| Aliens and Alienation: Social Implications If We Are Alone in the Universe |
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Michael W. Clune, Ph.D. – Professor of English at Case Western Reserve University |
Friday September 14, 2018
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Dampeer Room
Kelvin Smith Library
Case Western Reserve University
Dear Colleagues:
For most of human history, human beings believed we were not alone in the universe – even if we were at the center of it. Some form of supernatural being(s) shared the world with us – perhaps watched over us, perhaps had responsibility for the inexplicable.
As Michael Clune writes in a recent issue of The Atlantic, as the scientific revolution challenged those beliefs and showed the vastness on which our lives seem an infinitesimal speck, we resisted the implications of being alone in the world. There had to be other intelligent life in the universe, right? No Father or Mother to watch over us might be bad enough – but totally alone? Literature took up the challenge of developing new stories about a “nonhuman or superhuman Other.” Science provided rationales on which literature and popular culture could build.
Yet recent theory suggests, “it looks increasingly possible that humans may indeed be alone, or that we might have some mind-bogglingly gigantic region of the universe to ourselves.” That has all sorts of implications – for instance, if we are “perhaps the only intelligent species in all of time and space,” what does that say of our own importance – or responsibility? Join us for a discussion of cosmic scope – about literature, culture, and the stakes in human society.
All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies
About Our Guest
Michael W. Clune is the critically acclaimed author of the memoirs Gamelife and White Out: The Secret Life of Heroin. His academic books include Writing Against Time and American Literature and the Free Market. Clune’s work has appeared in venues ranging from Harper’s, Salon, and Granta, to Behavioral and Brain Sciences, PMLA, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. He is currently Professor of English at Case Western Reserve University, and lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Where We Meet
The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Our programs are open to all and no registration is required. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library.
* Kelvin Smith Library requires all entrants to show identification when entering the building, unless they have a university i.d. that they can magnetically scan. We are sorry if that seems like a hassle, but it has been Library policy for a while in response to security concerns. Please do not complain to the library staff at the entrance, who are just doing their jobs.
Parking Possibilities
The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.
Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:
September 21: The Social Enterprise Zoo. With Dennis R. Young, Professor Emeritus, Georgia State University; Former Director, Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations.
September 28: Panama and Paradise: What Have We Learned From the “Papers,” and Will It Make Any Difference? With Richard Gordon, Professor of Law and Director, Financial Integrity Institute.
October 5: The Power to Pardon. With Michael Benza, Senior Instructor of Law, and moderated by Jonathan L. Entin, David L. Brennan Professor of Law Emeritus. ***Alternate Location: Mather House 100, 11201 Euclid Ave.***
October 12: Caesarism: Populism and Leadership in Ancient Rome and Greece. With Timothy Wutrich, Senior Instructor in Classics, and Rachel Sternberg, Associate Professor of Classics. ***Alternate Location: Mather House Room 100, 11201 Euclid Ave.***
October 19: The Context of Coverage: Ohio’s Medicaid Expansion. With Loren C. Anthes, Public Policy Fellow and Director, Medicaid Policy Center, Center for Community Solutions.
October 26: TBA
November 2: Biennial Pre-Election Forecast Discussion. With Joseph White, Luxenberg Professor of Public Policy, and Andrew M. Lucker, Adjunct Professor of Political Science Alternate Location: Mather House Room 100, 11201 Euclid Ave.
November 9: TBA
November 16: Questions and Answers About Recycling Plastics. With John Blackwell, Leonard Case Jr. Professor Emeritus, Macromolecular Science and Engineering.
November 23: Thanksgiving break.
November 30: Just How Powerful is Putin? With Stephen Crowley, Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science, Oberlin College.
December 7: Union Decline in a Populist Era: The Experience of Western Democracies. With Chris Howell, James Monroe Professor of Politics, Oberlin College. |
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September 10, 2018
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Upcoming Events
ENCRYPTION: PRIVACY v. PUBLIC SAFETY
Join a student panel for the 2018 CWRU Constitution Day program featuring Raymond Ku, J.D., Professor of Law and Director, Center for Cyberspace Law & Policy, Case Western Reserve University School of Law and William C. Snyder, J.D., Teaching Professor, Syracuse University College of Law, Monday September 17, 2018, 4:00 p.m., CWRU School of Law, Moot Courtroom (A59), 11075 East Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio 44106. Free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Office of the President, Office of Government and Community Relations, Department of Political Science, Center for Policy Studies, and School of Law.
The social contract upon which the United States government is based obliges the government to protect its citizens,and this may restrict certain of their liberties. Thus, a balance must be struck between the government’s duty to provide protection and a person’s right to privacy.
Pressure to eliminate the digital privacy of individuals is increasing. From the FBI’s efforts to decrypt the iPhone of the December 2015 San Bernardino mass shooter to Carpenter v. US (2017), the debate on privacy versus public safety needs to be addressed. How can the federal government strike a balance between privacy and public safety? What, if any, restrictions should be placed on the government when accessing private data during the course of a criminal investigation?
The Constitution Day Student Committee is pleased to welcome Raymond Ku, J.D. and William C. Snyder, J.D. to discuss these critical questions related to the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
STATE COURTS IN A FEDERAL SYSTEM
A discussion with The Honorable Joan L. Larsen, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Tuesday September 25, 2018, 4:30 p.m., CWRU School of Law, Moot Courtroom (A59), 11075 East Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio 44106. Free and open to the public.
State courts are the courts most likely to affect an ordinary person’s life. Development of the common law of property, tort and contract, as well as the law governing our most personal relationships, family law, are the province of state courts. Most criminal law is state law; and most criminal prosecutions happen in state court. In these, and in other areas, state courts have been innovators. For example, state courts have taken the lead in developing new ways to work with non-violent criminal offenders, through the creation of problem-solving courts such as veterans’ treatment courts, drug courts, and mental health courts. And while most people think only of the U.S. Constitution when they think of their rights, each of our fifty states has its own constitution too, whose interpretation, by state judges, is not formally constrained by the parallel work of the federal courts. In other words, state courts matter. In fact, there was no guarantee that federal courts, besides the Supreme Court, would even exist. Our Constitution did not require it—Congress had the discretion, but not duty, to create lower federal courts. But as the federal court system has grown, it has developed an ever-evolving, complicated relationship with the state courts. There are many doctrines, such as abstention and procedural requirements in habeas corpus that are designed to respect the work of the state courts and recognize the states’ primacy. But how robustly should federal courts apply these doctrines? And how much deference should state courts give to federal court resolution of the parallel problems that confront them? These, and many other questions, are inherent in our federal system.
The Honorable Joan L. Larsen was nominated by the President on May 8, 2017 and confirmed by the Senate on November 1, 2017. Before her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Larsen served two terms as a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, where she was the court’s liaison to Michigan’s drug, sobriety, mental health and veteran’s courts.
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