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Humanly Possible: 700 years of humanist freethinking
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, Bath“Humanism” can mean many things, from Renaissance scholars’ dedication to literary study to a modern organised movement that seeks meaning and morality in our relationships here on Earth, rather than in religious ideas of the beyond. Humanism is so wide-ranging that it can seem an elusive term, but that also reflects its great richness, both...
John Herschel – The Last Polymath – all day conference
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathJoin us for a packed day of talks exploring the life and work of Victorian polymath, Sir John Herschel. Sir John Herschel (1792-1871), son of the astronomer William Herschel and nephew to Caroline Herschel, was the most influential natural philosopher of the Victorian period. His long career encompassed astronomy, mathematics, physics, geology, chemistry, as well...
Alien Intelligence: A.I. and Emergent Capabilities
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathNeil Leach, author of Architecture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence comes to BRLSI to explore the emergent capabilities of AI and what they implicate. Artificial Intelligence, we are told, is a purely mechanical form of intelligence, that has nothing to do with biological intelligence. But does it? This lecture explores the curious case of...
Living with history in a pandemic
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathTrapped at home during the Covid 19 pandemic, EMMY award-winning filmmaker Martin Smith broadcast forty-three talks for Bristol's community radio station. In Matters of Life and Death: Living with History in a Pandemic the talks have become a book. Tributes to the book have described Martin Smith as “a natural essayist… the discipline of a...
Shakespeare’s Forgotten Sonnets
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathWilliam Shakespeare’s Sonnets are among his most celebrated works but, unlike his plays, they seem to have been largely forgotten following their publication in 1609. A second edition appeared in 1640 but this reordered the poems, combined many of them together to make longer poems, added titles, and in certain cases altered their wording. And...
Jonathan Dimbleby: Who Won World War Two?
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathIf you’re from the UK or America it’s a fair bet you grew up believing that “we” won the Second World War. “We” being the British or Americans, depending on the location. If you’re from Russia you’ll have a completely different perspective, in which the “Great Patriotic War” fought on the Eastern front is seen...
How can plastics be recycled?
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathHow do we use material resources sustainably and without damaging the environment? Dive into the intricate world of plastic recycling! In this talk, Dr Helen Liang, CTO of local tech start-up LabCycle, explains the problems and introduces us to a particular case study. Unravel the challenges stemming from diverse compositions, contamination hurdles, and economic intricacies....
Who’s afraid of the big bad wasp?
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathAre we right to be afraid of wasps? For National Insect Week, an illustrated talk telling you everything you need to know about the nemesis of the summer picnic blanket! Wildlife journalist Dr Ben Aldiss explores why wasps sting; how you locate their alarm pheromone and how it works; the amazing abilities of wasps; the...
Franz Kafka’s Art of Failure
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathHave you already booked in for our Big Read book discussion on Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (11 September, details here)? In which case this talk is for you. A talk marking the centenary of Franz Kafka’s death by exploring the theme of failure in his work. The protagonists of Kafka’s stories and novels often fail...
Foldable Quantum Materials for Flexible Electronics
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathNew science has enabled the production of atomically thin layers of electrically conductive materials such as graphene. These can be folded, as in Japanese origami, into complex shapes. In this talk Dr Habib Rostami explores how the physics of quantum materials promise powerful new technologies that enable an exciting collaboration between art and science. How...
Bath at War series – Making War
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathThis is the first of three talks about Bath at War, focusing on how the city fared and adapted during WW2. The talks are on three consecutive Monday, beginning with this talk, Making War - Manufacturing for the War Economy. Following talks are The Bath Blitz on Monday 8 July and The Admiralty in Bath...
Can the meaning of existence be known through feeling?
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathReady to get philosophical? Dr David Leech considers recent contributions to the metaphysics of feeling. Exploring the work of Mark Wynn on emotional experience and Matthew Ratcliffe on existential feelings, he will look at how both of these in their distinct but related ways allow that the way feelings disclose the world to human beings...
Bath at War series – The Bath Blitz
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathThe second talk in our Bath at War series, examining how the city fared during World War 2 - other talks are Making War on Monday 1 July and The Admiralty in Bath on Monday 15 July To get three talks for the price of two, choose a discounted series ticket below! In April 1942...
Bath at War series – The Admiralty in Bath
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathThe third and final talk in our Bath at War series, examining how the city fared during World War 2 - other talks are Making War on Monday 1 July and The Bath Blitz on Monday 8 July - to get three talks for the price of two, choose a discounted series ticket below! The...
Rome’s African emperor & his campaigns in Scotland
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathWhat made Septimius Severus one of the first great reforming emperors of the imperial Roman military, and how did he concentrate power around the imperial throne and create a reset of the Roman Empire based around allies from his North African homeland? Since the 1970s, new archaeological evidence has come to light to illuminate the...
The Welsh in Afghanistan, 1839-2022
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathFor nine years, BBC Wales journalist Gareth Jones followed the Queen’s Dragoon Guards - The Welsh Cavalry - as they took on insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he is coming to BRLSI to give a first-hand account of an ambush in which the Queen’s Dragoon Guards were attacked by the Taliban in Afghanistan in...
Who Owns the Moon?
Queen Square or Online 16 Queen Square, BathOne of Britain’s leading intellectuals, Professor A C Grayling, joins us to take a philosophical stance on the subject of the Moon. Does history give us confidence that humankind's rapidly approaching commercial exploitation and possible colonisation of the moon will be peaceful and constructive, or further reason for conflict, trouble and wars? If we look...