KEI Network - Issue #101. A Sandwalk with Peter MacKinnon

Emerging technologies are reshaping our future

Justa Chat Webinar

Sandwalking with Peter MacKinnon

19JAN23

Join us 4:00PM MST Thursday

https:us02web.zoom.us/j/82390691947

Thursday's Zoomed Network webinar HERE - Justa Chat with Peter MacKinnon, is in his terms a virtual "sandwalk". Charles Darwin coined the term, when twice a day he would walk his "thinking path" - a gravel track near his home in Kent, England. Peter is forever restless, indeed even an existentialist. His journey through life including many times around the globe, has shaped his profound, even prescient perspectives. During the webinar's "sandwalk" with Peter, my task as moderator and yours too, will be to explore Peter's views on emerging technologies, their impact, and much more.

Peter is a scientist, business manager, entrepreneur, domestic and international bureaucrat, executive, diplomat, management advisor, and academic. He is a pioneer in the commercialization of AI and today is actively involved in ethical and policy issues related to AI, especially as the only foreign member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE) USA Artificial Intelligence Systems Policy Committee. - Editor and Host, KEI Network

Today, Peter is a Senior Research Associate in the Faculty of Engineering and affiliated with the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa. He was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering, an organization that brings issues in science and engineering to Canadian Parliamentarians and senior management of the Federal Government. He also blogs on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Institute for Science Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa.

Peter's scientific career included working in paleoclimate studies based on ice core and radar data from polar ice sheets. He served as Chief Glaciologist at the World Data Center for Glaciology, sponsored by the US Government and housed at the University of Colorado (Boulder), where he was involved in the development of the concept of Nuclear Winter.

Here are some of the many topics that have occupied Peter over his lifetime:

Astronomy - since 1961
Technical photography - since 1965
Plate Tectonics & Paleomagnetism - since 1969
Glaciers & Ice Sheets - since 1972
Climate Change - since 1973
Nuclear Winter - since 1979
High Performance Computing - since 1980
Artificial Intelligence - since 1983
Computer Networking & the Rise of the Internet - since 1984
Transborder Data Flows & Cybersecurity - since 1985
Industrial Espionage - since 1986
Strategic & Tactical Alliances - since 1987

Computer-aided Software Engineering - since 1990
International Investment Flows - since 1993
The Internet for All - since 1995
Smart Cities - since 1996
The Rise of China - since 1998 (his 1st invitation to China was in 1976)
Corporate Transformation & the Role of the CIO - since 1999
Critical Infrastructure Protection - since 2000
Wireless Sensor Networks - since 2006
Collapse of Strategic National Assets: the Case of Nortel - since 2009
Planetary Limits - since 2015
Integrity in Society - since 2021
Need for a National Engineering Policy Advisor - since 2022

IMPACT

Why the West should go nuclear - HERE

Adapting to inflation 2023 - HERE

CRISPR & gene therapy - cures and breakthroughs - HERE

CleanTech impact on manufacturing - HERE

Canada's "just" energy jobs transition - HERE

ALSO THURSDAY

FUSION "breakthrough"

Special Session Thursday 19 January, 9AM MST or 17:00–18:00 CET

The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is organizing Episode 4 of its webinar series about the latest breakthroughs and landmark achievements in fusion R&D. In this special episode, experts from the US DOE Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), National Ignition Facility (NIF) will present results from the historic fusion breakthrough announced on December 13, 2022: scientific energy gain for the first time in a fusion experiment.

9:00AM MST or 17:00 CET

How Ignition and Target Gain was achieved in inertial fusion

Moderator: Omar A. Hurricane, LLNL, USA. Panel: Jean M. Di Nicola, Annie Kritcher, Andrew MacKinnon, Abbas Nikroo, Bruno Van Wonterghem and Alex Zylstra, LLNL, USA

For many decades, the running joke in fusion research has been that `fusion’ is twenty years away and always will be. Yet, this year we find ourselves in a position where we can talk about the milestones of burning plasmas, fusion ignition, and target energy gain greater than unity in the past tense – a situation that is remarkable! This session will discuss the applied physics challenges that needed to be overcome to achieve these milestones and the strategy LLNL’s team followed. To help understand the story, several key physics principles of inertial fusion will be presented and explained (e.g., burning, ignition, and gain) in the context of inertial fusion research.

To ensure attendance, please download and install WebEx on your laptop/device or join the event in your browser using Google Chrome. For any question, please contact: M.Barbarino@iaea.org

Note. Sunday's 60 Minutes is also featuring an update on nuclear fusion. You may also find of interest the views of Isabelle Boemeke, a popular fashion model from Brazil. She is on a mission to convince the public that nuclear energy - specifically fusion, is THE best option for replacing fossil fuels.

https://time.com/6218237/this-influencer-is-using-her-platform-to-help-people-understand-nuclear-energy/

https://www.ted.com/talks/isabelle_boemeke_nuclear_power_is_our_best_hope_to_ditch_fossil_fuels

REQUEST

We are seeking stories of how people are adapting or not to change and the organizations that are or are not helping. Advances in technologies continue to shape our future for good or for otherwise. Are we vulnerable? Are our institutions capable of mitigating the risks of these technologies being used/abused in the interest of advancing utopian visions of post-modernism? Do you have a story to tell? Let me know. Editor@KEInetwork.net