Emiko Jozuka (Trinity 2006): opening of an exhibition commemorating photographs by Joe Honda, and celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Le Mans car races
Emiko Jozuka (Trinity 2006) organized a number of exhibitions commemorating in her efforts to honor the legacy of her father Joe Honda, legendary photographer, famous for his dramatic photographs of every type of motorsports and archive that charts the culture, evolution and developments of this global industry.
The exhibition is held in parralel at La Maison Franco-Japonaise and Fuji Motorsports Museum, and reflects back at the “golden age” of Le Mans, market by the final years of the dramatic Ford-Ferrari duel, until Porsche arrived on the scene with the 917.
Established in 1923 as a “Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency,” Le Mans allowed car manufacturers to prove the durability of their machines in competition. The endurance race – famous for its legacy of brutally testing drivers and their teams – has one condition for victory: the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours is the winner.
24 Heures du Mans: To the Limit — and Beyond by Joe Honda (1967 – 1971) | 100th anniversary
Maison Franco-Japonaise Tokyo
Opening reception: June 8, 2023, 17:30-18:45
Speakers: Masanori Sekiya (first Japanese Le Mans winner); Hiroshi Fushida (first Japanese Le Mans entrant), and Emiko Jozuka
Joe Honda, born in 1939 in Tokyo, is known as Asia’s father of motorsport photography. His archive spans the grit and glamor of motor racing’s golden years into a technological arms race funded by big business. But the cars were only ever one part of the human narrative he wanted to tell. His images — captured over close to five decades — range from the visceral to the purely functional, immortalizing the raw experiences, developments and memories of the international world of motorsport through one artist’s perspective.
Emiko Jozuka is a Field Producer for CNN, based in the network’s Tokyo bureau, and Director of the Joe Honda Archive.
Emiko Jozuka graduated with a BA in Modern & Medieval Languages, French, Spanish, Portuguese, literature and film from Cambridge University and Trinity College, and an MSc Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology, Anthropology/Film from the University of Oxford.
Emiko Jozuka 24 Heures du Mans: To the Limit – and Beyond, by Joe Honda, 8 June 2023Emiko Jozuka 24 Heures du Mans: To the Limit – and Beyond, by Joe Honda, 8 June 2023Emiko Jozuka 24 Heures du Mans: To the Limit – and Beyond, by Joe Honda, 8 June 2023Emiko Jozuka 24 Heures du Mans: To the Limit – and Beyond, by Joe Honda, 8 June 2023Emiko Jozuka (Trinity 2006) 24 Heures du Mans: To the Limit – and Beyond, by Joe Honda. Masanori Sekiya (left), Emiko Jozuka (center) and Hiroshi Fushida (right). Photograph by Rodrigo Reyes Marin (All rights reserved)
All Trinity members, Fellows and students globally are very welcome to pre-register, and I will send a registration link if there are still places available.
Photograph credit: Photograph with Masanori Sekiya (left), Emiko Jozuka (center) and Hiroshi Fushida (right), by Rodrigo Reyes Marin (All rights reserved)
John MacGinnis: “excavating a provincial capital of the Assyrian Empire”. Introduction by Chikako Watanabe
With deep apologies, this meeting has been cancelled because of the current health situation
Trinity in Japan history and archaeology festival: John MacGinnis (Trinity 1982) will talk on “excavating a provincial capital of the Assyrian Empire”
On Monday 23 March 2020 we will have our Trinity in Japan History and Archaeology Festival in Tokyo.
John MacGinnis (Trinity 1982) will visit us from the UK, and will talk to us about “excavating a provincial capital of the Assyrian Empire”. Location: in central Tokyo.
6:45pm – 7pm arrive
7pm Chikako Watanabe (Trinity 1990) introduces John MacGinnis
7:05pm – 7:30pm John MacGinnis: “excavating a provincial capital of the Assyrian Empire”
7:30pm – 9:30pm dinner
after 9:30pm – nijikai drinks nearby
The fee including kaiseki dinner and unlimited drinks will be YEN 10,000, nijikai drinks etc are separate. We will meet in central Tokyo.
