The Future of Humanity – Dr Iain McGilchrist: in- person event at The Royal Institution in London
An in-person hybrid event on
Saturday 26th October 2024 @ 9.45am – 7.00pm
with guest speakers Prof Mattias Desmet and Elizabeth Oldfield, hosted by David Lorimer
The Royal Institution
21 Albemarle Street
Mayfair, London, W1S 4BS
This event was organised and hosted by Channel McGilchrist & The Scientific and Medical Network
Event description
At stake right now is nothing less than the future of humanity. In this full day symposium, Dr Iain McGilchrist will address the most pressing questions at the heart of our existence, and invite his guest speakers, author of The Psychology of Totalitarianism, Mattias Desmet, and broadcaster and author, and host of The Sacred podcast, Elizabeth Oldfield, to share their views.
The theme of this conference is that the ever-proliferating crises we are experiencing can be seen to stem ultimately from a breakdown in our understanding of what it is to be a human being, and to lead a fulfilling life; what the world is like, and how we are in the process of destroying all that it has of value to give us; and what we would need urgently to do in order to alter the course on which we appear, despite ourselves, to be set. Central to this enquiry are the concepts of purpose and values. These are not invented by us, but have roots beyond ourselves: they are literally dis-covered (or not) by us. A common theme of the speakers will be how to re-engage with the values that alone bring meaning to life; and above all to resist the onslaught on truth and trust without which a society cannot stand. Topics include: the attack on nature; the tyranny of ideology and propaganda; the effects of AI; the denigration and abandonment of intuition and imagination; and the need to regain a disciplined spirituality.
There will be a panel discussion following the lectures and an audience Q&A.
Lectures
Dr Iain McGilchrist – The Sovereignty of Truth
Prof Mattias Desmet – Truth in the Era of Propaganda. In order to overcome the metaphysical crisis we find ourselves in, our society obsessed with rational knowledge will have to re-appreciate the act of sincere speech and intuitive knowing.
Elizabeth Oldfield – Attending to our Formation: How monastic Rules of Life, Liturgy and collective spiritual practices can help us be becoming the people the world needs.
Dr Iain McGilchrist – The Triumph of the Machine: are there reasons for hope?
Purchase recording
Format for the day
9.00am registration
9.45am registration closes
10am – 10.15am Intro by David Lorimer
10.20am Lecture by Iain McGilchrist – The Sovereignty of Truth
11.15am Lecture by Mattias Desmet – Truth in the Era of Propaganda. In order to overcome the metaphysical crisis we find ourselves in, our society obsessed with rational knowledge will have to re-appreciate the act of sincere speech and intuitive knowing.
12.15pm – 20 minute break
12.35pm Lecture by Elizabeth Oldfield – Attending to our Formation: How monastic Rules of Life, Liturgy and collective spiritual practices can help us be becoming the people the world needs
1.35pm – Lunch break
2.35pm – Lecture by Iain McGilchrist – The Triumph of the Machine: are there reasons for hope?
3.20pm – Panel discussion mediated by David Lorimer
4.20pm – 20 minute break
4.40pm – Audience Q&A
5.40pm – Thanks, followed by book signing.
6.40pm – Book signing finishes.
7.00pm Vacate
About the speakers
Dr Iain McGilchrist
Dr Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar. He is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and former Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London. He has been a Research Fellow in neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore and a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Stellenbosch. He has published original articles and research papers in a wide range of publications on topics in literature, philosophy, medicine and psychiatry. He is the author of a number of books, but is best-known for The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (Yale 2009). In November 2021 his two-volume work The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World was published by Perspectiva Press.
Mattias Desmet PhD
Mattias Desmet PhD, is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Ghent University (Belgium). He has a Phd in psychology and a master degree in statistics. He also works as a psychotherapist in private practice. He published over 100 peer reviewed academic papers and he is the author of the international bestseller The psychology of totalitarianism. Since the onset of the coronacrisis in 2020 he became known as the world’s leading expert on the theory on mass formation. He was invited on numerous podcasts and talkshows, including Tucker Carlson Today.
Elizabeth Oldfield
Elizabeth Oldfield is a writer, broadcaster and coach focused on deep values and what wisdom means now. She has worked in production in BBC television and radio and for ten years lead the think tank Theos. She currently hosts The Sacred podcast and is the author of Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times.
