The Chronicle, Autumn 2018

6 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

phenomena, possibly disagreeing with the first speaker, so that even supposedly simple questions like ‘how many people will there be by the end of this century?’ become enigmatic. His distress about the wealth inequality of the world, the possible effects of more extreme natural catastrophes (food and water insecurity, migration and conflict) and the changes that would have to be made in order to save our planet, was also shared. Lastly, Benoit Alvarez, Chief Technology Officer at Volume AI, a global provider of digital content, explained the developing industry of Artificial Intelligence. He also spoke about the lack of control in predicting the future when divulging that even the top experts in this field do not know when Artificial Intelligence will meet human intelligence (this is referred to as the point of singularity). I greatly enjoyed the lectures that were given. They gave me a chance to learn about a topic that I may not have looked further into myself. However, what resonated with me most strongly with regard to the words of our three wonderful speakers was not how much damage there may be in our world and even our society but how much potential we have to start making progress towards recuperation. This was the 19th annual Biology Symposium organised jointly by the Oxford Biomedical Centre and St Edward’s School. It was attended by pupils from St Edward’s and other local schools.

X-Risks and Human Destiny By Sixth Former Ella Leeson A vast array of intriguing ideas was presented by our three guest speakers at the Biology Symposium held in The North Wall in September. Whilst there were varying degrees of optimism in regard to threats to the survival of the human race, the contrasting opinions put forward gave an insight into the range of different views held on this subject. The series of lectures opened with Peter Townsend, Emeritus Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Sussex, who spoke about ‘The Dark Side of Technology’. As someone who has never really thought too deeply about this particular subject before, I found his theories on our dependency on technology and the ‘dangers created by our own inventiveness’ thought-provoking. In describing the immense and destructive growth of cyber-crime and warfare, many

Peter Townsend, Emeritus Professor of Experimental Physics in Engineering, Sussex University

of us were left shocked at our own species’ apparent vulnerability. We then listened to Professor Mark Maslin, Department of Geography at University College London, who spoke enthusiastically about ‘Changing Human Destiny’. In the first part of his lecture, Professor Maslin put forward the idea that we humans, as a species, have a huge geological force and that ultimately we control environmental and evolutionary destiny on Earth. He explored the dispute surrounding the start date of the Anthropocene era (literally ‘human period’) – some believing that it was as late as the 1950s, giving rise to strange notions such as grandparents being born in a different geological era to their grandchildren. Professor Maslin also posited the idea that people are less easy to predict than geological

A Symphony in Glass Looking into the Weston Recital Room from the Fenton Recording Studio – and onwards into the Courtyard; from a new

set of pictures of The Ogston Music School by Paul Riddle.