--MICHAEL SHERMER

In 1998, at only 15 years of age, Sarah Flannery's research and discoveries
in cryptography led to her development of an innovative algorithm for
encoding data on the Internet. Her project had the possibility of
revolutionizing the science of secrecy. Her work was called "brilliant" and
"genius" and led to her being named Ireland's Young Scientist of the Year,
the European Union's Young Scientist of the Year, and to a lecture tour
throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and now America. In her
presentation Sarah presents fun mathematical puzzles that teach simple and
useful lessons in critical thinking, as well as discusses her journey of a
young woman coming of age in math and science, as told in her book,
co-authored with her father.

Parents and teachers are encouraged to bring their kids and students.
-------------------------------
Sunday, October 7, 2:00pm
Caltech's Baxter Lecture Hall

THE GREAT ENVIRONMENTAL DEBATE
What is the Real State of the World?

DR. BJORN LOMBORG
Associate Professor of Statistics, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Author, The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World

DEBATE PARTNER TO BE ANNOUNCED

Global warming, overpopulation, vanishing resources, and species extinction
are all recognized threats to the future of humanity and the Earth. But
according to Dr. Lomborg, using the same statistics as used by the U.N.,
Greenpeace, and the Worldwatch Institute, things are getting better, not
worse, and that the real state of the world leads him to an optimistic
perspective on our future. Featured on the front page of the New York Times
Science Section recently, Dr. Lomborg's new book is sure to stir up
controversy and skepticism.

Donation at the door: $8.00 nonmembers, $5.00 members; free to the
Caltech/JPL community.

Directions: Off the 210 freeway in Pasadena, CA, exit Lake Ave and go south
to Del Mar. Left on Del Mar, right on Michigan, park in the faculty parking lot.
---------------------------------
My friend and colleague (and fellow skeptic) Norm Levitt, has put together a
dynamite conference coming up at the end of October on:

CONFERENCE ON: SCIENCE, KNOWLEDGE AND HUMANITY: Debating the future of
progress; October 26th to 28th, 2001, New York City

'Science, Knowledge and Humanity' is a major series of public debates about
the future prospects for human innovation and progress, organised by the
London-based Institute of Ideas
www.instituteofideas.com
and the New School University's Wolfson Center for National Affairs
www.newschool.edu.
in cooperation with
Dorian Devins (Science Matters Foundation)
Natasha Gill (NYU)
Norman Levitt (Rutgers U.)

Debates run from the evening of Friday, October 26th, 2001 through Saturday
27th and Sunday 28th, and take place at the New School University's Tishman
Auditorium, 66 W. 12th Street, in New York City.

Sponsored by Reason Magazine (www.reason.com). Part of the UkinNY festival
(www.ukiny.com)

Tickets: $35 ALL sessions ($10/$15/$15 Fri/Sat/Sun sessions respectively)
Registration: USA (212)229-5353

Venue: New School University, Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street, New York City

Full program available at: www.instituteofideas.com/events/newyork.htm
Email enquiries: tonygilland@instituteofideas.com

UK telephone enquiries: +44 20 7269 9229
USA telephone enquiries: (212) 229 5353

Background:

At the beginning of the 21st century human achievement is a cause for
celebration - not least in the fields of scientific enquiry and
technological application. We live longer, healthier lives than ever before
and have unlocked many of the great mysteries of the natural world.

But have we gone too far? Global warming, species extinction, genetic
experimentation and the unexpected side effects of agricultural technology,
to name but a few, are recurrent themes in newspaper headlines - and in our
nightmares.

Are scares about modern food and medicines a rational response to a world
apparently dominated by corporate greed and government corruption, or do
they express an ill-founded pessimism about human achievement? Do the
complexities of the natural world demand a more precautionary approach, or
are we exaggerating uncertainties for fear of the future?

Have we abandoned the concepts of universal knowledge and objectivity for
good ? Is there something important about these ideas that needs to be
rescued? Does the ever-increasing ethical scrutiny of scientists' work
reflect a more responsible attitude to competing interests or an unhelpful
politicization of science?

Speakers include:

BRUCE AMES, UC Berkeley (Biochemsitry), author, "Environmental Chemicals Causing Cancer and Birth Defects".
RON BAILEY, journalist, author, "Ecoscam".
D. GRAHAM BURNETT, Princeton (History of Science), author, "A Trial by Jury."
NAPOLEON CHAGNON, cultural anthropologist, author, "The Yanomomo" and "Adaptation and Human Behavior".
IRENA CHALMERS, Culinary Institute of America, author, "The Great Food Almanac".
JAMES CHATTERS, paleoanthropologist, author, "Ancient Encounters".
JEAN BETHKE ELSHTAIN, U of Chicago (L.S. Rockefeller Professor), author, "Who Are We?--Critical Reflections, Hopeful Possibilities".
JON ENTINE, science journalist, author "The Last Taboo"
MIKE FITZPATRICK, MD, author, "The Tyranny of Health".
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA, Johns Hopkins U (B. Schwartz Professor), author, "The End of History" and "The Great Disruption".
FRANK FUREDI, U of Kent (Sociology), author, "Population and Development".
NICK GILLESPIE, editor-in-chief, Reason Magazine.
SARAH GLAZER, journalist, author, "Boys' Emotional Needs"
JEAN HALLORAN, Director, Consumer Policy Institute, author, "Pest Management at the Crossroads".
ROBERT KRAUSE, Quinnipiac U and Yale U (philosophy and ethics).
JOSEPH LEDOUX, NYU (Cognitive Neuroscience), author, "The Emotional Brain".
KENAN MALIK, author, "Man, Beast and Zombie".
PHIL MULLAN, CEO Cyberia Corp., author, "The Imaginary Timebomb".
VIRGINIA POSTREL, journalist, author, "The Future and Its Enemies".
EDWARD ROTHSTEIN, NY Times, cultural critic, author, "Emblems of Mind".
CHARLES SECRETT, Director, Friends of the Eart(UK), author, "Rainforest: Protecting the Planet's Richest Resource".
ULLICA SEGERSTRALE, Ill. Inst. of Technology (Sociology of Science), author, "Defenders of the Truth".
ANDREW VICKERS, MD, Sloane-Kettering Cancer Care Center, author, "Examining Complementary Medicine: The Skeptical Holist".
JACKIE WOOTEN, President, Alternative Medicine Foundation.

Debates:
Friday, October 26th, Opening Plenary (evening):
What is it to be Human?: what science can and cannot tell us about human
nature

Saturday, October 27th
Who's Afraid of Science?
Folklore versus Scientific Lore - Food Biotechnology
Folklore versus Scientific Lore - Alternative Medicine
Evening Plenary: The Future of Progress

Sunday, October 28th
The Ethics of Knowledge - Knowable but Unthinkable?
The Kennewick Man Dispute
Genetically Engineering People
Is the Future Human?
------------------------
Michael Shermer (skepticmag@aol.com) is the Publisher of Skeptic magazine,
the Director of the Skeptics Society (www.skeptic.com), host of the Skeptics
Science Lecture Series at Caltech, columnist for Scientific American
(www.sciam.com), and author of Why People Believe Weird Things, How We
Believe, and The Borderlands of Science.