Adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers of this year’s Fronteiras do Pensamento (Frontiers of Thought) conference have taken the event online. This year’s theme is Reinvention of the Human. The 2020 conference features Mozambican author Mia Couto; American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt; American historian Timothy Snyder; British economist Paul Collier; Congolese author Alain Mabanckou; Austrian physicist Fritjof Capra; Portuguese author Isabela Figuerido; and American author Andrew Solomon. Fronteiras do Pensamento’s YouTube channel features videos by all of these participants, as well as dozens of videos from previous years’ presentations.
Andrew Solomon responds to a question addressing the theme of this year’s conference: What is the first big step for humanity to reinvent itself? Recorded November 11, 2020. In English with Portuguese subtitles.
Andrew Solomon responds to a question posed by fellow conference presenter Isabela Figueiredo: Many people live with pets. In Japan, there is a phenomenon of replacing a [deceased] significant other with realistic dolls. How do you see the relation between the nonhuman — nature, animals, objects — in the construction of meaning that allows us not to dehumanize ourselves? Recorded November 11, 2020. In English with Portuguese subtitles.
Andrew Solomon responds to a question submitted by a conference attendee: Are there any positive aspects to the pandemic that have somehow improved people’s mental health as a consequence of the slower pace of life during lockdowns? Recorded November 11, 2020. In English with Portuguese subtitles.
