Fall 2024 Series
The Swarthmore Discussion Group will hold its spring series at The Inn at Swarthmore. The series will consist of four monthly Wednesday evening presentations in September, October, November and December. All presentations include a catered dinner.
SEPT. 18, 2024
Words to Stop Saying Right Now
Jeffrey Barg,
Former Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist
Jeffrey Barg, better known as the Angry Grammarian, writes about how grammar, language and punctuation shape our world. The former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist will discuss how your linguistic foibles affect those around you - and how we all can do better. His talk will include a humorous song or two from his 2024 musical, The Angry Grammarian.
OCT. 16, 2024
Exploring the mechanics of machine learning in AI: Revealing ethical implications
Lisa Meeden,
Professor of Computer Science, Swarthmore College
What does it mean for a machine to learn? In this talk we will see machine learning models in action, training them from scratch to learn several categorization tasks. We will explore how these models work, highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses, and discuss the ethical implications that arise as a result of how they work an are used today.
NOV. 20, 2024
Can U.S. Democracy Survive the 2024 Elections?
Michael X. Delli Carpini, Ph.D.,
Oscar H. Gandy Emeritus Professor of Communication & Democracy, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Recent politics has been characterized by an onslaught of controversial and difficult policy issues; record levels of hyper-partisanship, incivility, and disinformation; and declining trust in the media and institutions of government. In this lecture, Delli Carpini will assess the results of the November 5th U.S. elections, put them in the context of recent trends, and discuss their short-and longer-term implications for the future of American democracy. .
Dec. 11, 2024
A Child Held Hostage: Revisiting the 1970 Hijacking
Martha Hodes,
Author and Professor of History, New York University
On September 6, 1970, twelve-year-old Hodes and her thirteen-year-old sister were flying home from Israel unaccompanied, when their plane was hijacked by the secular Marxist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Decades later, beginning with her own hazy memories, Professor Hodes drew on her skills as a historian to re-create her week as a hostage in the Jordanian desert. The experience, then and now, prompted her to learn about the lives and causes of her captors, pondering a deadly divide that continues today— ultimately prompting a complex confrontation with trauma and empathy.
