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Nicholas Humphrey is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, London School of Economics, Visiting Professor of Philosophy, New College of the Humanities, & Senior Member, Darwin College, Cambridge. He has been Lecturer in Psychology at Oxford, Assistant Director of the Sub-department of Animal Behaviour at Cambridge, Senior Research Fellow in Parapsychology at Cambridge, Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research, New York, & School Professor at the London School of Economics. He is best known for his work on the evolution of human intelligence & consciousness. His books include "Consciousness Regained", "Leaps of Faith", "The Inner Eye", "Soul Searching", "Seeing Red", "Soul Dust" & many more. He has been the recipient of several honours, including the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, the British Psychological Society's book award, the Pufendorf Medal, the International Mind & Brain Prize, & is the only scientist ever to edit the literary journal Granta. Lecture Title: "The Evolution of Consciousness & Sentience: A Tribute to Daniel Dennett" Special thanks to Nick for allowing me to share this lecture with the MBS audience. EPISODE LINKS: - Nick's MBS Podcast: https://youtu.be/SCTJb-uiQww - Nick's Website: http://www.humphrey.org.uk/ - Nick's Books: https://tinyurl.com/tkcmfx3d - Nick's Royal Institute Lecture: https://youtu.be/NHXCi6yZ-eA CONNECT: - Website: https://tevinnaidu.com - Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/drtevinnaidu - Twitter: https://twitter.com/drtevinnaidu - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drtevinnaidu - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtevinnaidu - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drtevinnaidu ============================= Disclaimer: The information provided on this channel is for educational purposes only. The content is shared in the spirit of open discourse and does not constitute, nor does it substitute, professional or medical advice. We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of listening/watching any of our contents. You acknowledge that you use the information provided at your own risk. Listeners/viewers are advised to conduct their own research and consult with their own experts in the respective fields.
(Conversation recorded on October 22nd, 2024) The human system as we know it today – which powers our economies, global supply chains, and social contracts – is a fragile network based on innumerable complex components. Yet we rarely stop to recognize its many vulnerabilities, instead taking for granted that it will continue to securely operate indefinitely. But if we take a more careful look, how can we assess the risks of major catastrophic events that could destroy life as we know it? Today, Nate is joined by Luke Kemp, a researcher whose work is focused on existential risks (or X-risks), which encompass threats of human extinction, societal collapse, and dystopian futures. How can we begin to understand the likelihood and gravity of these ruinous events, and what kinds of responses from people and governments could further undermine social cohesion and resilience? What roles do human biases, hierarchical power structures, and the development of technologies, like artificial intelligence and geoengineering, play in X-risks? How can we collaborate across industries to protect our modern systems through effective risk management strategies? And in what ways do our institutions need to become more inclusive to better democratize decision-making processes, leading to safer futures for humanity? About Luke Kemp: Luke is a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) and Darwin College at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on understanding the history and future of extreme global risk. Luke has advised the WHO and multiple international institutions, and his work has been covered by media outlets such as the BBC, New York Times, and the New Yorker. He holds both a Doctorate in International Relations and a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies with first class honours from the Australian National University (ANU). His first book on the deep history and future of societal collapse (titled Goliath's Curse) will be published with Penguin in June 2025. Show Notes and More Watch this video episode on YouTube --- Support The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future Join our Substack newsletter Join our Discord channel and connect with other listeners
Send us a textDr. Angie Burnett, Ph.D. is Program Director at the Advanced Research and Invention Agency ( ARIA - https://www.aria.org.uk/ ), a UK organization created by an Act of Parliament, and sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, to fund projects across a full spectrum of R&D disciplines, approaches, and institutions, per the ARIA mission statement to “Look beyond what exists today to the breakthroughs we'll need tomorrow”.Prior to this role, Dr. Burnett was a Research Associate in the Department of Plant Sciences, and a former David MacKay Research Associate at Darwin College and Cambridge Zero where her work focused on understanding the response of maize plants to high light and cold temperature stresses, and the genetic basis for stress tolerance, so that breeders can produce plants which are better able to withstand environmental stress.Dr. Burnett's background is in plant physiology. She holds a BA from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from the University of Sheffield, where she was awarded the inaugural PhD studentship from the Society for Experimental Biology. Before commencing her role at the University of Cambridge, she worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the USA and as a Consultant at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Italy.Important Episode Links"Programmable Plants" Opportunity Space - https://www.aria.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ARIA-Programmable-Plants-v1.pdf"Synthetic Plants For A Sustainable Future" Program Thesis - https://www.aria.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ARIA-Synthetic-plants-for-a-sustainable-future.pdf#AngieBurnett #AdvancedResearchAndInventionAgency #ARIA #SyntheticPlants #PlantPhysiology #FoodSecurity #CropStress #CropYield #PlantBiotechnology#Genetics #PlantEnvironmentInteractions #ClimateChange #DepartmentForScienceInnovationAndTechnology #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #STEM #Innovation #Technology #Science #ResearchSupport the show
In this episode we return to the subject of whether AIs will become conscious, or, to use a word from the title of the latest book from our guest today, whether AIs will become sentient.Our guest is Nicholas Humphrey, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at London School of Economics, and Bye Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge. His latest book is “Sentience: the invention of consciousness”, and it explores the emergence and role of consciousness from a variety of perspectives.The book draws together insights from the more than fifty years Nick has been studying the evolution of intelligence and consciousness. He was the first person to demonstrate the existence of “blindsight” after brain damage in monkeys, studied mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey in Rwanda, originated the theory of the “social function of intellect”, and has investigated the evolutionary background of religion, art, healing, death-awareness, and suicide. Among his other awards are the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, the Pufendorf Medal, and the International Mind and Brain Prize.The conversation starts with some reflections on the differences between the views of our guest and his long-time philosophical friend Daniel Dennett, who had died shortly before the recording took place.Selected follow-ups:The website of Nicholas HumphreyThe book Sentience: The Invention of ConsciousnessHow did consciousness evolve? - Recording of talk at the Royal InstitutionThe book Consciousness