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DESCRIPTION
Concern and fear about technology’s omnipresent role in modern life is not new. The number of people trying to find ways to “unplug” and “escape the noise” seems to have been on the rise for years. Now, a global pandemic forcing people to isolate themselves indoors has thrust technology into an even more central role in the lives of many students and workers, and questions of its value are more relevant than ever. Is it a socially destructive force that breeds anxiety and isolation? Or is it a lifeline that preserves relationships and community in times when they would otherwise be torn apart? Does it enrich our education or undermine it? 

Join us as we seek to explore these questions and more in our final Food for Thought module of the Spring 2020 semester: Silence & Community: Being Present in Our Technological World. We will gather over a series of three Zoom webinars(!) to consider nuanced issues of technology, personal relationships, education, intellectual community, and the value of silence in a technological world. We will open this series with session on silence, community and the monastic tradition led by distinguished guest facilitator Justin McDaniel, Professor and Undergraduate Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

WHEN
7:30pm–8:30pm Eastern Time
Wednesdays, April 15, April 22, April 29

ZOOM DETAILS:
Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/319181466?pwd=anUvVk5PaFRVRUh6Wld0SjZrT0xCQT09
Toll-free number to call in: 877-853-5247
Meeting ID: 319 181 466
Password: 321547

READINGS:
There are two optional, recommended readings for the first session: the Introduction to the Buddhist Monastic Code (pages 11–26 here: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/bmc1.pdf) and some excerpts from St. Benedict's Rule, which can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g4Ct5QsEvafVfJQgyMAPvb-K_Mz4e0WV/view?usp=sharing. Please feel free to read all, part, or none of these texts before attending the first session. Stay tuned for the full reader with the next two sessions' readings!

These sessions are open to Undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania.