BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:World models and intuition in the 1970s - Sarah Dry (University of
  Cambridge)
DTSTART:20210429T143000Z
DTEND:20210429T160000Z
UID:TALK159859@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Helen Curry
DESCRIPTION:In this paper I consider the 1972 publication of the Limits to
  Growth report and the so-called decade of world modelling that followed i
 t. For early proponents\, world models offered not only super-human analyt
 ical and computational capacities but something perhaps more surprising: t
 he promise of self-revelation and a new kind of human agency. By revealing
  the ineradicable role of human judgement and intuition in both model- and
  decision-making\, they were seen as tools for elevating consciousness and
  motivating action on the urgent matter of the Earth's future. Such an app
 roach to modelling depended on self-reflexive attitudes on the part of mod
 ellers and a commitment to rendering the process of model-building at leas
 t somewhat transparent to outsiders. A series of conferences in the 1970s 
 tried to do just this. In this paper\, I consider the rise and eventual tr
 ansformation (if not total fall) of the idea that world modelling could be
  a way to understand not only the complexity of the natural world but of w
 hat makes us human.
LOCATION:Zoom
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR