GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 18th June at noon SLT: Let’s talk astronomy!

 

This week we will talk about stargazing.  For thousands of years, people have looked up at the stars, imagined pictures in the night sky, and tried to understand how the universe worked, what planets are, and how and why they move.  How would we think about the universe and our place in it if we lived on a planet where we could not see the stars?

Do you stargaze?  Join our star party at noon SLT on Saturday to talk about the stars and how we can enjoy the night sky. 

This is a field where amateurs can still do real science.  And it is so much fun.  Bring your friends.  And a telescope!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 7th May at noon SLT – Will China fall apart?

 

China has so many problems that it is possible that a big change is around the corner.  What form will it take?  Regime change, civil war, the country splitting into different regions?

When we hear about the social control in China, the vicious lockdowns, we may want to ask why China is so different from the rest of the world.  What is really happening there?  How can we find out?

Come to GeekSpeak on Saturday at noon SLT and let’s talk about why China might fall in the next few years.  What will happen to the rest of the world if it does?  Will it slow down human progress or speed it up?

Let’s talk China.  Bring all your Chinese friends!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – What if we were all Vulcans? Join the discussion on Saturday, May 30th at 12pm SLT

 

A few weeks ago we discussed what life would be like if we were all Ferengi.  This week let’s try to imagine what the world would be like if we were all Vulcans.  All emotions are suppressed, ruled by logic and reason only.

Vulcans seem to be ideally suited to science, with all questions being decided on the basis of evidence and logic.  Would science progress faster if we were Vulcans?  With fewer sidetracks and dead ends?  Would we over-engineer the planet perhaps?

Would we still sing songs and make music or art?  Would we play games?  Would we be happy?  Can a Vulcan ever be really happy?

Come to GeekSpeak this Saturday at noon SLT and live like a Vulcan for a while.  Since the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, bring all your friends!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak – Will we all be Perfect in the future? Join the discussion Saturday, April 9th at 12pm SLT

With DNA editing we can improve the way our bodies function.  With robotic enhancements, we will be able to do things no human can do.  Where will all these new powers take us?

Is it possible to be perfect?  Or will there always be trade-offs?  Should some enhancements be against the law?  Who will decide for the children? 

Will humanity split into different species?  The rich will be enhanced and the poor will remain normal perhaps?  Will we see eugenics wars?

Join us in GeekSpeak at noon SLT on Saturday to explore what it will mean to be more than human.  Bring all your humans.  And robots are welcome.

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects. 

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GeekSpeak – How much Free Speech do you want? Join the discussion Saturday April 2nd at 12 pm SLT

Would a completely open world where all speech is allowed function properly?  It is tempting to think that if we allow everyone to say anything then those who trade in insults and abuse would sink to the bottom of the social ladder and people who give thoughtful, true information would rise to the top.  But we do not see that happening now on social media.  Why not?  And what would make it happen?

Where would you draw the line where free speech is concerned?  Are insults OK?  Or calls for violence?  Or calls to overthrow a dictator?  Maybe you think there should not be a line at all?

Leave twitter for a while and join us in GeekSpeak at noon SLT on Saturday to chat about free speech, with your friends!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak – What is our purpose? Eat, Drink and be Merry? Join the discussion March 26th at 12pm slt

What is your purpose in life?  Is it enough to eat and drink and enjoy as much of life as you can?  Or do we all need a higher purpose?  Do we need a purpose that is just for us?

Does having your own purpose make you happier?  Is it worth trying to find one?  Will we still be looking for a purpose even if all our wishes on earth are met?

Can you find a purpose in the future of our species? In the colonization of other planets perhaps?  Or in the end of disease or war?  Do duties and obligations provide a purpose?

Come and join us in GeekSpeak at noon SLT on Saturday to discuss what drives us and where we are going.  Bring all your friends, and a map!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak – What will the Post-war World look like? Saturday, March 12th at 12pm SLT

 

There is a war raging now that will change the world stage, maybe forever.  What will happen to world politics and the world economy in the future?

Will the world convert quickly to solar power?  Or will we start fracking?  Or rely on nuclear power?  Or dig for coal? What about oil prices?  Will the war accelerate the trend to electric vehicles?

Will the Cold War start again?  Will the war put an end to our efforts to stop global warming?  Will we still be able to live as we do now?

And what will happen to the Space industry?  Will we have to stop our journey into the universe?

Come to GeekSpeak at noon SLT on Saturday and discuss the changes that will reshape the world. Bring your friends!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 5th March at noon SLT: How much of the world is hidden from our senses?

