Messages from the Past

My conversation with Roman Krznaric

It’s been too long, of course, but I wanted to send a quick missive and update.

In early September, I was fortunate to speak with the philosopher Roman Krznaric about his new book, History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity. Roman’s previous work includes The Good Ancestor, Empathy, and Carpe Diem Regained, and he serves as a senior research fellow at the Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing at the University of Oxford. He is also the founder of the world’s first Empathy Museum.

Our conversation was time-stretching, wide-ranging, and personally enriching. As I say in the introduction to this talk:

From combating our addiction to fossil fuels, to navigating intolerance in the coming age of migration, many of our present and future challenges feel too big to fathom. But the book’s thesis — laudable and effectively argued — reminds us we need not confront the future empty-handed.  Instead, we should remember (and for many of us, learn) just how vast the past really is: as a place of study, reflection, and — if we’re careful — vital inspiration.

You can listen to our conversation (for Intelligence Squared) here.

Happy Friday!

AM