Science and Technology Group: Difference between revisions

From Reform Club Science Group
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Madrigal)
(161 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
== Our Most Recent Meeting ==
== Now planning meetings for the 2022 Season  ==


Our last meeting was with Prof Martyn Thomas who will give a talk on the 15th February  entitled '''Cybersecurity: the scale of the threat and why we have made almost no progress towards a solution'''.  This was a fascinating talk which had several of us wanting to throw away our smart phones, and tape over our webcams. He offered a compelling argument that until software developers are held strictly liable for failures of security of the applications they sell, to banks for example, the problem will remain. Currently, the indemnity insurance provided against losses by customers of financial institutions removes the incentives to force providers of mission critical software to protect the public.
Please get in touch if you know of a suitable speaker or would like a specific topic addressed.


Read more about the meeting [[Martyn Thomas|here]].
To keep informed, please sign up to our mailchimp list:


== Next Meeting: Joint Meeting With Cryptos: 27 February 2017 ==
<mailchimpforms prefix="science-and-technology-group" account="c848bb9da2c85dd0281575c04" list="deb28a80da" type="subscribe" />
Following on from the very successful joint meeting with the Economics and Current Affairs Group in November, we invite you to a joint meeting with Cryptos, the Reform society ''Devoted to Military History and Intelligence''.


'''Charlie Hall''' has won the inaugural MRD Foot Memorial Prize awardeb by Cryptos at the Reform. His essay, which will form the basis of his talk, is entitled '''British Exploitation of German Science and the Start of the Cold War'''. 
= 2022 Programme =


Charlie Hall is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Kent who has won the prize for an essay in the general subject of "Science and Conflict in the 20th Century".


The prize will be presented by Professor Mirjam Foot who will preside at the meeting. Major-General Mungo Melvin CB, OBE will offer an appreciation
<!--


=== Reserving tickets for the Joint Meeting  ===
Dates for our meetings in 2020 are as follows (future dates are always provisional):
We will put this back when it has some shape.
{{2022 Programme}}


'''Please note the that we will follow the Cryptos meeting format.''' and not the normal Science Group one. The start time is 6.15 FOR 6.45pm, with the talk preceding an '''optional''' buffet supper.
-->


Tickets may be reserved via the calendar in the members’ section of the website or by contacting:[email protected] or by telephoning 020 7747 4603.
I am currently working on the 2022 programme. I hope to have talks on the following subjects:


Cryptos tickets are available for £15.00 per person. (this includes a reception drink on arrival). For convenience, please copy your e-mail to [email protected] and to [email protected]
- Dark Matter,


A buffet supper at 8.00 p.m. is available at an additional cost of £33.00 which includes a drink. Please note this must be booked in advance along with any notice of any special dietary requirements no later than noon the day before the event.
- Quantum computing,


Additional drinks may be purchased during the buffet. Digestifs are served in the Smoking Room after dinner.
- Cyptocurrencies,


Note that prices are subject to revision by the Club.
- Applied Artificial Intelligence (speaker from DeepMind),


== March Meeting: Anil Seth, Machine Consciousness ==
- Exploring Space (Nicole Stott),  


March 15, Strangers Room.
- Autonomous vehicle liability,  


:    Consciousness is, for each of us, the presence of a world. Without consciousness there is no world, no self: there is nothing at all. But we do not know much about the material and biological basis of this most central feature of our lives. How do rich multisensory experiences, the senses of self and body, and volition, agency, and ‘will’ emerge from the joint activity of billions of neurons locked inside a bony skull? Once the province just of philosophy and theology, the neuroscience of consciousness has emerged as a one of the great scientific challenges for this century. In this talk I will sketch the state-of-the-art in the new science of consciousness. I will distinguish between conscious level (how conscious we are), conscious content (what we are conscious of), and conscious self (the ‘I’ behind the eyes), describing in each case how new experiments are shedding light on the underlying neural mechanisms, in normal life and in neurological and psychiatric conditions. Throughout, I will emphasize phenomenology – the way things seem – as the target for any satisfying explanation of how the brain, in conjunction with the body and the environment, gives rise to and shapes conscious experience.
- Use of psychedelic drugs in treatment of mental illness,


[[Anil Seth|Read More...]]
- The Chinese social credit system (or related).


= 2017 Programme =
If you have a comment, please get in touch, especially if you can refer me to a suitable speaker on any of the topics above.
Dates for 2017 are as follows (all meeting are on Wednesdays, usually the 3rd one of each month):


{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Month !! Day of Month !! Speaker !! Title
|-
| February || 15th || Prof [[Martyn Thomas]] || Cybersecurity
|-
| March || 15th || Prof [[Anil Seth]] || Machine Consciousness
|-
| April || 19th || Prof [[Peter Wilson]] || Anti-Microbial Resistance.
|-
| May || either 16th, 17th, <!-- whichever is vacated by Pol Comm, 23rd (alternative, but near to Thackeray), or 31st (late in the month, not ideal) --> || [[Giles Yeo]] || Are your genes to blame if your jeans don't fit?
|-
| June || 21st || To Be Confirmed || To Be Confirmed
|-
| September || 20th || Dr [[Paolo Tasca]] || Bitcoins and the Blockchain
|-
| October || 18th || Prof [[J A Madrigal]] ||  Stem cell therapies.
|-
| November || 15th || To Be Confirmed || To Be Confirmed
|-
|}


For more information, please visit our [[Meetings]] page.
[[FAQ]]

Revision as of 04:59, 17 December 2021

Now planning meetings for the 2022 Season

Please get in touch if you know of a suitable speaker or would like a specific topic addressed.

To keep informed, please sign up to our mailchimp list:

<mailchimpforms prefix="science-and-technology-group" account="c848bb9da2c85dd0281575c04" list="deb28a80da" type="subscribe" />

2022 Programme

I am currently working on the 2022 programme. I hope to have talks on the following subjects:

- Dark Matter,

- Quantum computing,

- Cyptocurrencies,

- Applied Artificial Intelligence (speaker from DeepMind),

- Exploring Space (Nicole Stott),

- Autonomous vehicle liability,

- Use of psychedelic drugs in treatment of mental illness,

- The Chinese social credit system (or related).

If you have a comment, please get in touch, especially if you can refer me to a suitable speaker on any of the topics above.


FAQ