Buddhist scholar and Zen teacher David Loy will speak on how modernity has affected human awareness. Today we experience new types of collective attention traps, thanks to pervasive technologies, intrusive advertising, and increasingly sophisticated propaganda. The constriction or liberation of awareness is not merely an individual issue. What should we do about weapons of mass deception and mass distraction? Who should have the right to decide what happens to our attention? Is awareness to be valued as a means to some other end, or should we cherish its liberation as the most important goal of all? David R. Loy is Besl Family Professor of Ethics, Religion and Society at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. His work is primarily in comparative philosophy and religion, particularly comparing Buddhist with modern Western thought. In addition to papers in various journals, he is the author of books including A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack and Money Sex War Karma: Notes for a Buddhist Revolution (Wisdom Publications 2008). A Zen student for many years, he is qualified as a teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition. David recently returned to the U.S. after 28 years in Japan and Singapore.