Brooklyn residents Felecia and Ty Freely are true nerds.
But this clever couple – the wife is a veteran engineer and the husband is a Columbia University psychology student – don’t see their intellectual lot in life as a negative thing.
Instead, the visionary duo has pooled their brains to help build community in the Big Apple by creating a positive space for like-minded people: Lectures on Tap.
Held at bars across New York City, each “Beers with Geniuses” session features a different professor, expert, or gifted storyteller, transforming a randomly selected watering hole into a lively forum for “thought-provoking” lectures and discussions.
“We’re popularizing nerd culture,” Felecia, a 32-year-old software engineer and lifestyle influencer, told The Washington Post.
“We’re giving the word a cool new meaning.”
Freelee and her husband started the happy hour hangout on June 18th. Attractive nerdy Gotham citizen To attend an intelligent and fascinating presentation entitled “How Your Brain Sees Movies,” a well-crafted conversation that delves into how the brain interprets movies.
About 50 people, half men and half women, paid $40 for tickets to the boozy talk at the Velvet Brooklyn in Williamsburg, moderated by a Columbia University neuroscientist.
Since the success of the series, the couple have been hosting more frothy seminars in each borough’s beerhouses, inviting some of the leading minds to participate. Taking place at 6.30pm on a different day each week, so far they’ve covered thought-provoking themes such as “The Mind Fuck of Fame”, “Exploring Alien Megastructures” and “AI vs MD”.
“It’s a safe place to have a drink and meet other people who share a lifelong love of learning,” Tai, 35, said.
“Even nerds like to do cool things.”
And this genius alternative to awkward socializing in deafeningly loud nightclubs not only gives local bookworms an excuse to explore new material, it also combats the “loneliness virus” currently plaguing New York’s youth.
Deemed the “loneliest city” by Gen Z and millennials, single people in the metropolis are said to suffer from chronic friendlessness, which the World Health Organization says is an “immediate health threat” with effects as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
To counter this threat, community-hungry people in their 20s and 30s like the Freelys are organizing niche clubs and group activities that bring people together for fun.
While running clubs and group rides are great for many people, it’s not always easy to find people who prefer to exercise their brains and make new friends in a calm, group environment.
“New York needs this,” Felecia said of her lecture-and-beverage program, a concept modeled after a similarly successful series she and Tye ran in Washington, D.C., called “Pints and Profs.”
“If I were single, I would go in the hope of meeting someone who loves learning new things as much as I do,” she continues, adding that at her events she often finds typically reserved people engaging in witty exchanges not only with the lecturers but also with other audience members.
And they’re not just any teachers: Thailand has been able to rely on its impressive academic network when it comes to finding the best minds to lead dynamic congregations.
For example, in early July, the company hired Lawrence Ian Reid, a clinical psychologist who is an associate professor at New York University and an adjunct professor at Columbia University, to lead a symposium called “The Psychology of Deception” at an Upper West Side pub.
In a 45-minute mini-lecture, the educator showed his audience how to spot a lie.
“It was a wonderful experience to lead a discussion on a topic I’ve studied for decades and to meet some very interesting people in the audience,” Reed, an expert on personality disorders and facial expressions, told The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, the Freelys, who opened their latest festival, “James Madison: Faction, Politics and Power,” in Greenwich Village on Wednesday, are hoping their fun-filled forum will continue to generate electric chemistry among eggheads around the world.
Reid agreed, saying there needed to be a better, smarter way to meet up in New York.
“There is a lack of third space [in the city]”Events like these give people a place to socialize and be intellectually stimulated outside of work and home,” Reed said.
