We invite you to join the National Association of Scholars for our upcoming events. Join the National Association of Scholars on Friday, October 13, at 3 pm ET for “Oikophobia and the Sciences.” And join us on Tuesday, October 17, at 2 pm ET to discuss the story behind the creation of the internet. 

More on our upcoming webinars and additional events:

Join the National Association of Scholars on Friday, October 13, at 3 pm ET to discuss "Oikophobia and the Sciences”

Science is commonly portrayed as an avatar of knowledge, truth, and progress. Lately, science is more held up as an exemplar of oppression: colonialist, too suffused with patriarchy, too white, too male, too western, its heroes not worthy of admiration. Self-loathing and abnegation seems to have permeated the entire establishment of science: its funding agencies, its journals, its professional associations. What is the meaning of this remarkable cultural transformation? Is it merely political, or something deeper?

According to Benedict Beckeld, this is a reflection of oikophobia, a “cultural malaise that befalls civilizations during their declining days.” He argues that oikophobia is the terminal state in the comings and goings of great civilizations. The self-hatred that presently permeates the sciences thus reflects the broader decline of western civilization.

This event will feature Benedict Beckeld, a philosopher whose focus is aesthetics, political philosophy, and culture. He is the author of “Western Self-Contempt: Oikophobia in the Declines of Civilizations” which traces the “historical apparition” of oikophobia as a “type of social decadence” to which civilizations are prone.

This event will be moderated by J. Scott Turner of the National Association of Scholars.

To learn more about the event, click here.

Join the National Association of Scholars on Tuesday, October 17, at 2 pm ET for "American Innovation: Connecting the World—The Internet."

Today, the internet is a necessity, an ever-present force that is connected to nearly everything, from cars to watches to refrigerators. We can access it anywhere at any time with our smartphones, and we can do a seemingly unlimited amount of things through it. But that wasn't always the case. What is the story behind the development of the internet? What was it intended to be, and how did it develop into the massive network of today?

This event will feature Martin Campbell-Kelly, emeritus professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Warwick; Paul Ceruzzi, former curator in the Space History Department at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum; Shane Greenstein, Martin Marshall Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

To learn more about the event, click here.

If you can't attend our webinar events live, you can still register to watch the recordings. All registrants will receive a follow-up email with a link to the recording shortly after each event.

If you have missed any of our past events or webinars, you may find all of our recordings here: https://www.youtube.com/@NAScholars/streams.

I look forward to seeing you in the virtual audience!
 

Best,
Chance Layton
Director of Communications
National Association of Scholars