Dubai: In this month’s meet-up, Café Scientifique Dubai discusses whether the concept of technological singularity is overoptimistic hype or a soon-to-be-reality.
Founder, Rohan Roberts said they will be tackling thought-provoking questions like: Can we create artificial intelligence? Can we reverse engineer the brain? Can we upload our consciousness to computers? Can we interface with artificial reality? Can we overcome death?
“With the release of the film Ex Machina recently, this is a relevant discussion. Hollywood does a great job in painting a world of doom and gloom when it comes to artificial intelligence. We’re going to talk about how it doesn’t have to be that way,“ Roberts said.
Technology is growing exponentially and in addition to discussing the ethical and moral implications, Café Scientifique Dubai will highlight some of these developments and how they bring people closer to creating more advanced artificial intelligence.
Café Scientifique is a place where anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology. The idea is to talk science, but outside an academic setting. The first Cafés Scientifique in the UK were held in Leeds in 1998. From there, cafés gradually spread across the UK and the rest of the world and now operate in 80 different cities.
Café Scientifique covers a wide range of issues relating to science and technology. Since 1998, cafés have covered almost every conceivable scientific topic: AIDS, the Big Bang, biodiversity, cancer, code-breaking, consciousness, ecology, extreme life, foetal experience, genetic modification, global warming, infertility, nanotechnology, and more.
Café Scientifique Dubai is the first of its kind in the Middle East and currently has over 18,000 followers on Facebook. It is committed to promoting public engagement with science and to making science fun and exciting to the lay person.
Everyone is welcome and Café Scientifique Dubai positively welcomes questions which begin with "This might be a dumb question, but..." These questions are invariably not dumb and are often rather insightful.
The Café Scientifique Dubai event takes place on Friday 26th June from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Urban Bistro in Media City. Entry is free and there will be an a-la-carte sandwich menu for those who wish to break their fast.
For more details about the event and Café Scientifique Dubai, please visit the website: www.cafescidubai.com.
