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"We yearn to control and master the future, and one corollary of that is our deep wish to cede control over our lives to the hyper-rationality, objectivity, and reliability of machines," writes Arendt Center director Roger Berkowitz.

Ethan Bloch is a professor of mathematics at Bard. Dr. Bloch was born in Norwalk, Conn., in 1956, and spent part of his childhood in Connecticut and part in Savyon, Israel. After graduating from high school in Tel Aviv he returned to the U.S., going to Reed College, where he majored in mathematics and developed a firm belief in the value of a liberal arts education.

After graduating from Reed in 1978, he went on to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1983, focusing on geometric topology, and in particular on simplexwise linear maps. After Cornell he spent three years at the University of Utah as an instructor of mathematics, subsequently coming to Bard College in 1986, where he has been ever since. Dr. Bloch writes, "I have found Bard to be a wonderfully appropriate environment for my interest in teaching mathematics in a liberal arts setting that encourages spirited inquiry, and maintains a nice balance between individuality and flexibility on the one hand, and a traditional curriculum on the other." His publications include A First Course in Geometric Topology and Differential Geometry (1996), Proofs and Fundamentals: A First Course in Abstract Mathematics (2000, 2010), The Real Numbers and Real Analysis (2011), and numerous scholarly articles. He is the recipient of a National Science Foundation grant (1985–87) and is a member of the American Mathematical Society. Dr. Bloch is married and has two children, who, he says "quite easily fill all my non-Bard time."