Dear friends of The Lenox Institute, |
Welcome to the second edition of The Lenox Dispatch, the newsletter of The Lenox Institute for Advanced Study! The Dispatch features updates, calls for collaboration, and the occasional bit of lore. This one recaps our launch event on June 10th, introduces our next event (coming up this Friday!), and shares some thoughts about our branding. |
If you missed the first edition, please note that we’ll be archiving The Dispatch on our website. Edition One covers our mission and values – you’ll be able to read it here soon. |
This Friday: “Fear, Shame, Wonder, Burnout: How AI Really Makes Us Feel” |
Please join us Friday June 26th from 3-5 pm at Principles G.I. Coffee House in Gowanus, Brooklyn for a free, laid-back conversation about how AI makes us feel. If you're conflicted about how you use it; if you'd like to hear other people's candid reflections about it; or if you just need a place to put your fascination, anger, or exhaustion with the AI-ification of everyday life, this is it. Note that this doesn't include a lecture component — Emma will have discussion prompts ready to go, but we’ll mostly be working with what you bring. No advance registration necessary, just remember to mark your calendars. Hope to see you there! |
"Do Words Still Mean Things?: Language & Communication in the Age of AI" brought together over 40 people for an evening of conversation and communal reflection at Index Space Chinatown. Based on feedback, the event hit home for lots of participants, and we've received several new sign-ups for The Dispatch. Photos from the evening are now up on our official Instagram account. |
We’re delighted to announce that we'll keep working with Index on in-person programs. Their educational mission resonates with ours, so the collaboration is a natural fit. If you missed the first round of "Do Words Still Mean Things?," you’re in luck: we’ll be running it in an online format through Weirdosphere, the educational arm of the widely-acclaimed Weird Studies podcast. Registration info will be posted soon. |
You might have noticed that our logo and website feature a striking shade of blue. As much as we like it, this isn't just an aesthetic choice: it expresses a vital part of our mission. So much of the discourse around technology feels chaotic, rapid-fire, and “hot.” This is due to the attention economy: even when creators would prefer to distance themselves from sensationalism and clickbait, they’re forced to compete with an ever-growing number of claims on our mental bandwidth. In this context, nuanced and thoughtful scholarship rarely rises to the surface, and it’s tempting to opt out of learning about science and tech entirely. |
Since Lenox's mission isn't about content, we don’t face this challenge. Our goal is to bring people together in real time to confront topics we mostly encounter in the solitary and sped-up world of the internet. In doing so, we aim to “cool down” knowledge that's essential for understanding technoscientific change, but that can feel like a burden in the midst of so many attention traps. Hence blue: the color of cool and calm. |
Speaking of brand identity, we've also gotten a few questions about the name. The background on that's a bit more complicated. A story for a future post! |
If you’re interested in teaching for us, please send us your CV. No need for cover letters or course pitches: if we're interested, we’ll solicit additional materials from you directly. We’re also actively seeking spaces in New York City to host programs. If you know of venues that might be a good fit, we’d love to hear about them. Send all inquiries to info@lenoxinstitute.org. |
Last but not least, visibility is our greatest asset. Sharing our events and following us on IG (here’s the link again) and LinkedIn (brand new page!) is a big help. |
That’s it for now! Looking forward to all the good things to come — |
— Shannon, Ryan, and Emma |
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