A Constitution for the 21st Century

McQuillan Institute for Science, Technology, and the Human Future · constitution21stcentury.org

The McQuillan Institute's first international project: seven convenings between 2026 and 2028, each held at a place of constitutional significance in the United States, France, South Africa, the United Kingdom, India and Japan. Its starting point is that technologies of data, genes and climate already order everyday life, and that constitutional thinking has to catch up.

We write up each convening as it happens: who said what, and which questions were left open. Every summary links to the moment in the recording, so you can hear the original.

Convenings

Schedule checked 2026-11-03

01Boston and Cambridge, MassachusettsSeptember 11 to 12, 2026Democracy
Day 1 evening: Boston Public Library. Day 2: Norton's Woods Conference Center, Cambridge
The series opens: some two dozen scholars and politicians ask how democratic constitutions can still be amended, and by whom, when AI, platforms and biotechnology are redistributing power.
Read → · 14 questions
02PhiladelphiaOctober 29, 2026Democracy
Benjamin Franklin Hall, American Philosophical Society
In the society Franklin founded, ten speakers took up three matters: who may know on the people's behalf, whose lives biotechnology may rewrite, and whether a constitution lives in its text or in the way people live.
Read → · 14 questions
03ParisMarch 15–16, 2027Common good
Collège de France
Upcoming · Event page ↗
04JohannesburgAugust 2027Emancipation
Constitution Hill (with WISER)
Upcoming · Event page ↗
05LondonDecember 2027Common sense
To be announced
Upcoming · Event page ↗
06India2028Law
To be announced
Upcoming · Event page ↗
07Japan2028Peace
To be announced
Upcoming · Event page ↗

Theme matrix

Each cell counts the questions a convening raised under a theme. Click a row to see how each convening asked it.

Theme matrix	01 Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts	02 Philadelphia
	3	3
	3	3
	2	4
	2	3
	3	2
	3	2
	2	3
	2	2
	2	2
	2	1
	1	2
	1	1