All Fellows or members of Trinity College (Cambridge University) living in or visiting Tokyo are very welcome.
Registration and prepayment until Monday 16 March 2020. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.
Usually we go for nijikai nearby.
Excavating a Provincial capital of the Assyrian Empire – abstract of John MacGinnis talk
The Assyrian Empire was the first multinational empire in the ancient near east. By the seventh century BC it had grown to cover all of Iraq, Syria and the Levant, substantial portions of western Iran and south-eastern Turkey and even, for brief periods, Egypt. In the site of Ziyaret Tepe we had a unique opportunity to explore and document Assyrian rule across the whole of this time span. The site lies on the river Tigris, some 60 km east of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey. Known in antiquity as Tushan, it was an Assyrian provincial capital and garrison town from 882 to 611 BC; as an archaeological site it is of exceptional importance. Sadly Ziyaret Tepe is threatened with destruction by the floodwaters of the Ilisu Dam and an international team, of which the Cambridge University expedition was a major component, worked to recovering as much of this heritage as possible before it disappears forever.
The excavations have uncovered the remains of a palace, a major administrative building, the defensive wall with monumental gates and both high and low status housing. The finds have included an archive of cuneiform texts dating to the very end of the empire including a sensational letter written by a military commander during the very process of collapse.
Here the University of Cambridge website on Ziyaret Tepe:
John MacGinnis: Ziyaret Tepe, Tushan – an Assyrian provincial capital and garrison town from 882 to 611 BC
Dr John MacGinnis
Research Fellow, University of Cambridge McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Curator, Middle East Department, British Museum
Dr. MacGinnis (Trinity 1982) is a specialist in the archaeology and inscriptions of ancient Babylonia and Assyria, on which he has published extensively. He has worked on sites across the middle east including Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Sudan and Cyprus as well as his work in Turkey; he has also worked in India and Pakistan. He is a consultant for UNESCO on the culture of ancient Mesopotamia and has been Field Director of the British Expedition to Ziyaret Tepe since the commencement of the work in 2000.
Here is an article about John MacGinnis’ work on the discovery of an ancient language from more than 2500 years ago:
and here some of John MacGinnis’ books and research publications:
Ziyaret Tepe: Exploring the Anatolian Frontier of the Assyrian Empire. By Timothy Matney, John MacGinnis, Dirk Wicke, and Kemalettin Köroglu. Edinburgh: Cornucopia, 2017. Book review: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/702170
John MacGinnis, “Evidence for a Peripheral Language in a Neo-Assyrian Tablet from the Governor’s Palace in Tušhan,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 71, no. 1 (April 2012): 13-20. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/664450
The Arrows of the Sun. Armed Forces in Sippar in the First Millennium bc. By John MacGinnis, with copies of the cuneiform texts by Cornelia Wunsch. Dresden: ISLET-Verlag, 2012. Book review: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/679680
Dr John MacGinnis, Research Fellow, University of Cambridge McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and Curator, Middle East Department, British Museum
Chikako Watanabe
Chikako E. Watanabe (Trinity 1990) is Professor of Assyriology and Art History in the Faculty of International Studies at Osaka Gakuin University. Her academic interests range from Neo-Assyrian pictorial narratives and animal symbolism to an analysis of the source materials of Assyrian reliefs and cuneiform tablets. She was awarded the Third JSPS (Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science) prize on “Narratological Interpretation of the Art of Ancient Mesopotamia” in 2006. She is the author of Animal Symbolism in Mesopotamia: A Contextual Approach, WOO 1 (2002). She is currently the PI (principal investigator) of two JSPS projects: “Reconstruction of Assyrian reliefs through the analysis of material stone” (2017-20) and “The provenance and manufacturing processes of Mesopotamian clay tablets” (2019-23).
