153 — Potent Stuff, A Conversation with Prof. Jacob Howland
From Zukunft Denken – Podcast by Alexander Schatten
May 25, 2026 · 1h 6m · Season 1 · Episode 153
About this episode
A conversation exploring the interplay of technology and the human condition with Prof. Jacob Howland.
This episode was a particular joy for me. I had the honor to talk with Jacob Howland. We start with LSD—talking about it, that is — go back to the steam engine in ancient Greece to return to the 20th century’s nuclear bomb and today’s artificial intelligence. What is the interplay of the human condition with ever more potent technology? What constitutes progress, education, and how can we deal with the challenges of our time? Jacob Howland served as Provost and Dean of the Intellectual Foundations Program at the University of Austin from 2022 to 2025, and before that, as McFarlin Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tulsa. He is the author of five books on Plato, Kierkegaard, and the Talmud, and over sixty articles on literature, politics, and the academy for general readers. He will be a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas during the academic year 2026-27. I was intrigued by a conversation Jacob had with Jordan Peterson talking about the CIA gets its hands on LSD. Jacob described the situation as “This is potent stuff, what can we do with it?” Was this a special case or is this our general approach to innovation…
People in this episode
Host: Alexander Schatten
Guest: Prof. Jacob Howland
Topics covered
- technology
- human condition
- innovation
- education
- progress
- challenges of our time
Keywords
- LSD
- innovation
- human condition
- technology
- education
- progress
- nuclear bomb
- artificial intelligence
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Austin, University of Tulsa, University of Texas
Products: LSD
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