Junto is a monthly meeting which focuses on libertarianism, Objectivism and investing. The NYC Junto was founded in 1985 by investor Victor Niederhoffer, who hosts each meeting. Information about Victor and his activities is available at http://dailyspeculations.com/.

This Junto is inspired by the Junto hosted by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia from 1727 to 1757. Like Franklin, we bring together intelligent people to discuss intellectual issues in a respectful manner.

Our meetings are usually held in Manhattan on the first Thursday of each month. We usually have a guest speaker who can bring new insights and ideas to us. Debate and questions are encouraged. Admission is free. No donation is requested. There is no connection with any political or religious organization or group.

Invitation from Victor Niederhoffer

I invite you to come to the Junto and join some select friends who believe strongly in the sanctity of life, liberty, and property. Those of us who share these views are all too rare in this society. I believe all of us can benefit by meeting to exchange ideas and insights.

For more than 30 years of his life, Benjamin Franklin held a series of weekly meetings of what he called the Junto, a group of 12 men who would gather to discuss truth, morality, and intellectual issues in an attempt to improve themselves and their society. My goal is to accomplish the same for ourselves.

Guided by science, logic and rationality, Franklin attempted to explore all aspects of his world and learned a tremendous amount. By his pursuit of knowledge, happiness and self-benefit he was able to create good for his society. The idea of a Junto is appealing to me — each month, I eagerly look forward to bringing together successful, intelligent men and women who share these ideals.

In Franklin’s original Junto, the members used a guide a series of 24 questions, such as:

• Have you met with anything in the author you last read, remarkable or suitable to be communicated to the Junto, particularly in history, morality, poetry, physic, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge?
• What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling in conversation?
• Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause? Have you lately heard of any citizen’s thriving well, and by what means? Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?
• What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately heard; of imprudence, of passion, or of any other folly or vice? What happy effects of temperance, of prudence, of moderation, or of any other virtue?
• Do you think of anything at present in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind?
• Have you any weighty affairs in hand in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service? In what manner can the Junto, or any them, assist of in any of your honorable designs?

Franklin included additional questions reflecting his group’s position as an influencer of city and state politics. I see our group as more of an intellectual exercise — rather than influencing the government directly, I would prefer that we have a positive beneficial impact on each other. With this in mind, we have a more up-to-date version of some of these questions, as well as some additional ones suggested by today’s world:

• What is the most interesting or unusual thing you have read, seen, or heard about in the last month? What is the most potentially dangerous or harmful? The most beneficial? The most significant for the people here today?
• What can we learn from world events today? Has there been any notable failure or success, financial, political, or otherwise, from which we can gain insight and understanding?
• Can a man or woman arrive at perfection in this life? What is the proper balance between idealism and pragmatism in our existence? (Franklin’s own question)
• How can we judge the goodness of art, music, drama or literature?
• Is science compatible with religion? What is the appropriate role of religion in our lives, if any?
• What is the most important political issue facing this country in the next five years?
• Whom do you respect most? Why?

I believe that by considering these important issues, as well as others which you will suggest, we can improve our minds, our lives, and the minds and lives of people around us.