"Creative Mischief": Doc Edgerton's Contributions to Underwater Archaeology
Claire Calcagno
Fri Jan 24, 10am-04:00pm, MIT Museum (N52), (Lunch break, 1-2pm)
No limit but advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 23-Jan-2003
Discover Doc Edgerton's passion for what he called "creative mischief": searching for submerged ships and ancient cities! Come find out about Doc's engineering ingenuities, which included underwater photographic and sonar tools to scan and penetrate the seafloor. Learn about the beginnings of maritime archaeology, and how engineering developments have shaped its evolution. Hear the real stories from colleagues who participated in Doc's archaeological ventures and went on to forge their own innovative tools and methods. Examine artifacts that Doc accumulated, as well as instruments he used. Become inspired to follow in his wet footsteps! (Co-sponsored by STS, MIT Museum, Edgerton Center, and DeepArch Research Group.)
Contact: Claire Calcagno, E38-303, x3-3496, clairec@mit.edu
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Can You Rely on Statistics to Make Important Life Decisions?
Michael Stiefel, Leon Trilling
Mon Jan 13, 03-05:00pm, 4-231
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Important life decisions are fraught with uncertainty and risk. Thinking about such problems requires probabilistic or statistical inference. Yet engineering education develops a false view of such reasoning. Concepts such as average, normal, or likely, mean different things when measuring physical quantities as opposed to human choices such as medical treatments, investments, global warming, or war with Iraq. We would like to demonstrate how one should think about such problems. Bad statistics are not the issue here; we know you can lie with statistics and probabilities. We want to develop ways to use probability to reason and evaluate evidence and new information in the light of past beliefs.
Contact: Michael Stiefel, E51-185, (617) 739-4730, michael@reliablesoftware.com
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Civil War Film Preview ("Gods and Generals")
Merritt Roe Smith
Mon Jan 27, 10am-12:00pm, Wang Audit., E51
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Attend the Boston preview of "Gods and Generals," the major motion picture about the American Civil War that follows the rise and fall of Stonewall Jackson, and is a prequel to the film "Gettysburg" (based on the novel, "The Killer Angels") by the same director. The movie (produced by Ted Turner Pictures with a national release date of February 21) was filmed in and around Sharpsburg, Maryland, the site of the Antietam Battlefield, and on actual historic locations in Virginia and West Virginia. Writer/director Ron Maxwell and a leading cast member will introduce the film and then show 30 minutes of excerpts. A question-and-answer session will follow. The event will be hosted by Professor Merritt Roe Smith, author of "Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology" and a Civil War expert in MIT's Program in Science, Technology, and Society.
Web: http://www.ronmaxwell.com/ggenerals.html
Contact: Kris Kipp, E51-296, x3-9759, kipp@mit.edu
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Pharmaceutical Advertising and You
Joe Dumit
Thu Jan 23, 01-05:00pm, E51-149
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
What is the relationship between promotion and health, and how is it changing our views of health, illness, and ourselves? This workshop will explore the world of pharmaceuticals from a marketing point of view. Direct-to-Consumer campaigns for cholesterol-lowering drugs, for anti-depressants, and others are in some cases exceeding the costs of developing the drugs. Participants will view and discuss many different TV and magazine pharmaceutical ads, presentations by anthropologists and historians who are studying them, and special presentations by advertisers and designers about the pharmaceutical market. A presentation of RxID, the working group on pharmaceuticals and identity. Sponsored by the STS Program & the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self.
Web: http://brainarchives.com/rxid/
Contact: Joe Dumit, E51-296d, x3-8781, dumit@mit.edu
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