Explained by Daniel DennettPenrose triangle (article contains "real impossible triangles")Keith Frankish (philosopher of mind)The psychonic theory of consciousness - a theory included in the 1929 edition of Encyclopaedia BritannicaLawrence (Larry) Weiskrantz - the supervisor of Nicholas HumphreyBlindside patient 'TN'The Tin Men by Michael FraynWhat's it like to be an AI: Anil Seth on London Futurists PodcastJoe Simpson (mountaineer)The New York Declaration on Animal ConsciousnessScientific Declaration on Insect Sentience and WelfareRupert SheldrakeAlternative Natural Philosophy Association (ANPA)Music: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) and his role in the development of electrical systems towards the end of the nineteenth century. He made his name in New York in the contest over which current should flow into homes and factories in America. Some such as Edison backed direct current or DC while others such as Westinghouse backed alternating current or AC and Nikola Tesla's invention of a motor that worked on AC swung it for the alternating system that went on to power the modern age. He ensured his reputation and ideas burnt brightly for the next decades, making him synonymous with the lone, genius inventor of the new science fiction. With Simon Schaffer Emeritus Fellow of Darwin College, University of CambridgeJill Jonnes Historian and author of “Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify the World”And Iwan Morus Professor of History at Aberystwyth UniversityProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list: W. Bernard Carlson, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (Princeton University Press, 2013)Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth, Tesla: Master of Lightning (Barnes & Noble Books, 1999) Thomas P. Hughes, Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983)Carolyn Marvin, When Old Technologies Were New (Open University Press, 1988)Iwan Rhys Morus, Nikola Tesla and the Electrical Future (Icon Books, 2019)Iwan Rhys Morus, How The Victorians Took Us To The Moon (Icon, 2022)David E. Nye, Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology (MIT Press, 1991)John J. O'Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (first published 1944; Cosimo Classics, 2006)Marc J. Seifer, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, Biography of a Genius (first published 1996; Citadel Press, 2016)Nikola Tesla, My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla (first published 1919; Martino Fine Books, 2011)Nikola Tesla, My Inventions and other Writings (Penguin, 2012)In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production
Professor Chris Bishop is a Technical Fellow and Director at Microsoft Research AI4Science, in Cambridge. He is also Honorary Professor of Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh, and a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge. In 2004, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, in 2007 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in 2017 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. Chris was a founding member of the UK AI Council, and in 2019 he was appointed to the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology. At Microsoft Research, Chris oversees a global portfolio of industrial research and development, with a strong focus on machine learning and the natural sciences. Chris obtained a BA in Physics from Oxford, and a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Edinburgh, with a thesis on quantum field theory. Chris's contributions to the field of machine learning have been truly remarkable. He has authored (what is arguably) the original textbook in the field - 'Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning' (PRML) which has served as an essential reference for countless students and researchers around the world, and that was his second textbook after his highly acclaimed first textbook Neural Networks for Pattern Recognition. Recently, Chris has co-authored a new book with his son, Hugh, titled 'Deep Learning: Foundations and Concepts.' This book aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the key ideas and techniques underpinning the rapidly evolving field of deep learning. It covers both the foundational concepts and the latest advances, making it an invaluable resource for newcomers and experienced practitioners alike. Buy Chris' textbook here: https://amzn.to/3vvLcCh More about Prof. Chris Bishop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Bishop https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/cmbishop/ Support MLST: Please support us on Patreon. We are entirely funded from Patreon donations right now. Patreon supports get private discord access, biweekly calls, early-access + exclusive content and lots more. https://patreon.com/mlst Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=K2TYRVPBGXVNA If you would like to sponsor us, so we can tell your story - reach out on mlstreettalk at gmail TOC: 00:00:00 - Intro to Chris 00:06:54 - Changing Landscape of AI 00:08:16 - Symbolism 00:09:32 - PRML 00:11:02 - Bayesian Approach 00:14:49 - Are NNs One Model or Many, Special vs General 00:20:04 - Can Language Models Be Creative 00:22:35 - Sparks of AGI 00:25:52 - Creativity Gap in LLMs 00:35:40 - New Deep Learning Book 00:39:01 - Favourite Chapters 00:44:11 - Probability Theory 00:45:42 - AI4Science 00:48:31 - Inductive Priors 00:58:52 - Drug Discovery 01:05:19 - Foundational Bias Models 01:07:46 - How Fundamental Is Our Physics Knowledge? 01:12:05 - Transformers 01:12:59 - Why Does Deep Learning Work? 01:16:59 - Inscrutability of NNs 01:18:01 - Example of Simulator 01:21:09 - Control
On this occasion, Professor Emily Shuckburgh, Director of Cambridge Zero and Professor of Environmental Data Science at the University of Cambridge delivers a keynote address to the IIEA. This event is part of the Environmental Resilience series, which is supported by the EPA. About the Speaker: Professor Emily Shuckburgh is Director of Cambridge Zero, the University of Cambridge's major climate change initiative. She is also Professor of Environmental Data Science at the Department of Computer Science and Technology. She is a mathematician and climate scientist and a Fellow of Darwin College, a Fellow of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, an Associate Fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy, a Fellow of the British Antarctic Survey, and a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. She worked for more than a decade at the British Antarctic Survey where her work included leading a UK national research programme on the Southern Ocean and its role in climate. Prior to that, she undertook research at École Normale Supérieure in Paris and at MIT. She has also acted as an advisor on climate to the UK Government in various capacities, including as a Friend of COP26. In 2016, she was awarded an OBE for services to science and the public communication of science. She is co-author with HM King Charles III and Tony Juniper of the Ladybird Book on Climate Change.
The inaugural Darwin College Erasmus Seminar took place on Wednesday 23 November at 6pm in Darwin College. Professor Catherine Barnard gave her talk on : 'What happens when enforcement doesn’t happen: Brexit, free movement and … Great Yarmouth'. Professor Barnard is Professor of EU Law and Employment Law in the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College. Professor Barnard looks at the experiences of EU migrant workers in Great Yarmouth, a declining seaside resort with the fifth highest leave vote in the UK. Her research has looked at the experiences of those living and working in Great Yarmouth. It tells the story of significant under-enforcement of employment rights in a legal aid desert. The question then is what do the workers do to get help, is it effective and are there lessons for labour enforcement more generally? For more information see: https://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-catherine-barnard-gives-first-darwin-erasmus-seminar This entry provides an audio source for iTunes.
