Philcon runs from about noon this coming Friday (11/20/2020) till early evening Sunday (11/22/2020). It is, inevitably, virtual this year. With that said, they are going to a lot of trouble to make it as live & immediate as possible. And are clearly much helped by the benefit of earlier virtual conferences this year. For instance, the program participants were invited to training sessions to check out their setups & make sure they knew how to present on Zoom & Discord. I found mine helpful. Thanks Syd Weinstein & crew!
I have my schedule as well:
Joy in Science
Plaza 1
Science & Technology
Panel
Fri 8:30 PM
What about Science first drew us in to it?
Remembering our sparks of inspiration. Recountings and tall tales of our best discoveries and why they continue to inspire us. With Carl Fink (moderator), John Skylar (the invariably intelligent!), Tom Purdam (always witty & knowledgable), and myself.
Artificial Intelligence: Past, Present, Futures
Plaza 1
Science & Technology
Talk by John Ashmead
Sat 1:00 PM
Duration: 00:50
Artificial Intelligence — Too late to escape it, but too soon to panic.
From Oz’s Tik-Tok to the Mechanical Turk, from Neural Nets & Genetic Algorithms to Chess & StarCraft, from fighting the Coronavirus to flying Killer Drones, from Facial Recognition to Fakes, Deep Fakes, & Anti-Fakes, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere today. How did it start? What do we mean by AI? What are the basic AI techniques? How is it being used? What are the benefits?
Drift Compatible: The Science of Neural Interface Technology
Plaza 1
Science & Technology
Panel
Sat 4:00 PM
Plug in, tune out, or control the world — your call
What can be done with current technology? Are we going to be piloting mechs with our minds before the decade is out? With the ever charming & erudite Catherine Asaro, Rebecca Robare (one of the filk), and myself (as moderator). For me, a nice follow-on to my Arificial Intelligence talk!
Dust to Dirt
Plaza 1
Science & Technology
Panel
Sun 4:00 PM
OK, we’re on Mars. What an Expanse of possiblities? Red, Blue, or Green?
The practical considerations of building a city on Mars, from the habitat to the technology of living on an inhospitable world. I’m moderating based on my talk of a few years back, Mars or Bust! And have Robert Hranek (who has already scared me with his level of preparation), Premee Mohammed (who has scared me with her Lovecraftian Beneath the Rising and who is basically the advance team for Mars), and Tobias Cabral (who I’ve shared many panels with & who is not at all scary — meaning no offense!) to put questions to!
I’m doing my Practical Telepathy talk at Capclave tomorrow 9/29/2018 (Saturday) at 12:00 pm:
Practical Telepathy: the Science and Engineering of Mind-to-Mind communication. (Ends at: 12:55 pm) Washington Theater
From van Vogt’s Slan to Willis’s Crosstalk, telepathy has been a staple of science fiction. But what are the real world chances of reading another person’s mind? With MRI & PET scans we can see what images a person is thinking of, with brain implants we can help the blind to see, and — the way the science is going — we are only a half-step away from direct mind-to-mind communication. Nothing to worry about here!
What science is taken for granted in SF and can it really happen? What new scientific discoveries are more likely than others? What science is underused in SF?
I’m on with Catherine Asaro and David Bartell for that.
Sunday 11:00 am: What Do We Do With Sentient AI
Can your toaster have the right to vote? (Only if it is a Brave Little Toaster!)
I’m moderating with moderatees: Mark Laporta, Edward M. Lerner, James Morrow
I just finished the final run thru on this & am very much looking forward to this. I plan to have a lot of fun with my audience; with any luck will leave many of them touching their heads nervously on the way out, wondering if the old gray matter is quite screwed on correctly.
I’m at 2pm Friday August 17th, 2018, in case any of you are going to the WorldCon in San Jose. But if not you see can the talk as PDF, Power Point, or Keynote.
Questions, comments, suggestions, may be added to the comments — or simply sent as telepathic suggestions!
By The U.S. Printing Co., Russell-Morgan Print, Cincinnati & New York. – This image is cropped and color-balanced from the copy published by the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, uncompressed archival TIFF version (17 MB), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3590811
From van Vogt’s Slan to Willis’s Crosstalk, telepathy has been a staple of science fiction. But what are the real world chances of reading another person’s mind? With MRI & PET scans we can see what images a person is thinking of, with brain implants we can help the blind to see, and—the way the science is going—we are only a half-step away from direct mind-to-mind communication. Nothing to worry about here!
I’ll be speaking at 4pm Saturday November 11th, this coming Saturday, in Crystal Ballroom Two at Philcon. Hope to see you there!
Announcement, Mars, Philcon, Popular, Science Fiction, SF Cons, Telepathy | John Ashmead | 
November 15, 2020 7:55 pm | 
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