From Aristotle to Einstein, fine minds have failed to grasp key ideas in basic physics. Join the Sonoma JCC for lunch AND for an exploration of the juiciest misconceptions that plague our “common-sense†understanding of how the world works:The Earth moves through space."Now" has universal meaning.The "Old One" does not play ...
Where: Santa RosaCost: Free
Structure, Uncertainty, and the Flexibility of Human ThinkingHuman cognition is incredibly flexible, partly because common-sense knowledge is uncertain but highly structured. Probabilistic programming languages (PPLs) provide a formal tool encompassing probabilistic uncertainty and compositional structure. I will show that PPLs allow us to model human reasoning and language understanding. I will describe several experimental studies of reasoning ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Gamma-ray VisionDr. Kai Vetter of UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will discuss his group's work towards "gamma-ray vision" and how it relates to their activities on Fukushima in Japan and here in CA (e.g. Radwatch & DoseNet).
Climate-Wise Choices in a World of Oil AbundanceIn the last five years, commercial-scale application of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has opened up large resources of so-called “tight oilâ€.  At the same time, a decade of investment in unconventional resources such as the Canadian oil sands has allowed production from enormous deposits of low-grade hydrocarbons.  This abundance ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Sunset/Full Moon Walk to the Point Bonita LighthouseJoin park staff and docents for a tour down the Point Bonita Trail, through the hand carved tunnel and out to the Lighthouse. We will walk along a half-mile trail which is steep in places. Arrive early as parking is limited. Meet at the Point Bonita Lighthouse trailhead. Dress warmly ...
7:00-7:25: Mitch Altman(Noisebridge) on "The Hackerspace Movement: Socializing in the Post-Social World"There are now thousands of hackerspaces in the world...Read more7:25-7:50: Peter Walter(UCSF/ Biochemistry and Biophysics) on "Unfolding the Unfolded Protein Response"A large number of human diseases is tied to disrupted protein transport in cells...Read more7:50-8:10: BREAK. Before ...
Over the past sixty years, computers have shrunk, networks have spread and flickering bits of information have ever more thoroughly infiltrated all aspects of our lives. The boundary between the virtual world of information and the physical world we ultimately inhabit has been slowly fading to the point that it ...
