1996 Senior Associate Gathering
Foresight/IMM/CCIT
SCHEDULE
(The 1996 Gathering is over. The schedule is archived here as
an example of activities featured at Senior Associate
Gatherings.)
Friday, October 18
8 - 10 PM: Welcoming
Reception
On your badge, put your guesstimate:
In what year will the Feynman Grand Prize be won?
Saturday, October 19
Introduction to the Senior Associates Gathering.
Munch on bagels and cream cheese while you get briefed on:
9:00 - 9:45 AM: Foresight:
Looking Back and Looking Ahead
(Eric Drexler)
On the tenth anniversary for Foresight and Engines of Creation,
Eric looks at past successes and those that still need to be
achieved.
9:45 - 10:30 AM:
Computational Nanotechnology Takes Off
(Ralph Merkle)
Before we can build, we need designs. Ralph surveys work
in this growing research community and updates us on his
computational experiments at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.
10:30 - 10:45 AM: Beverage break. Check out
other Senior Associates' guesstimates.
10:45 - 11:30 AM: R&D
Progress Overview
(Jim Lewis, Ted Kaehler)
Tracking and interpreting the expanding body of
nanotechnology-related work is a tough job -- Jim and Ted
guide us through the maze.
11:30 - Noon: The $250,000 Question:
When?
Our morning speakers and the audience take on a critical
aspect of this question: Will control software be the crucial
problem on the path to nanotechnology? Winning the Feynman Grand Prize will
require building the equivalent of a nanorobot. Today
robotics is hindered by control software issues. Will this
hold nanotechnology back, too?
Saturday Noon - 1:30 PM: South-of-the-Border Poolside Lunch
(included). Theme discussions at each lunch table. At the
end of lunch, update your guesstimate.
1:30 - 3:00 PM: Hands-On
Molecular Modeling:
Split into teams and get your hands virtually dirty in
nano-scale design and "construction." We'll have
hardware, software and roaming instruction by Computer Camp
Coaches Eric Drexler, Ralph Merkle, and others.
Actual Designs by a Senior Associate
1:30 - 3:00 PM: Personal Poster (in
parallel)
While your teammates get trained, make your personal
"poster", in tandem post it, then tour the room and
see who's here. Add your name to the posters of those you'd
like to meet. Topics to cover in your poster:
- What impact do you want nanotechnology or Foresight
to have had on your life in 5, 10, 20 years?
- What do you want to accomplish personally for
nanotechnology and other Foresight interest areas?
- What kinds of people do you want to meet at this
gathering?
3:00 - 3:30 PM: Dessert Break featuring
Seidler's Sinful Snacks and Tremendously Tempting Treats.
Tour the personal posters and start connecting up with the
Senior Associates you want to meet.
3:30-4:30 PM: Molecular Object Design
Contest: the NanoOlympics.
Rejoin your team to design and "build" simple
molecular objects.
4:30-5:00 PM: Nano Web Tour:
Offline virtual tour of the Web's nanotechnology sites.
The good, the bad, the excellent, the unhelpful.
5:00 PM: Dinner on your own, in
self-assembling groups. (See the restaurant list for places
within walking distance.)
In parallel, and separate from the Senior Associate
Gathering: Foresight
Tenth Anniversary Reception and Dinner (off-site)
Sunday, October 20
Sunday morning: Communicating nanotechnology.
Nosh on more bagels and cream cheese Sunday morning while you
compare notes with nanotech communicators:
9:00 - 9:10 AM:
College-Bound Education Project
(Elaine Tschorn)
Somewhere out there are hordes of bright high school kids
who deserve to have their minds saved from media sludge.
We're here to help! Elaine wants to use this project to win
the hearts and minds of the innocent youth and lure them into
college careers aimed at nanotechnology. Let's get these kids
ready to work on nanotech products. Not only will the kids
thank us for this, but in the years to come-- as we do
technical recruiting for our nanotech start-ups -- we'll
thank ourselves.
9:10 - 9:45 AM: Nanotechnology in the
Media: From single-view coverage to multi-view debate
(Lew Phelps)
For the first ten years, Foresight had to rely on the
media to get its message out. Foresight's recent Web debate
with Scientific American shows how this is changing
for the better.
9:45 - 10:15 AM: Presenting
Nanotechnology Information: Do's and Don'ts, Lessons Learned
(Ed Niehaus, Chris Peterson, Gayle Pergamit)
Core dump of nanotech communication experience. The key:
knowing what your listener is ready to hear.
