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Cairo
26 April
Venue: Cairo University, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Kasr Al-Aini Main Conference Hall, Conference Centre.
Time: Arrival 11:30
Is human nature about to change forever? Can we envisage a world where everything we take for granted about ourselves - imagination, free will, love, learning, memory, desire - becomes obsolete?
At the beginning of the 21st Century, we are standing on the brink of a mind makeover more cataclysmic than anything in our history. The science and technology that are already at the heart of our lives will soon come to transform not just the way we live, but the way we think and feel. And as we learn to appreciate the dynamism and sensitivity of our brain circuitry, the prospect of directly tampering with the very essence of our individuality becomes increasingly likely.
This lecture will offer the prospect of a world free of pain and disease, where we can manipulate our bodies with machinery, our moods with 'smart drugs' and our innate nature with gene therapy, - where what we eat, our relationships, jobs, even the way we fight wars, - will be transformed by technology. Meanwhile, 'home' might become a blur of artificial images, sounds, textures and smells, oblivious to any other reality. In this virtual realm of 'dreams and shadows', the notion of our individual self may, in fact, be obliterated entirely.
To attend the lecture please register by sending your Name, Age, Faculty or Job title by email.
Alexandria
27 April
Science is increasingly central to all our lives, - be it nutrition, climate change or reproduction. It is no longer possible, as it was in the past, to exile scientists to the ivory towers of their universities: rather science is engaging with a whole range of sectors, from which it was previously distant, for example: the media, education, women’s issues, the private sector and the political arena, are increasingly needing to engage with scientists.
We shall explore some of the interfaces between these traditionally separate sectors, caused by the changing face of society, such as
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The impact of the screen culture on how children are thinking and learning and the impact, in turn, that will have on education. |
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The issue of recruiting more women into science. |
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As well as finding a means of evaluating, in an informed way, the potential and threats of the genetic technologies on reproduction, medication and lifestyle. |
One of the problems for harnessing the technologies and minimising the threats it poses to 21st Century society, is the heretofore discrepant agendas between politicians, scientists, and the media. A journalist works over a timescale of hours, and wishes to maximise readers and viewers; a politician wishes to stay in power for several years; whereas a scientist wishes to obtain money for research, and thinks in terms of a lifetime.
These different agendas and timescales need to be reconciled in a neutral forum. The Royal Institution in the United Kingdom for 200 years has been ‘diffusing science for the common purposes of life’. By offering a facility that is free from any private or public sector agenda, it is possible for the general public to come and talk, not only with each other, whatever their background, but also to engage with scientists, politicians, the media, and clinicians, so that they can evaluate together, in an informed way, how science and technology can be harnessed for the good of society.
For more information and how to register please go to this website.
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