Online Seminars

Today I've registered for three sessions from three different sources.  Since Covid-19 glued our retinas and their brain connections to our flat screens, a few new parts of the world have opened up.  In the past I would attend Grand Rounds or a Rabbi class or go see a visiting distinguished guest brought to town by a philanthropic organization.  Usually the only option was to attend live, but there have also been archives of yutorah.org or outorah.org that bring renowned scholars to my screen at my discretion, though I always accessed solo.  What Covid-19 forced upon us was that merger of multiple people accessing an invited guest of prominence at the same time.

Today, I am scheduled to hear from a senior UN official at noon, a distinguished author from The Atlantic at 2PM and our Rabbi's class at 6PM.  Real time allows for questions to a person of accomplishment that would otherwise not have been possible.  It is not just the ideas these speakers opened for me but the queries of others who may have heard something a little different or uses that same presentation to ponder a different path that makes these sessions sparkle.

A lot of what I access has Jewish content, very little has medical content, though.  This is probably quite different than what I would do live where medical education provides easy access. This new menu and how I select among what comes before me might redefine my own intrinsic interests.  I don't access anything reflecting overtly partisan politics, though many of the seminars offer outstanding analysis of public issues that will ultimately need to have political office holders implement enduring responses.

For me, it's ready access to upper tier minds and achievers.  It's also expanded access to people I don't know but probably would want to know if circumstances were different. The merger of mental and social.  It's been forced upon us but will likely remain after the public health threat has faded into world and medical history.