Public Events
Aimee van Wynsberghe: Robot Ethics: What is it and why should we care?
Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT The 21st century is predicted to be the century of service robots. Service robots differ from factory robots in that they function in unstructured and unpredictable human environments and will even co-operate with humans. They can already be found in: neighbourhood stores for greeting us; hospitals to help with surgeries, rehabilitation, or for the [...]
Aimee van Wynsberghe: The Ethics of Ethical Robots
Room 2202 - Spencer Engineering Building Spencer Engineering Building, Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT Robots are no longer fuel for the imagination of science fiction writers; they are now a part of our personal and professional lives and will become increasingly so in the years to come. They are already a part of surgical procedures and are delivering sheets and medications throughout the hospital. They are becoming a [...]
Alison Gopnik: The Gardener and the Carpenter: What developmental science tells us about relations between parents and children.
Wolf Performance Hall - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaIn this Rotman Lecture, co-sponsored with Western Alumni and the London Public Library, renowned author Alison Gopnik asks us to think about parenting as a relationship. ABSTRACT Caring deeply about our children is part of what makes us human. Yet the thing we call "parenting" is a surprisingly new invention. In the past thirty years, [...]
Panel Discussion – Editing the Human Genome: The Ethics of Moulding our Future
Wolf Performance Hall - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT The groundbreaking discovery of the gene-editing tool known as CRISPR allows scientists to precisely, efficiently, and cheaply modify the human genome. This may provide us with the power to cure disease and to unlock the secrets of early human development. It might, in the future, allow us to modify humans in directions that we now only [...]
Julian Savulescu: The Science and Ethics of Human Enhancement
Room 106 - Physics and Astronomy Building 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT Scandal after scandal has revealed that sport has been experimenting with human enhancement on a massive scale. These are among the most high-profile cases. But in fact human enhancement technologies influence all aspects of life. From students and professionals taking modafinil to enhance cognition, focus and drive, to evidence that SSRIs (anti-depressants) affect moral [...]
Panel Discussion: Canada Up in Smoke? Debating the Impact of Cannabis Legalization
Room 1200, Spencer Engineering Building Spencer Engineering Building, Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaEVENT DESCRIPTION The Society of Neuroscience Graduate Students at Western University is hosting an upcoming panel discussion on the legalization of cannabis, due to take effect in October. The event will include experts from a range of fields, exploring the medical, legal, and ethical considerations of the new policy. The Rotman Institute of Philosophy and [...]
Happiness and Well-Being: Philosophical Perspectives
Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaEVENT DESCRIPTION Each year, the Rotman Institute of Philosophy and the Department of Philosophy at Western University organize a public lecture series, co-sponsored with the London Public Library. The theme for this year's lecture series is happiness and well-being. The four speakers taking part in this year's series have expertise in a range of [...]
Lisa Feldman Barrett – Emotions: Facts vs. Fictions
Wolf Performance Hall - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaThe 2019 Rotman Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, professor of psychology at Northeastern University, and author of "How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain". She delivered the 2017 TED Talk, "You aren’t at the mercy of your emotions -- your brain creates them”, which was among the top [...]
Evidence & Belief in the Age of Mass Information
Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaPerhaps at no other time in history has information been more widely & easily accessible. But how reliable is it? What do we do when confronted with fundamental disagreement about matters of social importance, including climate change and vaccination? Whom should we trust? Experts might help us. But who counts as an expert? Our [...]
Panel Discussion: Health, Equity, and Well-Being
Wolf Performance Hall - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaAlthough every citizen of Canada has access to publicly funded health insurance, not all Canadians enjoy the same level and quality of health.
CANCELLED: Samir Okasha — Evolution, Altruism and Selfishness
Wolf Performance Hall - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaEVENT CANCELLED DUE TO THE EVOLVING COVID-19 SITUATION. PLEASE VISIT COVID-19 INFORMATION FOR THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY FOR MORE INFORMATION. Are animals altruistic? From eusocial animals like ants & bees, to well-documented cases of humpback whales rescuing seals from orcas, there are numerous examples of what looks like altruism in nature. Among many bird and mammal [...]