The inaugural Darwin College Erasmus Seminar took place on Wednesday 23 November at 6pm in Darwin College. Professor Catherine Barnard gave her talk on : 'What happens when enforcement doesn’t happen: Brexit, free movement and … Great Yarmouth'. Professor Barnard is Professor of EU Law and Employment Law in the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College. Professor Barnard looks at the experiences of EU migrant workers in Great Yarmouth, a declining seaside resort with the fifth highest leave vote in the UK. Her research has looked at the experiences of those living and working in Great Yarmouth. It tells the story of significant under-enforcement of employment rights in a legal aid desert. The question then is what do the workers do to get help, is it effective and are there lessons for labour enforcement more generally? For more information see: https://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-catherine-barnard-gives-first-darwin-erasmus-seminar
The inaugural Darwin College Erasmus Seminar took place on Wednesday 23 November at 6pm in Darwin College. Professor Catherine Barnard gave her talk on : 'What happens when enforcement doesn’t happen: Brexit, free movement and … Great Yarmouth'. Professor Barnard is Professor of EU Law and Employment Law in the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College. Professor Barnard looks at the experiences of EU migrant workers in Great Yarmouth, a declining seaside resort with the fifth highest leave vote in the UK. Her research has looked at the experiences of those living and working in Great Yarmouth. It tells the story of significant under-enforcement of employment rights in a legal aid desert. The question then is what do the workers do to get help, is it effective and are there lessons for labour enforcement more generally? For more information see: https://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-catherine-barnard-gives-first-darwin-erasmus-seminar This entry provides an audio source for iTunes.
The inaugural Darwin College Erasmus Seminar took place on Wednesday 23 November at 6pm in Darwin College. Professor Catherine Barnard gave her talk on : 'What happens when enforcement doesn’t happen: Brexit, free movement and … Great Yarmouth'. Professor Barnard is Professor of EU Law and Employment Law in the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College. Professor Barnard looks at the experiences of EU migrant workers in Great Yarmouth, a declining seaside resort with the fifth highest leave vote in the UK. Her research has looked at the experiences of those living and working in Great Yarmouth. It tells the story of significant under-enforcement of employment rights in a legal aid desert. The question then is what do the workers do to get help, is it effective and are there lessons for labour enforcement more generally? For more information see: https://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-catherine-barnard-gives-first-darwin-erasmus-seminar This entry provides an audio source for iTunes.
The inaugural Darwin College Erasmus Seminar took place on Wednesday 23 November at 6pm in Darwin College. Professor Catherine Barnard gave her talk on : 'What happens when enforcement doesn’t happen: Brexit, free movement and … Great Yarmouth'. Professor Barnard is Professor of EU Law and Employment Law in the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College. Professor Barnard looks at the experiences of EU migrant workers in Great Yarmouth, a declining seaside resort with the fifth highest leave vote in the UK. Her research has looked at the experiences of those living and working in Great Yarmouth. It tells the story of significant under-enforcement of employment rights in a legal aid desert. The question then is what do the workers do to get help, is it effective and are there lessons for labour enforcement more generally? For more information see: https://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-catherine-barnard-gives-first-darwin-erasmus-seminar
The inaugural Darwin College Erasmus Seminar took place on Wednesday 23 November at 6pm in Darwin College. Professor Catherine Barnard gave her talk on : 'What happens when enforcement doesn’t happen: Brexit, free movement and … Great Yarmouth'. Professor Barnard is Professor of EU Law and Employment Law in the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College. Professor Barnard looks at the experiences of EU migrant workers in Great Yarmouth, a declining seaside resort with the fifth highest leave vote in the UK. Her research has looked at the experiences of those living and working in Great Yarmouth. It tells the story of significant under-enforcement of employment rights in a legal aid desert. The question then is what do the workers do to get help, is it effective and are there lessons for labour enforcement more generally? For more information see: https://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-catherine-barnard-gives-first-darwin-erasmus-seminar This entry provides an audio source for iTunes.
Gediminas Lesutis works at the intersection of global politics, human geography, and critical theory. In 2018, he completed a PhD in Politics at the University of Manchester, UK. This was followed by a 3.5-year research fellowship in Geography at the University of Cambridge and Darwin College, Cambridge, UK. He is currently a Marie Curie Fellow in the Department of Geography, Urban Planning, and International Development Studies, at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. A note from Lev:I am a high school teacher of history and economics at a public high school in NYC, and began the podcast to help demystify economics for teachers. The podcast is now within the top 2.5% of podcasts worldwide in terms of listeners (per Listen Notes) and individual episodes are frequently listed by The Syllabus (the-syllabus.com) as among the 10 best political economy podcasts of a particular week. The podcast is reaching thousands of listeners each month. The podcast seeks to provide a substantive alternative to mainstream economics media; to communicate information and ideas that contribute to equitable and peaceful solutions to political and economic issues; and to improve the teaching of high school and university political economy. I am looking to be able to raise money in order to improve the technical quality of the podcast and website and to further expand the audience through professionally designed social media outreach. I am also hoping to hire an editor. Best, LevDONATE TODAY
Mark de Rond, Professor of Organisational Ethnography and Fellow of Darwin College at the University of Cambridge, discusses the value of deep immersive learning from his experiences earning the Guinness World Record for the first unsupported row of the entire length of the Amazon River, documenting the lives of doctors and nurses at war in Afghanistan, and narrating the work of paedophile hunters.This episode was made possible by our Producer, Jac Boothe, and our Brand Strategist, Mikey Lullo. For more resources to help find your purpose, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @paths2purposepod.This episode was made possible by our Producer, Jac Boothe, and our Brand Strategist, Mikey Lullo. For more resources to help find your purpose, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @paths2purposepod If you have questions for us or want to say hi, feel free to email us too at paths2purposepod@gmail.com
In episode 24 of #aisforarchitecture, I speak with Dean Hawkes, Emeritus Professor of Architectural Design at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University and emeritus fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge, about his 2022 book, The Architect and the Academy: Essays on Research and Environment, published by Routledge, and the second edition of his great work, The Environmental Imagination: Technics and Poetics of the Architectural Environment (2019) also by Routledge. We focus on the latter, naturally, and its thoughtful and quietly radical approach to interpreting the icons of modernism and their socio-environmental intelligence, and reflect on the possibilities and function of the academic architect (or the architect in academia…). I was introduced to Dean by his publishers, Routledge although I saw him speak at the Glasgow School of Art in 2014 (a talk you can watch here). Tickets for his forthcoming Daylight Talk, The sun never knew how great it is until it struck the side of a building, can be gotten here. You can see his CV here too. Dean is a wonderful communicator and an inspiring thinker and writer, and I know you'll enjoy this discussion. Enjoy! + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Music credits: Bruno Gillick. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + aisforarchitecture.org Apple: podcasts.apple.com Spotify: open.spotify.com Google: podcasts.google.com
Flavour finds out about the fall and rise of British artisanal cheeses, and the role of the supermarkets, Suzannah Watson of Meadows explains; we hear about the upcoming Cambridge Chocolate Festival; Alex Rushmer on his forthcoming Darwin College lecture; and what you need to know about bread making.
