, the assumptions of scientific thought influence how we think about almost everything.

Feldman Barrett takes us on a scientific journey, in 7-1/2 steps, full of intrigue and adventure, inviting you to think about important topics such as: Are we rational creatures? If rationality is not the absence of emotion, what is it? Why does loneliness make people physically sick? Why do we create societies that grant individual rights and freedoms in spite of the human nervous system having evolved to be biologically dependent on other humans? What does this mean for notions of hate speech or free speech? For democracy? And most essentially, what kind of person do you want to be?

Lisa Feldman Barrett
University Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Northeastern University, With Appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Psychiatry and Radiology; Author, 7 1/2 Lessons About the Brain

In Conversation with George Hammond
Author, Conversations with Socrates

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