Salut ! Small talk about big questions. Main topic this month: Does technology make us less or more human? In English or French, depending on the attendees — you don't need to speak French, or prepare anything. France is the only country where philosophy is compulsory for every terminale student — whether they specialize in science, economics, engineering, or literature. It is a hallmark of the French system: a citizenship formation, not just academic training, positioning Philosophy at the core of intellectual development. The uniqueness lies in philosophy being treated as a universal, defining, simultaneous rite of education for the entire cohort — scientists and poets alike. \* Philosophy opens the baccaulauréat each year with a four-hour written exam (a choice of two dissertation questions and one text commentary), compulsory for all students in the general and technological tracks. Coefficient 8 in the general track, 4 in the technological track, out of a total of 100 — one of the heaviest weights of all the exams \* Philosophy has been part of the bac essentially since Napoleon created it in the early 1800s, and the exam's "strong symbolic weight in France" is explicitly linked to the Enlightenment tradition \* The cultural-iconic status is real: it's routinely described as the most feared and commented exam of the bac, with the essay topics becoming a national talking point each June.

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