Conjecture Institute Conference
Defend the West
An online conference hosted by Conjecture Institute on the ideas that built the modern West — reason, free inquiry, individual rights and open markets — and on what it takes to defend them.
Date
Wednesday, January 13, 2027
Times to be confirmed
Format
Online
Zoom livestream
Speakers
14
Confirmed so far
Reserve your spot
Leave your email and we'll send you a calendar invite now, plus the Zoom link and the full programme as soon as they're set.
Participants are welcome to join for the full conference or drop in for selected talks.
Attendee questions welcome.
About
The inheritance of the Western project is being questioned from many directions at once. This conference brings together philosophers, economists, scientists and writers to ask which parts of that inheritance are worth defending, why Western institutions foster progress better than any alternatives ever created by man, and what we can do to ensure that the West continues to serve as a beacon of progress and prosperity for ages to come.
Speakers
Confirmed so far. More to be announced.
David Friedman
Economist, legal scholar and author of The Machinery of Freedom, the classic statement of the case for a society ordered by private law rather than by the state.
Conference talk
The Economist's Case for Liberty
Steven Pinker
Cognitive psychologist and Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, and one of the most widely read defenders of Enlightenment ideals.
Conference talk
Progress in the 21st Century
Stephen Hicks
Philosopher, author and Executive Director of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship.
Conference talk
Science as Moral Virtue
Yaron Brook
Chairman of the board of the Ayn Rand Institute and host of The Yaron Brook Show, where he has argued the case for reason, egoism and capitalism for over a decade.
Conference talk
Individualism: The West's Great Achievement
Alana Newhouse
Founder and editor-in-chief of Tablet, the magazine of Jewish news, ideas and culture, which she launched in 2009 and has edited since.
Conference talk
Zionism for Everyone
Johan Norberg
Swedish historian of ideas and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, whose books chart how open societies made the modern world rich and why they keep coming under attack.
Conference talk
The Fragility of Greatness: Progress in History
Deirdre McCloskey
Economist and historian, holder of the Isaiah Berlin Chair in Liberal Thought at the Cato Institute and Distinguished Professor Emerita of Economics and of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Conference talk
Liberalism as a New Equality of Permission
Michael Shermer
Founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, host of The Michael Shermer Show, and for eighteen years a monthly columnist for Scientific American.
Conference talk
The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom
Brett Hall
Brett Hall is an Australian educator, science communicator and technical advisor.
Conference talk
The Eternal West: A Timeless Approach to Principles as Conjectured Explanations
Jason Crawford
Founder and president of the Roots of Progress Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to building a culture of progress and restoring a bold, ambitious vision of the future.
Conference talk
The Real Story of Progress and the Enlightenment
Nadine Strossen
Constitutional law scholar and led the American Civil Liberties Union as national president from 1991 to 2008.
Conference talk
Free Speech and Its Malcontents: A Fireside Chat with Nadine Strossen
Peter Boghossian
Peter Boghossian serves as the Executive Director of the National Progress Alliance and Founding Faculty Advisor at the University of Austin.
Conference talk
Western Civilization Is Superior
Maarten Boudry
Philosopher of science and progress thinker whose work examines pseudoscience, cultural evolution, conspiracy theories, climate policy, science and religion, and the reasoning errors that shape public debate.
Conference talk
When Westerners Hate the West: The Autoimmune Disease of Liberalism
Speaker portrait credits: David Friedman — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0; Steven Pinker — Christopher Michel, CC BY-SA 4.0; Stephen Hicks — Howardcorn33, CC BY-SA 4.0 (modified); Yaron Brook — Newsdocumenting, CC BY-SA 4.0; Alana Newhouse — Jewish Funders Network, CC BY 3.0; Johan Norberg — Jesper Sandström, CC BY 2.0; Deirdre McCloskey — Policy Exchange, CC BY 2.0; Michael Shermer — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0; Brett Hall — Brett Hall, official YouTube channel; Jason Crawford — Monica Semergiu, CC BY-ND 4.0; Nadine Strossen — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0; Nick Gillespie — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0; Maarten Boudry — Koen Broos, official website.
Event page by Edwindoit