Recent Forums—Fall 2009 and Spring 2009
Wired For War:
The Prospects and Perils of Robotic Warfare
Tuesday, November 10
7:00-9:00pm
Building 6, Room 120 — click here for map
Peter Singer, Senior Fellow and Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative, Brookings Institution
Moderator and Respondent: Missy Cummings, Associate Professor, CSAIL
Respondents to be announced
This program is co-sponsored with the MIT Security Studies Program and CSAIL
EXAMINED LIFE: Philosophy in the Street
A free film screening
Thursday, November 5
7:00-9:00pm
Building 32, Room 141— click here for map
Socrates said "The unexamined life is not worth living". Do you agree?
Discussion, led by Prof. Rae Langton, will follow the film. Light refreshments will be served.
Co-sponsored by the MIT Philosophy Section and the Technology and Culture Forum at MIT
Malalai Joya
Thursday, October 29
7:00pm-9:00pm
Room 10-250 — click here for map
Called "the bravest woman in Afghanistan", Joya is a member of the Afghan parliament who has repeatedly stood up to the warlords, for women's rights and democracy. Despite having had four assassination attempts against her, she refuses to remain silent and continues to fight for women's rights. Malalai Joya comes to MIT to talk about women's rights, her work, and the struggle for women's rights in Afghanistan.
Although this program is free, donations for the costs of bringing Joya here and for the Defense Committee for Malalai Joya are encouraged and appreciated.
For more information and updates please go to http://web.mit.edu/end_violence.
Co-sponsored with MIT Amnesty International.
This program is part of a year-long series on Violence Against Women sponsored by TAC.
Click here to see the video of this program
A Walk to Beautiful: Film Screening
Wednesday, October 28
7:00-9:00pm
6-120 — click here for map
The award winning feature-length documentary A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. They make the choice to take the long and arduous journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in search of a cure and a new life.
For more information and updates please go to http://web.mit.edu/end_violence.
Co-sponsored with MIT Amnesty International
This program is part of a year-long series on Violence Against Women sponsored by TAC.
Making Waves, Saving Lives: Film Screening
Tuesday, October 27
7:00pm-9:00pm
MIT Room 6-120 — click here for map
Making Waves, Saving Lives tells the story of Dolphin Anti-Rape, an organization that teaches Kenyan women and girls rape awareness and self-defense. With no government funding, a 1985 Toyota that's constantly in the shop, and unreliable public transportation, four dedicated volunteers find a way to overcome adversity to get into the classrooms of Nairobi to empower young women. These girls learn that they have the right to say no to unwanted advances and they gain the courage to fight back and run away. Ten years since the founding of Dolphin Anti-Rape, its volunteers are affecting not only students but also a whole generation of young Kenyans, giving them confidence filling them with empowerment, and helping them preserve their innocence. Witness how the dedicated volunteers of Dolphin Anti-Rape enable young women to walk the streets of Nairobi with pride instead of fear.
Filmmaker Golzar Selbe (from Dolphin Anti-Rape, VDay) will be in attendance for a discussion afterwards.
Although this program is free, donations for Dolphin Anti-Rape are encouraged and appreciated.
For more information and updates please go to http://web.mit.edu/end_violence.
This program is part of a year-long series on Violence Against Women sponsored by TAC.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind:
Elegant Design Out of Junk and Spare Parts
William Kamkwamba
Read about William on CNN's World
See William on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart-October 7th!
Wednesday, October 21
7:00pm
Room 6-120 — click here for map
Introduced by Amy Smith, founder of D-Lab, MIT
William Kamkwamba, is a senior at the African Leadership Academy, a pan-African high school in Johannesburg, South Africa. A 2007 and 2009 TEDGlobal Fellow, Kamkwamba has been profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and his inventions have been displayed at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. He's often invited to tell his story at such venues as the World Economic Forum in Africa, CES, Aspen Ideas Festival, Maker Faire Africa and the African Economic Forum.
William Kamkwamba will share his story of how he achieved his dream of bringing electricity, light, and the promise of a better life to his family and his village. It started with a bicycle dynamo—simply a pedal-powered wheel that generated light. This taste of electricity (a luxury enjoyed by just two percent of Malawians) filled William with a desire to create. Before long, his scientific curiosity sent him on a quest to build a windmill. Besides dealing with financial obstacles and technical difficulties, William became a self-taught physicist, overcame local superstitions, and withstood being mocked for his “crazy” ideas.
For a full biography of William, please click here.
This program is co-sponsored with the Edgerton Center.
