Ad Astra schedule
I'll be there this weekend, Saturday 11th and Sunday the 12th of April, 2015
Saturday
A Trillion Is a Statistic ◼Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Room: Markham B
Panellists: Andrew Barton, Ian Keeling
It happens so often in science fiction there's a name for it: "earth-shattering kaboom." From Lensmen to Ender's Game and beyond, sf has been solving problems with genocide for decades. Is this just authorial laziness, motivating heroes with a big enough bang, or is reflective of something dark in the genre's soul?
A.I. and Us: Heuristics of Surpassing the Human Brain ◼Science & Technology
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: Aurora
Panellists: Hayden Trenholm, Madeline Ashby, Nina Munteanu
When the BBC posts an article reporting the world's preeminent theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking warning that AI will eventually spell the end of the human race, all eyes turn to predictions of the Singularity. Those same predictions put it within the prime of the upcoming generation of scientists and engineers, so what teachings can the current generation pass on to insure the singularity doesn't mean the end of the human race? Or is the deprecation of our intelligence inevitable...
Sunday
Readings: Karl Schroeder & Hayden Trenholm ◼Readings & Podcasts
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Room: Buttonville
Panellist: Hayden Trenholm