Past Talks

Foresight in Ancient Mesopotamia Professor Francesca Rochberg, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract Abstract Images uncovered from splendid palaces at Nineveh and Nimrud, coupled with vivid accounts in the Bible where Assyria was reviled by the prophet Isaiah, give us something of the face Assyria presented to the outside world. A more behind the scenes look at the internal workings of this first of all empires, however, takes us to the systematic institutional implementation of foresight by Assyrian kings. State sponsored divination by the stars and by the liver of a sacrificial sheep were the techniques employed by kings to know the future and gauge their chances of success.

Friday, March 08, 2013
17:30 - 18:30
LMH, Lady Mitchell Hall [Further Details]

Foresight and Self-Control Professor Terrie Moffitt, Duke University

Abstract Abstract Young Children's Self-control: Foreseeing Health and Wealth Policy-makers are considering large-scale early intervention programs to enhance children's self-control, with the aim of reducing crime and improving citizens' health and wealth. Experimental studies and economic analyses are suggesting that such programs could reap benefits for a nation. Yet, how important is childhood self-control for the health, wealth, and public safety of the adult population?

Friday, March 01, 2013
17:30 - 18:30
LMH, Lady Mitchell Hall [Further Details]

Foreseeing Space Weather Dr Jim Wild, Lancaster University

Abstract Abstract The concept of space weather describes the variety of changing environmental conditions within the space between the Sun and the Earth, driven by fluctuations in solar activity. On the timescale of human evolution the Sun has remained broadly unchanged. Small fluctuations in the rate of solar energy output combined with cyclic variations in the Earth’s orbit are likely to have driven long-term global climate change, but through human eyes these effects have been either gradual or utterly imperceptible.

Friday, February 22, 2013
17:30 - 18:30
LMH, Lady Mitchell Hall [Further Details]

Foresight in Music Professor Nicholas Cook, University of Cambridge

Abstract Abstract The idea of music as a harbinger of future social trends is associated with French banker, economist, and all-purpose intellectual Jacques Attali, but the idea that music gives access to a time that is different from that of the everyday world seems to be as old as music itself.

Friday, February 15, 2013
17:30 - 18:30
LMH, Lady Mitchell Hall [Further Details]

Foresight in Scientific Method Professor Hasok Chang, University of Cambridge

Abstract Abstract We may ask two questions about foresight in relation to science: (1) whether science can foretell future events, and (2) whether we can foretell the future of science itself. Regarding the first question, many philosophers and scientists (including Lakatos and Popper) have especially valued the ability of science to make novel predictions, sometimes to the point of regarding it as the defining characteristic of science.

Friday, February 08, 2013
17:30 - 18:30
LMH, Lady Mitchell Hall [Further Details]

Foresight and Fiction Robert J Sawyer, Author

Abstract Abstract Science fiction is often termed a literature of prediction, but is it really, and, if so, how does it accomplish that? Hugo Award-winning science-fiction novelist Robert J. Sawyer explores the speculative mindset, the role science fiction plays in the intellectual landscape, and how science-fictional thinking about the future can be applied to business and government.

Friday, February 01, 2013
17:30 - 18:30
LMH, Lady Mitchell Hall [Further Details]

Foresight in Journalism Ms Bridget Kendall, BBC

Abstract Biography Bridget Kendall is BBC Diplomatic Correspondent, covering major international developments, with a particular interest in Russia. She is also host of The Forum, the flagship ideas programme for the BBC World Service. Her awards include the James Cameron Award for distinguished journalism, and an MBE from the Queen. She was educated at Harvard and Moscow, as well as Oxford, where she is now Honorary Fellow of St Antony’s college. She is a Trustee of Asia House and visiting professor of Journalism at Lincoln University.

Friday, January 25, 2013
17:30 - 18:30
LMH, Lady Mitchell Hall [Further Details]

Foresight in Ancient Civilisations Professor Sir Geoffrey Lloyd, University of Cambridge

Abstract Abstract This lecture will review just some of the extensive evidence from ancient civilisations – mainly China, Mesopotamia and Greece – that helps to throw light on four interrelated questions that form my principal agenda: (1) What items were the subjects of prediction? (2) How were predictions made: on what basis did people think they could foresee the future? (3) Why were they interested in doing so?

Friday, January 18, 2013
17:30 - 18:30
LMH, Lady Mitchell Hall [Further Details]

The After Life Professor Clive Gamble, University of Southampton

Abstract Abstract Imagination makes us human and immortal. It allows us to roam into deep-time and to navigate the future. Everything is possible in places that can be experienced but never visited, and in this respect the after-life is just one imagined geography among many. All these geographies share the property of ‘going beyond’ where the life of the individual is extended across space and time.

Friday, March 09, 2012
17:30 - 18:30
LMH, Lady Mitchell Hall [Further Details]

Artificial Life Professor Chris Bishop, University of Cambridge

Abstract Abstract Living organisms are extraordinary, with capabilities far exceeding any present-day technology. This talk will explore the quest to create artificial systems which exhibit some of those capabilities, and will thereby highlight the deep connections between two seemingly disparate disciplines: biology and computer science.

Friday, March 02, 2012
17:30 - 18:30
LMH, Lady Mitchell Hall [Further Details]