10:15 - 10:45 AM: Beverage Break
10:45 - 11:30 AM:
Nanotechnology and Space
(Al
Globus)
Besides his computational
nanotechnology work for NASA, Al runs a wonderful site
highlighting what nanotechnology can do for a popular Senior
Associate goal: space
settlement. We'll hear how successful this meme is
becoming, and what this means for computational
nanotechnology at NASA.
Full size versions of paintings are available at nasa.gov.
11:30 - Noon: Tales from the
Front Lines of Communications:
Group discussion of your experience in spreading these
memes. Successes and failures at conveying what
nanotechnology is, why it's important, how it should be
included in plans for the future. What kind of people
"get it" and which don't: scientists, engineers,
businesspeople, doctors? People in positions of authority in
science and technology, e.g. your thesis advisor, the head of
your lab. The role of paper and web info. Anecdotes and
observations.
Noon - 1:30 PM:
Probably-More-Than-We-Ought-to-Eat Big Buffet Smorgasbord
Sunday Brunch (included).
Theme discussions at each table. Update your guesstimate on
your badge.
Sunday afternoon: Taking Action:
How you can make a difference via Foresight's current and
afternoon upcoming projects.
1:30 - 1:50 PM:
Nanotechnology Database Project
(Robert Armas)
As the trickle of nanotechnology activity becomes a flood,
we need a way to organize and access it: an Information
Central for nanotechnology. To find your niche in
nanotechnology, join us in reshaping this information flow
into useable form.
1:50 - 2:10 PM: Web Upload
Project
(Jim Lewis,
Foresight Webmaster)
You'd expect the biggest beneficiaries of the web to be
new, multidisciplinary fields like ours, and you'd be right.
We've seen tremendous payoffs to our field already. The
opportunities here are boggling. Help Foresight boggle the
world with the quantity and quality of our presentations in
this new medium.
2:10 - 2:30 PM: "State
of the Field" Report on Nanotechnology
(Richard
Terra)
Yet another idea born at last year's meeting has taken
shape. Richard explains the goal, how to help, and how to get
the Report into the hands of those who should see it.
2:30 - 3:00 PM: Web
Enhancement Project
Ten years ago, Engines of
Creation helped promote the goal of hypertext
publishing. Now we're on the verge of getting the features we
need to debate important issues, e.g. nanotechnology
technical and policy options. We'll get a progress report on
what's available, what's soon to be available, and when
Senior Associates can start demonstration debates, with the
goal of setting a new, higher quality standard for serious
debate.
3:00 - 3:15 Beverage Break. Take this
opportunity to give your name to leaders of projects you'd
like to work on.
3:15 - 3:45 PM: Looking
Backward: Using Scenarios to Choose Action
We'll break into groups, each examining a
"headline" announcing a nanotechnology-related
future event.
Placing yourself in that timeframe, look back and project a
scenario for how this event came to occur.
- What events led up to it?
- Who did, or did not do, what action?
- What did the people in this room do to make this
event occur?
- Finally: should we try to maximize the chance of this
scenario, or minimize it?
Sample headline: "US Announces Apollo-style Nanotech
Project: We'll have an assembler in my term, vows
President"
3:45 - 4:45 PM: Groups give
capsule summaries of their scenarios.
4:45 - 5:00 PM: Review of
Feynman Grand Prize date guesstimates: did yours change and
if so, how?
Gathering conclusions, requests,
pats on the back, and farewells.same Promises to meet again
next year, same time, place.
5:00 PM End.
Head for the airport, or hang around the pool and schmooze.
Holiday Inn
Palo Alto/Stanford
625 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Senior Associate Gathering
Registration & Details
- If you are not yet a senior associate, here is the application form.
- The Senior Associate meeting is off-the-record; no media coverage or taping is planned.
- Dress is informal.
- There is a $95 fee to cover the direct costs of participation. This price includes a reception on Friday, bagels and coffee in the morning, some refreshments at breaks, and 2 lunches. Direct questions to [email protected]. Senior Associates attending the Gathering are responsible for making their own travel and accommodations arrangements.
Palo Alto/Stanford Holiday Inn, Palo Alto, California
The conference is at the Holiday Inn, Palo
Alto/Stanford:
625 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(415) 328-2800 FAX (415) 327-7362
For Reservations Call: 1-800 874 3516 (CA)
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