 |
|
|||
Thu, Sep 9, 2010
Academy Evenings : Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future
Academy Evenings : Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future
|
A cataclysm—The Great Crash of 1929 or September 11, 2001—or momentous occasion-1969, when the Apollo 11 landed on the moon, or January 20, 2009, when Barack Obama became America's first African—American president—affects how we govern ourselves, how we do business, how we are viewed in the world. These events alter the future, shaping the way we define ourselves as a people and influencing our values over time. Sometimes it isn't a cataclysm or momentous occasion that causes our attitudes to shift, but something less obvious—incremental alterations to our environment and our neighborhood, or new developments in science and technology that improve upon existing research. Looking back on previous generations, we sense that we are the same yet we know we are changing every day.
So who will we be in the future and what are the events that will shape us? In the 2009-2010 Academy Evenings series of public forums, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters hopes to address these questions. These free forums are intended to encourage public interaction with thought leaders in an intimate atmosphere designed to foster discussion and build community. It is in this spirit that we introduce Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future, our new Academy Evenings series. Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future shows us our state and world through the lens of the year 2050, allowing us to make some intelligent projections about our future based on current affairs, contemporary knowledge, and research by some of our best minds. Unless otherwise indicated, all Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future presentations will be held on Tuesday nights at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art lecture hall, 221 State Street. Click the presenter name below for a brief biographical description and selected reading.
The Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future series is sponsored by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, M&I Bank, the Evjue Foundation, and Isthmus Publishing Company.
|
|
Happiness 2050: Neuroscience, Education, and the Compassionate World Citizen
September 15, 2009, 7:00-8:30 pm at the MMoCA Lecture Hall
Richard Davidson, William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at UW-Madison, discusses how the development of certain positive human qualities may foster not only greater personal happiness but change the way we relate to one another as a society. Perspectives from both modern neuro-scientific research and contemplative traditions will be featured in his talk, as well as the application of these ideas in the fields of medicine and education. You can learn more about Davidson and his work at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds website.
Did you miss this presentation? You can watch it online or purchase the DVD from our Wisconsin Academy store.
|
Lessons from the Great Depression
October 20, 2009, 7:00-8:30 pm at the MMoCA Lecture Hall
The global economy is racked by its worst crisis since the Great Depression. What are the lessons to be learned from the world economic collapse of the late 1920s and how might the current downturn affect our thinking a generation from now? Drawing on his best-selling book, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, noted author Liaquat Ahamed discusses insights gained from the Great Depression, the forces that cause global financial crises, and the changes that will be necessary in the domestic regulatory structure and the global financial system to avoid a repeat of the cataclysm.
Did you miss this presentation? You can watch it online or purchase the DVD from our Wisconsin Academy store.
|
Heat Waves and High Water: Climate Change, Public Health, and the 2050 Wisconsin Landscape*
November 15, 2009, at 2:30 pm in the UW Arboretum Auditorium, 1207 Seminole Highway
Jonathan Patz, professor and Director of Global Environmental Health at UW-Madison and lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, outlines how global climate change—including warming temperatures and sea-level rise—may alter the Wisconsin landscape, bringing new and unexpected health risks to the Great Lakes region and across the U.S.
*This event held in conjunction with the UW Arboretum as part of their 75th Anniversary Celebration.
Did you miss this presentation? You can watch it online or purchase the DVD from our Wisconsin Academy store.
|
Digital Media and the Future of Schooling: A Look at the 2050 Classroom
November 17, 2009, 7:00-8:30 pm at the MMoCA Lecture Hall
Digital media, such as video games, social networking, and virtual performance spaces, is transforming how we teach and learn, both in and out of the classroom, reframing learning in terms of the production of new ideas, rather than the consumption of existing ideas. UW-Madison Professors of Education Erica and Richard Halverson discuss how evolving digital media environments will result in powerfully different learning environments, blurring the boundaries between the classroom and the world beyond.
Did you miss this presentation? You can watch it online or purchase the DVD from our Wisconsin Academy store.
|
Katherine Cramer Walsh
Michael Thornton
Lynet Uttal
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: The Nature of Tolerance in 2050
February 16, 2010, 7:00-8:30 pm at the MMoCA Lecture Hall
Demographic projections tell us that the next U.S. generation will be not just larger (growing from 300 to about 440 million people nationally) but more racially and ethnically diverse. Our panelists will discuss how our attitudes may&mdashor may not&mdashchange from living in a more pluralistic society. Moderated by Wisconsin Public Radio host and Odyssey Project director, Emily Auerbach.
Did you miss this presentation? You can watch it online or purchase the DVD from our Wisconsin Academy store.
|
What's Driving My Car? 2050 Biofuels and Other Sustainable Energy Sources
March 16, 2010, 7:00-8:30 pm at the MMoCA Lecture Hall
Tim Donohue, professor of Bacteriology, head of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at UW-Madison, discusses the growing field of bioenergy, the production of energy from such renewable sources as plants, trees, and agricultural waste. With fears of global warming and increased pressure to reduce America's dependence on fossil fuels, Wisconsin's pioneering efforts in bioenergy may transform the way we live a generation from now.
Did you miss this presentation? You can watch it online or purchase the DVD from our Wisconsin Academy store.
|
Warfare and Public Perception in 2050
April 20, 2010, 7:00-8:30 pm at the MMoCA Lecture Hall
Nearly 1.9 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since October 2001&mdashtwo thirds of the total number of Americans who served during the Vietnam War. Considering the enormous impact the Vietnam War has had on our country over the past 40 years, what will be the American response to our current wars in 2050? Join us for a discussion with John W. Hall, the Ambrose-Hesseltine Assistant Professor in U.S. Military History at UW-Madison and a former army strategist, as he examines how technological advances, evolving threats, and the privatization of armed force are likely to influence the ways society will look at&mdashor ignore&mdashwar 40 years from now.
Did you miss this presentation? You can watch it online or purchase the DVD from our Wisconsin Academy store.
|
Why Third World Migrants Will Disappear from the United States by 2050
May 11, 2010, 7:00-8:30 pm at the MMoCA Lecture Hall
Jeffrey G. Williamson, Emeritus Professor of Economics from Harvard University, discusses how, with the exception of Africa, global emigration rates have declined since the late 1980s and early 1990s. Williamson projects that U.S. immigrants will be more African and less Hispanic twenty years from now. What effect will this shift have on American culture and commerce?
Did you miss this presentation? You can watch it online or purchase the DVD from our Wisconsin Academy store.
| © 2010 Wisconsin Academy | Powered by IMS SiteManager http://sitemanager.ims.net/ |