Responsibilities to Others: 2020 Philosophy Lecture Series
Virtual (register for Zoom link)Our attempts to deal with the effects of COVID-19 have revived significant interest in a question of enduring philosophical interest: what do we owe to each other? This series of public lectures will examine our responsibilities (if any) to others. It will include discussions on the evolution of altruism, on the idea that both [...]
Race and Racism
Virtual (register for Zoom link)In the past year and a half, race and racism have been at the forefront of many people’s minds because of widespread Black Lives Matter protests and the disproportionately negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on certain racialized communities. But the underlying phenomenon is not only recent. For centuries, racialized communities across [...]
Evan Thompson: Consciousness and Dreamless Sleep
Virtual (register for Zoom link)ABSTRACT New research suggests that deep and dreamless sleep may not be a blackout state in which consciousness is absent, but instead a state in which various kinds of conscious states may occur. This lecture will present an overview of current thinking about sleep and consciousness from the perspectives of cognitive neuroscience, the science [...]
Ann-Sophie Barwich – The Cinderella of the Senses: Smell as a Window into Mind and Brain
Room 1170 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, Ontario, CanadaJoin the Rotman Institute of Philosophy for a talk by Dr. Ann Sophie-Barwich related to her recent book, Smellosophy: What the Nose Tells the Mind (Harvard University Press, 2020). Pending changes due to the evolving COVID situation, this event is planned to be hybrid, with both in-person and virtual attendance options. Please see below [...]
Time and Memory: 2022 Annual Library Lecture Series (OCT 27: CANCELLED)
Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaEVENT DESCRIPTION Each year, the Rotman Institute of Philosophy and the Department of Philosophy at Western University organize a public lecture series, co-sponsored with the London Public Library. The theme for this year's lecture series is time and memory. How do we experience and measure time or form memories of the past? Across a [...]
Patrick Fafard: Is Science Enough? Science Advice, Health Essentialism, and Pandemic Decision-Making
Room 4190 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, Room 4190, London, Ontario, CanadaAbstract: Policy decisions made during the COVID-19 pandemic were commonly defended by decision-makers on the grounds they were 'following the science'. This suggested decision-makers were relying heavily on the advice of experts in public health, notably infectious disease physicians, to inform policy decisions. This raises important questions about the exact nature and role of [...]
Ethical Issues in Artificial Intelligence: 2023 Annual Library Lecture Series
Lawson Room - Central Library 251 Dundas Street - London Public Library Wolf Performance Hall, London, Ontario, CanadaEVENT DESCRIPTION Each year, the Rotman Institute of Philosophy organizes a public lecture series co-sponsored with the London Public Library and the Department of Philosophy. The theme for this year's lecture series is Ethical Issues in Artificial Intelligence. Abstract Questions about Artificial Intelligence and its appropriate use overwhelm recent discourse about technology. What is [...]
Charles Ling: Turing Test, Chinese Room, AGI, and GPTs
Room 4190 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, Room 4190, London, Ontario, CanadaAbstract: With the rapid development of large language models such as GPTs, many fundamental and philosophical issues of intelligence and the human mind can be re-visited. In this talk, I will explore these related topics to foster potential collaboration between different disciplines. Register to Attend Turing Test, Chinese Room, AGI, and GPTs Speaker [...]
Climate Change & Social Justice: 2024 Annual Library Lecture Series
Lawson Room - Central Library 251 Dundas Street - London Public Library Wolf Performance Hall, London, Ontario, CanadaEVENT DESCRIPTION Each year, the Rotman Institute of Philosophy organizes a public lecture series co-sponsored with the London Public Library and the Department of Philosophy. The theme for this year's lecture series is Climate Change & Social Justice. Please join us in welcoming Professor Anna Zalik (York University), Professor Bipasha Baruah (Western University), Professor [...]