WATCH: https://youtu.be/SCTJb-uiQww Nicholas Humphrey is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, London School of Economics, Visiting Professor of Philosophy, New College of the Humanities, & Senior Member, Darwin College, Cambridge. He is best known for his work on the evolution of human intelligence & consciousness. His books include "Consciousness Regained", "Leaps of Faith", "The Inner Eye", "Soul Searching", "Seeing Red", "Soul Dust" & many more. He has been the recipient of several honours, including the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, the British Psychological Society's book award, the Pufendorf Medal, the International Mind & Brain Prize, & is the only scientist ever to edit the literary journal Granta. EPISODE LINKS: - Nick's Website: http://www.humphrey.org.uk/ - NIck's Books: https://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Humphrey/e/B000AR7WF4%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share - Royal Institute: https://youtu.be/NHXCi6yZ-eA - Debate (ft. Philip Goff & Susan Blackmore): https://youtu.be/bAaB5a4kwSU CONNECT: - Website: https://tevinnaidu.com/podcast - Instagram: https://instagram.com/drtevinnaidu - Facebook: https://facebook.com/drtevinnaidu - Twitter: https://twitter.com/drtevinnaidu - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drtevinnaidu TIMESTAMPS: (0:00) - Introduction (0:20) - The Self, Soul & Consciousness (5:40) - Illusionism (13:14) - Soul Niche (22:18) - Strange Loops & Attractor States (29:23) - Consciousness in Primates & "Blindsight" (39:57) - Sensation vs Perception (47:09) - Limits of Sentience (55:13) - Change of Perspective (1:00:25) - Phenomenal Surrealism (1:10:10) - Panpsychism (1:16:33) - Views on Religion (1:27:59) - AI, Robots & Space Exploration (1:44:00) - Human Augmentation (1:50:10) - Psychedelics & Spirituality (1:56:33) - Evolution of Suicide (2:01:09) - Altruistic Suicide, Euthanasia & Other Suicides (2:10:30) - Sentience to Suicide (2:18:51) - Learning From Our Past & Moving Forward (2:26:20) - Conclusion Website · YouTube
WATCH: https://youtu.be/SCTJb-uiQww Nicholas Humphrey is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, London School of Economics, Visiting Professor of Philosophy, New College of the Humanities, & Senior Member, Darwin College, Cambridge. He is best known for his work on the evolution of human intelligence & consciousness. His books include "Consciousness Regained", "Leaps of Faith", "The Inner Eye", "Soul Searching", "Seeing Red", "Soul Dust" & many more. He has been the recipient of several honours, including the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, the British Psychological Society's book award, the Pufendorf Medal, the International Mind & Brain Prize, & is the only scientist ever to edit the literary journal Granta. EPISODE LINKS: - Nick's Website: http://www.humphrey.org.uk/ - NIck's Books: https://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Humphrey/e/B000AR7WF4%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share - Royal Institute: https://youtu.be/NHXCi6yZ-eA - Debate (ft. Philip Goff & Susan Blackmore): https://youtu.be/bAaB5a4kwSU CONNECT: - Website: https://tevinnaidu.com/podcast - Instagram: https://instagram.com/drtevinnaidu - Facebook: https://facebook.com/drtevinnaidu - Twitter: https://twitter.com/drtevinnaidu - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drtevinnaidu TIMESTAMPS: (0:00) - Introduction (0:20) - The Self, Soul & Consciousness (5:40) - Illusionism (13:14) - Soul Niche (22:18) - Strange Loops & Attractor States (29:23) - Consciousness in Primates & "Blindsight" (39:57) - Sensation vs Perception (47:09) - Limits of Sentience (55:13) - Change of Perspective (1:00:25) - Phenomenal Surrealism (1:10:10) - Panpsychism (1:16:33) - Views on Religion (1:27:59) - AI, Robots & Space Exploration (1:44:00) - Human Augmentation (1:50:10) - Psychedelics & Spirituality (1:56:33) - Evolution of Suicide (2:01:09) - Altruistic Suicide, Euthanasia & Other Suicides (2:10:30) - Sentience to Suicide (2:18:51) - Learning From Our Past & Moving Forward (2:26:20) - Conclusion Website · YouTube
In our slippery world of risk, uncertainty, change and complexity, hard and fast rules can be rare. Sometimes those rules can even be a trap, says Gerald Ashley, our guest on the latest New Money Review podcast. Ashley, a former banker, is now an author, financial historian, public speaker and consultant, specialising in risk and decision making. In his podcast discussion with New Money Review editor Paul Amery, he argues that we often misunderstand risks and have too narrow a view of the models we use to quantify them. And with no perfect solutions and many ‘known unknowns' to the problems we face, we are often influenced by context and instinctive biases rather than rational analysis, says Ashley. In an era of pandemics, social media-driven narratives and financial instability, the topic of risk management has never been more relevant. Listen in to the podcast to hear Ashley describe: How humans assess risk Dynamic versus static risks The difference between risk and uncertainty When risk management works well—and when it doesn't Measuring and managing risks Which industries have done best in addressing risks Market crash cycles and traders' collective memory The power of the ‘dominant story' in financial markets The dangers of leverage Journeys and destinations The importance of planning Gerald Ashley's interviews with key figures from the City of London during the 1970s and 1980s are available at the website of the Centre for Financial History, run by Darwin College, Cambridge University.
