February
7th
1) Beal researchers contribute their thoughts and ideas to a collective presentation on serious games. Guest contributions are welcome. (Contact: mlincez@bealinstitute.org)
2) Research Associate Isabelle Rousset will present an update to her project Nature Happens in preparation for the upcoming Digifest 2008 conference.
As water levels continue to fluctuate across the globe, escalating and depreciating beyond comfortable margins of predictability or what the market will bear, the specter of our activity comes into sharp focus under the glare-free scope of a precision instrument - human cognition. Isabelle Rousset will deliver an update to the project Nature Happens in view of upcoming digifest participation at the end of March. This installment will attempt to draw the necessary connections to unify a body of research, scenarios, disclosures and opportunities determined.
3) Research Associate Annie Spencer will be introducing thoughts from
her paper in progress called Imagining a Spiritual
Economy: Corporate Response-Ability.
Spencer's research looks at current cultural signals alongside present thinking patterns around fuel consumption, while visualizing a future in which the shift towards spiritual embodiment of our world's most controversial resource, and a legacy-based economic model, support holistic sustainability from the bottom up. Scaling this ideology imposes new meaning on the term corporate responsibility, increasing the ability for companies to respond to the environment without massive disruption.
February
14th
1) Beal researchers contribute their thoughts and ideas to a collective presentation on the Spiritual Economy, a project currently being explored by research associate Annie Spencer. Guest contributions are welcome. (Contact: mlincez@bealinstitute.org)
2) Research Associates Mathew Lincez and Richard Thomas re-introduce Asymmetrical
Literacy, an ongoing investigation into the evolution of literacy;
its functions, meanings and roles in empowering imagination and creative
potential.
This investigation further seeks to understand how conventional, traditional, and otherwise symmetrical conditions can be observed, understood and transformed into disruptive, unconventional, and asymmetrical opportunities for innovation.
February
21st
1) Beal researchers contribute their thoughts and ideas to a collective presentation on Innovation & Sustainability. Guest contributions are welcome. (Contact: mlincez@bealinstitute.org)
2) Research Associate Jenn Court will introduce her MES major paper research project, called Innovation and Sustainability: Design, Progress, and Technology. In this project she addresses the role of design within the larger context of society and the economy, and explores innovative and forward looking approaches to sustainable design.
3) Research Associate Mark Outhwaite Presents an overview of his paper entitled Science, Industry and Human Nature in the Anthropocene:
"If a certain element of the danger that exists in the world is a byproduct of human ingenuity and engineering, does it ever occur to ask whether human nature, especially in relation to our use of science and technology is something that should be actively shaped?"
With the existential threat of a post-biological future in which humankind and many of the Earth's complex lifeforms are either extinct or in irreversible decline, circumstances relating the actions of industrial civilization to its unfolding consequences now indicate that a transition between geological epochs is apparently close at hand.
If the 'anthropocene' is a veritable byproduct of industrialization, it portends a need on our part to effect a transition in our use of science and technology. First, as a means of redacting some of the errors that a minority of humankind have written into the world. Second, to question the social construction of the human body as a thing possessing a sacred, inviolable nature. If emerging fields in science and technology indicate that synthetic biology is a way forward, the effect may be to 'pull' human evolution along this path also, so that the 'part' of which an individual is representative is indissociable from the 'whole' of ecosystems, industries and economies comprising future models for sustainable human habitation, production and organization. The conception of the body may be the first casualty in our efforts to live and survive in the 'anthropocene.'
February
28th
Postponed due to scheduling conflict.
1) Evening show & tell at 174 Spadina, Suite
300 location starting at 6 PM. Special guest Institute
Without Boundaries (IWB) will present
The World House Project.
2) Followed by a collective Beal presentation exploring design, ecology,
business and sustainability.
(Contact: mlincez@bealinstitute.org)
Show
& Tell February 28th, 2008 Postponed
The scheduled evening Show & Tell for Thursday, February 28th has been postponed due to a scheduling conflict.
New
Show & Tell Event
On the last Thursday of every month, the Beal Institute will be hosting an evening Show & Tell presentation in the office at 174 Spadina Avenue, starting at 6 PM. Read more...
Show & Tell:
January 17, 2007
Show & Tell will feature Robert Logan presenting "What is Information?, What is Life? and How are They Connected?: BioInformatics 2.0", an exploration of the nature of all living organisms.
Show & Tell:
January 3rd Cancelled
Show & Tell for Thursday, January 3rd is cancelled. Regular Show & Tell will resume Thursday, January 10th.
Show & Tell:
December 20th & 27th Cancelled
Show & Tell at the Beal will be cancelled on December 20th and 27th for the holiday break, and will return on Thursday January 4th. Best wishes to all for the holidays.
