Theme: The next roaring 20's

We have entered the new decade, this past year, with a great many problems. And while it sure is troublesome, it is not completely unprecedented. A lot of hot topics from today’s world have shaken our society before. A century ago, the world experienced a decade of change, prosperity, turmoil and recovery. And we call this era The Roaring 20’s.

During this new TEDxLeuvenSalon, we will take a look into our possible future by drawing parallels with the past, to this special and turbulent era. Our expert speakers will touch on subjects like global health, equality movements, fake news and more.

Online
N/A
Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant (nl), 3000
Belgium

Allison Duettmann

President of the Foresight institute

Allison is a philosophy & public policy expert and the president of Foresight Institute. They aim to advance crucial technologies to improve our life long-term. She has spoken on existential hope, health improvement and AI coordination. Her talks have been admired at the Wall Street Journal, The World Economic Forum, Effective Altruism Global and more. You can find a great community with an optimistic long-term vision for the future at Existentialhope.com Ambitious futures seem tricky, at the moment. But Allison will give us her take on how we can turn a catastrophe into existential hope. She will review a few opportunities to transform our governance, coordination and sense-making that got surfaced in the crisis. So we can look to a more optimistic future.

Anton Jäger

Wiener-Anspach Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge & Université Libre de Bruxelles

What will the future of politics looks like? The 1920s and today might just be perfect parallels to help us understand what’s to come. Our next speaker Anton Jäger, will guide us through this mystery. Anton has a PhD in History and a Master in Philosophy. He researches the history of political thought and theory. He has taught history, politics and sociology at the Universities of Cambridge, London, Yale and Brussels. He is currently writing books about basic income and populism. Are we all headed back to the 1920s? Since the Brexit and Trump votes in 2016, a return to the dark days seems a possibility. But though there are similarities, there are also many differences. If we want to understand the coming years, the 1920s might be a useful contrast instead of an example. In this sense, our next twenties might be exactly that: ours.

Ching Lin Pang

Professor of anthropology

Professor Ching Lin Pang is a philologist, political scientist and anthropologist. Working with the University of Antwerp and KU Leuven, she is an expert on transnational relations, mobilities and identities in China and the EU. As an associate professor at UAntwerp, she is the head of the Chinese culture and language departments. At KU Leuven, she teaches about China’s and global politics. Professor Pang promotes research cooperation to create a better understanding of eastern culture. In her talk, she will explain the evolution of gender roles of Chinese women from different generations.

Johan Neyts

Professor of Virology

Johan is a professor of Virology at the University of Leuven. His medical teachings are well known, and his lab has long-standing expertise in strategies and drugs against many viral infections. They’re closely involved in the fight against COVID-19. The team recently created a potent vaccine candidate against the virus. Johan himself is also an experienced public speaker. You can see him regularly in medical related news. COVID19 has thoroughly ravished the world. Just as the Spanish flu did over 100 years ago. How are these two diseases similar and different? How can we avoid such outbreaks before they happen? Johan will give us scientific answers and a professional’s view of the future.