### S2 E22: Psychometrics: measuring ourselves> _“Psychometrics is one of the most important or influential areas of applied psychology”_Psychometrics, the study of personality and ability, began with the Chinese Imperial Court exams, which measured intelligence and civility, as well as archery and horse-riding. Via the East India Company, testing - of intelligence as well as psychological traits - spread to the British and French civil service, and then onwards to education. Psychometrics gave us exams.John Rust, one of the world's foremost authorities, walks us through the history and politics of psychometrics, from eugenics and the fraught question of race and IQ, through to the four core psychographic theories of personality: Freud's psychoanalysis, Carl Rogers' Humanistic Theory of person, the Social Learning approach, to the Genetic (Rust's own focus). In the process, he tackles the very politics of testing, psychometry's complicated place in the world of psychology, and the validity of Myers-Briggs and OCEAN tests.> _“It's a remarkably important area of science. If we can get it right, we can do lots of good. If you get it wrong, there can be a disaster.”_Listen to John explain:- The origins of psychometrics- The problem with Evolutionary Psychology- The Naturalistic Fallacy- Myers-Briggs and Big 5 Theories of Personality- The Flynn Effect - The ethics of psychometrics in the age of Big Data and ‘Surveillance Capitalism'Works cited include:- Sir Francis Galton's [Lexical Hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_hypothesis)- Raymond Cattell and his [16 Personality Types](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16PF_Questionnaire)- James Flynn's [work on IQ and race](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect)Read the [**Full Transcript**] (https://www.parlia.com/article/transcript-understanding-psychometry-with-john)[**John Rust**](https://www.psychometrics.cam.ac.uk/about-us/directory/john-rust)John Rust is the founder of The Psychometrics Centre and an Associate Fellow of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. He is also a Senior Member of Darwin College. On Opinion is a member of [The Democracy Group] (https://www.democracygroup.org/), a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.Listen to Out Of Order.More on this episodeLearn all about On OpinionMeet Turi Munthe: https://twitter.com/turiLearn more about the Parlia project here: https://www.parlia.com/aboutAnd visit us at: https://www.parlia.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Alexander, an Ancient Greek king and a victorious conqueror. No, not that one, not Alexander the Great. This time, we’re talking about his uncle, Alexander I of Molossia. In 334BC, when Alexander the Great advanced east to conquer the Persian Empire, Alexander of Molossia was travelling west across the Ionian sea to the south of Italy. In addition to their matching names and simultaneous expansionist expeditions, both Alexanders were brought up in the court of Philip II of Macedon. But whilst one remains a household name, the other has sunk into obscurity. To explore the life of this lesser known Alexander, Tristan was joined by Dr. Ben Raynor. Ben is a former Moses and Mary Finley Fellow at Darwin College, University of Cambridge. He talks us through Alexander I of Molossia’s formative years in Philip’s court, his relationship with the Macedonian king and his own successes as a leader. Ben and Tristan also delve into the legends about Alexander’s death, and his omission from popular history. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pEJeJW Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections. This CommunityZ Chest features Professor D'Maris Coffman. If you would like to read D'Maris's suggested publications on Political Economy, you can find them below: A European Public Investment Outlook The Political Economy of the Eurozone Professor D'Maris Coffman is the Director (Head of Department) of BSCPM. She is the Professor in Economics and Finance of the Built Environment at the Bartlett. She joined UCL in September 2014 as a Senior Lecturer. In February 2017, and was appointed Interim Director of BSCPM. In late January 2018, she was appointed to her professorial chair. D'Maris is Managing Editor of Elsevier's Structural Change and Economic Dynamics and on the honorary editorial boards of The Journal of Cleaner Production, Economia Politica, L'Industria and the Chinese Journal of Population, Resources and Environment. She is a Fellow of Goodenough College, where several of their doctoral students are residential members. She is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Milan (Statale), a Guest Professor at Beijing Institute of Technology and a Visiting Professor of Renmin University of China. Before coming to UCL, D'Maris spent six years as a fellow of Newnham College where she variously held a junior research fellowship (Mary Bateson Research Fellowship), a post as a college lecturer and teaching fellow, and a Leverhulme ECF. In July 2009, she started the Centre for Financial History, which she directed through December 2014. It is still going strong, but has moved from Newnham College to Darwin College in line with the affiliation of its new director. D'Maris did her undergraduate training at the Wharton School in managerial and financial economics and her PhD in the School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn, her doctoral research in the UK was funded in part by the Mellon Foundation under the guise of an IHR pre-doctoral fellowship and an SSRC international dissertation fellowship. She has lived in the UK more or less continuously since 2005 (with a brief nine-month stint back at Penn in 2007/8 to finish her PhD and teach as a departmental lecturer), and thus holds both American and British citizenship.
Edwin Rose talks about Joseph Banks and Georg Forster, naturalists on the Cook expeditions, and how political ideas shaped the way these specimens were understood back in Europe. Rose is completing a PhD. in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and will soon be the Munby Fellow in Bibliography at Cambridge University Library and a research fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge. He’s the author of “Publishing Nature in the Age of Revolutions: Joseph Banks, Georg Forster, and the Plants of the Pacific,” published in the April 2020 edition of the Historical Journal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Edwin Rose talks about Joseph Banks and Georg Forster, naturalists on the Cook expeditions, and how political ideas shaped the way these specimens were understood back in Europe. Rose is completing a PhD. in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and will soon be the Munby Fellow in Bibliography at Cambridge University Library and a research fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge. He’s the author of “Publishing Nature in the Age of Revolutions: Joseph Banks, Georg Forster, and the Plants of the Pacific,” published in the April 2020 edition of the Historical Journal.
