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SUMMARY:Rubik's Planet\; Global Consequences of Nanoscale Phenomena - Dr D
 r Christopher Forman\, Institute for Manufacturing
DTSTART:20111014T170000Z
DTEND:20111014T181500Z
UID:TALK33349@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Xavier Moya
DESCRIPTION:Although there are many ways of arranging a Rubik's cube there
  is only one configuration which solves it and everybody universally agree
 s on what that configuration is.  If only the same were true of the arrang
 ement of resources and people on Earth!  We'd have a universally agreed co
 mmon goal and may be we'd all agree on how we should get there. Perhaps we
 'd even be able to do this without messing up bits we'd already sorted out
 !  Pigs\, in this reality\, might even fly. However\, there's nothing to s
 top us from suggesting an initial definition for what such a universal goa
 l might be for humanity\, just to get the debate going. Something like: Ca
 n  everyone in the world be a millionaire? Can this be done with no pollut
 ion or  waste and with the biological ecology perfectly preserved? Using o
 nly sunlight as an energy source?   By thinking about the way that biology
  works\, we ask is such a reality physically possible?  What might the req
 uired technology be?   What is the connection between the technology and t
 he large scale global phenomena that result?  Is science getting to a posi
 tion where it can begin to design a global society from first principles? 
 Who would be responsible for optimising it? why? Isn't this something we a
 ll ought to think about and talk about?  Perhaps the technology employed a
 nd the nature of the subsequent reality may be inextricably linked.  In wh
 ich case\, what are the consequences for the technology that we are resear
 ching now\, and what would we like to research instead? Perhaps we're bang
  on track! Maybe such tracks aren't definable.  This talk is a slightly fa
 ntastic "What IF?" and is an excuse to explore some of the science that's 
 going on at the moment and how it might affect people in the years to come
 ! There are more questions than answers. Maybe there is a way of making pi
 gs fly after all...!
LOCATION:Old Combination Room (OCR)\, Wolfson College
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