The world in 2050: how to think about the future
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathWhat will the world look like in 2050? Thirty years ago, Hamish McRae wrote The World in 2020, a book which anticipated Brexit, a populist revolution in America, and the dangers of a global pandemic. Revisiting his book for the keynote lecture of our new series on The World in 2050, McRae analyses the forces...
Why and how our reading tastes changed
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathHave you ever wondered why books disappear, novels are reissued under new titles and authors fall out of fashion? Join Kate Macdonald of Handheld Press for an illustrated talk to unpick the mysteries of changing literary taste in twentieth-century British fiction, and hear some unfortunate truths about the publishing industry. The collapse of the three-decker...
How to outsmart the users of your smartphone’s data
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathIt’s no secret that our phones are constantly monitoring what we do in order to better serve us targeted advertisements. But how much do you really know about the world of app tracking and ad-tech? This talk will explore how the data you generate on your smartphone can be translated into profit for advertisers, and...
The Good Life
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathFor millennia, philosophers have been asking what should be the good life. What should be my life goals? What should be my values? How should I best live my life? This is the so-called Socratic question. Socrates and many of those who came after him had no hope of answering it because their only source...
The World in 2050: The Global Economy
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathWhich of the global economies will be movers and shakers by 2050? With the balance of power shifting from West to East, 32 of the largest economies in the world may well account for around 85% of world GDP by 2050. In a talk appearing as part of our World in 2050 series Barret Kupelian,...
Roman Special Forces and Special Ops
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathRoman Special Forces and Special Ops: Speculatores, Exploratores, Protectores and Areani in the Service of Rome Much has been written about the Roman army and the mighty legions that conquered their empire, and then defended it for centuries against all comers. But little has been written about the men and units employed when something more subtle...
The Age of Minerals – How do we move to sustainable mining practices?
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathThe second in a series of three talks on minerals this summer, to complement our exhibition Riches of the Earth. The final talk is on 12 July, Mineral Pigments in Archaeology & Art History. As the UK moves towards Net Zero emissions and a greener future, we will move from “The Age of Oil” to...
The World in 2050: Climate impact on human health
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathHow do we mitigate the consequences of extreme weather on human health? Climate change is widely regarded as the biggest health threat facing humanity, and yet are there still things we can do in relation to the health consequences of climate change, like lessening carbon emissions, to empower ourselves? As part of our World in...
The Stench! Air Foul and Fair through Bath’s History
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathBridgerton glosses over it. Jane Austen hinted at it. If we’d been there, it would have been the first thing we’d have noticed. Many things gave the Old Town its stench, such as dung heaps, cess pits, and coal smoke. Foul-smelling air was thought to cause diseases, so it was just as well that the...
Radical by Nature: Celebrating Alfred Russel Wallace at 200
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathBiologist and Wallace scholar Jim Costa marks the bicentennial of the birth of explorer, naturalist, and humanitarian Alfred Russel Wallace with a new biography, Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace. Perhaps the most famed naturalist of the Victorian age, by the end of his long life in 1913, Wallace's expeditions to remote...
The World in 2050: Society
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathIn 2021, the Deep Transitions research project based at Utrecht and Sussex universities set out on a year long enquiry with global investors to imagine preferred futures, societies and systems, and to explore how investors could contribute to bringing those into being. The emphasis was on the futures of food, mobility, and energy, three linked...
Mineral Pigments in Archaeology & Art History
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathThe third and final talk in a series to complement our exhibition, Riches of the Earth. Minerals were the first pigments used by humans and continue to be found on artists’ palettes to this day. A wide range of minerals and geological deposits have been processed and used as pigments, both for paintings and cosmetics....
The World in 2050: Politics & Governance
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathHow do we cope strategically with a world in flux? The challenges of today's VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world have never been greater. Geopolitical developments – from Russia's war in Ukraine to souring relations between the United States and China – are a major contributor to making our world “more VUCA” and are...
The World in 2050: Global Environmental Challenges
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathHow do we balance the need for economic growth against our rightful environmental concerns? In this talk, part of our World in 2050 series, Elisa Lanzi, Senior Economist, OECD, Environment Directorate joins us virtually via live stream and provides an overview of how projected socio-economic trends to 2050 link to changes in the state of...
The Real Special Relationship: How US / British Secret Services Work Together
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathThe Special Relationship between America and Britain is feted by politicians on both sides of the Atlantic when it suits their purpose and just as frequently dismissed as a myth, not least by the media, which announces its supposed death on a regular basis. Yet the simple truth is that the two countries are bound...
The World in 2050: Technology & Innovation
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathDo we have a lot less to fear than we think? Technology and innovation have always been key drivers of economic growth and prosperity, but also lead to fears of being left behind or losing jobs. The pace of development and diffusion of new technologies has accelerated over time – with the growing power of...
The World in 2050: AI and the future of humanity
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathWhat will 2050 hold for you, your friends, your family, and for society at large? Will technology change what it means to be human? You don’t have to be a computer scientist to understand the importance of the discussion about where artificial intelligence and technology are going. In the final talk of our World in 2050 series,...
Man-made light pollution: its effects and how to tackle it
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathThis is the first in a series of four talks on the Bath Preservation Trust / Herschel Museum of Astronomy theme Conserving the Planet. The other three talks are on Friday 13 October, The Astrophysics of Earth, Friday 3 November, A Cluttered & Noisy Sky? and Friday 1 December, Space Debris: Hazards - all at BRLSI....
Nagasaki: the forgotten prisoners
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathMuch has been written about the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. But one part of the story has remained largely unexamined until now. Few know that hundreds of British, Australian, American and Dutch prisoners were working as forced labourers close to where the second bomb...
The Astrophysics of Earth: light-life interactions beyond photosynthesis
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathThis is part of a series of talks on the Bath Preservation Trust / Herschel Museum of Astronomy’s theme Conserving the Planet. The other three talks are on Friday 8 September, Manmade Light Pollution, Friday 3 November, A Cluttered & Noisy Sky and Friday 1 December, Space Debris: Hazards Sunlight is the dominant energy source...
A cluttered and noisy sky? The challenge of satellite constellations
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathA cluttered and noisy sky? Meeting the challenge of satellite constellations (and why you should care) This is the third in a series of four talks on the Bath Preservation Trust / Herschel Museum of Astronomy theme Conserving the Planet. The last talk will be on Friday 1 December at BRLSI. Sixty five years ago the...
Space debris: hazards
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathSpace debris: situational awareness and responsible use of space The final talk on the Bath Preservation Trust / Herschel Museum of Astronomy theme Conserving the Planet. Near-Earth space is littered with hundreds of millions of man-made objects rushing at very high speeds and risking collisions with each other and with every space platform. The new constellations...
Philosophy & Life: A C Grayling
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathThere is a question everyone has to ask and answer – in fact, has to keep on asking and keep on answering. It is ‘How should I live my life?’, meaning ‘What sort of person should I be? What values shall I live by? What shall I aim for?’ The great majority of people do...