Intellectual Humility in a Polarized World

Dr. Kurt Gray of UNC Chapel Hill joins us for this timely and intriguing discussion about intellectual humility. Simply put, we’ll be exploring the importance of knowing you might be wrong (gasp! yes, even you), why this is so important, and what we can do about it to help build human connections and bridge our divides.

Join us for our May 10 Dinner at the Square with Dr. Kurt Gray of UNC Chapel Hill and our very own Executive Director Christine White who will moderate this timely and intriguing discussion about intellectual humility. Simply put, we’ll be exploring the importance of knowing you might be wrong (gasp! yes, even you), why this is so important, and what we can do about it to help build human connections and bridge our divides.

At a time when complex technology of all sorts is exploding and voluminous information about the world is at our literal fingertips, one commodity in oddly short supply is intellectual humility. And in these polarized times, we’ve become shockingly convinced that somehow our political allies can decipher reality with utter clarity and it’s only our ideological foes who are thoroughly, utterly and so very dangerously WRONG.

Kurt says our brains are designed to notice patterns and make generalizations to keep us safe, not so much to find truth with accuracy, and this design quirk leads to us overgeneralizing what we think we know in unproductive ways. He brings a strong argument that this describes you too, sorry (you’ll actually be as entertained as you can be when you’re learning just how deluded you are). Together we’ll imagine what we might achieve together if we remember and restore intellectual humility to our politics, to our planet—and because we’re furiously figuring out “How We Get Our Groove Back”—to our lives. Learn more about Kurt’s work by clicking “read more.” And scroll all the way down to see the delicious dinner menu Lively Cafe has planned for you!