Professor Chikako Watanabe
Archaeology at Trinity College (Cambridge University)
His Honour Witold Pawlak (Trinity 1966) will speak to us about his experience as Circuit Judge at Wood Green Crown Court (appointed 2004)
On Thursday 28 November 2019 at 7pm His Honour Witold Pawlak will visit us from the UK, and will talk to us about his unique insights into how justice works in the UK: “The view from the Bench”. Location: in central Tokyo.
And as a special guest Professor Andrea Frilling, Chair in Endocrine Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Imperial College, London.
This event will be joint with MIT Sloan alumni.
7pm – 7:30pm His Honour Witold Pawlak, ‘The view from the Bench’
7:30pm – 9:30pm dinner
after 9:30pm – nijikai drinks nearby
The fee including kaiseki dinner and unlimited drinks will be YEN 10,000, nijikai drinks etc are separate. We will meet in central Tokyo.
All Fellows or members of Trinity College (Cambridge University) living in or visiting Tokyo are very welcome.
Registration and prepayment until Friday 22 November 2019. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.
Usually we go for nijikai nearby.
“The view from the Bench” – His Honour Witold Pawlak
Hierarchy and “Judgeitis” (judges’ disease). Courts have a hierarchy with the Judge at the top seated in his or her gown on an elevated dais. Judges are revered and honoured at the court house from morning to night. This respect for judges is for justice, not for the judge as a person.
Lord Hailsham (Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone) in 1978 is said to have spoken about judgeitis, or judges’ disease, the symptoms to include “pomposity, irritability, talkativeness, proneness to obiter dicta [statements not necessary for the decision in the case], a tendency to take short-cuts”. Judge Pawlak gave us a few examples, and thinks that it is one of the roles of barristers to stand up to judges in court.
Barristers who win the trust of the judge have a much better chance to win their case. Barristers need to win the trust of judges both during the particular case, as well as long-term via their track record.
Today judges in the UK are following sentencing guidelines, which are guidelines, not tram lines, deviation in judgements from these guidelines must be justified in each case.
The current situation in the UK is that crime has risen strongly in recent years (from 4.5 million cases to 6 million cases per year over the last few years), while the number of suspects facing justice and the number of prosecutions has decreased because of a decrease in funding for the court and prosecution systems. Average prison sentences are now highest in the past 10 years, and have increased from an average 13.5 months in June 2009 to 17.4 months in 2019. The court system is subject to political priorities.
Judges need to acquire “tickets” by attending training conferences for specialization in special areas. As an example, Judge Pawlak has trained for a “sex ticket” to be qualified to judge sexual crime cases.
Judges have to “steel their hearts” to make judgements based on justice not emotion.
His Honour Witold Pawlak
Trinity 1966. Called to the Bar in 1970. Practised in contract, tort, environmental, family, financial services and other areas. Memorable cases include re Schwitters (Hospital Patient), Spring v Guardian Assurance and Rv Hertfordshire County Council ex parte Green Environmental. Appointed Circuit Judge 2004 until 2017 at Wood Green Crown Court, thereafter a Deputy Circuit Judge until April 2020. Training in mediation for mediators in Poland for 10 years. Currently working on the EU Modern Court project in Ukraine.
