2026-2027 Programming

ON BEING HUMAN: Fifteen Years of Polymathic Figuring

Figures are numbers. Figures are scientific diagrams. Artists do figurative drawing. We all have a figure as a body. And we figure things out. So figuring is a word that immediately connotes art, science, mathematics, and cognition.  ~ Margaret Wertheim, science writer, artist, curator and polymath

I truly think that in the current age of AI, to think like a polymath is what engages us in what it means to be human and, more importantly, appreciate the gift that is being human. ~ Harshini Rallapalli, Harman Fellow 2026

On February 9, 2011, the inaugural event of the Harman Academy for Polymathic Study brought together two distinguished scholars—a humanist and a neuroscientist—for a conversation entitled On Being Human. This dialogue marked the beginning of an intellectual experiment at USC: the cultivation of a community dedicated to polymathic inquiry and the integration of diverse forms of knowledge.

For fifteen years, the Harman Academy has fostered a distinctive model of integrated interdisciplinarity, one limited only by our imagination. Through collaborative exploration, students, faculty, artists, scientists, and scholars have investigated the origins of the universe and humanity's place within it; designed games that illuminate the complexities of kelp forest ecosystems; reflected on the redemptive value of failure; reconstructed a virtual Renaissance library; explored the dynamic relationships among ephemerality, stability, and entropy; envisioned the terraforming of Mars; and interrogated the very nature of time itself. Across these diverse endeavors, a common purpose has endured: to create new knowledge, cultivate meaningful connections, and effect transformative change within ourselves, our communities, and the worlds we inhabit.

As the Harman Academy celebrates its fifteenth anniversary, we turn to the concept of figuring as a framework for renewed inquiry. As Margaret Wertheim observes, the term simultaneously invokes mathematics, scientific representation, artistic practice, embodiment, and cognition. To figure is both to represent and to understand; it is an act of creation and interpretation, analysis and imagination. In this sense, figuring offers a uniquely polymathic lens through which to examine the complexities of contemporary existence.

The theme is particularly resonant in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and rapid technological transformation. As computational systems assume greater roles in creative, analytical, and social domains, longstanding questions concerning human identity have acquired renewed urgency. What does it mean to be human in a world where machines can generate art, compose language, solve complex problems, and simulate aspects of reasoning? Are human capacities best understood through the explanatory frameworks of neuroscience, biology, and computation, or do philosophy, the humanities, and the arts reveal dimensions of human being that resist reduction?

From ancient philosophers predating Pythagoras to contemporary thinkers such as Stephen Hawking, polymathic inquiry has continually grappled with humanity's place in the cosmos. Understanding what it means to be human has long required engagement across disciplinary boundaries, drawing simultaneously upon scientific investigation, philosophical reflection, artistic expression, and technological innovation. It remains the animating force of the Harman Academy today.

Our fifteenth-year celebration invites participants to explore a series of interconnected questions. How might neuroscientific accounts of pain, love, memory, smell, empathy, regret, or joy converge with—or diverge from—philosophical interpretations of these experiences? Can the meaning of human existence be fully explained through chemical and neurophysiological processes, or does an irreducible dimension of mystery remain? Is artificial intelligence evolving toward the replication of human cognition, or does humanity possess qualities that cannot be algorithmically reproduced? More provocatively, what assumptions about humanity are revealed when we ask whether AI might become "better" at being human than humans themselves?

Rather than seeking definitive answers, the Harman Academy embraces these questions as opportunities for collaborative exploration. Through the integration of art, science, the humanities, and technology, we continue the work of figuring—of representing, questioning, imagining, and understanding. In doing so, we reaffirm the value of polymathic thinking not only as an intellectual practice, but also as a means of engaging more deeply with the enduring mystery and possibility of being human.

Polymathic Pizza: Fall 2026 | Sessions on Wednesdays, 5:00–6:30 p.m., unless otherwise noted.