The John W. Kluge Center invites you to an event looking at the dynamics of presidential primaries.

The event will take place on Thursday, November 7, at 4pm in room LJ-119 of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building. Free tickets are available here.

Kluge Center Director John Haskell will moderate a discussion on the dynamics of presidential primaries, timed just months before primary season begins. Julia Azari, former Kluge Center Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Marquette University political science professor, and Amy Walter, national editor of the Cook Political Report, will be panelists.

They will discuss the role of debates and endorsements in primaries, as well as the question of electability and the major changes affecting political parties and primary processes.

A reception will follow the program.

Tickets are recommended, but not required, and are free.

Register for a ticket here.

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Request ADA accommodations five days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.

Questions? Please contact (202) 707-9219 or scholarly@loc.gov

The John W. Kluge Center invites you to an Author Salon with Danielle Allen

Get your free tickets here.

Please join us for an event in which Danielle Allen will discuss the meaning of the text of the Declaration of Independence. She is the author of Our Declaration (2015), which makes the case that the Declaration of Independence was intended to ensure equality as much as it was intended to secure freedom.

The event will be held at noon on November 12, in Room LJ-119 of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building.

Allen is the Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University as well as the author of several books, including Education and Equality (2016) and Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. (2017).

Tickets are recommended, but not required, and are free.

Register for a ticket here.

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Request ADA accommodations five days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.

Questions? Please contact (202) 707-9219 or scholarly@loc.gov

Thursday, December 5, at 4pm in room LJ-119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, the John W. Kluge Center will hold a discussion marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Get your free tickets here.

Hope M. Harrison and Constanze Stelzenmüller will take part in a discussion moderated by Kluge Center Director John Haskell.

Harrison is an expert on the Berlin Wall, the Cold War, and contemporary Germany, and is Associate Professor of History and International Affairs in the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. She is the author of the new book, After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of the New Germany, 1989 to the Present (2019).

Stelzenmüller is an expert on German, European, and transatlantic foreign and security policy and strategy. She is the inaugural Robert Bosch senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution and the Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Kluge Center.

The event is free, but due to expected demand, tickets are recommended. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Visit the event ticketing site for more information and to secure your ticket. Entry is not guaranteed. Register for a ticket here.

Questions? Please contact (202) 707-9219 or scholarly@loc.gov

Join Us for a Kluge Center Author Salon with Susan Schneider on Artificial Intelligence

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On Thursday January 30, at 4pm in the Montpelier Room of the Madison Building, the John W. Kluge Center will hold a discussion with Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation Susan Schneider.

Schneider will discuss her new book, Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind, which is an exploration of what artificial intelligence can, and cannot, achieve.

Humans may not be Earth’s most intelligent beings for much longer: the world champions of chess, Go, and Jeopardy! are now all AIs. Given the rapid pace of progress in AI, many predict that it could advance to human-level intelligence within the next several decades. From there, it could quickly outpace human intelligence. What do these developments mean for the future of the mind?

In Artificial You, Susan Schneider says that it is inevitable that AI will take intelligence in new directions, but urges that it is up to us to carve out a sensible path forward. As AI technology turns inward, reshaping the brain, as well as outward, potentially creating machine minds, it is crucial to beware. Homo sapiens, as mind designers, will be playing with “tools” they do not understand how to use: the self, the mind, and consciousness. Schneider argues that an insufficient grasp of the nature of these entities could undermine the use of AI and brain enhancement technology, bringing about the demise or suffering of conscious beings. To flourish, we must grasp the philosophical issues lying beneath the algorithms.

Schneider will discuss these topics and more, with a reception to follow.

The event is free, but tickets are recommended. Visit the event ticketing site for more information and to secure your ticket. Entry is not guaranteed.

Register for a ticket here.

Questions? Please contact (202) 707-9219 or scholarly@loc.gov

Join Us for a Kluge Center Author Salon with Ivan Krastev on The Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy.

Get your free tickets here.

On Wednesday, February 19, at 4pm in room LJ-119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, former Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations Ivan Krastev will speak about his new book on Europe’s past, present, and future.

In this insightful work of political history (shortlisted for the prestigious Lionel Gelber Prize), Krastev and co-author Stephen Holmes argue that the supposed end of Communism turned out to be only the beginning of the age of the autocrat. Reckoning with the history of the last thirty years, they show that the most powerful force behind the wave of populist xenophobia that began in Eastern Europe stems from resentment at the post-1989 imperative to become Westernized.

A reception will follow the discussion.

Get your free tickets here.

The event is free, but tickets are recommended. Visit the event ticketing site for more information and to secure your ticket. Entry is not guaranteed.

Questions? Please contact (202) 707-9219 or scholarly@loc.gov

It's not too late to sign up for our author salon with Ivan Krastev on The Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy.

Get your free tickets here.

It’s happening TOMORROW, February 19, at 4pm in room LJ-119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building.

Join former Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations Ivan Krastev as he is interviewed on his new book about Europe’s, and the world’s, turn towards illiberalism.

A reception will follow the discussion.

Get your free tickets here.

The event is free, but registration is recommended. Entry is not guaranteed.

Questions? Please contact (202) 707-9219 or scholarly@loc.gov

Mumbai Indians assistant coach Praveen Amre on the challenge of the second Indian Premier League season and his team's chances.

After a fine domestic season that earned him a place among the probables for the T20 World Cup, all-rounder Abhishek Nayar is raring to go in the second edition if the IPL.

Harbhajan reflects on the year that was, the secret behind India's recent successes and the upcoming Indian Premier League.

The Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has been created for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. The 15-member trust was constituted by the Modi government, after the Supreme Court's verdict on November 9 settled the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case.

The mortal remains of the 16 migrant labourers, who were killed after a goods train ran over them in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad on Friday, had been sent to their native state Madhya Pradesh on a special train.

The Assam government has taken several crucial decisions in its Cabinet meeting including increasing the excise duty on liquor by 25 percent."In the Cabinet, we took several decisions which included increasing the excise duty on liquor by 25 percent.

Taking suo motu cognizance of media reports, the Commission has directed State Chief Secretary and District Magistrate of Aurangabad to submit a detailed report within four weeks.

The incident occurred in the Jasrasar police station area, where the man, identified as Suresh, allegedly thrashed his wife Suman (35) and an 11-year-old son in a fit of rage over some issue on Friday night.

The incident took place in Mora village near the industrial town of Hazira.

Two police officers and a constable were injured after a 27-year-old man attacked them with a chopper in south Mumbai early today, police said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday (May 9) stressed on the need to understand the "chemistry of corona while administering its treatment".

A case was registered against the two men under Sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code Sections 500

The incident took place even as state Director General of Police DG Sawang was inspecting the vapour leak spot and talking to the management on the measures taken to restore normalcy.

Almost five days after the encounter operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Handwara that claimed lives of five security personnel including a decorate officer, the Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen, headed by Syed Salahuddin, has reportedly claimed the responsibility.