28 November 2019, His Honour Witold Pawlak, Circuit Judge: ‘The view from the Bench’ – joint with MIT Sloan alumni28 November 2019, His Honour Witold Pawlak, Circuit Judge: ‘The view from the Bench’ – joint with MIT Sloan alumni28 November 2019, His Honour Witold Pawlak, Circuit Judge: ‘The view from the Bench’ – joint with MIT Sloan alumni28 November 2019, His Honour Witold Pawlak, Circuit Judge: ‘The view from the Bench’ – joint with MIT Sloan alumni28 November 2019, His Honour Witold Pawlak, Circuit Judge: ‘The view from the Bench’28 November 2019, His Honour Witold Pawlak, Circuit Judge: ‘The view from the Bench’28 November 2019, His Honour Witold Pawlak, Circuit Judge: ‘The view from the Bench’28 November 2019, His Honour Witold Pawlak, Circuit Judge: ‘The view from the Bench’28 November 2019, His Honour Witold Pawlak, Circuit Judge: ‘The view from the Bench’
To register
If you are Trinity College Cambridge Fellow or member living in or visiting Japan please join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:
All Fellows or members of Trinity College (Cambridge University) living in or visiting Tokyo are very welcome
Trinity in Japan: Rugby World Cup Japan 2019
18 October 2019 7pm Rugby World Cup special in Tokyo
Will meet on Friday 18 October 2019 at 7pm in central Tokyo for our Rugby World Cup special.
Wolfgang Ungerer (1990) – who has worked for many years in leadership positions in global automotive groups – will give us a talk on the future of the automobile industries.
All Trinity members (Fellows, students, alumni, Past Fellows, Past Fellow Commoners…) visiting Japan for the Rugby World Cup are specially welcome to join us.
Our Rugby World Cup Special on Friday 18 October 2019 7pm is just before the quarter finals on 19 & 20 October, the semi-finals on 26 & 27 October, the bronze final on 1 November and the final on 2 November. For the Rugby World Cup program and to buy tickets visit the official website – some tickets are still available (both ordinary tickets and hospitality packages including tickets): https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/matches
Quarter-finals:
Saturday 19 October 16:15 JST, England v Australia, Oita Stadium
Saturday 19 October 19:15 JST, New Zealand v Ireland, Tokyo Stadium
Sunday 20 October 16:15 JST, Wales v France, Oita Stadium
Sunday 20 October 19:15 JST, Japan v South Africa, Tokyo Stadium
The charge is YEN 10,000 (prepaid before Friday 11 October 2019) for kaiseki dinner (Japanese banquet) and two hours of unlimited drinks from a fixed menu. Usually we go for nijikai drinks nearby (not included).
18 October 2019 Trinity in Japan Rugby World Cup special and talk by Wolfgang Ungerer on the future of the automotive industries18 October 2019 Trinity in Japan Rugby World Cup special and talk by Wolfgang Ungerer (1990) on the future of the automotive industries18 October 2019 Trinity in Japan Rugby World Cup special and talk by Wolfgang Ungerer (1990) on the future of the automotive industries18 October 2019 Trinity in Japan Rugby World Cup special and talk by Wolfgang Ungerer (1990) on the future of the automotive industries18 October 2019 Trinity in Japan Rugby World Cup special and talk by Wolfgang Ungerer (1990) on the future of the automotive industries
Enquiries and to register:
Trinity in Japan: Rugby World Cup Japan 2019Trinity in Japan: Rugby World Cup Japan 2019Trinity in Japan
‘The rise (and fall?) of humanitarianism’, Revd Dr Michael Banner (in Tokyo)
The Revd Dr Michael Banner… “one of the brightest and most interesting young people doing ethics on the scene today”
The Revd Dr Michael Banner will join us on Tuesday 1 October 2019 6pm for a special event in central Tokyo.
6pm – 7pm drinks reception
7pm – 7:30pm The Revd Dr Michael Banner, ‘The rise (and fall?) of humanitarianism’, and an update on Trinity
7:30pm – 9:30pm dinner
after 9:30pm – nijikai drinks nearby
The fee including drinks reception, kaiseki dinner and unlimited drinks will be YEN 12,000, nijikai drinks etc are separate.
All Fellows or members of Trinity College (Cambridge University) living in or visiting Tokyo are very welcome.
Registration and prepayment until Friday 20 September 2019. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.
Usually we go for nijikai nearby.
