So, last Thursday, whilst the wind was bringing down the entire transport system, I hoofed it up Tottenham Court Road to listen to Kevin Warwick talk about the Brave New World of cybernetics, courtesy of the Engineers Club (1).
I have to confess that the lecture proper was a bit of a disappointment – it confirmed that he is an accomplished self publicist, but he resolutely failed to go anywhere near the ethical issues which he'd put in his lecture title (2) which got a bit frustrating. From the questions, I wasn't the only one who noticed that.
But the event was held at the Building Centre Trust, which gave me the opportunity to explore their current exhibitions. The New London Architecture model of the greater city of London, with all the planned projects in place really is something. I live pretty close by some of the 2012 Olympic schemes and I've seen some of the plans, but there's nothing like the 3D scale model of the whole city to put into context just how much is going to change and, potentially, how much my borough and its neighbours could benefit from the games.
The Places for People Public City exhibition focused in on some of those projects, as well as some that have been completed and others that may never get realised, which was, if anything, more interesting. Architecture brought down to a very human scale, and some of it truly beautiful. The accompanying books isn't bad either, although I really wanted more text, more discussion, more words - but that's just how I'm wired.
I'm planning to wander back up that way in a month or so to see what their upcoming Sustainable London exhibition has to offer.
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(1)(This is largely a networking opportunity for engineers, but as I am not an engineer, and neither is the friend who invited me to the lecture, I can only conclude that they are admirably open minded.)
(2) (Upgrading Humans – Technical Realities and New Morals)
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