Featured Events for 2015

(VAN) Nicholas Nassim Taleb The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Monday, April 20, 2015 The Fairmont Pacific Rim “The Black Swan changed my view of how the world works.” – Daniel Kahneman “Idiosyncratically brilliant.” – Niall Ferguson Nassim Taleb has devoted his life to immersing himself in problems of luck, randomness, human error, probability and the philosophy of knowledge. He specializes in uncertainty and errors in human knowledge, teaching us how to deal with and benefit from unpredictability. Making a living out of human's misunderstanding of uncertainty, he both predicted the economic crisis that started in 2008 while making a personal fortune out of it. Named one of Bloomberg’s 2011 “50 Most Influential People”, his Black Swan idea is currently inspiring research in the fields of philosophy, statistics, psychology, economics, medical research, epidemiology, political science and engineering. His latest book Antifragilityintroduces the idea of how to exploit disorder and chaos and benefit from Black Swans. (VAN) Dr. Craig Venter Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to Digital Life Wednesday, June 17, 2015 (Date TBC) The Fairmont Pacific Rim “[Venter is] the Voice of Innovation” – BusinessWeek “Either he is one of this era's most electrifying scientists, or he's one of the most maddening.” — Washington Post Known globally for being the first to sequence the human genome, in 2010 scientists led by Dr. Venter became the first to successfully create “synthetic life”. This put humankind at the threshold of the most important and exciting phase of biological research; one that will enable us to actually write the genetic code for designing new species to help us adapt and evolve for long-term survival. The science of synthetic genomics will have a profound impact on human existence, including chemical and energy generation, health, clean water and food production, environmental control and possibly even our evolution. In Life at the Speed of Light, Venter presents a fascinating and authoritative study of this emerging field from the inside—detailing its origins, current challenges and controversies, and projected effects on our lives. This scientific frontier provides an opportunity to ponder anew the age-old question “What is life?” and examine what we really mean by “playing God.” Life at the Speed of Light is a landmark work, written by a visionary at the dawn of a new era of biological engineering.

Leah Costello Chief Ideas Curator Curious Mind Productions Inc.