1 October 2019 event with The Revd Dr Michael Banner: ‘The rise (and fall?) of humanitarianism’.1 October 2019 event with The Revd Dr Michael Banner: ‘The rise (and fall?) of humanitarianism’.1 October 2019 event with The Revd Dr Michael Banner: ‘The rise (and fall?) of humanitarianism’.1 October 2019 event with The Revd Dr Michael Banner: ‘The rise (and fall?) of humanitarianism’.1 October 2019 event with The Revd Dr Michael Banner: ‘The rise (and fall?) of humanitarianism’.1 October 2019 event with The Revd Dr Michael Banner: ‘The rise (and fall?) of humanitarianism’.1 October 2019 event with The Revd Dr Michael Banner: ‘The rise (and fall?) of humanitarianism’.
The Revd Dr Michael Banner… “one of the brightest and most interesting young people doing ethics on the scene today”
Dean of Chapel and Fellow,
Director of Studies in Theology,
Chair of Alumni Relations and Development, Trinity College
joint event with the alumni organizations of HEC, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, Edhec, Essec and Trinity College/ Cambridge University. Thursday 7 March 2019 19:00 in Tokyo
Everyone of us who wants Japanese companies to take major decisions, e.g. in major sales, M&A, as investor, or executive or employee benefits from understanding how Japanese companies take decisions at top level. Corporate governance is about how companies take decisions, and how this decision making is controlled. Reforms were initiated by PM Abe and Japan’s Parliament since 2015, mainly driven by the very low returns on capital by Japanese companies compared to Europe and US, and by a long series of scandals.
As the major shareholder of Nissan, Renault shares responsibility for corporate governance at Nissan, and governance of Nissan directly impacts employment in France. Thus interest in Japan’s corporate governance has suddenly shot up in France.The speaker has several years experience as Board Director and Member of the Supervisory & Audit Committee of a stock market listed Japanese SaaS, cloud and cybersecurity group, and will give a practician view of governance at Japanese companies.
Japan’s corporate governance reforms: Joint event with the alumni of HEC, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, Edhec, Essec and Trinity College/Cambridge University. Thursday 7 March 2019 in Tokyo
Speaker: Dr Gerhard Fasol
Dr. Gerhard Fasol, graduated with a PhD in Physics of Cambridge University. He first came to Japan in 1984 to help build a research cooperation with NTT. In 1997 he founded the company Eurotechnology Japan KK and has been working with hundreds of Japanese and foreign companies on cross-border business development and M&A projects. For four years he served as Board Director of a Japanese stock market listed company. He is also Guest-Professor at Kyushu University and was tenured faculty in Physics at Cambridge University, Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity College Cambridge, Associate Professor at Tokyo University’s Dept of Electrical Engineering, and also Guest Professor in Physics at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. In recent years he has been focusing also on questions of Corporate Governance at Japanese companies, a topic about which he is frequently presenting at a wide range of organizations in and outside Japan.
Event details and registration
Date: Thursday 7 March at 19:00 (Please try to be on time).
Registration: Please register using contact form below, no later than Friday 1 March 2019.
Please note that the last HEC event was booked out early, and some late registrations had to be turned away. So to avoid disappointment, make sure you register early!
Japan’s corporate governance reforms: Joint event with the alumni of HEC, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, Edhec, Essec and Trinity College/Cambridge University. Thursday 7 March 2019 in TokyoJapan’s corporate governance reforms: Joint event with the alumni of HEC, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, Edhec, Essec and Trinity College/Cambridge University. Thursday 7 March 2019 in TokyoJapan’s corporate governance reforms: Joint event with the alumni of HEC, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, Edhec, Essec and Trinity College/Cambridge University. Thursday 7 March 2019 in TokyoJapan’s corporate governance reforms: Joint event with the alumni of HEC, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, Edhec, Essec and Trinity College/Cambridge University. Thursday 7 March 2019 in TokyoJapan’s corporate governance reforms: Joint event with the alumni of HEC, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, Edhec, Essec and Trinity College/Cambridge University. Thursday 7 March 2019 in TokyoJapan’s corporate governance reforms: Joint event with the alumni of HEC, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, Edhec, Essec and Trinity College/Cambridge University. Thursday 7 March 2019 in TokyoJapan’s corporate governance reforms: Joint event with the alumni of HEC, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, Edhec, Essec and Trinity College/Cambridge University. Thursday 7 March 2019 in Tokyo
The Revd Dr Michael Banner… “one of the brightest and most interesting young people doing ethics on the scene today”
The Revd Dr Michael Banner will join us on Friday 28 September 2018 for a special event.
