As we enter this era of accelerating technological change, the humanities have an
important contribution to make. The humanities give us valuable historical context
for the time and place in which we find ourselves, and they give us ideological balance
between what might be called left and right brain thinking. Context and balance are
both useful tools for understanding and navigating what’s happening around us, and
even within us. The humanities help us to look at long periods of time, to see the current moment
as part of a larger movement, and to see patterns that invite insight. Within the coming age of A.I., the perspective and wisdom of the artists, musicians,
poets, philosophers, historians, and creative thinkers among us will be critical for
true perception and wise decision-making. They can help us to look more deeply into
the essence of things, to make room for ways of seeing and knowing that go beyond
computation, that lead us, as English poet William Blake put it, “To see a World in
a Grain of Sand, and a Heaven in a Wild Flower." Without this expansive, profound,
and contextualized approach to knowledge, we will be creating a greatly diminished
and limited world and worldview. The fields traditionally known as the humanities
– history, religion, philosophy, arts, and languages – all excel in contextualizing
and in subjectivity. They don’t reject objectivity and logic, but they have a wider
array of methods, relying as well on story, vision, revelation, critical thinking,
speculation, imagination, intuition, creativity, beauty, and wisdom, as valid paths
to truth. Without this expansive understanding of truth and wisdom, we risk losing
the breadth and vision that can guide us through these modern times.
In this interview series, we are exploring the human side of the increasingly technologized
age we are entering. We're talking with artists, poets, writers, and creative thinkers
of all kinds. Our interviewees are people who have vision, wisdom, and knowledge about
life and about creativity. They offer insight and guidance for how to live a full,
human and humane life in these modern times.
Series Recordings
