Late Notice, Long Distance

I’ve been head down lately: writing a story to accompany an upcoming art installation on Hypersonic Glide Vehicles, gearing up for a class talk at York University, and— weighing most heavily— preparing for a symposium/workshop over in Hungary, under the auspices of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Köszeg (iASK for short). The title of the whole shindig is “Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Science Fiction: Coping with a Complex Future“. It kicks off with a one-day symposium in which a physicist, a biologist, a couple of social scientists and an SF writer walk into a bar and take turns monopolizing a podium[1]. (I appear to have the first slot: working title is “Delusional Optimism at the End of the World”.) Afterward, the lot of us sit around and have a panel discussion.

No connection with Apple, as far as I know.

Of course, it’s Hungary. If none of you make it, I won’t hold it against you. I’ve been told, though, that the symposium is going to be streamed. I don’t know any details, but if you’ve got nothing better to do on a Saturday, you might want to look into that.

There’s also a two-day writing workshop. April 8-9. I’m running that one on my own. I’ve never done one of those before. I suppose I should probably get started on that.

Oh, and for those of you checking out the flyer— no, I have not lost the beard or started dying my hair. The organizers just opted for a ten-year-old picture, instead of the more-current shots I sent.

Maybe they just don’t like cats.


[1] Don’t be fooled by the rudimentary poster or the preliminary schedule; I am, indeed, only one of five participants and I am, in fact, giving a talk in the morning.



This entry was posted on Thursday, March 28th, 2019 at 9:13 am and is filed under On the Road, public interface. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Klaus
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Klaus
5 years ago

Well, I don’t know if I can count myself as a regular, as I don’t think I’ve taken part in any discussions here, but as a long-time visitor, I’m definitely going to pay you a visit, since Köszeg is less than a two hours drive from Vienna.

I’ve written Jody Jensen a mail a few days ago, but I’ve got no reply – can you tell me if there are still open slots for the workshop?

Liav
Guest
Liav
5 years ago

The thing at York U is not open to the general public, is it?

Oliver
Guest
Oliver
5 years ago

Oh, i would really like to watch that stream! Has anyone clicking around their site had more luck? (I found their youtube channel but that was it.)

Jeff B
Guest
Jeff B
5 years ago

I’ve got nothing better to do on Saturdays. I’ll stream it.

As for the writing workshop, Peter, you could go with, “It’s simple, you guys. Get a PhD in some branch of science, struggle for a few years, then write a darkly challenging story that everyone except you considers “dark.” Cash money, baby!”

Jeremy C
Guest
Jeremy C
5 years ago

Oh man, I was out camping on the 6th… off the grid. I meant to catch that stream of the symposium… did anyone watch it? By chance is it available to watch?

Oliver
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Oliver
5 years ago

The talk is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT4BT1wtcWs (starts after 3 mins of introduction)

Oliver
Guest
Oliver
5 years ago

Hm, video cuts out an hour in, just before the topic of psychopathy was probably going to come up. I’d love to know how the talk concluded, also to see the slides more clearly.

Phil
Guest
Phil
5 years ago

Thanks for the link. That cut-out an hour in sucks – just when he gets to the glimmer of hope (if our fate resting on something akin to mass lobotomy is hopeful). I hope they re-post with the rest of it.

Klaus
Guest
Klaus
5 years ago

Oliver,

Actually, what he started talking about just before the stream got cut was depressive realism. I don’ think the talk went on much longer, but unfortunately I don’t remember any additional details.

hakeem abdul rehman jami
Guest

Hi Jay! Which school do you go to?

Mike
Guest
Mike
5 years ago

It looks like they posted the videos of all of the talks on the webpage.