What we’re about
Profs and Pints brings professors and other college instructors into bars, cafes, and other venues to give fascinating talks or to conduct instructive workshops. They cover a wide range of subjects, including history, politics, popular culture, horticulture, literature, creative writing, and personal finance. Anyone interested in learning and in meeting people with similar interests should join. Lectures are structured to allow at least a half hour for questions and an additional hour for audience members to meet each other. Admission to Profs and Pints events requires the purchase of tickets, either in advance (through the link provided in event descriptions) or at the door to the venue. Many events sell out in advance.
Although Profs and Pints has a social mission--expanding access to higher learning while offering college instructors a new income source--it is NOT a 501c3. It was established as a for-profit company in hopes that, by developing a profitable business model, it would be able to spread to other communities much more quickly than a nonprofit dependent on philanthropic support. That said, it is welcoming partners and collaborators as it seeks to build up audiences and spread to new cities. For more information email profsandpints@hotmail.com.
Thank you for your interest in Profs and Pints.
Regards,
Peter Schmidt, Founder, Profs and Pints
Upcoming events (2)
See all- Profs & Pints Alameda: Are We Alone?Faction Brewing, Alameda, CA
Profs and Pints Alameda presents: “Are We Alone?” an update on the search for extraterrestrial life, with Steve Croft, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley's SETI Research Center and researcher involved with the Breakthrough Listen initiative’s search for signals from beyond.
[Tickets available only online at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/alameda-ET .]
Since ancient humans first looked up at the night sky we’ve wondered if other minds inhabit worlds beyond our own. That curiosity has intensified in recent years with our discovery that stars have their own planetary systems, billions of Earth-like planets exist within our own galaxy, and our galaxy is just one of hundreds of billions.
Could it really be the case that we’re the only inhabitants of this vast universe? How can science help us answer the question of whether we’re alone? Might we have been visited by extraterrestrials already?
Hear such questions tackled at Faction Brewing in Alameda by Dr. Steve Croft, who will describe the many ways in which the search for life beyond Earth is rapidly intensifying.
He’ll talk about “biosignature” searches being carried out by robots sniffing the surface of Mars and by NASA’s Webb telescope as it scans the atmospheres of exoplanets. While such biosignature searches are challenging and currently can only examine a handful of targets, in recent years we’ve also seen rapid growth in the search for smart life, which involves looking for technosignatures—signs of technology regarded as a proxy for the intelligence that built it. The astronomers involved in it harness the resources of our largest telescopes, our most powerful computers, and most cutting-edge AI algorithms.
Dr. Croft will discuss recent developments from his own field, SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence). He’ll talk about how his own work involves using the 7000-ton Green Bank Telescope—the largest movable object on land—to scan thousands of stars for elusive, needle-in-a-haystack signals from alien intelligence. You’ll learn why researchers are not going to let the lack of a confirmed signal deter them from this quest, and what we'll learn even if we don't make contact with ET.
Is the truth out there? Do you want to believe? (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: An edited and enhanced composite image of the Green Banks Radio Telescope and astronomical ammonia. By Glen Langston / Wikimedia Commons.
- Profs & Pints San Francisco: The Big Reboot—Tech for GoodBartlett Hall, San Francisco, CA
Profs and Pints San Francisco presents: “The Big Reboot—Tech for Good,” on the emergence of a human-focused technology sector as a rebellion against big tech’s evils, with Deb Donig, lecturer at the University of California-Berkeley, co-founder of the Cal Poly Ethical Technology Initiative, and host of the Technically Human podcast.
[Tickets only available online, at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/san-francisco-big-reboot .]
A profound shift occurred in how society views technology occurred In the wake of the 2016 election and the Cambridge Analytica scandal. What emerged wasn't just criticism of the tech industry, but the rise of an entirely new category of jobs dedicated to making technology serve human values.
Join Deb Donig, a scholar of the intersection of technology, ethics, and the culture of the Silicon Valley, for an eye-opening look at the “techlash” as one of the most significant but under-examined movements of our time.
She’ll discuss how the Silicon Valley’s utopian thinking has produced dystopian results, with many tech products envisioned as tools to "make the world a better place" ending up somehow making it worse. In exploring why this happened, she’ll argue that a “technological grotesque” emerges when our most sublime technological achievements simultaneously distort the human values they claim to serve.
We’ll look at how the Obama-era celebration of digital technology’s potential to serve our needs gave way to a sobering recognition of its technology's capacity for harm, leading to calls to somehow reconcile society’s need for democratic deliberation and ethical oversight with the Silicon Valley's “move fast and break things" mentality.
We'll explore why do so many tech products envisioned as tools to "make the world a better place" ended up making it somehow worse. Dr. Donig will argue that a “technological grotesque” emerges when our most sublime technological achievements simultaneously distort the human values they claim to serve.
Drawing from original research tracking thousands of jobs over five years, Dr. Donig will map the rise and evolution of a “techlash workforce.” She’ll discuss what “tech for good” really looks like, as well as how it can succeed, and what obstacles get in the way of workers who want better outcomes for tech products and users.
This talk isn't just about jobs. It’s about how society grapples with powerful innovations' unintended consequences. Examining the emergence of a “techlash” workforce offers crucial insights into whether we can build a future where technology truly serves human flourishing. You’ll find this talk essential if you’re a tech worker, policymaker, student, or just a citizen trying to understand how we got here and where we're headed. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5:30 and the talk begins at 6:30. Parking available nearby at the Mason O'Farrell garage.)
Image: Photo by Paul Inkles / Creative Commons
