Common Question
In 2024-25, CQ asks the Hopkins community: What is human?
What does it mean to be a human being?
What do humans have in common with other biological life-forms?
What activities, attitudes, endeavors, and values are unique to human beings?
What does it mean to be a human being in the era of advanced artificial intelligence and deepfakes?
How have definitions of humanity changed over time, and how do they vary by era, culture, political identity, and religious affiliation?
This year, the Common Question explores these questions in terms of
advanced artificial intelligence, law and civil rights, the arts, climate change, economics,
biomedical research, philosophy, the telling and retelling of histories, spiritual and religious practice, and more.
How Do You Define What’s Human?
We invite JHU community members to answer this year’s Common Question.
Writing Center + Common Question Events, Fall 2024
This fall, we invite you to join us in the Writing Center (Gilman Hall 230) for a series of events exploring this year’s Common Question. Every other Thursday afternoon, the Writing Center will host a CQ-related activity and discussion aimed at getting to the heart of this year’s question.
Fall 2024 Common Question Events in The Writing Center | Gilman Hall 230
Thursday, September 5, 2 pm – 4 pm: Writing Center Opening Reception
Join us for pizza, cake, and other treats as The Writing Center officially opens for the term. Learn about the resources available in the Writing Center, meet our Director and tutors, and help us kick off the academic year in style.
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Thursday, September 19, 2 pm – 4 pm: Humano: ¿Qué es? Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with Dr. Laura Hartmann-Villalta
How do you answer the Common Question from an Hispanophone perspective? Does the question itself translate in a way that makes sense? If so, how? If not, why? Answer these questions and more during our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month featuring a discussion and activity led by the University Writing Program’s Dr> Laura Hartmann-Villalta.
This event is free and open to the campus community, and refreshments will be served!
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Thursday, October 3, 12 pm – 2 pm: Human Voices: Lunch & Learn on Connecting with Your Representative
In partnership with JHU’s Center for Social Concern & Hopkins Votes, join us for a conversation about American Democracy and learn how to effectively communicate your concerns to your local, state, and federal representatives.
This event is free and open to the campus community, and refreshments will be served!
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Thursday, November 7, 2 pm – 4 pm: Solving Human Problems: A Celebration of STEAM
Join us for pizza and cake and great conversation about how a broad education in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) leverages innovation, growth, and technological and social progress.
This event is free and open to the campus community, and refreshments will be served!
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Monday, November 18, 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.: “Sociolinguistic Research for Social and Linguistic Justice.”
a talk and Q&A with Dr. Chrstine Mallinson, Assistant Vice President for Research and Scholarly Impact, Professor of Language, Literacy, and Culture, and Affiliate Professor of Gender and Women’s and Sexuality Studies at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America.
This event is free and open to the campus community, and refreshments will be served!
Register here: https://forms.office.com/r/JZ7etJvJJF
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Thursday, November 21, 2 pm – 4 pm: Celebration of Multilingual Writing: Composing Across Languages
The Writing Center and JHU’s Common Question invite you to join us for our second annual celebration of multilingual writing. We will explore the ways writers combine (code mesh) languages and dialects, demonstrating how writing is entwined with identity.
This event is free and open to the campus community, and refreshments will be served!
Register here: https://forms.office.com/r/0DYGVy495G
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Thursday, December 5, 2 pm – 4 pm: Honoring the Mind and the Body
Let’s face it: it’s been a long semester filled with exciting and sometimes exhausting intellectual and academic challenges. Join us in the Writing Center for a relaxed and informal discussion of the mind-body connection and the relationship between physical/mental/emotional well-being and academic success.
This event is free and open to the campus community, and refreshments will be served!
Register here: https://forms.office.com/r/xEDXPcnFuv
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Tuesday, December 10, 8 pm – Midnight: Long Night Against Procrastination
Join your friends at the Writing Center for The Long Night Against Procrastination! Come get some serious studying done in a collaborative, supportive environment, and enjoy quiet study time, pizza and snacks, engagement with our excellent writing tutors, and participate in some necessary de-stressing activities.
This event is free and open to JHU students!
Register Here: https://forms.office.com/r/0NmZ66Qcdq
Explore These Sources
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Project Nim: A Documentary by James Marsh
Project Nim, a 2011 documentary by filmmaker James Marsh, tells the story of a controversial 1970s experiment in which a human family was tasked with raising a chimpanzee named Nim Chimpsky and teaching him sign language. The film deftly explores the complex nature of human-chimp interactions and of language acquisition, raising the question: what truly separates humans and great apes?
The film is free to stream for JHU affiliates via Kanopy. Don’t have a Kanopy account? Register for one here via JHU’s Sheridan Libraries.
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Baltimore Museum of Art: Whose humanity has typically been represented in art institutions (and whose hasn’t)?
Now through February, the Baltimore Museum of Art’s exhibition “Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum” gives viewers the opportunity to experience work by Native artists, scholars, and community members—people who have long been underrepresented in American arts institutions. [Photo Credit: Mike Steele via Flickr. CC License]
Read more here. -
JHU Professor David Kaplan and the quest for the “God particle.”
JHU Professor David Kaplan’s award-winning documentary about humanity’s search for the Higgs boson particle presents viewers with cutting edge technologies and raises existential questions about the nature of human existence.
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International Monetary Fund: AI Will Transform the Global Economy. Let’s Make Sure It Benefits Humanity
Artificial intelligence is already changing the way that we work, play, and spend our resources. How can we make sure that those economic changes benefit humanity?
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Joshua Rothman writing for the New Yorker magazine: In the Age of A.I., What Makes People Unique?
The New Yorker magazine’s ideas editor Joshua Rothman asks what happens to human values when AI-generated content becomes indistinguishable from art, media, and thoughts produced directly by humans.
Read more here. -
International Committee of the Red Cross: On Being Human Now and in the Future
University of Oxford Senior Fellow Hugo Slim explores the late historian Bruce Mazlish’s conception of humanity as a species, as a code of ethical conduct, and as a global identity.