Last updated: May 2024

I think philosophy has an essential public component, exemplified by Socrates’ marketplace interactions. There are moral and nonmoral reasons to engage. As such I’ve tried to engage as best I can with my surroundings. Below are some of my activities in Beirut and elsewhere:

How can we be good allies as bystanders during war? I wrote this piece for the Blog of the APA in response to the many wars of 2023-24. Its aim is to help push forward a pacifist viewpoint. Though the view faces many challenges, my (unfortunately many) experiences with war convince me that pacifism is the position we should adopt. I hope to work on a more complete defense in the coming years.

The 2020 Beirut Explosions: I lived through the Beirut explosions, which our criminal government is responsible for, though it continues to evade responsibility, unfortunately with the help of the international community. I experienced the blast from around three kilometers away, but it was still incredibly destructive, and I was unsure whether or not my building would collapse. Luckily I was unharmed, though many I know were not so lucky. Some died, were badly injured, or suffered large material losses. In the aftermath many of us displayed, to different extents, symptoms of trauma. There are many reasons to be both deeply sad and angry about what happened. I wrote this post in the explosions’ immediate aftermath, documented the events of the following few days with VR video, an animation, and an interactive VR experience. My uprising playlist contains some of these videos, and you can play the VR experience in Dreams yourself here. Below is the short animation I prepared to help raise fundraising and awareness, made entirely in VR.

The 2019 Lebanese Uprising: The Lebanese uprising, commonly referred to as the ‘thawra’ or revolution, was long overdue. You can read about some of the reasons behind it here, or listen to a podcast interview with me here (or using your favorite podcast app). I gave the below Arabic talk, titled ‘Life After the Civil War: Psychological & Existential Factors’, to protesters in downtown Beirut in an effort to raise awareness in the population. 

Partly because of my interest in VR, and partly to preserve a record, I filmed various stereoscopic-180 and 360 videos documenting the protests. You can find the playlist on my personal youtube channel here. Below is one video from the playlist, showing some of the wall art that appeared and disappeared during the uprising.

Religion in Lebanon: Lebanon is largely divided along religious sectarian lines. Though a democracy, political positions are constrained by religious denomination. This was meant as a transitory structure after the civil war but unfortunately remained in place. Religion in the country has been largely used as a front by a corrupt political elite. This has had a terrible impact on the culture as a whole, but most of all the youths. The below panel is one of several efforts to help students better disentangle religious from political ideas. The four speaker panel features myself, an atheist philosopher, a sheikh, and a priest. It was hosted by the philosophy and debate student clubs at the Lebanese American University, and won an award for the best club event of 2019. The event is largely in Arabic, but I offer a brief introduction in English, starting at minute 11.

Philosophy for Lebanese and Contemporary Society: Philosophy is not particularly well-understood in culture as a whole, and Lebanon is no exception. The country’s troubled history, an outdated educational system that conflates philosophy and the history of ideas, and confusions in the translation of the word ‘philosophy’ to Arabic in early Islam have all contributed to misunderstanding philosophy. I’ve given a number of talks on the value of philosophy in Lebanon, and hosted an informal discussion group called ‘Philosophy Cafe’ for the benefit of students and recent graduates. Below is one of the talks, part of a TEDx event. It offers students a simple metaphor for philosophy’s place in culture.

Edinburgh stand-up philosophy: I was invited to give two casual philosophy talks as part of an event called Stand-Up Philosophy taking place at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. Scotland remains my favorite place on earth so far, so I was happy to offer something back. Below is one of these talks where I somehow manage to be serious despite being sandwiched between two comedians!