Join Principal Tricia Kelleher as she speaks with Dr Emily Shuckburgh about working together and helping the world transition towards zero carbon. Dr Shuckburgh is a climate scientist, mathematician and science communicator. She is Director of Cambridge Zero, the University of Cambridge’s climate change initiative, and is a fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge. Find out more about 'Cambridge Zero': https://www.zero.cam.ac.uk/
This episode first aired in November, 2018. Dr. Christopher Bishop is quite a fellow. Literally. Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Fellow of Darwin College in Cambridge, England. Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Fellow of The Royal Society. Microsoft Technical Fellow. And one of the nicest fellows you’re likely to meet! He’s also Director of the Microsoft Research lab in Cambridge, where he oversees a world-class portfolio of research and development endeavors in machine learning and AI. Today, Dr. Bishop talks about the past, present and future of AI research, explains the No Free Lunch Theorem, talks about the modern view of machine learning (or how he learned to stop worrying and love uncertainty), and tells how the real excitement in the next few years will be the growth in our ability to create new technologies not by programming machines but by teaching them to learn. https://www.microsoft.com/research
------------------Support the channel------------ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenter SubscribeStar: https://www.subscribestar.com/the-dissenter PayPal: paypal.me/thedissenter PayPal Subscription 1 Dollar: https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuy PayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9l PayPal Subscription 5 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpz PayPal Subscription 10 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9m PayPal Subscription 20 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao ------------------Follow me on--------------------- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDissenterYT Anchor (podcast): https://anchor.fm/thedissenter Dr. Nicholas Humphrey is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the London School of Economics, Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the New College of the Humanities, and Senior Member at Darwin College, Cambridge. Dr. Humphrey is a theoretical psychologist, who is known for his work on the evolution of human intelligence and consciousness. His interests are wide ranging. He studied mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey in Rwanda, he was the first to demonstrate the existence of “blindsight” after brain damage in monkeys, he proposed the celebrated theory of the "social function of intellect", and he is the only scientist ever to edit the literary journal Granta. His books include Consciousness Regained, The Inner Eye, A History of the Mind, Leaps of Faith, The Mind Made Flesh, Seeing Red and, most recently, Soul Dust. He has been the recipient of several honors, including the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, the British Psychological Society's book award, the Pufendorf Medal, and the International Mind and Brain Prize. In this episode, we talk about the evolution of consciousness and intelligence. We start with consciousness, and discuss the fact that it does not have a universal definition, and if that's problematic; evolutionary approaches to it; the self; if we should take people's reports of their own consciousness seriously; if any version of mind-brain dualism can still be relevant; if we can know for sure that other animals are conscious, and what we can learn from their behavior. We then also discuss the evolution of intelligence, and the importance of social life both for consciousness and intelligence. Finally, Dr. Humphrey gives us his account of the evolution of suicide, and its relationship with consciousness. -- A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS: KARIN LIETZCKE, ANN BLANCHETTE, SCIMED, PER HELGE HAAKSTD LARSEN, LAU GUERREIRO, RUI BELEZA, ANTÓNIO CUNHA, CHANTEL GELINAS, JERRY MULLER, FRANCIS FORDE, HANS FREDRIK SUNDE, BRIAN RIVERA, ADRIANO ANDRADE, YEVHEN BODRENKO, SERGIU CODREANU, ADAM BJERRE, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, AIRES ALMEIDA, BERNARDO SEIXAS, HERBERT GINTIS, RUTGER VOS, RICARDO VLADIMIRO, BO WINEGARD, JOHN CONNORS, ADAM KESSEL, AND VEGA GIDEY! A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE, ROSEY, AND JIM FRANK!
Dr. Christopher Bishop is quite a fellow. Literally. Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Fellow of Darwin College in Cambridge, England. Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Fellow of The Royal Society. Microsoft Technical Fellow. And one of the nicest fellows you’re likely to meet! He’s also Director of the Microsoft Research lab in Cambridge, where he oversees a world-class portfolio of research and development endeavors in machine learning and AI. Today, Dr. Bishop talks about the past, present and future of AI research, explains the No Free Lunch Theorem, talks about the modern view of machine learning (or how he learned to stop worrying and love uncertainty), and tells how the real excitement in the next few years will be the growth in our ability to create new technologies not by programming machines but by teaching them to learn.
Described by Bismarck as the "powderkeg of Europe", and later host to the worst genocide on European soil since the Holocaust, we explore what relevance the Balkans region's tumultuous past has to its future. We interview Dr Gentian Elezi, former Vice Minister of European integration in the Albanian government, about Albania's EU integration and relations with other countries in the region. We also speak with Christos Constantopoulos about the view from the Southern Balkans in Greece, with regards to the rise of fascism and Greek attitudes towards Europe. We also ask Dr Tim Less, fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge and former British diplomat in Skopje and Banja Luka, about foreign interests in the Balkans, as well as what can be gained by taking a comparative perspective between eastern Europe and the Balkans.
Dr Maya Corry (History of Art, Cambridge) Dr Victoria Mills (Research Fellow in English, Darwin College, University of Cambridge) Abstracts Maya Corry, Bodily beauty and the soul in Renaissance male portraiture It was a Renaissance commonplace that a skilled artist could produce a portrait of such naturalism that the subject appeared as if he or she were really present, and alive. Yet some Italian images of young men present sitters not as they were in reality, but as stunning beauties, idealised beyond recognition. Many such works were created in Milan in the late fifteenth century, when Leonardo da Vinci was living and working there, but this type of iconography was popular across Italy and endured into the sixteenth century. This paper will explore the implications of these artworks for historians interested in early modern concepts of gender and identity. It will investigate the way in which young men who were often derided for their effeminacy could turn to images to reformulate these discourses. It will also explore the significance of this iconography to religious beliefs and practices. Relationships with the divine were often mediated through artworks in this period, and the spiritual value ascribed to masculine beauty could play a central role in shaping devotional, as well as gendered, identity. Victoria Mills, Bibliomania and the Male Body in the Late Nineteenth Century Literary depictions of nineteenth-century bibliomania are riddled with the language of disease. Thomas Frognall Dibdin’s Bibliomania; or, Book Madness (1809), for example, is an account of the ‘history, symptoms, and cure of the fatal disease’. While late-Victorian bibliomania is often pathologised and placed in relation to discourses about heredity, degeneration and the fitness of the male body, this paper draws attention to a range of texts in which book collecting is depicted in positive terms. It explores sensory experience and eroticism in depictions of book collecting, focusing on the bibliophilic dandy-aesthetes and shabby bachelor book-lovers in work by Oscar Wilde, Joris-Karl Huysmans, George Gissing and Eugene Field. The paper examines fiction’s account of how men form and reinvent themselves through the act of book collecting and of how male subjects and book-objects blend, transform and physically alter each other. By introducing a phenomenological perspective on the corporeal experience of book love, the paper highlights the interplay of the senses as instrumental in the construction of masculine identities. I use depictions of book collecting to think about how the relationship between past and present is mediated through things and bodily objects and I discuss the alternative histories and genealogies that the individual’s affective investment in books may recover.
Season 2 Episode 3 of Cambridge PhDcasts with PhDcaster Andy Wimbush. Andy Wimbush is a third year PhD candidate in English at Darwin College researching Samuel Beckett's enduring interest in quietism as a personal solution and artistic inspiration. For further information and related links please see http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/gallery/video/andy-wimbush-beckett-and-quietism. The Cambridge PhDcasts are presented by John Gallagher and produced by Richard Blakemore and Ruth Rushworth with thanks to CRASSH.
