Sunday, September 18, at 2 p.m.
From the Crossroads Committee
Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack to speak at the Sept. 18 Crossroads Lecture "The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World"
The Orcas Crossroads Lecture Series Committee of the Orcas Island Public Library proudly announces its 2011-12 season.
The season opens on Sunday, September 18, at 2 pm with a lecture entitled The New Universe and the Human Future. Speakers Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack, who co-authored The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World, address such questions as “what kind of a universe are we living in? Do we matter in the universe? What practical use is this knowledge?”
All lectures are held at Orcas Center, followed by a question and answer period and a public reception with the speaker.
On Sunday, October 9 at 2 pm Dmitry Orlov presents The Fall of the American Empire. An eyewitness to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and author of the book Reinventing Collapse, Orlov suggests that by examining maladaptive parts of our common cultural baggage, we can survive, thrive, and discover more fulfilling and meaningful lives, in spite of deteriorating circumstances in the U.S.
Steve Olson presents Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes, on the evening of Saturday, October 29, at 7:30 pm. Olson describes a profound insight gleaned from the Human Genome Project: the remarkable unity of the human species at the genetic level. This lecture offers new ways of thinking about race, ethnicity, ancestry and language.
Lectures scheduled for early 2012 include The Future of News Reporting Worldwide by Nancy K. Rivenburgh on February 26, Books and Bits: The Future of Publishing by Steve Kobrin on March 18, and The First Amendment and the Internet: Current Dilemmas by David Skover on April 1.
Members of the Associates Circle receive free admission to the entire 2011-12 season. Both season and individual tickets are available in early September at www.orcascrossroads.org, Darvill’s Bookstore and the Orcas Island Library.
Complimentary tickets are available in advance through the Library and Senior Center.
The Orcas Crossroads Lecture Series is supported by the Crossroads Associates Circle, the Orcas Island Public Library, the Friends of Orcas Island Library, the Daniel and Margaret Carper Foundation and Individual Contributors. More information is available on an ongoing basis at www.orcascrossroads.org.
