The Smartest Man in America

Little did I know, when I woke up on the morning of Wednesday April 14th, that later that day I would be speaking with the smartest man in America.

The inestimable Dr. Angel Acosta, the Director of our Fellowship at the Garrison Institute, curates an all-star cast of guest speakers for us to engage with in public conversations.

To put it succinctly, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson's visit blew me away with a hurricane gale of love and intellect. Afterwards, I was reeling from his revelatory intellectual prowess, not quite sure how to go about my afternoon. Dazed and wandering the streets, I called up my fellow Fellow, Dr. Sará King, to ask, "Is it just me, or was that the smartest man I've ever heard speak?"

Fortunately, dear reader, the event is captured in all its star power on the Garrison Institute's Youtube channel.

At the 1:00:30 mark I ask my question to Dr. Dyson — how can science be illuminated and expanded by the contemplative field? I hope you feel even just a little bit as jazzed by his epic 14-minute response as I was!

You can also check out the wonderful questions and engagements that my fellow Fellows had with Dr. Dyson at these points in the video:

0:00-35:30 Angel Acosta in conversation with Dr. Dyson
36:00-49:00 Sará King in conversation with Dr. Dyson
49:00-1:00:00 Justin Michael Williams in conversation with Dr. Dyson

I'd encourage you to watch the whole thing if you have time, sitting back with a nice cup of tea. As Dr. Acosta said in the introduction, "We are graced with Dr. Michael Eric Dyson's presence. For those of you who don't know, now you know. Dr. Dyson is an incredible, towering figure. When they say that we are standing on the shoulders of giants, I am standing on his. Incredible prolific thinker, academic, author."