Who is a non-human person?

An orangutan has settled into a Florida home after a court granted her personhood rights. But what is the basis for personhood?

  • An orangutan named Sandra was granted non-human personhood rights in 2015 and has been moved from the Buenos Aires Zoo to a home in Florida.
  • Legal personhood is not synonymous with human being. A "non-human person" refers to an entity that possesses some rights for limited legal purposes.
  • Sentience might be the characteristic necessary for granting legal rights to non-human species.
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Charles Koch Foundation
Charles Koch Foundation

How does academic freedom change society for good?

Even the most controversial research conducted by scholars can impact cultures and drive progress.

Videos
  • Academic freedom is, at the same time, absolutely critical and underappreciated.
  • This protection drives innovation and progress, but do we take it for granted? Scholars' ability to conduct controversial research impacts culture and society in a positive way.
  • The opinions expressed in this video do not necessarily reflect the views of the Charles Koch Foundation, which encourages the expression of diverse viewpoints within a culture of civil discourse and mutual respect.
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Is the end near? Podcaster Dan Carlin discusses his new book.

The host of Hardcore History has written his first book, The End Is Always Near.

  • In his debut work of nonfiction, Dan Carlin discusses the last 6,000 years of apocalyptic moments.
  • The podcaster talks about the choices we're collectively facing in view of the historical record.
  • Carlin warns against judging past deeds on current standards, as we're setting a bad precedent on future generations.
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If you’re using ‘millennial’ as a meaningful measurement, you should probably stop

'Millennial' doesn't hold nearly as much meaning as Americans pretend it does. Here's why.

What value does the word “millennial" actually have?

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Reginald Dwayne Betts - Nothing to resurrect after prison

"I think when you come to grips with what happened, it gives you a chance of doing something different. What's really dark is when you're going through something and you have no perspective." By revisiting—through poetry—his 9 years in prison for a teenage carjacking, Reginald Dwayne Betts finds freedoms most of us have never known.

Think Again Podcasts


Some experiences change you so completely that you're left with a choice: either spend your life running from them or spend your life turning them over in memory, trying to find new ways in, through, and out the other side. The power of the impulse to explain or somehow articulate these experiences is inversely proportionate to other people's ability to understand them. They're everything all at once. It seems to me that my guest today has made that second choice, the hard choice not to run away. Or maybe it's a choice you have to keep making over and over again. His name is Reginald Dwayne Betts. He's 39 years old—an accomplished poet and essayist and a graduate of Yale Law School. But he spent most of his teenage years and young adulthood in prison and over a year in solitary confinement, experiences neither society, nor memory, nor his fellow feeling for the more than 2 million people behind bars in the United States, the vast majority of them black men and boys, has let him forget. Dwayne's beautiful and necessary new book of poems is called FELON, and I'm honored to have him with me here today to talk about it.



How outrage mobs silence academics — and what we can do to stop them

When the protection of academic freedom is compromised, scholarship and greater society suffer the effects.

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Sponsored by Charles Koch Foundation
  • Social media has made it easier than ever to succumb to mob mentality and let our worst instincts and impulses run rampant. Outrage mobs pose a new and unique threat to professors' academic freedom.
  • Although expressing moral outrage can feel good, bad actors can use outrage mobs to further their own specific agendas, leaving careers ruined and productive discourse even further out of reach.
  • University leaders should stop caving to outrage mobs and start standing up for academic freedom, both for students and professors.
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Youth brain: How does your office view aging?

Getting older — see: looking older — is not ideal in the workplace culture of youthfulness.

Videos
  • Professional biohacker Dave Asprey says the healthier you are, the better you're paid at work. So taking care of yourself doesn't just serve the ego, it can also provide for your family.
  • This can differ between men and women, however, as the latter face age discrimination more heavily.
  • Taking measures to benefit the health of your mind and body can get you ahead in the workplace culture of youthfulness.
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