6pm – 7pm drinks reception
7pm – 7:30pm The Revd Dr Michael Banner: “What is morality?” and an update on Trinity and on Cambridge University
7:30pm – 9:30pm dinner
after 9:30pm – nijikai drinks nearby
The fee including drinks reception, kaiseki dinner and unlimited drinks will be YEN 12,000, nijikai drinks etc are separate.
All Fellows or members of Trinity College (Cambridge University) living in or visiting Tokyo are very welcome.
Registration and prepayment until Friday 21 September 2018. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.
Usually we go for nijikai nearby.
The Revd Dr Michael Banner, Trinity College Cambridge, Dean of Chapel and Fellow, Director of Studies in Theology, Chair of Alumni Relations and Development
The Revd Dr Michael Banner… “one of the brightest and most interesting young people doing ethics on the scene today”
Dean of Chapel and Fellow,
Director of Studies in Theology,
Chair of Alumni Relations and Development, Trinity College
Stanley Hauerwas wrote in his review of “Christian Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems”
‘Michael Banner is an event waiting to happen. He is clearly one of the brightest and most interesting young people doing ethics on the scene today. He is a first-rate theologian who promises to be a new and long-standing voice not only in England but in America. This is a good book and one that I believe will be widely read.’ Stanley Hauerwas, Duke University
Trinity in Japan special event in Tokyo Friday 28 September 2018 with The Revd Dr Michael BannerTrinity in Japan special event in Tokyo Friday 28 September 2018 with The Revd Dr Michael BannerTrinity in Japan special event in Tokyo Friday 28 September 2018 with The Revd Dr Michael BannerTrinity in Japan special event in Tokyo Friday 28 September 2018 with The Revd Dr Michael BannerTrinity in Japan special event in Tokyo Friday 28 September 2018 with The Revd Dr Michael BannerTrinity in Japan special event in Tokyo Friday 28 September 2018 with The Revd Dr Michael BannerTrinity in Japan special event in Tokyo Friday 28 September 2018 with The Revd Dr Michael BannerTrinity in Japan special event in Tokyo Friday 28 September 2018 with The Revd Dr Michael BannerTrinity in Japan special event in Tokyo Friday 28 September 2018 with The Revd Dr Michael Banner
If you are Trinity College Cambridge member living in or visiting Japan and like to join our meetings, or to contact us:
Lord Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow OM FRS, Master of Trinity College 2004-2012
Lord Martin Rees: “The world in 2050 – and beyond”
Lord Martin Rees, Master of Trinity College 2004-2012, gave a public lecture at the Japan Academy in Tokyo on the topic “The world in 2050 – and beyond” on Wednesday 4 October 2017 at 14:30.
notes written by Gerhard Fasol, based on Lord Martin Rees’ lecture notes and Gerhard Fasol’s notes taken during the lecture
This century is special – a new geological era, the Anthropocene
Earth existed for 45 million centuries, humans a few thousand centuries. This century is special: we are in a new epoch, the Anthropocene, its the first century where the future of earth depends on humans.
Humans could degrade the biosphere, or cause misdirected technology to destroy or diminish civilisation.
Martin Rees has written a book on these issues, the same book is entitled “Our final century” in the UK, and “Our final hour” in the USA, reflecting the contrast of British understatement and American emphasis on urgency.