 

We tend to think these days that we can observe and measure everything but there is a lot going on out there that we are not aware of.  There are birds that react to differences in air temperature and others that can detect magnetic fields.  There are animals that can see infrared or ultraviolet.  Plants can detect and respond to chemicals given off by other plants.

There are ecosystems deep in the ocean or underground that we know nothing about.  There are processes in deep space that are too slow for us to sense.  And some living processes, like birdsong, are too fast for us.

Join us in GeekSpeak at noon SLT on Saturday and re-learn how to see the world.  Let’s imagine how it might look if we had more and better senses.  Bring all your eyes and ears!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 26th February at noon SLT: Is this the Best Time to be Alive?

 

Would you rather live 1000 years in the past, or 100 years in the past, or maybe just 20 years in the past?  In the past ordinary people could understand technology and see where we were heading and perhaps it was a more hopeful, and in many ways a more beautiful, world then. 

Or would you like to live in the future?  In the year 3000, or 2100 or maybe the year 2042?  Will the future be better or worse than the present?  Is there any way to tell?  Can you see signs of what is to come?  Or is the future completely unpredictable, determined by unknown ‘black swans’?

If we survive the next 20 years what world will we see?  Will we wish we were back in 2022?  Will we have to start all over again?  Or will everything be better?

Join us in GeekSpeak at noon SLT on Saturday to see the future.  Bring your crystal ball!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 5th February at noon SLT: Does an empire really work?

There are some terrible empires on this planet, like North Korea and Turkmenistan.  There are also more moderate empires, like the West.  But in both cases, people want more freedom. 

How much freedom should people have?  If we all have complete freedom, is that not anarchy?  Where is the ‘sweet spot’?  What is the difference between being a slave and being free? 

What is needed to bring bad empires down and good empires up?  Could we live without empires?

Come and join us in GeekSpeak this Saturday at noon SLT, if your chain is long enough to get here.  Bring all your free or unfree friends.

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 29th January at noon SLT: How do you kill a bot? Will Asimov’s laws protect us?

 

When robots become intelligent enough to roam the streets there could be armies of bad bots roaming around too.  How can we protect ourselves?  Can we make sure that robots are never programmed to do evil?  That no one ever makes bots without the 3 laws of robotics? 

Will the 3 laws be enough?  Even Asimov thought they could fail in the end.

Can we prevent a terminator scenario before it happens?  What options do we have?  Could we all emigrate to Mars after checking the ship for stowaway bots?  Is there a better solution?  Or do you think robots will never be a danger to us?  Come to GeekSpeak at noon SLT on Saturday to talk about it.  Bring all your robots.

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 15th January at noon SLT: Are you enjoying Veganuary?

Veganuary – a month living as a vegan!  Many people are doing it.  Are you?  Or are you doing Dry January – a month without alcohol?  Or both?

Should we all learn how to live as vegans?  Is it immoral to live in any other way?  Or do we need to be vegans because of climate change and the increasing population?  Will meat be priced out of existence in the future?  Will anyone still eat animals 100 years from now?  Or are vegans just a moralistic pest?

Will science come to our rescue with lab-produced meat?  Or will we add things like seaweed or insects (not vegan) to our menu?  Or the McPlant?  Or will we live on pills produced by our personal AI?

Come and discuss the future of food this Saturday at noon SLT.  Bring a spoon!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 8th January at noon SLT: Should Elon Musk end World Hunger?

 

Recently Musk was asked to donate $6 billion to end world hunger.  Would that be possible?  Would there be no more starvation if a few billionaires gave some money?

If it can’t be solved in that way, how are we to end world hunger?  If new inventions guarantee free access to information for everyone, would that help?  Or how about efficient worldwide transport, to distribute the food properly?  Or how about a social change?  Should we all start thinking that it is unacceptable that anyone, anywhere, should die of starvation?

What technology are we hoping for?  Or maybe, what changes in the law?

How many years will it take to solve world hunger?  5, 20, 100?  Or will it never be solved? 

Join us at GeekSpeak, at noon SLT this Saturday.  Admission free, bring your kids!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday January 1st at noon SLT: 2022, the year of the Starship!

 

Early this year we will see the Starship from SpaceX take off.  It will be one of the most powerful things you will ever see. 

Starship is bigger than the Saturn-5 rocket, and it can land.  It will be able to carry 150 tons of cargo to the moon.  It has several contracts already for commercial launches.  Future launches will catch the returning booster rockets with a giant tower equipped with catch arms so that they can launch again after only a few hours for refueling. 

