Wednesdays, 5:00 - 6:10 pm (PT) • 5 weeks • October 9 – November 6
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This fall, we are pleased to present a new edition of the Stanford Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series, which will feature five Stanford faculty members delivering talks on their engaging areas of research. In this five-week course, Classics professor Josiah Ober will begin by pushing back against the prevailing pessimism about the fate of democracy and offering insights for democratic renewal informed by key moments in history from Classical Athens to America’s founding. Mehran Sahami, chair of Stanford’s Computer Science Department, will then discuss the immense potential and ethical pitfalls of machine learning. Historian Nora Elizabeth Barakat will present the talk “Development and Dispossession” in which she will explore the connection between development projects and the displacement of people in the modern Middle East. Biologist and neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky will make his case that our understanding of the biology of behavior contradicts the existence of free will and suggests that disbelief in free will might improve society. Finally, fresh off the results of the November 2024 elections, Caroline Winterer, chair of Stanford’s History Department, will present a lecture on the unique genius of founding father Benjamin Franklin. Each professor will present for 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A session with students.
You can find an overview of the topics and speakers below. We hope you will join us for this engaging series of lectures and Q&A sessions.
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SCHEDULE
Session 1: The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives
Josiah OberMarkos & Eleni Kounalakis Chair in Honor of Constantine Mitsotakis; Professor of Political Science, of Classics, and, by courtesy, of Philosophy; Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at the Hoover Institution, Stanford
Is democracy in trouble, perhaps even dying? Many pundits say so, and polls show over 90 percent of Americans believe their governance system is "tested" or "under attack." But is democracy's future truly so dire? In this lecture, Josiah Ober explores the long progression toward self-government through four key moments in democracy’s history: Classical Athens, Republican Rome, Great Britain’s constitutional monarchy, and America’s founding. Pushing back against prevailing pessimism, Ober offers a guide for democratic renewal. He calls on citizens to recommit to a "civic bargain" that guarantees civic rights of freedom, equality, and dignity while fulfilling the duties of democratic citizenship.
Session 2: Confronting Ethical Challenges in AI
Mehran SahamiTencent Chair of the Computer Science Department; James and Ellenor Chesebrough Professor, School of Engineering; Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford
In response to the societal impact of "big tech," Mehran Sahami co-developed an interdisciplinary Stanford course blending humanities, social science, and computer science. This lecture, drawing from that course and his book System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot, dives into the ethical dilemmas of machine learning (ML). Sahami examines ML's potential to enhance efficiency and accuracy while highlighting its risks: reinforcing biases, affecting vulnerable groups, and compromising privacy as he takes us on a journey through the complex trade-offs inherent in AI ethics and how they shape our technological future.
Session 3: Development and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East
Nora Elizabeth BarakatAssistant Professor of History, Stanford
In this lecture, Professor Nora Elizabeth Barakat dives into the complex relationship between development and displacement in the modern Middle East. She reveals how initiatives intended to improve land and populations have often led to the forced removal of communities, ethnic cleansing, and even genocide since the late 1800s. Drawing insights from her recent book, Bedouin Bureaucrats, Professor Barakat will provide examples from regions like Anatolia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Persian Gulf. She will trace these events from the 1870s to today, showing how local histories connect to global trends and offering a new perspective on the history of the Middle East and its place in the broader global context.
Session 4: Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will
Robert SapolskyJohn A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor; Professor of Biology, of Neurology, and of Neurosurgery, Stanford
Robert Sapolsky challenges the widely held belief in free will, arguing that the biology of behavior is fundamentally incompatible with the concept. Drawing from his book Determined, in this lecture, he explains that there is no separate “self” directing our biology. Instead, Sapolsky offers a compelling synthesis of how consciousness operates, showing the intricate connections between reason, emotion, stimulus, and response. He applies this understanding to questions of punishment, morality, and social harmony, arguing that recognizing the absence of free will can lead to a more humane world and offers thought-provoking insights into human behavior and its implications for society.
Session 5: The Remarkable Genius of Benjamin Franklin
Caroline WintererWilliam Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies; Professor of History and, by courtesy, of Classics and of Education; Chair, Department of History, Stanford
Step into the world of Benjamin Franklin. With his crazy hair and iconic spectacles, he has been called the genius of his era, a man more famous, even, than the moon. In this lecture, Caroline Winterer takes us on an illustrated tour of some of Franklin’s most ingenious inventions and path-breaking ideas, from electricity to bifocals, the glass harmonica, and his own enduring legacy. Discover how Franklin's ingenuity, while rooted in his time, continues to inspire our pursuit of innovation today.