The William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations

08/02/2026

07/15/2026

Excerpted from a recent episode of ON POINT WITH MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI

“But the trick was a perfect demonstration not only of how magicians and illusionists take advantage of your blind spots for wonder and amazement, but also how blind spots can leave us quite vulnerable. Think more broadly for a moment. Politics, misinformation, deepfakes, AI, even commerce in general all seek to exploit our blind spots, to make us believe things that are not true or behave in ways that we might not want to.”

Full episode here:

We all have our blind spots, but with AI and the spread of misinformation, we are more vulnerable to them than ever. Can we learn from a master illusionist on how to avoid falling trap to them?

07/06/2026

https://spectruminfocus.com/section/in-focus/in-focus-shows/2026/07/05/in-focus-darin-waters

We talk to Darin Waters, deputy secretary for the Office of Archives and History at the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

06/26/2026

Excerpts from an article shared by Friday Fellow Liam Hooper (Class of 2020-22):

“‘When many compounds interact, new properties can emerge that cannot be predicted from the individual components alone,’ said Dussarrat.”

“Because the chemistry keeps moving, the chemical landscape never holds still.”

Scents from plants, animals, and microbes merge into one chemical landscape, and pollution can scramble the messages ecosystems depend on.

05/11/2026

Approx half hour program — third in a three part series — on free speech… aired earlier in 2026.

Burt Wolf talks with technology experts about open communication as a cornerstone of democracy.

04/30/2026

04/16/2026

4/15/26 “I want to believe this is true power, that
kindness is the only weapon worth wielding, and I wield it,
land blow after blow to my enemies, without mercy.”

04/10/2026

Paraphrasing: “Getting along is a virtue we can learn…”

Agree?

https://theconversation.com/growing-up-during-sri-lankas-civil-war-taught-me-that-getting-along-with-people-across-divides-is-a-virtue-we-can-learn-273994

A scholar who studies the virtues that help people sustain relationships across faiths and cultures describes what being a child during the war taught him about practicing pluralism in action.