Tuesday 4 June 2013

"Surviving the century"



Our annual Science Festival kicked off today, and we went along to hear Martin Rees. As before I found him brilliant, but infuriating. It consoled me to know that, like the rest of us, he's "a worried member of the human race." But are we all? I do wonder.

The first half of the lecture analysed cogently - though some of his conclusions stuck in my throat - our present situation and the immediate future outlook. But then Lord Rees took off into the way ahead ("... if we  get through this century"). "The post-human era beckons," he told us, and we were asked to consider whether we should feel guilty about exploiting robots.

You - or was it just me? - were left feeling what's the point of seeking to improve our present situation, by (inevitably) so very little... Late though it is, like Voltaire, I should perhaps just be off to cultivate my garden. (I photographed this peony of Caroline's there this morning, using my new whizzo camera: the family presented me with it for my birthday!)

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