Race and Politics in the Media
Oct. 8th
5:00pm-7:00pm
Bartos Theater (MIT building E15, 20 Ames Street) — click here for map
Juan Williams, National Public Radio and Fox News
in conversation with
David Thorburn, Director, MIT Communications Forum
Philip Thompson, Associate Professor, Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
The election of an African-American president in Nov. 2008 has been hailed as a transforming event. But has Obama's ascension transformed anything? Many people?s answer to that question changed this summer when a famous Harvard professor was arrested at his home in Cambridge. Are the harsh realities of race and class in the U.S. clearer now or murkier, following the media tsunami of Gatesgate? And has this polarizing event given greater visibility to racial minorities in the media's coverage of politics? How are race issues and racial politics covered in our national media, and what are the implications of the demise of major city newspapers for the coverage of race and politics?
Co-sponsored with the MIT Communications Forum and the Center for Future Civic Media
Friday, October 2
1:00-3:00pm
Lobby Building 13 — click here for map
MIT's Annual International Development Fair (IDF) is an event designed to showcase the many groups, projects and activities at MIT that provide students with an opportunity to work on issues related to international development. The Fair brings students and organizations together to promote awareness and encourage the exchange of ideas.
The annual Fair is organized by the MIT International Development Network, of which TAC is a founding member. This MIT community network was developed to promote and share information about activities, programs, events and formal academic offerings related to international development.
What Matters to Me and Why:
A Personal Look at Ethical Issues
Thursday, September 10
Time: 5 pm -6 pm
Building 4, Room 145 — click here for map
Four scholars explain why they care deeply about a particular issue, followed by open conversation about the responsibilities of engineers and scientists to society. Discover how the Technology and Culture Forum will address these issues in the year ahead and how to get involved.
The panel will consist of TAC Steering Committee members Christopher Csikszentmihalyi, MIT Media Lab, Sally Haslanger, Philosophy, Megan Palmer, G, Biology, and Yoda Patta, Materials Science and Engineering. Hors d'oeuvres will be served.
Youth Summit on Global Climate Change
Saturday, May 9
9:00am-3:00pm
The Stata Center, Building 32
3nd Annual Youth Summit on Global Warming hosted by T&C and the Boston Latin School's Youth Climate Action Network! The day will be filled with informative and fun workshops, free food and prizes. Last year's summit was a big success and this year's promises to be even better. Click here for a video montage of the summit.
Saturday, May 9
1:00-4:00pm
MIT Museum (265 Massachusetts Avenue)
When D-Lab students showcased their work last fall, the audience was wowed! Join us and take a look at some radical innovations that will help people in developing countries.
Monday, May 4
7:30pm
32-123
Come celebrate the work of ingenious MIT students as they develop innovative solutions to community needs.
Boston’s first “simul-café": Life as We Don't Know It
Technology and Culture Forum, along with NOVA scienceNOW and Harvard's Science in the News, invite you to a join us this Sunday night for Boston’s first “simul-café.”
Pick from three science cafe events starting at the same time, each based on the same theme: “Life as we don’t know it.” We’ve made it easy to enjoy your Sunday night. No lectures or technical jargon, only great venues, great food and drink, and great conversations. The only hard part is choosing!
THE CAFES:
Synthetic Biology: Recoding Life.
If you could use living cells to build anything, what would you build? We can read the language of DNA. And we've gotten pretty good at writing it if only we knew WHAT to write, and how to get new designs to actually work. Peter Carr will give some examples of how this is rapidly changing, from his own work and others in the field of Synthetic Biology.
Starts at 7:30pm, Sunday, April 26
Cambridge Brewing Company (www.cambrew.com)
1 Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02138
Hosted by MIT’s Technology and Culture Forum: http://web.mit.edu/tac/
Get started by watching this video online: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3410/03.html
Café Sci is Digging for Martians.
Sam Kounaves has spent a lot of time on Mars recently, whether it’s scratching the surface with the robotic Phoenix Lander or experimenting in simulated environments. All of this time is starting to pay off, as he uncovers evidence that increases the chance that we will find signs of life there soon. What could this life look like? How would it change our world back on Earth?
Starts at 7:30pm, Sunday, April 26
Tommy Doyle’s Kendall Square (www.tommydoyles.com)
1 Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02138
Validated parking in Kendal Square garage (by cinema on Binney Street)
Hosted by the public television science series NOVA scienceNOW, produced by WGBH. Watch online at: www.pbs.org/nova/sciencenow
Get started by watching this video online: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0306/01.html
At Sea with Symbiotic Outlaws: exploring the mysteries of a marine ménage à trois.
Much of modern biology is based on intense study of “model” organisms: lab rats, E. coli, fruit flies, and the like. But millions of other species live on our planet—some right here in our neighborhood—that have not read the textbooks and happily go about their lives without obeying the rules we’ve created for them. We’ll discuss the value of these unique life forms asprovocateurs that encourage us to re-think the way that life can be organized.
