There is a lot of chatter about Scifoo, both on Technorati and Flickr. Time I joined in the fun.
Going to start with some quick hits. The one that never materialized was walking up to Martha Stewart and saying, “I’ve never met anyone who’s gone to prison before”. Just kidding of course. The meeting with Sergey and Larry never materialized either. Felt just too odd to walk up to them and ask them “So what are you plans on healthcare, and why isn’t Adam Bosworth here?”.
This was simply one of the most exhilarating and wonderful experiences of my life. I walked away inspired. Inspired by the collection of smart people; people who know science and are not shy to pursue their goals. In a separate post, I will talk about the result of one of those inspirations. Anyway, here are some moments that I will not forget
1. A demonstration of a 3D camera from Advanced Scientific Concepts in the hotel bar late at night (or was that early in the morning?)
2. Getting a demo of Drexel Island in Second Life from Jean-Claude Bradley. Jean-Claude is doing some of the most innovative work in science education on the planet and deserve kudos for what he is doing.
3. Capitalism and Science. This was one of the more contentious sessions I was at, and even I spoke up loudly in disagreement with the leader, science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson. Kim’s premise was rather simplistic and too Utopian. His goals were noble. It was interesting to see 50 people in a room, almost all with slightly differing opinions. Kim believes that capitalism is imperialistic and is leading to the demise of the world, with the immediate threat of climate change, and science could be the panacea. I believe capitalism is not perfect (far from it), but it is the best system there is, one where there is opportunity. Opportunity that is driving people in countries like India to improve their lot via private enterprise. I would rather see an effort to bring capitalism closer to its ideals, an ideal that embraces and cherishes science.
4. Meeting Jean-Claude, Pierre, Duncan, Andrew, Euan, etc. I’ve admired them as bloggers for a long time. They are even cooler in person.
5. The session on search and data mining. I started things off, and then Andrew took over, talking about Golem, a framework that makes XML based data more accessible to users. The discussion was quite animated, with Alberto Conti and others active participants. Best of all, Tim O’Reilly was present through almost the entire session and was an active participant. Looks like we both agree about some of the elements of search and the need to add a layer between the user and the data that makes their lives easier.
There is a lot more, but I am going to save more moments for other posts. I made many new friends at Scifoo. Thanks to Facebook and Flickr, I will actually get the chance to keep in touch with them.
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I also agree that capitalism is a better working system but I have to argue that capitalism as it is followed in United States is bad. There should be some tweaking away from what people like Milton Friedman are advocating. Kim is right. Capitalism, as advocated by Milton Friedman and others who are against any regulatory system is imperialism with a democratic flavor. Science under “Miltonian capitalism” is like garland in the hands of monkey. It is evident by how these people react to global warming, other environmental issues, scientific funding, etc. Do you seriously think that the CEOs who need instant result will have patience for the slow moving basic science research? Do you, as a scientist, think that world would have advanced to this level without basic science? Even though capitalism is a better option for us, we have to make sure that science doesn’t fall in the hands of free market fundamentalists, a term I use to describe those free marketers who want to get rid of regulatory agencies and govt.. The basis of the unregulated free markets is the so called supernatural, non scientific, concept called free mind. If science has to embrace this completely, they can as well embrace religion and believe that everything that happens in this world is due to god’s will. I would still support free market system but under stronger regulatory bodies. If not, we can as well forget about science and concentrate on crusades or some other religious wars.
It is nice to know that you had fun at Scifoo. I saw some photographs on flickr. Thanks for the updates through twitter.
I am sooooo jealous! Scifoo sounds like a blast!
I am sooooo jealous! Scifoo sounds like a blast!
Meeting you and other bloggers that I’ve come to know well in the blogosphere was indeed a highlight!
Meeting you and other bloggers that I've come to know well in the blogosphere was indeed a highlight!
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[...] for scientists on YouTube. At Scifoo, I got a chance to meet Andrew and help coordinate a session where he presented Golem, a project that has since seen the light of life. The talk emphasized the need to abstract out the [...]