Martin Rees did not think that humanity would extinguish itself, but feared that humans would be lucky to avoid serious setbacks, and nuclear armageddon was closely avoided during the cold war.
Nuclear weapons are based on 20th century science, in the 21th century we have created new existential risks based on bio, cyber and AI.
Population growth, urbanization and food
World population was about 3 billion in 1960, now exceeds 7 billion, and is forecast to reach 9 billion by 2050.
Urbanization continues, predictions are that 70% of people will live in cities by 2050, requiring excellence of governance.
Discussing population growth has become taboo, as predictions in the 1970s by the Club of Rome and others have proven wrong. Food shortages were predicted, improvements in food production technology prevented disasters.
Bio diversity: “mass extinction is the sin that future generations will least forgive us for”
Conserving our variety of species is not only about conserving food production and agriculture, there is also an ethical aspect. E O Wilson said: “mass extinction is the sin that future generations will least forgive us for”.
Charles David Keeling measured atmospheric CO2 concentrations at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory starting in 1958 and showed that atmospheric CO2 at the Mauna Loa Observatory rose from around 320 ppm in 1960 to around 400 ppm around 2015, with oscillations due to plant growth cycles around the year.
Regional disruptions to weather patterns within the next 20-30 years will aggravate pressures on food and water and engender migration
Under “business as usual” scenarios we can’t rule out, later in the century, really catastrophic warming, and tipping points triggering long-term trends like the melting of the Greenland’s icecap
Science, economics, ethics, and our responsibility for future generations should we discriminate on the grounds of date of birth?
Some economists apply quasi-commercial discounting of the future, and essentially write off anything beyond 2050, see Bjørn Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus:
Economists Stern and Weizman argue that it is worth paying an insurance premium to protect future generations against worst-case scenarios, see the Stern Review.
Note that there are psychological factors: people generally don’t accept discounting the future where radioactivity is concerned: radioactive waste disposal is required to prevent leakage for 10,000 years.
The ethical question is: should we discriminate based on the date of birth?
Global warming: do we have a plan B?
CO2 levels will continue to rise, despite the Paris agreement. Pressure for panic measures might rise.
Geo-engineering measures (injecting aerosols into the stratosphere to cool the climate, carbon capture etc) are discussed, but are likely to lead to political nightmares: e.g. some cold areas in the world might actually want the climate to be warmer in their areas.
Two mitigation measures are politically realistic:
Energy efficiency (building insulation, lighting etc)
R&D into low carbon energy generation: renewables, grid technology, energy storage…
Bio risks and “gain of function”
“Gain of function”: in 2012 groups in Wisconsin and in Holland showed that it was relatively easy to make the influenza virus more virulent and more contagious, in 2014 the US Government decided to stop funding such “gain of function” experiments.
“Bio-hacking” is hard to control globally. Freeman Dyson asked, when children will be able to create new organisms and “play God on the kitchen table”.
Robotics and artificial intelligence
20 years ago IBM’s Deep Blue beat Kasparov, programmed by the world’s best chess players.
Last year Deep Mind (acquired by Google) beat the world champion of Go, however programed by machine learning.
Will robots and AI create more new employment than they eliminate – the old question of industrial revolutions, or a new paradigm?
Robots and AI machines could act orthogonal to the interests of human.
Are we responsible for the well being of intelligent robots?
Ray Kurzweil’s singularity. Ending your days in an English churchyard vs in a Californian refrigerator
Ray Kurzweil thinks that humans could transcend our biological limitations by fusing with machines. Humans could merge with computers.
For worry that this “singularity” transition might not come during his lifetime, Ray Kurzweil wants his body to be frozen to await the singularity to arrive, frozen by the “Society for the abolition of involuntary death”.
Lord Martin Rees prefers to end his days in an English churchyard rather than a Californian refrigerator, and has therefore been labeled an old fashioned “deathist”.
