Nerd Nite SF #163: Caving 101, Gin & Tonics & Photographing the Whole Internet

Hey. What are YOU up to this summer? Taken any trips lately? You’ve come to the right place for some travel advice. If you’re feeling the heat, why not enjoy the cool cozy confines of a cave? If you’re ready to see the world, why not follow in the surprisingly medicinal steps of one of the all time drinks, the Gin and Tonic? If all this travel has you feeling overwhelmed, you can always retreat to the familiar comfort of the computer ??" and then get overwhelmed by trying to take a photo of the ENTIRE INTERNET. Alternatively, you can save yourself the hassle and join us  and let our speakers show you the woooooooorld!

Caving 101: An Insider’s Guide to Exploring the Underground

Vivek Zilpelwar, hardware reliability engineer

While most of the Earth’s surface has been mapped and explored, a vast frontier still exists completely out of sight right beneath us. This talk provides an exclusive insider’s look into caving ??" a niche technical sport which requires constant problem-solving, physical/mental endurance, and serious teamwork. Discover what it truly feels like to step into the unknown, navigate challenging environments, and stand in places where very few people have been before.

Around the World with the Gin & Tonic

By: Camper English, journalist

The history of the G&T includes the history of malaria (prevented and cured by quinine in tonic), the Black Death (repelled by juniper), Jesuit missionaries in Peru, the swamps of Rome, the Belgian Congo, horse races in India, Greek medicinal wines, the World Health Organization, the Dutch in Indonesia, Australians in Bolivia, French scientists in the lab, and if there’s time we’ll include cats dropped out of airplanes, the invention of the color mauve, Little House on the Prairie, the birth of chemotherapy, the Official Preppy Handbook, and how the wrong ice machine inspired the creation of the Spanish-style Gin and Tonic.

Why Haven’t We Seen a Photograph of the Whole Web Yet?“: Toward a Portrait of Our Collective Internet

By: Sophia Liu

In 1966, Stewart Brand, looking out at the skyline from his SF apartment rooftop, wondered why no one had ever taken a photograph of the Earth to prove its curvature: if we could see a photograph of the whole Earth, we, a people then threatened by nuclear eradication, would understand our collective responsibility toward the promise of a shared and bright future. Sixty years later, with the internet, Facebook, and ChatGPT, his vision rings truer than ever, but now concerning a new world: our digital and virtual sphere is threatened by visions of AGI superweapons that make critical thought, creativity, and pro-social online interaction seem unnecessary. In this talk, I make a call to action from the same city about a new planet, introduce some of our ambitious research visions from the field of Human-Computer Interaction, and (hopefully) bring a functioning demo.