Think & Drink is a happy-hour series that sparks provocative conversations about big ideas. The series, which invites the public to think and talk together, reflects Oregon Humanities' emphasis on infusing important public conversations with critical thinking and fresh ideas. All Think & Drink events are free and open to the public.
Think & Drink Ponders the Future of Human and Artificial Intelligence
The third in a four-part series that explores how technology shapes the future
If you could take a pill to make yourself smarter, would you? In More Than Human: Embracing The Promise of Biological Enhancement, computer scientist Ramez Naam argues that neuroenhancing drugs and gene therapies could create wealthier, happier societies—if those societies are willing to embrace them. But would brain alteration make us no longer ourselves?
Join Oregon Humanities in considering these questions and others like them with Naam and science historian Mott Greene at Think & Drink, Wednesday, July 18, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., Portland. Doors open at 5 p.m.
Ramez Naam, a computer scientist who helped develop Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, and the Bing search engine, is currently a senior associate of the Foresight Institute and a fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He is the author of More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement, on the future of biotechnology and humankind, and the forthcoming The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet, which examines technological solutions to environmental challenges.
Mott Greene is a historian of science and technology, with an interest in the origins of order, including the problem of the origin of life and the possibility of life on other planets. He was, until his retirement in May, the John Magee Professor of Science and Values at the University of Puget Sound. He is the author of Natural Knowledge in Preclassical Antiquity and Geology in the Nineteenth Century: Changing View of a Changing World.
Richard Read, economics and international affairs reporter for the Oregonian, will moderate the series. Minors allowed when accompanied by an adult. Think & Drink events are free and open to the public.
If you missed the last Think & Drink, which explores the future of food security, you can watch a video or listen to a podcast of the event thanks to our series media sponsor, KZME radio. Willamette Week is also a media sponsor of the 2012 Think & Drink series.
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