Lord Rees was amused to find out that at least three British academics are subscribing such a body freezing program, although one of these seems to have opted for the discount economy class option, where only the brain, not the whole body, is frozen…
Robots have a big future in space
Flotillas of miniaturized probes will explore the solar system eroding the case for human space flight.
Human space flight will be for adventurers, but there is no escape from earth. Space is too hostile for humans.
Life on other planets – we don’t even know how life started on our planet earth
There is no advanced life anywhere in our solar system. There might be freeze-dried bacteria on Mars, there might be creatures swimming under the ice on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
Most stars in the sky are orbited by planets, like our Sun. Could there be “twins” with similar conditions as our planet earth? Some have been found, and there could be millions in our Milky Way.
Could there be life?
We don’t even know how life started on our planet earth, and we don’t know if there are other forms of life beyond our life based on DNA/RNA chemistry.
Searching for signals from life on far away planets is worthwhile. If we can actually identify such signals this would prove that mathematics, logic and physics can be done by others outside our human sculls and brains.
We may not even be at the half-way stage of evolution.
Our wet organic brains may have reached close to their limits in evolution, but machines and robots are just at the beginning. Non-biological “brains” may develop beyond any expectation.
Facing global challenges
The most important challenges are global: global warming, energy, food, population.
Scientists can act globally, and can influence politics- if they do it right.
We need to change priorities and perspectives: we need to prioritize clean energy, sustainable agriculture, and need to manage the risks of new technologies.
Lord Martin Rees, former Master of Trinity College, Lecture “The world in 2050 – and beyond”Lord Martin Rees, former Master of Trinity College, Lecture “The world in 2050 – and beyond”
Special Trinity in Japan event in Tokyo Friday 8 September 2017
Fellows and Professors Mikael Adolphson, Sachiko Kusukawa and Dominic Lieven joined us
6pm – 7pm drinks reception
7pm – 9pm dinner (fee: YEN 10,000 with a reduced rate of YEN 3,000 for students/young members/freelancers)
after 9pm – nijikai drinks nearby
Three Fellows, Professors Mikael Adolphson, Sachiko Kusukawa and Dominic Lieven and eleven Trinity in Japan members attended the special Trinity in Japan event on Friday 8 September 2017 in Tokyo, organized by Gerhard Fasol, Trinity in Japan Chair, and Past Fellow of Trinity.
Discussions reflected the very wide spectrum of curiosity, energy and achievements of Trinity members.
Bringing religious studies to Japan’s venture start-ups, finding and understanding the oldest rock of Japan, leading the United Nations and foreign Press in Japan, finance at Japan’s largest automobile maker, working on overseas mergers and acquisitions with Japan’s trading companies, and in the other direction, working with foreign companies on acquisitions in Japan, teaching English as a preparation for future action in Japan, writing Novels, taking care of Japan’s Government finance, bringing Cambridge venture companies to Japan, European Revolutions, royalty and leadership for Japan’s Ministries, and many other topics were discussed this evening.
We started with a drinks party.
Celebrating 700 years history of The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity
Professor Sachiko Kusukawa brought us best wishes from Trinity, and words of greeting from Professor Michael Banner, Dean of Chapel and Fellow for Development of Trinity. Michael Banner reminded us of Trinity’s 700 years of history, celebrating the Septcentenary of the Establishment of the King’s Scholars in the University of Cambridge, the Foundation of King Edward the Second, The Founding of the King’s Hall on 7 July 1317. Sachiko Kusukawa brought each of us a copy of the speech given by the Master, Sir Gregory Winter, to celebrate the Septcentenary.
About 2/3 of members moved to a restaurant nearby for nijikai, and three of us continued discussions at a sanjikai into the early hours…
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Mikael Adolphson
Fellow and AMES Director of Studies at Trinity, Keidanren Professor of Japanese Studies
Mikael Adolphson, Fellow and AMES Director of Studies at Trinity, Keidanren Professor of Japanese Studies
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