Listing of events tagged with Speaker
POSTPONED: One, Two, Many: Why is 3 So Much Bigger Than 2?
There are lots of places in maths where changing a 2 to a 3 takes a problem from easy or at least understandable to very difficult or even impossible. This talk will a few examples of this phenomenon, then speculate wildly about what is going on.
This event has been postponed due to coronavirus concerns.
Sian Williams: The Age of Antibiotic Resistance
Join journalist and science historian Kit Chapman on an adventure across chemistry as he shares the bizarre stories behind the names of the building blocks of science.
This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.
Kit Chapman: How to Name Your Element
Join journalist and science historian Kit Chapman on an adventure across chemistry as he shares the bizarre stories behind the names of the building blocks of science.
This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.
Jonathan Jarry: The Blinding Light of Sophisticated Pseudoscience
Alternative medicine proponents have become really good at building a body of research that looks more and more like good science to the casual observer. In the face of positive randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, the skeptic’s approach has to become more sophisticated to crack this façade of believability. We will go through three cases that illustrate how convincing the evidence for pseudoscience looks and what’s actually happening under the bonnet.
This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.
Jim Al-Khalili: The World According to Physics
Where does theoretical physics stand at the end of the second decade of the 21st century? While what we do know is dazzlingly impressive, there is much we have yet to grasp, from the nature of space and time to the meaning quantum mechanics. This whistle-stop tour of modern physics is an appraisal of what we know and what we have yet to figure out.
This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.
Denialism — What’s the Alternative?
Keith Kahn-Harris argues that to really understand denialism, we have to face up to what he calls 'the deniers alternative'. In thinking about how to combat denialism, we have to consider whether a world without it might not be a truth-filled utopia, but something even worse.
Circular Reasoning: The Rise of Flat Earth Belief
In 2013, when Michael Marshall first interviewed the Vice President of the Flat Earth society, people could scarcely believe that anyone could genuinely think the Earth was flat. Five years later, Flat Earth belief has gone mainstream. How did we get here?
The AI Does Not Hate You
The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made of atoms which it can use for something else. This is a talk about AI and AI risk. Along the way, we discover how a more rational approach to life could be what saves us all.
Fascist Thought in Britain: Past & Present
Focusing on several Anglo-German examples, this talk will explore the links between elements of fascist thinking in the past and present, British influences on the development of Nazi ideology, and the legacies of these ideas in politics today
Fantastic Beasts and Why to Conserve Them
Dr Caroline Ward is here to tell us about how conservation efforts can be helped and hindered when the local population believes the animal you're protecting is magic.