Science and Society

Leader: Ian Westall

Meetings : Monthly 4th Wednesday afternoon

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will be held on the 18th January 2012 not 25th as normally scheduled, due to a clash with the Theatre Outings Group.

We will meet at 2pm at New Mills Adult Education Centre, room 7, as usual.

The group was set up in April 2009 to look at aspects of science and their social impact.

Monthly meetings are introduced by members of the group, each taking an area of science or a social need which has prompted scientific research or technological innovation.

The group has a broad relevance to those with little scientific experience as well as those who may have studied or worked in related areas.  An enquiring mind and a concern for the role of science in today’s world are more important than specific knowledge of areas of science or technology.

No particular knowledge of science is required - just a concern about society and a willingness to air your ideas.

Science and Society Group – Wednesday 23 November 2011

John Turnbull presented a discussion on the topic of Robots and Society.

This session looked advances in robotics and trends in application which impinge on human activities.

Our consideration of robotics was not restricted to humanoid ‘robots’ but, in particular, looked at aspects of machine intelligence (what is ‘intelligence’?) and the extent to which a computer can undertake mental/intellectual tasks which might require reasoning or imagination.

Recent media attention has touched on the possible roll of robots in social caring activities and this will be an area which causes some concern. We also considered implications for social networking and political unrest.

At the meeting on 26th Jan 2011 the topic was 'Clouds and their formation'.

At the December meeting of the Group the topic was the miscellany of items which had recently appeared in the news.

Each member was asked to bring details from a press cutting or broadcast news item which related to science and society. These could relate to social concerns where science might help or hinder progress, or scientific developments which had social implications.