NLM Speaker Series: Free Speech, or a Free-for-All?

In connection with the launch of truth*, this kickoff conversation asks if the fundamental right to freedom of speech – or the limitation of it – comes with unintended consequences. In a world of unlimited access to speech platforms, is speech truly free, or is it in a free-for-all? Does this age of hyper-communication lead to increasing polarization, or is it the key to finding common ground? Would limiting equal amplification of varying perspectives lead to the limitation of diverse thinking and new ideas, or are some interpretations of what is “true” frankly too dangerous to spread? 

Join a panel of thought leaders including Greg Lukianoff, CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression; Lee McIntyre, philosopher and author of Post-Truth and How to Talk to a Science Denier, and others as they ask: in a world full of unlimited access to speech platforms, is speech truly free, or is it in a free-for-all?

Join us for a live watch party at NLM, from 6-8pm, and enjoy special behind-the-scenes access to our latest exhibition truth* plus a special cocktail.

Moderator

Cherri Gregg is an afternoon drive host/news anchor for WHYY radio. Prior to her current position, the award winning journalist covered civil rights, social justice, race and public affairs issues impacting marginalized communities in the Greater Philadelphia region, spending nearly a decade on air at KYW Newsradio. She served as the station’s Community Affairs reporter and was the creator, host and executive producer of the weekly, syndicated radio show and podcast, Flashpoint with Cherri Gregg. Under her leadership, the show earned two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, an NABJ Salute to Excellence Award for Best Podcast and a Pennsylvania Bar Association Media Award all in 2021. Cherri, who is also a licensed attorney, is a past president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists.

Panelists

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. Formerly Executive Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, he previously taught philosophy at Colgate University, Boston University, Simmons University, Tufts Experimental College, and Harvard Extension School.

McIntyre is the bestselling author of POST-TRUTH (MIT Press, 2018) — which was named a CNN Book-of-the-Week in April 2018 and a Best Book of 2018 by the PBS News Hour — along with numerous other books, including THE SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE (MIT Press, 2019) and HOW TO TALK TO A SCIENCE DENIER (MIT Press, 2021). His work has been translated into thirteen languages.

McIntyre’s popular essays have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Nature, Newsweek, and Scientific American. He has appeared on PBS, NPR and the BBC, and has spoken on post-truth at the United Nations and the Vatican.

Greg Lukianoff is an attorney, New York Times best-selling author, and the President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). He is the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate, Freedom From Speech, and FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus. Most recently, he co-authored The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure with Jonathan Haidt. This New York Times best-seller expands  on their September 2015 Atlantic cover story of the same name. Greg is also an Executive Producer of Can We Take a Joke? (2015), a feature-length documentary that explores the collision between comedy, censorship, and outrage culture, both on and off campus, and of Mighty Ira: A Civil Liberties Story (2020), an award-winning feature-length film about the life and career of former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser.

Greg has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and numerous other publications. He frequently appears on TV shows and radio programs, including the CBS Evening News, The Today Show, and NPR’s Morning Edition. In 2008, he became the first-ever recipient of the Playboy Foundation’s Freedom of Expression Award, and he has testified before both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives about free speech issues on America’s college campuses.