How would you answer the question, "How much are you worth?"? Based on your body's iron, magnesium, oxygen, etc., you could sell your body for around $18. Or you could check your transcript and report your 4.0 GPA. Or with the help of social media, you could tally up your followers on Instagram and Twitter. But $18, a 4.0, and 3,000 followers are poor approximations for you and the worth of your life. How, instead, should we approach this question?
Today, we’re exploring what it means to be human — holistically. How can we approach our humanness with an understanding of our bodies, minds, and souls? By the end of this episode, you’ll gain a better understanding of how you are worth more than the sum of your parts. This Forum event was hosted at Dartmouth in 2022. The first speaker is Praveen Sethupathy, the director for the Center for Vertebrate Genetics at Cornell University. The second speaker is Lori Alvord. She’s a General Surgeon at Astria Health. The conversation is moderated by Ross Douthat, opinion columnist at the New York Times.