SOBERING, VERY S.O.B.E.R.I.N.G - MARCH 30 - 5.55PM - 2019

Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees - 4.00pm - The Sheldonian

For me at least, this proved the perfect ending to the first day. After all the glitz of Darcey Bussell and all the wit and whimsy of Lucy Worsley, Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees’ talk provided the perfect opportunity to reflect and collect one’s breath. In an utterly fascinating - as well as scary, disturbing but optimistic too - interview with Ian Goldin, Professor of globalisation and development at Oxford University, he discussed and debated the theme of the Princeton University Press Lecture - ‘On The Future: Prospects for Humanity’. Quietly but effortlessly charismatic, he spoke eloquently yet with extraordinary precision on what might await mankind during this century and beyond, inevitably touching on three furiously evolving technologies - bio, cyber and A.I. (artificial intelligence). “Evolution in the future” he said “will be even faster” predicting that by the end of this century alone, humans will change more significantly than they have over the last 10,000 years. “The stakes are higher now” he went on, “and whatever changes there are will resonate not just for hundreds but thousands of years to come”. Yet although his talk was necesssarily sobering, he didn’t ever overlook the fact that humour can sometimes give you the space to recharge and refocus. “I must just say a disclaimer,” he said at one point. “As the Astronomer Royal, I am often asked: ‘Do you do the Queen’s horoscope?.............................No”