From the 1600s to the 1800s, scientific research in Britain was not yet a professional, publicly-funded career.So the wealth, status and freedom enjoyed by British aristocrats gave them the opportunity to play an important role in pushing science forwards - whether as patrons or practitioners.The Cavendish family produced a whole succession of such figures.In the 1600s, the mathematician Sir Charles Cavendish and his brother William collected telescopes and mathematical treatises, and promoted dialogue between British and Continental thinkers. They brought Margaret Cavendish, William's second wife, into their discussions and researches, and she went on to become a visionary, if eccentric, science writer, unafraid to take on towering figures of the day like Robert Hooke.In the 1700s, the brothers' cousin's great-grandson, Lord Charles Cavendish, emerged as a leading light of the Royal Society.Underpinned by his rich inheritance, Charles' son Henry became one of the great experimental scientists of the English Enlightenment.And in the 1800s, William Cavendish, Henry's cousin's grandson, personally funded the establishment of Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory. In subsequent decades, the Lab become the site of more great breakthroughs.With:Jim BennettDirector of the Museum of the History of Science at the University of OxfordPatricia FaraSenior Tutor of Clare College, University of CambridgeSimon SchafferProfessor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College, CambridgeProducer - Phil Tinline.
From the 1600s to the 1800s, scientific research in Britain was not yet a professional, publicly-funded career.So the wealth, status and freedom enjoyed by British aristocrats gave them the opportunity to play an important role in pushing science forwards - whether as patrons or practitioners.The Cavendish family produced a whole succession of such figures.In the 1600s, the mathematician Sir Charles Cavendish and his brother William collected telescopes and mathematical treatises, and promoted dialogue between British and Continental thinkers. They brought Margaret Cavendish, William's second wife, into their discussions and researches, and she went on to become a visionary, if eccentric, science writer, unafraid to take on towering figures of the day like Robert Hooke.In the 1700s, the brothers' cousin's great-grandson, Lord Charles Cavendish, emerged as a leading light of the Royal Society.Underpinned by his rich inheritance, Charles' son Henry became one of the great experimental scientists of the English Enlightenment.And in the 1800s, William Cavendish, Henry's cousin's grandson, personally funded the establishment of Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory. In subsequent decades, the Lab become the site of more great breakthroughs.With:Jim BennettDirector of the Museum of the History of Science at the University of OxfordPatricia FaraSenior Tutor of Clare College, University of CambridgeSimon SchafferProfessor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College, CambridgeProducer - Phil Tinline.
Before each Darwin College lecture, the following presentation is shown. It takes a look at the last 25 years of the lecture series before introducing this year's series on Risk. It also showcases Risk-themed films from the archives of the British Film Institute and displays, for the first time, new work by children, students and adults from different institutions around Cambridge who have interpreted what Risk means to them using art, poetry and film.
Melvyn Bragg discusses the epic feud between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented an astonishingly powerful new mathematical tool - calculus. Both claimed to have conceived it independently, but the argument soon descended into a bitter battle over priority, plagiarism and philosophy. Set against the backdrop of the Hanoverian succession to the English throne and the formation of the Royal Society, the fight pitted England against Europe, geometric notation against algebra. It was fundamental to the grounding of a mathematical system which is one of the keys to the modern world, allowing us to do everything from predicting the pressure building behind a dam to tracking the position of a space shuttle.Melvyn is joined by Simon Schaffer, Professor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College; Patricia Fara, Senior Tutor at Clare College, University of Cambridge; and Jackie Stedall, Departmental Lecturer in History of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.
Melvyn Bragg discusses the epic feud between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented an astonishingly powerful new mathematical tool - calculus. Both claimed to have conceived it independently, but the argument soon descended into a bitter battle over priority, plagiarism and philosophy. Set against the backdrop of the Hanoverian succession to the English throne and the formation of the Royal Society, the fight pitted England against Europe, geometric notation against algebra. It was fundamental to the grounding of a mathematical system which is one of the keys to the modern world, allowing us to do everything from predicting the pressure building behind a dam to tracking the position of a space shuttle.Melvyn is joined by Simon Schaffer, Professor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College; Patricia Fara, Senior Tutor at Clare College, University of Cambridge; and Jackie Stedall, Departmental Lecturer in History of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.
Darwin College Lecture Series 2007 "Identity and the Law" by Lionel Bentley
Darwin College Lecture Series 2007 "Identity and the Mind" by Raymond Tallis (Manchester)
Darwin College Lecture Series 2007 "Immunological Self" by Philippa Marrack
Darwin College Lecture Series 2007 "Visualising Identity" by Ludmilla Jordanova (KCL)
Darwin College Lecture Series 2007 "Species Identity: When It Matters" by Peter Crane (Chicago)
Darwin College Lecture Series 2007 "Identity and the Law" by Lionel Bentley
Darwin College Lecture Series 2007 "Identity and the Law" by Lionel Bentley
Darwin College Lecture Series 2007 "Mathematical Identity" by Marcus de Sautoy
Darwin College Lecture Series 2009 "Global Darwin" by Jim Secord (Cambridge)
Darwin College Lecture Series 2007 "Identity of Meaning" by Adrian Poole (Cambridge)
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of scientific ideas about heat. As anyone who's ever burnt their hand will testify – heat is a pretty commonplace concept. Cups of coffee cool down, microwaves reheat them, water boils at 100 degrees and freezes on cold winter nights.Behind the everyday experience of hot things lies a complex story of ideas spread across Paris, Manchester and particularly Glasgow. It's a story of brewing vats and steam engines, of fridges, thermometers and the heat death of the universe. But most importantly, it was the understanding and harnessing of heat that helped make the modern world of industry, engineering and technology.With Simon Schaffer, Professor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College; Hasok Chang, Professor of Philosophy of Science at University College London and Joanna Haigh, Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of scientific ideas about heat. As anyone who’s ever burnt their hand will testify – heat is a pretty commonplace concept. Cups of coffee cool down, microwaves reheat them, water boils at 100 degrees and freezes on cold winter nights.Behind the everyday experience of hot things lies a complex story of ideas spread across Paris, Manchester and particularly Glasgow. It’s a story of brewing vats and steam engines, of fridges, thermometers and the heat death of the universe. But most importantly, it was the understanding and harnessing of heat that helped make the modern world of industry, engineering and technology.With Simon Schaffer, Professor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College; Hasok Chang, Professor of Philosophy of Science at University College London and Joanna Haigh, Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Newton's Laws of Motion. In 1687 Isaac Newton attempted to explain the movements of everything in the universe, from a pea rolling on a plate to the position of the planets. It was a brilliant, vaultingly ambitious and fiendishly complex task; it took him three sentences. These are the three laws of motion with which Newton founded the discipline of classical mechanics and conjoined a series of concepts - inertia, acceleration, force, momentum and mass - by which we still describe the movement of things today. Newton's laws have been refined over the years – most famously by Einstein - but they were still good enough, 282 years after they were published, to put Neil Armstrong on the Moon. With Simon Schaffer, Professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College; Raymond Flood, University Lecturer in Computing Studies and Mathematics and Senior Tutor at Kellogg College, University of Oxford; Rob Iliffe, Professor of Intellectual History and History of Science at the University of Sussex.