Saturday, February 8, 2014



LECTURE

ONE DAY UNIVERSITY
New York Hilton

I attended Darwin, Photographs, Genius, Carnegie, and Philosophers.

There were around 1,500 "students' rotating among 3 ballrooms of the Hilton Hotel.  Quite an experience.



One Day University: 2500 Years of History (in just one day)
February 08,2014
ONE DAY UNIVERSITY:2500 Years of History(in just one day)



Schedule of Classes and Professors

9:30am - 10:30am
Charles Darwin: What He Got Right, What He Got Wrong 
Susan Lindee / University of Pennsylvania
10:45am - 11:45am
From The Founding Fathers To Today's Congress: What Went Wrong 
Richard Beeman / University of Pennsylvania
Noon - 1:00pm
Charles Darwin: What he got right, What he got Wrong 
Susan Lindee / University of Pennsylvania
Lunch Available for Purchase - 1:00pm - 2:00pm

2:00pm - 3:00pm
The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie's Life and Fortune 
David Nasaw / City University of New York 
3:15pm - 4:15pm
1968: The Extraordinary Events of a Memorable Year 
Leonard Steinhorn / American University


Course Descriptions

1968: The Extraordinary Events of a Memorable Year 
Leonard Steinhorn / American University
The Sixties. It was a decade of hope -- and disillusionment. A time of promise -- and backlash. An era animated by youthful idealism -- and frustrated by political disappointment. We entered the decade inspired by a president, stirred by a dream, and dancing innocently to "I Want to Hold Your Hand." We ended the decade still clinging to those hopes and ideals, but sobered by the realities of a brutal war, bloodied protesters, burning cities, and a nation and culture coming apart.

No other year better encapsulates the narrative of the Sixties than 1968. It was a year when young people went Clean for Gene in the New Hampshire primary -- and then got tear gassed in Chicago. When the country looked to larger-than-life leaders to guide us out of war and division -- and then saw them felled by assassins' bullets. When many hoped that a Kennedy would return to the White House -- and instead we got a Nixon. In 1968, we saw a political party that represented the common folk get torn asunder by cultural and racial hostilities. We saw no light at the end of the tunnel in Vietnam. We saw Black Power meet law and order. We saw an America barely anyone would have recognized just a few years back.

1968 was like an electrical storm that hit our country, one that hot-wired every interaction, conversation, and event. And it put a charge in the emerging culture war that would define American politics and culture for decades to come. To understand the Sixties generation -- and who we are as a nation -- it is essential to journey through 1968 and see how that seminal year shaped and influenced our history.

The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie's Life and Fortune 
David Nasaw / City University of New York  

Andrew Carnegie epitomized the Gilded Age ideal of the self-made man, becoming one of the wealthiest individuals in the history of the world. By the turn of the century, Carnegie Steel was the largest steel company in America; it was acquired in 1901 as a subsidiary of U.S. Steel for $480 million. In addition to being the only American "captain of industry" to rise from rags to riches, he was also the only one who tried, in his lifetime, to give away his fortune. Carnegie retired to Scotland and dedicated his time and money to various philanthropies consistent with the philosophy that he had advanced in The Gospel of Wealth, including the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. In this lecture, Professor David Nasaw will discuss the two arcs of the Andrew Carnegie story: how he made his millions and how and why he believed himself obligated to give it all away. 


What truly constitutes "a good life"? Are there activities and experiences that are especially important, or even essential? Are the answers to these questions the same for everyone, or are there different answers for different kinds of people? Is it even good to ask these questions? And can we really hope to answer them? Perhaps no one has addressed these issues more powerfully than the three philosophers who stand at the head of the Western philosophic tradition: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Join Professor Surprenant as we travel back to antiquity in order to learn more about ourselve - about what we are and what we may yet choose to be.

Charles Darwin: What He Got Right, What He Got Wrong 
Susan Lindee / University of Pennsylvania

Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species presented one of the most important ideas in the history of human thought. Darwin’s impact over the last 150 years cannot be overstated: his ideas have provided the central organizing core for modern evolutionary science. But DNA had not been discovered, and therefore Darwin could not have foreseen the complexities of modern genetics. He did not understand that certain situations that occur in nature could confer advantages upon organisms that worked as a group instead of as selfish individuals. This fascinating new class will bring us up to date on Darwin’s remarkable theory which has survived a century and a half of rigorous scientific skepticism and scrutiny.

From The Founding Fathers To Today's Congress: What Went Wrong Richard Beeman / University of Pennsylvania

There is an abundance of evidence to suggest that the American public is thoroughly disenchanted with the way in which our political system is functioning. Indeed, that disenchantment borders on disgust when the subject is the hyper-partisan and vituperative manner in which our United States Congress functions (or, in many cases, fails to function). In this era of political dysfunction, it might be useful to look back in time, to the summer of 1787, when 55 delegates,  representing widely diverse constituencies across the breadth of America, were able in just under four months to craft a constitution that has not only brought stability and justice to the United States, but has also served as a model for other constitutions around the world. In this session we will examine both the eighteenth century context in which the delegates to the Constitutional Convention carried out their deliberations and the varieties of individual and collective leadership represented among that group of extraordinary men. We will then engage in a discussion of how those eighteenth century lessons in leadership might be helpful to “We the People” of America today as we seek remedies to our current political dysfunction.


Pictures, it is said, are worth a thousand words. But photographs do not speak for themselves. Images tell a story and only a close examination of how a photograph was taken and circulated can allow us to understand why certain pictures become iconic and how they shaped America. 

In this class, we will look closely at three remarkable and influential photographs and what they tell us about America at pivotal moments in the nation’s history: Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, Joe Rosenthal’s Raising of the Flag on Mt. Suribachi, and Stanley Forman’s The Soiling of Old Glory (these last two won the Pulitzer Prize). In doing so, we will look at many other images and come to a deeper understanding of the era in which these photographs were taken and how they continue to shape our vision of the nation.

Nation Building: From George Washington to Barack Obama 
Jeremi Suri / University of Texas

Since its founding, the United States has offered a distinctive model of political and economic development to the rest of the world. The American model emphasizes representation, federalism, and ethnic pluralism in its definition of democracy. This lecture will explain how American leaders over more than two centuries have sought to apply the American model to the most significant challenges of each era. Policies have differed across time, but the United States has consistently sought to build governments and nations that approximate its distinctive model.

Examining this long history of American nation-building offers some valuable lessons for our contemporary world. Some elements of the American model have proven successful in their broad implementation. Some elements have not. Time and again, Americans have under-estimated the difficulties of spreading their political model. This lecture will encourage listeners to consider the continued possibilities for American-led change in the world, with renewed attention to the historical limits of American power. More than anything, history shows that the United States needs wise leaders who can deploy the nation's valuable political model in carefully chosen situations.

The Nature of Genius: From Leonardo Da Vinci to the Beatles
Craig Wright / Yale University

About 1 in 400 people have an IQ considered genius (140 to 145) and anything above 165 is considered high genius. After a score of 200, genius is said to be immeasurable. Galileo would have hit about 185, with Descartes coming in close behind at an IQ of 180. Darwin and Mozart had an IQ around 165 and Rembrandt 155.

How do we account for the genius of Jefferson, Einstein, Newton, Leonardo, Joyce, Picasso, and others? What is genius? How do we define it? Can we all become geniuses if we just practice diligently for 10,000 hours over a 10 year period, as some recent "self-help" books suggest?  This never-before-offered class taught by Yale Professor Craig Wright will test our definition by evaluating luminaries past and present, including Charles Darwin, Michael Phelps, Michael Jackson, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet, and even Secretariat!

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