Public Dialogues

YHouse continues its program of lectures, events, and conversations on exciting and provocative topics at a number of venues around New York City.

Consciousness Club NYC

YHouse invites you to the Consciousness Club, a study group to promote broadly transdisciplinary discussions on the neural and computational bases of consciousness, and how these concepts can be applied to other fields of interest. Our weekly meetings are for you if you are into awareness, science, technology, philosophy, art, and design.

For more information and meeting schedule, check out our Facebook page, or tune in to our Twitter updates.

Although the meetings are open to all, we encourage technical and scientific discussions for this series of meetings.

Cognition Lunch Salon

YHouse continues to organize informal Lunch Salon events hosted by the Program in Interdisciplinary Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, 1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, N.J., West Building Seminar Room, 2nd floor. The format is an informal chat, followed by longer open-ended discussions among the participants, on the topic of consciousness and cognition. This event is by invitation only. To request an invitation, please email us at info@yhousenyc.org

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Past Events

Quantum Computing, AIs, and Us

Tuesday, April 10, 2018 6:00pm – 7:30pm 18:00 – 19:30

Caveat (map)

Want to know what quantum computing really is? Could a quantum computer actually outstrip all known digital computers and build a better AI? Can a quantum computer become conscious? Who knows how to write algorithms for a quantum machine? What is quantum mechanics anyway and why is it such a beautiful headache?

Join acclaimed science journalist and author George Musser and YHouse co-founder and scientist Caleb Scharf as they struggle and sweat over these questions and more. If you've ever wanted a beginner’s guide to quantum physics, quantum computers, and one possible future for AI then this is your lucky evening! Get your wavefunction over to Caveat.

Cylons and T2’s and the Borg—Oh My!

Monday, March 19, 2018 5:30pm – 7:30pm 17:30 – 19:30

Caveat (map)

Cylons and T2's and the Borg—Oh My!: The Danger and Potential of Artificial Life and Intelligence

Since the publication of Frankenstein in 1818, the idea of the artificial creation of life and intelligence has been considered the ultimate in "what humans are not meant to know." Frankenstein, Dr. Moreau, the colonists of Battlestar Galactica - all paid dearly for transgressing. Why is it that these things are considered so dangerous? How close are we to achieving them? Come join physicist Dr Chuck Adler and historian Bow van Riper for an evening tackling ideas from science fiction, world culture, science, and philosophy: From robots in popular culture, to Asimov's three laws of robotics, Lem's "robot fables", and Kurtzweil's "singularity" theory.

Loch Kelly + Piet Hut: The Now Is Not the Present Moment

Wednesday, February 21, 2018 7:00pm – 8:30pm 19:00 – 20:30

YHouse President Piet Hut joins in conversation with prominent Buddhist teacher Loch Kelly. Will include a brief meditation.

Chasing Consciousness: Imagination in Science and Art

Monday, February 12, 2018 5:30pm – 7:30pm 17:30 – 19:30

Caveat (map)

How can we see things that aren’t there (yet)? How can we know what we do not know? Imagination and curiosity are powerful mechanisms by which the human mind explore the unknown and creates new worlds. What are the similarities and differences of imagination in the sciences and the arts? And what are the consequences for education?

YHouse, Inc. is a nonprofit institute in New York City devoted to innovative and transdisciplinary research, intellectual partnership, and public discourse tackling humanity’s greatest questions on awareness, consciousness, and the future of intelligence.

Chasing Consciousness: 'The Great AI Debate' with Simon DeDeo and Erik Hoel

Wednesday, December 20, 2017 6:00pm – 7:00pm 18:00 – 19:00

Caveat (map)

The Great AI Debate

Artificial intelligence - it seems you either love it, hate it, or don't know what it really means. Will

thinking machines save us and enlighten us, or destroy us? Can we control what's happening with developments in machine learning, or are they already controlling us? Join YHouse's guests Simon DeDeo and Erik Hoel as their human minds battle it out, while you, the audience, get the final vote.

Syntax/Synapse: "How We Experience" with Zia Haider Rahman, Mark de Silva, and Erik Hoel

Monday, December 11, 2017 7:00pm – 8:00pm 19:00 – 20:00

Center for Fiction (map)

Erik Hoel, neuroscientist and 2017 Emerging Writers Fellow, interviews authors Zia Haider Rahman and Mark de Silva. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Zia Haider Rahman’s In the Light of What We Know weaves an intricate tale of the 2008 financial crisis, the Afghanistan war, and how we construct our personal narratives. Mark de Silva’s Square Wave spans from the future of the United States to the past of Sri Lanka, addressing climate change, and the nature of art and consciousness, drawing from the author’s PhD in philosophy from the University of Cambridge. Erik Hoel is a writer and neuroscientist at Columbia University researching the neurobiological basis of consciousness.

Chasing Consciousness: Rethinking the Mind

Tuesday, November 21, 2017 6:00pm – 7:30pm 18:00 – 19:30

Caveat (map)

Great scientific revolutions come from challenging what we all assume to be true and expanding what science is 'allowed' to ask. Recent technological breakthroughs are pushing against our cherished assumptions about the nature and primacy of our minds, and forcing us to ask new questions about our reality.

Just before Thanksgiving, enjoy a mental feast as the YHouse Institute's brightest and best chew through some tough questions: how do we evaluate the reality of our awareness from within that same awareness? Where does consciousness really come from, and how does it fit into our ideas about the nature of life and the human future? We can't promise to answer them all, but we can guarantee a stimulating evening of stories and provocative thinking from researchers working on the extreme edge of scientific innovation.

Doors: 5:30, event 6:00.

Click here for tickets.

Chasing Consciousness: Virtual Reality to Future Reality

Wednesday, October 18, 2017 6:00pm – 8:00pm 18:00 – 20:00

Caveat (map)

Ordinary old reality is so yesterday. Our species has been building virtual worlds since we told the first fireside story. Now, with increasingly sophisticated technology like Oculus Rift these worlds are becoming all-encompassing. What is the state of the virtual? Where are we going in this new realm of the senses, and what are the implications?

YHouse welcomes two pioneering VR experts, Ken Perlin and Stephanie Riggs for an evening guaranteed to push the boundaries of what you thought was possible.

Click Here to Buy Tickets

Chasing Consciousness: 'Non-human intelligence' with Prof. Diana Reiss and Frank Grasso

Tuesday, September 19, 2017 6:00pm – 7:30pm 18:00 – 19:30

Caveat (map)

Join YHouse at Caveat for an evening exploring non-human intelligences.

The human mind, and our consciousness, is one of the greatest mysteries. But what are we missing about the other minds that share Earth with us? Are dolphins good at divination? Do octopuses orate? Perhaps some of the answers we’re looking for about ourselves can come from a better understanding of these alien intelligences. YHouse welcomes two world-renowned experts, Diana Reiss and Frank Grasso, for an evening of ideas and surprises that may, almost literally, blow your mind.

Tickets $15.00. Order Here.