[Sci-tech-public] April 12th: Science and Democracy Lecture Series with David Brooks

[STS]

Science and Democracy, a lecture series aimed at exploring both the promised benefits or our era's most salient scientific and technological breakthroughs and the potentially harmful consequences of developments that are inadequately understood, debated, or managed by politicians, lay publics, and policy institutions.

David Brooks
Columnist, The New York Times

"Politics, the Brain, & Human Nature"

With Panelists:
Max Bazerman, Straus Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
David Kennedy, Director, Institute for Global Law and Policy, Harvard Law School
Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor, Department of Psychology

Moderated by
Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School

Tuesday, April 12
5:00 - 7:00 pm

Piper Auditorium
Gund Hall, GSD
48 Quincy Street
Harvard University

Abstract: For decades we have tried to increase high school graduation rates and college completions rates. We've tried to reduce the achievement gaps. We've tried to depolarize our economy and moderate the financial cycles. These and many other public policy efforts have produced disappointing results. This is in part because the policies were based on a partial view of human nature and a simplistic view of human capital. Neuroscientific research over the past few years has pointed toward a richer view, one in which our emotions and unconscious play a far more important role in everyday decision-making. It is time to apply the findings of science to the world of policy, morality,  and practice.

David Brooks is a columnist for The New York Times and a commentator on PBS NewsHour. He has previously worked for the Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, Newsweek, The Atlantic Monthly, and National Review. He has authored numerous books of cultural and political commentary, the most recent of which, The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, was published in March 2011.

This event is organized by the Program on Science, Technology, and Society, at the Harvard Kennedy School and co-sponsored by the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Graduate School of Design, and the Harvard University Center for the Environment.  For more information on Science, Technology, and Society events at Harvard University, please visit: www.ksg.harvard.edu/sts/<http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/sts/>. This lecture and discussion is free and open to the public.

Contact:
Lisa Matthews
Events Coordinator
Harvard University Center for the Environment

24 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
lisa_matthews at harvard.edu<mailto:lisa_matthews at harvard.edu>
p. 617-495-8883
f. 617-496-0425




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