NNB 57: Faces – Predictions – Time Travel
The first Nerd Nite of 2019! Come join us to learn about the trouble with facial recognition, the trouble with predicting the future and the need for non-lethal self defence techniques for time travellers. With the usual nerd news, nerd quiz AND free cake.
Thursday January 17th
Doors open 7.30pm for 8pm start.
Venue: Rialto Theatre.
Our speakers this month:
Dr. Graham Hole: Why ID cards and CCTV are a bit of a waste of time.
Graham is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex; he is interested in the psychology of visual perception and attention, especially in relation to “real world” problems (like face recognition and driving). Graham is particularly interested in finding out what information is actually extracted from faces in order to recognise them. He’s been doing research on face recognition for about 30 years now, and still has no idea about how we actually manage to recognise them (enlightened ignorance!).
Dr. Julian Mayers: That Was The World That Wasn’t.
Happy New Year. A perfect time to look ahead and make wild and hilariously inaccurate predictions about the coming 12 months. Will Brexit happen? Will Albion survive a second season in the Premier League? Will you find love?*
If it’s difficult enough to gaze just a year ahead, how about the next 10, 50 or 100 years? Why is predicting the world of the future an almost impossible task?
Astrophysicist Dr Julian Mayers has been fascinated by our visions of the future ever since watching John, Pete and Val bury the Blue Peter time capsule in 1971.He will look back who have been the best – and worst – predictors, show how Cosmology can help our understanding and ask why it is important to try to gaze into the crystal-ball anyway.
Julian is a part-time astrophysicist – what might be quaintly termed as a ‘gentleman scientist’. His research at Sussex University includes weighing Black Holes, searching for the nature of Dark Matter and hunting alien X-ray communications. He is a BBC radio documentary maker and runs a video production company.
*maybe, definitely and no (though not necessarily in that oder)
Mike Capozzola: Self Defence for Time Travellers.
With time travel inching closer to reality century after century, non-lethal combat techniques are needed now more than ever for keeping travellers safe while protecting the intended flow of historical events
Mike Capozzola is a New York-raised, London-based comedian and a published cartoonist (WIRED, Private Eye, McSweeney’s, MAD Magazine).
He plays an agent in “Men in Black International” due out Summer 2019.
Hosted by Anna Downie.
£4 Regular Nerds
£3 Unemployed/NUS/65+ Nerds
We regularly sell out- so if you buy a ticket you can’t use, please let us know on the Facebook page so we can ensure disorganised nerds who forgot to buy a ticket in time can still come.
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