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Newton’s Laws of Motion. In 1687 Isaac Newton attempted to explain the movements of everything in the universe, from a pea rolling on a plate to the position of the planets. It was a brilliant, vaultingly ambitious and fiendishly complex task; it took him three sentences. These are the three laws of motion with which Newton founded the discipline of classical mechanics and conjoined a series of concepts - inertia, acceleration, force, momentum and mass - by which we still describe the movement of things today. Newton’s laws have been refined over the years – most famously by Einstein - but they were still good enough, 282 years after they were published, to put Neil Armstrong on the Moon. With Simon Schaffer, Professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College; Raymond Flood, University Lecturer in Computing Studies and Mathematics and Senior Tutor at Kellogg College, University of Oxford; Rob Iliffe, Professor of Intellectual History and History of Science at the University of Sussex.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dawn of the age of electricity. In Gulliver's Travels, published in 1726, Jonathan Swift satirised natural philosophers as trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers. Perhaps he would have been surprised, or even horrified, by the sheer force of what these seemingly obscure experimentalists were about to unleash on society. Electricity soon reached into all areas of 18th century life, as Royal Society Fellows vied with showmen and charlatans to reveal its wonders to the world. It was, claimed one commentator, 'an entertainment for Angels rather than for Men'. Electricity also posed deep questions about the nature of life. For some it was the divine spark that animated all things, for others it represented a dangerous materialism that reduced humans to mere machines.But how did electricity develop in the 18th and 19th centuries? Why was it so politically contentious and how was it understood during the age in which it changed the world forever?With Simon Schaffer, Professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Darwin College; Patricia Fara, historian of science and a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge; Iwan Morus, Lecturer in the History of Science at Queen's University Belfast.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dawn of the age of electricity. In Gulliver's Travels, published in 1726, Jonathan Swift satirised natural philosophers as trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers. Perhaps he would have been surprised, or even horrified, by the sheer force of what these seemingly obscure experimentalists were about to unleash on society. Electricity soon reached into all areas of 18th century life, as Royal Society Fellows vied with showmen and charlatans to reveal its wonders to the world. It was, claimed one commentator, 'an entertainment for Angels rather than for Men'. Electricity also posed deep questions about the nature of life. For some it was the divine spark that animated all things, for others it represented a dangerous materialism that reduced humans to mere machines.But how did electricity develop in the 18th and 19th centuries? Why was it so politically contentious and how was it understood during the age in which it changed the world forever?With Simon Schaffer, Professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Darwin College; Patricia Fara, historian of science and a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge; Iwan Morus, Lecturer in the History of Science at Queen's University Belfast.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the science of Oceanography. In 1870 Jules Verne described the deep ocean in 2,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He wrote: “The sea is an immense desert where man is never alone for he feels life, quivering around him on every side.” This was actually closer to the truth than the science of the time, when ‘Azoic Theory' held sway and it was believed that nothing could exist below 600 metres. Now we estimate that there are more species in the deep ocean than in the rest of the planet put together, somewhere between 2 million and 100 million different species of organism are living on the ocean floor.Science has dispelled the idea that huge underground tunnels join our oceans together and the notion that giant Kraken lurk in the deep, but our seas still retain much of their mystery and there have been more men on the surface of the moon than at the bottom of the ocean. How should we understand the sea? With Margaret Deacon, visiting Research Fellow at Southampton Oceanography Centre and author of Scientists and the Sea, Tony Rice, Biological Oceanographer and author of Deep Ocean, Simon Schaffer, Reader in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of Darwin College.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the science of Oceanography. In 1870 Jules Verne described the deep ocean in 2,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He wrote: “The sea is an immense desert where man is never alone for he feels life, quivering around him on every side.” This was actually closer to the truth than the science of the time, when ‘Azoic Theory’ held sway and it was believed that nothing could exist below 600 metres. Now we estimate that there are more species in the deep ocean than in the rest of the planet put together, somewhere between 2 million and 100 million different species of organism are living on the ocean floor.Science has dispelled the idea that huge underground tunnels join our oceans together and the notion that giant Kraken lurk in the deep, but our seas still retain much of their mystery and there have been more men on the surface of the moon than at the bottom of the ocean. How should we understand the sea? With Margaret Deacon, visiting Research Fellow at Southampton Oceanography Centre and author of Scientists and the Sea, Tony Rice, Biological Oceanographer and author of Deep Ocean, Simon Schaffer, Reader in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of Darwin College.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the great poet and dramatist, famous for Faust, for The Sorrows of Young Werther, for Storm und Drang and for being a colossus in German literature. Born in the middle of the eighteenth century he lived through the first third of the nineteenth. He wrote lyric and epic verse, literary criticism, prose fiction, translations from 28 languages, he was a politician as well and was hailed by Napoleon as the boundless measure of man; but for much of his time, often to the exclusion of everything else, Goethe was a scientist. That was also part of this late flowering Renaissance man. Some say he paved the way for Darwin, some say he pre-dated the chaos theory, that he foreshadowed Gaia. In an age of romantic giants he was certainly a titan. He gave us the term morphology and sometimes he is even credited with inventing biology itself. How important were Goethe's discoveries, and where does he really stand in the history of science? With Nicholas Boyle, Reader in German Literary and Intellectual History, Magdalene College, Cambridge, and biographer of Goethe; Simon Schaffer, Reader in the History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University and Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the great poet and dramatist, famous for Faust, for The Sorrows of Young Werther, for Storm und Drang and for being a colossus in German literature. Born in the middle of the eighteenth century he lived through the first third of the nineteenth. He wrote lyric and epic verse, literary criticism, prose fiction, translations from 28 languages, he was a politician as well and was hailed by Napoleon as the boundless measure of man; but for much of his time, often to the exclusion of everything else, Goethe was a scientist. That was also part of this late flowering Renaissance man. Some say he paved the way for Darwin, some say he pre-dated the chaos theory, that he foreshadowed Gaia. In an age of romantic giants he was certainly a titan. He gave us the term morphology and sometimes he is even credited with inventing biology itself. How important were Goethe’s discoveries, and where does he really stand in the history of science? With Nicholas Boyle, Reader in German Literary and Intellectual History, Magdalene College, Cambridge, and biographer of Goethe; Simon Schaffer, Reader in the History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University and Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge.
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