Monday Conversations

Just because we’re retired doesn’t mean that we have to stop thinking and devel­oping new percep­tions about the way the world works. This group aims to not only discuss contem­porary social issues and current affairs but some of what might be called “big ideas”.

The intention is to alternate, on a fort­nightly basis, current affairs type topics with other subjects that enable us to range far and wide in our thinking. The intention is to look at agreed big topics from a concep­tual point of view, exploring ethical, societal, philo­soph­ical, psycho­lo­gical implications. 

Potential topics include:

  • Space frontiers—what, who, why
  • Meritocracy—what is it, what is its role in achieving equity
  • National security—surveillance, big data, human rights
  • Information wars—what, who, protec­tions against
  • Death of democracy—real or imagined, or evolving
  • Making of history—whose stories get told, sources
  • Nihilism/ennui/anti-ambition—generational, real or imagined
  • Privacy—what is it, does it evolve, why is it important 
  • Adversity—‘life is not meant to be easy’, do we need adversity to be worth­while humans
  • Health—to what extent should we focus on providing health care, to what end

We will expect active parti­cip­a­tion, prepar­a­tion and lead­er­ship from members of the group so that we can all gain maximum benefit from our time together.

Convenors: Katrina Hall and Elizabeth Weaver

For further inform­a­tion contact either through the U3A office.