Starts at 7:30pm, Sunday, April 26
Atwoods Tavern (www.atwoodstavern.com)
877 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02138
Hosted by Harvard’s Science in the News: www.hms.harvard.edu/sitn/
Get started by watching this video online: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0305/04.html
International Development Night @ MIT
Friday, April 3
5:30pm-7:30pm
MIT Museum
Please join us for a fascinating expo and reception featuring the Development Network at MIT. This event is being held in conjunction with the International Development Conference at Harvard. Refreshments will be served.
Food Locavorism
Thursday, March 26
7:00-9:00pm
Location: MIT Student Center, 20 Chimneys
(Room 306; 84 Massachusetts Avenue)
"Eat locally" has become the new moral mantra for citizen gastronomes concerned about global warming, corporate agriculture, and the dissolution of community. So quickly and broadly has the movement spread that even Wal-Mart touts locally-grown produce on its enormous shelves. But how much do food miles matter? And what does this cavalcade to the farmers' market say about our fears and hopes as a culture faced with overlapping crises? Is buying "local" necessarily ethical, or is it more complicated than that? Join us for a lively conversation — and some low-food-mile nibblies! — on this hot topic.
Speakers:
David Pimentel, Cornell University
Susanne Freidberg, Associate Professor of Geography, Dartmouth College
Steve Johnson, Owner and Executive Chef, Rendezvous Restaurant
Moderator: Steven Shapin, Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
Snacks provided by City Feed, Costa Foods and Bon Appetit.
Click here to listen to the program (MP3 file).
Chinese Reform and US-Chinese Relations in the Age of Obama:
A conversation with delegates from the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament.
Friday, March 13
3:00-5:00pm
32-141
With a new administration in Washington and the upcoming Nuclear Proliferation Treaty review conference, much hangs in the balance of US-Chinese relations. Join us for this timely visit to MIT by a group of distinguished Chinese scholars and activists. Bring your questions and hopes for a peaceful, nuclear weapons-free future. The delegation includes Mao Rubai, Former Chairman of the Energy Committee of the People's Congress, and Niu Qiang, who spent nearly two decades working on issues of disarmament, nonproliferation, and on anti-nuclear issues with the UN, the Committee for Science and World Affairs, and elsewhere.
Cosponsored by the MIT Working Group on Science, Technology, and Global Security at STS and the American Friends Service Committee.
Click here for an article about this program
Politics and Popular Culture
Thursday, February 26
5:00-7:00pm
Bartos Theater
Johanna Blakley is deputy director of the Norman Lear Center, where she performs research on celebrity culture, global entertainment, and digital technology.
David Carr is a culture reporter and media columnist at the New York Times.
Stephen Duncombe teaches the history and politics of media and culture at NYU and is the author, most recently, of Dream: Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy He blogs at Reality Sandwich.
Moderator: Henry Jenkins is co-director of Comparative Media Studies and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities at MIT. His most recent book isConvergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.
Co-sponsorsed with the MIT Communications Forum and the Center for Future Civic Media
For an archived audio presentation of this event, please go to http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/forums/politics_pop_culture.html#audio.
Radical Abundance: A Theology of Sustainability
A video conference hosted by the Trinity Institute
Friday, January 30
5:00-9:00
Saturday, January 31
9:00am-4:00pm
Stata Center
Re-imagine an abundant world measured not by personal consumption but by just and sustainable relations with nature and communities.
Video presentations featuring:
Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx & MacArthur "Genius" Fellow.
Timothy Gorringe, author of "A Theology of the Built Environment: Justice, Empowerment, Redemption."
David Korten author of "When Corporations Rule the World" and "The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community"
Nestor Miguez, Professor at Instituto Universitario ISEDT, Buenos Aired, Argentina.
As we rethink how to grow, build, supply, consume, dispose, and
recycle everything in our lives, we often fail at partnering with the
marginalized and powerless, and thus adversely affect them. Building
sustainable communities goes hand-in-hand with thoughtful building of
infrastructures and physical spaces. Is there a theological basis for
living abundantly while striving for justice and sustainability?
Drawing on video presentations by a panel of leading theologians and
community organizers, conference participants will explore
sustainability through the lens of liberation theology, which views
Jesus not only a s a redeemer but also liberator of the oppressed.
Interactive reflection groups throughout will enable you to share
your own experiences and solutions with fellow attendees. A light
dinner on Friday and lunch on Saturday are included.
You must register for this event by January 21st by contacting
Christina English at cenglish@mit.edu. Registration fee is $30. This
event is offered in partnership with Trinity Institute and the
Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.
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