Bridges Lecture Friday Nov. 27: Thinking Machines

[Alysia Kolentsis]

[cid:47FAB4E9-4363-45E4-82AC-737FA138D0A0 at Home]
Friday, November 27, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome’s University
FREE ADMISSION | FREE PARKING | PUBLIC LECTURE | FOLLOWED BY A RECEPTION

Speakers: Fiona Coll, SUNY Oswego (English)
               E. Bruce Pitman, University of Buffalo (Mathematics)

Moderator: Mario Coniglio, Associate Vice President, Academic, University of Waterloo

Thinking Machines
In the nineteenth century, mathematician Charles Babbage designed a programmable calculating machine that could execute algorithms with an accuracy and speed surpassing human abilities. Though Babbage’s mechanical computer remained unbuilt during his lifetime, his interest in developing machine intelligence anticipated twenty-first-century concerns about the promises, limitations, uses, and misuses of machine-generated data. This lecture will consider how our conceptions of thinking machines have evolved over the past 200 years and what issues may arise in the future. Whatdoes it mean to imagine machines “thinking”? What avenues are made available to us by the power of machine mathematics? And in what ways do calculating machines challenge our sense that human cognition is an exceptional phenomenon?

[cid:9D3D46FF-F8C5-49B4-AA8A-2D6EA3E77C25 at Home]Fiona Coll, Department of English and Creative Writing, SUNY Oswego
Fiona Coll is an Assistant Professor of Literature and Technology at SUNY Oswego. Her work explores the mutual constitution of machine intelligence and human agency in the new mechanical age of the nineteenth century. She is working on a book project about the appearance and function of the automation in nineteenth-century fictional, scientific, and political writing. Her writing can be found in Victorian Review, University of Toronto Quarterly, and at The Floating Academy.







[cid:837D3D4D-60A4-44C2-9C2D-EAEE7E9B9B7E at Home]E. Bruce Pitman, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, University at Buffalo
E. Bruce Pitman holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Northwestern University and earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Duke University in 1985. His work at UB is marked by academic research and development of new and innovative graudate and undergraduate programs. He is the author or co-author of more than 70 papers and has been principal investigator or co-investigator on more than $10 million in research and equipment awards. He has conducted research in mathematical biology and in the field of granular materials; his recent work involves the modeling, computation and analysis of geophysical mass flows.







Note: The Campus Renewal Project is currently underway at St. Jerome’s University; therefore, parking is not available at St. Jerome’s.
Please feel welcome to park at St. Paul’s University College at 190 Westmount Road North, Waterloo.

CONTACT INFO

   Benoit Charbonneau
   Pure Mathematics
   519-888-4567 ext 37336
   benoit.charbonneau at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:benoit.charbonneau at uwaterloo.ca>

   Alysia Kolentsis
   St. Jerome’s University
   519-884-8111 ext. 28280
   amkolentsis at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:amkolentsis at uwaterloo.ca>

   See sju.ca/bridges<http://www.sju.ca/public-events/bridges> for further information. Sign up for our email list<http://www.sju.ca/contactus>

Please mark our upcoming lectures in your calendars:
February 26, 2016, The Harmonograph, with John Baez (UCR, Math) and Anita Chowdry (London, Visual Art)
March 11, 2016, Mathematics, Music, and Visual Art, with Nathan Selikoff (Artist, Programmer) and Dmitri Tymoczko (Princeton, Music)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/artsannounce/attachments/20151119/0f106e6d/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpg
Size: 38679 bytes
Desc: image005.jpg
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/artsannounce/attachments/20151119/0f106e6d/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpg
Size: 7184 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/artsannounce/attachments/20151119/0f106e6d/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpg
Size: 6027 bytes
Desc: image003.jpg
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/artsannounce/attachments/20151119/0f106e6d/attachment-0002.jpg>