This will get humans into space big time if we are ever to go at all.  So 2022 is the year in which we become a space-going species.  Hold your helmet, it will go very fast.  Join us at noon SLT on January 1^st to discuss it.  Bring your kerbal friends.

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday December 4th at noon SLT: What will Synthetic Biology lead to?

 

One of the big drivers of the future will be synthetic biology, the art of using DNA to program bacteria or yeast cells so that they will produce something useful.  There are plenty of examples.  DNA can be used to make fertiliser, to change the taste of food, to resurrect the scent of extinct flowers. 

And this is just the beginning.  As we learn more about nature’s code the only limits to what can be achieved may be the limits of human imagination.  Will we have chairs built by cells out of tusk ivory?  Future DNA coders who can program an arm for you?  Or, frighteningly, DNA programs that are used to create bioweapons.  A, C, G, and T programming will become much more important than the old 0 and 1 programming.

Come and test your imaginations at GeekSpeak.  Bring your brought-back-to-life dinosaur and your friends!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday at 1pm SLT in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 27th November at noon SLT: How widespread is consciousness?

 

What is consciousness?  Is it something only humans have?  Or do all animals have it? Or all living things?  Or does everything that exists have some form of consciousness? Are galaxies conscious?  Or subatomic particles?

People used to think that each planet had a spirit.  And nowadays Japanese Shintoists think that there is mind in everything.  Could they be right? 

Could an android like Data be conscious?  Or a hologram like the Doctor in Voyager?

We are diving deep this week so hold your hat and come and dive with us.  Bring your pet stone or any other object that may be alive and able to think.

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday at 1pm SLT in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – Will we all be living in a simulation soon? Join the discussion on Saturday, November 20th @ 12pm SLT

18 years after Second Life began metaverses are the new hot thing again.  Facebook, which now calls itself Meta, is making a virtual world with the same properties as Second Life.  Is it possible that millions of people will go and live in there?  Will they feel they have become their avatars?

Or will the metaverse that we really want be an augmented real world?  The maker of Pokemon Go wants his newest augmented creation to exist in real life and help people to get together in this world.

Which of these futures do you think will succeed?

Or perhaps you think that we are living in a simulation right now?  In that case, what is the reality?

Come and discuss simulations.  Bring your avatar!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday at 1pm SLT in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – Will AI be the great equalizer of this decade?-Come join the discussion Saturday November 13th at noon SLT

 

We are within months of very strong AI being released to the public.  If you want to blow your mind, see this example: Leta, GPT-3 AI - Episode 25 - Best of: Vol I (Creativity, facts, Elon Musk’s gifted school) - GPT3  Soon there will be an update with an estimated IQ of 500.  What will it mean if everyone on the planet has this ‘friend’ downloaded into their phone or, better still, implanted into their brain?  We would all be intellectually equal, and very clever.

Will it make us better people?  Or will we be worse people, very intelligent but no more compassionate than now?

What does it mean to be a digital human?  If we all have an AI in our heads will our old brains still matter after a while?

Should an AI in a robotic body be allowed to vote?  Should the old humans, without an implanted AI, be allowed to vote?

The future is now.  Come and see and discuss.  Bring your friends!  AIs welcome!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday at 1pm SLT in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

 

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 6th November at noon SLT: Will the future World Government be a World Company?

Is it possible that one company will suck up all the money and resources of the planet and eventually grow into a world government?  Some countries, like China, are run like companies now.  Could such a country win against an international conglomerate?  Will we be ruled by China or Tesla?

What will the world be like if it is run by a company?  Remember Adam Smith said that rule by company was “perhaps the worst of all governments for any country whatever.”

For those who have read Dune, are we facing something like the galaxy-sized company called Choam?

Or will even future megacorporations get disrupted by some guys tinkering in a garage?

Get out of your garage, bring your friends and discuss your future as an employee of Company X!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday at 1pm SLT in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 23rd October at noon SLT: The mysteries of the Inner Earth

 

Can we send a probe to the inner earth?  We know that there is a vast ocean of lava there but there will be many surprises.  For example, oceans have been found beneath the seabed. At present, the record for drilling into the earth is only 12 km, which is not very deep at all.  What will we find if we go deeper?

Why is Earth’s inner core still fluid, while the core of the moon and the core of Mars have both solidified?  What will happen if all that magma in the earth comes a little closer to the very tiny crust we live on?

Does our moon keep the inner core hot by means of gravitational forces? What would happen if these forces unleashed their power and the ‘ring of fire’ burned?

And what does LUCY have to do with it all?

Bring your temperature protective gear and your friends!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday at 1pm SLT in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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