I’m off to Finland next week for Worldcon 75 in Helsinki. Really looking forward to seeing some of the city and a lot of friends I haven’t seen in a while. I’ll be on two panels this year, and I’m pretty excited, as I get to be both an evil scientist and a controversial one, all in one day.
How I Would Destroy the World with Science, Thursday 14:00 – 15:00, 203a (Messukeskus)
Destruction by science is a common theme in dystopian fiction. Now it’s our turn. Join our panel of evil scientists as they describe how they would destroy the world with science.
Tech Questions You Can’t Ask, Thursday 17:00 – 18:00, 207 (Messukeskus), Moderating this one!
Some technological questions are too controversial to ask. The MIT Technology Review recently produced a list of seven: Can we engineer the climate? Should we give pedophiles child sex robots? What is the public health cost of guns? What health-care technology is worth the money? Should access to scientific knowledge be totally free? Can we genetically modify an entire species? Is my phone sending radio signals right now? What science/tech questions we might ask that we can’t for various moral, ethical or political reasons?