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.
Save the Dates:
Thursday, September 5, 2 pm – 4 pm: Writing Center Opening Reception
Thursday, September 19, 2 pm – 4 pm: Humano: ¿Qué es? Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, featuring Dr. Laura Hartmann-Villalta
Thursday, October 3, 12 pm – 2 pm: Human Voices: Lunch & Learn on Connecting with Your Representative
Thursday, November 7, 2 pm – 4 pm: Solving Human Problems: A Celebration of STEAM
Thursday, November 21, 2 pm – 4 pm: Celebration of Multilingual Writing
Thursday, December 5, 2 pm – 4 pm: Honoring the Mind and the Body
Tuesday, December 10, 8 pm – Midnight: Long Night Against Procrastination
Explore These Sources
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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?
Read more here. -
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.
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The Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Initiative
The Human Origins Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History explores the deep past and the origins of human life in order to give us insights into human evolution, the development of human cultures and societies, and the future of humanity.