Matt Groh and Bill Powers host a discussion of the book The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World and explore how gifts and gift giving are at the core of creativity in art, science, and beyond. What distinguishes art from commodities? 42 years ago, Lewis Hyde's The Gift argued that the work of…
Interintellect Maybe Gray invites you to explore our tendency to see "Good" and "Bad" separately in ourselves, our relationships, and our political perspectives. “The line separating good and evil…
In this salon, debut host Lukas Rosenstock and returning host Vajresh Balaji will discuss our growing social circles and the tools we use to manage them. Humans probably evolved in smaller tribes where everybody knew everyone else. Dunbar’s number says there are around 150 relationships we can retain in our heads. Modern life, on the…
Writer, painter, and Gumroad founder Sahil Lavingia explores whether real art and good business are really the moral opposites they’re taught to be. How do you get rich by…
Étienne Fortier-Dubois leads a series of thematic discussions on the work of science fiction author Ted Chiang. In Part 3, we discuss non-human beings and how their psychology and biology may differ from ours. Ted Chiang ranks among the best living authors of science fiction. Though he cannot be described as prolific — his entire…
Join London ii Hosts Flick Hardingham and Irene JK to discuss the life and views of Plato, as well as his great teacher Socrates, exploring how their ideas might be relevant (or not) in today’s society and how they might serve us in the future. This salon is the first of an 11-month Interintellect series…
We are gathering to celebrate late bloomers – all those who started late in love, their career, as writers… Come join us! In our crazy-fast-paced 21st century we live in,…
Alex Danco joins fellow Interintellects for a Salon about the philosophy of René Girard, the (in)famous father of modern mimetic theory. We're going to get together and talk about René Girard, and his grand theory of mimetic behaviour. Sub-topics will likely include: -Scapegoating, cancel culture, and online mobs -How Silicon Valley works (founder as God-king-sacrifice;…
“Unfortunately, many analysts – in academia, special-interest groups, governments, and the press – still presume that common-pool problems are all dilemmas in which the participants themselves cannot avoid producing suboptimal results, and in some cases disastrous results.” ~ Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons The tragedy of the commons is all too common. From climate change…
Interintellect Patricia Hurducas will lead a discussion on curation – from curation of objects in museums to curation of ideas in our personal projects. How can we become better curators and what does that entail? The word curation comes from the Latin word curare, meaning to look after. In Roman times, it meant to take…
Join David Valerio as he continues his series on Christopher Alexander’s The Timeless Way of Building. The Timeless Way of Building is a classic of architectural philosophy. It presents the organic, fractal, and down-to-earth way that we evolved buildings in the past, and serves as a biting critique of the top-down, authoritarian, and alienating approach to the “design”…
Welcome to Writer’s Corner where we talk about and practice the craft of writing. Join Sylvia R in this session where we will focus on Hemingway. This session will focus on…
