Participants were able to grab coffee and tea as they settled into their seats. Our MC kicked off the night of deep intellectual exploration, and introduced our two distinguished speakers, Don Patterson and Julie Frumin:

Don Patterson, PhD (Cornell University, University of Washington): Former Professor of Computer Science at Westmont College, UC Irvine, and US Naval Operations. Don is now the CTO at Blockpliance, a leading company in cryptocurrency risk assessment through machine learning. Don's topic, "AI is Changing What It Means to Be Human," explores how AI is rapidly altering our cultural expectations about truth, responsibility, and our interactions, provoking thoughts on how we should respond to these changes. You can explore more of his professional work here: https://www.djp3.net/about-professor-donald-j-patterson/ 

Title: AI is Changing What It Means to Be Human

"Human relationships are governed by many implicit assumptions about how we know what is true, what our responsibilities are to each other, and how we account for other people’s time and energy. AI is changing all of these cultural expectations much faster than we can adapt. I’d like to offer some provocations that might help people identify how things are changing, so we can discuss the implications and how we should respond in the near future."

Julie Frumin, LMFT (M.S., Pepperdine University): Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a master's in clinical psychology. Experienced as an Executive Coach, Therapist, Wellness Retreat speaker, and educator. Julie's topic, "Sustaining Mental Wellbeing in the Age of Technology," examines the impact of technology on life satisfaction since the widespread adoption of smartphones. She discusses how to reclaim our time, focus, and attention to live in balance with technology and foster real-life connections. You can explore more of her professional work here: https://www.juliefrumin.com

Title: Sustaining Mental Wellbeing in the Age of Technology

"How does our current use of technology affect life satisfaction? In Walden, his 1854 reflection on simple living, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The cost of a thing is the amount of … life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.” It’s an elegant formulation of what economists would later call the opportunity cost of any choice—all of the things you can no longer do with your money and time once you’ve committed them to something else. Let's talk about what has happened to our mental health, as a collective, since 2012, the year the majority of Americans owned a smartphone. How can we take the power back and be intentional with our time, focus and attention, as they are our precious non-renewable resources? Learn to live in balance with technology, in order to ensure that we can connect to ourselves and others in real life, as we were designed to do."

After these engaging, succinct talks, participants were able to connect with our experts and ask questions followed by breaking into small discussion groups, led by our professional discussion table leaders, to delve deeper into these topics. Insights from these discussions will be shared with the MC and primary speakers, fostering a rich exchange of ideas.