London Futurists

Disruptive Climate Futures, with Tom Harris

Sat, Aug 15 · 4:00 PM BST

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Online

Online

What's really happening to our climate? Are we facing risks of even greater disruption, as planetary systems are pushed beyond tipping points? How does El Niño complicate matters? When different scientists disagree about future scenarios, how can we transcend ideological biases to understand the underlying physics and feedback cycles? Which levers are available for our consideration, to alter the climate trajectory? Which factors are obstructing the use of these levers, and how can these obstacles be addressed? What are the overlapping roles of technologies, economics, institutions, narratives, and social movements, in avoiding widespread tragedy? How quickly are course corrections needed?

These are some of the questions likely to feature in the London Futurists webinar taking place on Saturday 15th August, featuring Dr Tom Harris: "Disruptive Climate Futures - The physics, the feedback, the levers, and the implications of possible responses".

The webinar will also include time for audience questions, feedback, and extended conversation.

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This event will be hosted on Zoom. To register, click here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kS9egBBJTrWXYd0HvAAhgw

There will be no charge to attend the webinar.

The webinar will start broadcasting at 4pm UK time on Sat 15th August. To find this time in other timezones, you can use this conversion page.

Please log into Zoom up to 10 minutes ahead of the start time of the event, so you won't miss the start of the live broadcast.

As the discussion proceeds, attendees will be welcome to raise questions and vote to prioritise questions raised by others.

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About the speaker:

Tom Harris has a PhD in neural computing for signal processing from Brunel University, back before that subject was called AI. He spent his early career as a University lecturer in Industrial Design and Engineering while building a group researching Neural Computing applications, before spinning out a medical device company using the technology.

Tom has spent the last 25 years working with over 200 grant funded projects covering a wide range of technologies but including carbon capture, smart energy grids and energy efficiency. Now retired, he writes on climate science on his Substack “Climate Uncovered” with the aim of translating complex scientific papers for a wider audience. He also applies his data processing and machine learning experience to interpret climate data sets.

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To register on Zoom for this event, click here.

The Technoprogressive Opportunity

Sat, Sep 19 · 9:30 AM BST

LSBU Hub, 116, 100 London Rd, Elephant and Castle, London SE1 6NJ, London, GB

The Technoprogressive Opportunity is a two-day in-person conference in Central London (SE1), organised by the IEET and London Futurists, on the subject of "The future of ethics and emerging technologies".

Brief description
We live in a time of dramatic changes in the capabilities of technologies. Political and social norms are being disrupted as never before. The future is deeply uncertain. Humanity faces a bewildering mix of risks of catastrophe. But we also have the potential to transition to a new state of civilisation – a new relationship with technology and the environment – featuring unparalleled increases in all-round flourishing.

In this state of confusion and turmoil, how can society reach the wisest decisions about which technologies to encourage and which to constrain? How can society ensure that these decisions are followed in practice, rather than being ignored or subverted by powerful short-sighted forces? How can a technoprogressive coalition grow in strength, as a decisive counter to existing worldviews which are more likely to leave humanity diminished, fragmented, or even extinct?

These are the questions at the heart of the technoprogressive opportunity.

Registration
There will be no charge to attend, or for morning and afternoon refreshments.

For formal registration, please visit Luma: https://luma.com/bk22gy6s.

Messages will be sent to Luma registrants in due course regarding options to obtain tickets to join speakers for dinner gatherings.

Members and friends of London Futurists are also welcome to RSVP 'Yes' here on this Meetup page if they expect to attend on one or both days - Saturday 19th September and Sunday 20th September.

Themes
Speakers are being invited to address themes such as:

• Trust and democracy in the wake of AI
• Technologies for collaboration
• Politics and human enhancement
• Abundance: Creating it, sustaining it, and sharing it
• The techlash as a catalyst for profound change
• The Technoprogressive Declaration, 12 years later
• Beyond the Green New Deal: global health and technological justice
• Society as a Service – assessing the Network State
• The impending Economic Singularity: myth or reality?
• AI misalignment: how bad could things get?
• Regulation in the era of augmented capabilities
• PostCapitalism and PostSocialism
• Progressive politics if there’s no working class
• Escaping from Moloch: avoiding the race to the bottom
• The Longevity Dividend: making it real
• Alternative banners: Transhumanism, Vitalism, Ecomodernism, or what?
• From Cold War 2.0 to a new world order?
• Ethics: by whom and for whom?
• Lobbying for better policies: dos and don’ts
• Concrete next steps in building the technoprogressive coalition

Venue
The conference will take place in the LSBU Hub, part of London South Bank University, which is a short distance from London Waterloo, London Bridge Station, and London Borough Market.

Address: 100-116 London Road, SE1 6LN.

We’ll be in the Southwark Lecture Theatre.

Note that this is an in-person event. All speakers are expected to give their presentation in person, at the LSBU Hub venue.

Speakers
See https://londonfuturists.com/forthcoming-meetings/the-technoprogressive-opportunity/speakers/.

Schedule
The schedule will be announced nearer the time. It will include networking time as well as presentations and dialogues.

The conference will run from 9:30am to 5pm on the Saturday and from 10am to 4:30pm on the Sunday.

More information
Information about this forthcoming conference is being shared at https://londonfuturists.com/forthcoming-meetings/the-technoprogressive-opportunity/.