Simon Ings's Blog, page 51

Arc’s in the news again

Enjoli Liston of the Independent pays a visit to Arc, and other futures

Read her here: http://ind.pn/GI9eW4

Arc's in the news again

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Enjoli Liston of the Independent pays a visit to Arc, and other futures

Read her here: http://ind.pn/GI9eW4

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Now here’s something you don’t see every day

Now here's something you don't see every day

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The Rise of Augmented Reality

 

Thanks to the rise of smartphone technologies, the virtual territories of cyberspace are increasingly free to roam around in the real world.

LondonCalling.com is hosting a panel discussion on the current and future trends of augmented reality on Tuesday 27 March, 6.30pm – 9pm, at The Vibe Gallery, Bermondsey. (That’s five minutes from Bermondsey tube station on the Jubilee Line.)

Tamara Roukaerts, head of marketing at the AR company Aurasma and Frank Da Silva, creative director for Earth 2 Hub (a sort of thinktanky thing, with video) are going to be singing the technology’s praises, I assume, while I crouch in the corner painting my face with ashes and portending doom. Because I am a writer, and that is my job. (Think Emile Zola; think railways.)

Tom Hunter’s in the chair. (Or is he…?) More details at http://bit.ly/x2xflN

Come and heckle if you’re in London. It’s free, and it’s about the closest you’ll ever get to being in an episode of Nathan Barley.

The Rise of Augmented Reality

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Thanks to the rise of smartphone technologies, the virtual territories of cyberspace are increasingly free to roam around in the real world.

LondonCalling.com is hosting a panel discussion on the current and future trends of augmented reality on Tuesday 27 March, 6.30pm - 9pm, at The Vibe Gallery, Bermondsey. (That's five minutes from Bermondsey tube station on the Jubilee Line.)

Tamara Roukaerts, head of marketing at the AR company Aurasma and Frank Da Silva, creative director for Earth 2 Hub (a sort of thinktanky thing, with video) are going to be singing the technology's praises, I assume, while I crouch in the corner painting my face with ashes and portending doom. Because I am a writer, and that is my job. (Think Emile Zola; think railways.)

Tom Hunter's in the chair. (Or is he…?) More details at http://bit.ly/x2xflN

Come and heckle if you're in London. It's free, and it's about the closest you'll ever get to being in an episode of Nathan Barley.

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Come journey with me to Zochonis TH A (B5)!

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'Putting the Science in Fiction' – an Interfaculty Symposium on Science and Entertainment – takes place there on Wednesday 25 April 9:30am to 5pm.

Zochonis TH A (B5) is, in fact, in Manchester. Well, it's a bit of Manchester University. Oh, I don't know, I'll just turn up early and find some corridor to sit down in and start screaming; someone's bound to find me and steer me to the right place sooner or later.

Once there, I'll find myself in good company. Confirmed speakers include Stephen Baxter,  Ken MacLeod, Alastair Reynolds, Geoff Ryman (the eminence grise behind this junket), Justina Robson and Matthew Cobb, among many others.

Watch us all "forge new relationships between the scientific community and the arts/entertainment community". There is no cost for the workshop, but spaces are limited so you will need to book a place by contacting scienceinfiction.manchester@gmail.com

And visit http://bit.ly/yxgLGQ

It won't tell you where Zochonis TH A (B5) is, but at least you'll know I'm not making it up.

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Turkish Numbers

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Utku Lomlu's cover design for The Weight of Numbers just popped up on Twitter.

Check out some great design work at http://utkulomlu.com/

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Red Harvest

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Come join me on Wednesday 14 March at 7.30pm, and discover what Russia's famines have revealed about the living world.

This is the third in a series of lectures I'm giving at Pushkin House, the Russian cultural centre in London. It is part of a large work in progress: a history of science under Stalin's rule. The book is due out in 2014 from Faber and Faber. 

After the civil war, the Bolsheviks turned to the revolutionary science of genetics for help in securing the Soviet food supply. The young Soviet Union became a world leader in genetics and shared its knowledge with Germany. Then Stalin's impatience and suspicion destroyed the field and virtually wiped out Russian agriculture. Stalin was right to be suspicious: genetics had promised the world a future of health and longevity, but by the 1940s it was delivering death camps and human vivisection. Genetic advances have made possible our world of plenty – but why did the human cost have to be so high?

Pushkin House, 5a Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2TA. Tickets  are £7, conc. £5 (Friends of Pushkin House, students and OAPs). The box office is on 44 (0)20 7269 9770, but you can always take a chance and pay on the night.

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Funnily enough, my wife says much the same about me

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The paperback launches 25 May. Let's hope it has better luck than the ship on the cover.

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