July – Trinity Talk on AI with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

One of the liveliest lectures I’ve been invited to attend was held in Trinity College this month. The talk on Artificial Intelligence coincided with the visit to Trinity by Prince Harry and his new wife Meghan Markle. The previous day the Trinity Long Room Hub organisers had mailed me explaining that a VIP would be visiting; I would need to arrive at one particular gate and bring photo ID. So I told my husband that someone well known was attending the talk on AI, maybe Elon Musk.
That evening we saw on the news that Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle were in Dublin, attending a reception at Glencairn, the British Ambassador’s residence near Kilternan. I used to keep horses near there but never got invited for tea. Then of course I knew who was coming to Trinity, but guessed the couple would not be attending the lecture, just doing touristy things.


So it proved. We arrived early next morning and were the first lecture attendees to show up at the gate, so the university security guards knew nothing of the AI talk and didn’t want to let us enter. We had ID (student and otherwise) but we were not Trinity staff or students.
“We’re not letting the public through, the Prince of Wales is coming today,” one man told us.
“We know, and he’s not the Prince of Wales,” I returned. “And Trinity invited us. They confirmed yesterday.”
Because we kept insisting politely, one guard went away, confirmed the lecture and found a list of attendees; our names were on it. We were admitted, thanking all the staff as we went, and had coffee in the Long Room Hub while we waited. Our early start proved wise as the lengthy queues I had foreseen soon formed, everyone having to use the same campus gate. The Gardai (police) had now arrived and set up a checkpoint inside the gate, where they examined the contents of everyone’s bags, watched by us out of the nearby window.
The lecture started late because so many attendees had been delayed, and we were assured that if we looked out of our high window and saw snipers on the roof, they were part of a security team.
Harry and Meghan arrived to a delighted crowd and enjoyed viewing the Book of Kells in the Long Room Library, just across the square from our lecture.
Our talk was called Managing The Machine, given by Dr Genevieve Bell from Australia, who had worked for Intel in America for eighteen years after gaining a PhD from Stanford in Anthropology. Sounds unusual? I’ll describe her fantastic talk next month.


We also helped the Royal Dublin Society celebrate fifty years of their Craft Awards. The history of the exhibition was explained, and why different award categories were included, for instance student awards as well as for professional craftspeople. Traditional crafts and arts were kept alive and standards of excellence were maintained.
Many of the beautiful items from the prizewinners were on display: Limerick lace christening garment, lace wedding veil, calligraphy on dramatic topics, clothes designed and made, basketwork, woodwork, silversmithing, ceramics, glasswork, rug making, saddlery. Photos and quotes from some of the crafters were also provided.

One lady remarked that at a press reception her six fine glasses were in a display cabinet which had a sheet of glass on top and the wineglasses for those present were placed on that. Late in the evening someone leant the wrong way on the cabinet, and it collapsed, smashing all the wineglasses – but her own glasses were undamaged. Unfortunately the press had all just departed.
This year’s crafts awards, along with this exhibition called The Maker’s Hand, will be available to view during the Dublin Horse Show in August.

I’m making Murder At Kildare Mensa free to download from 28th July – 31st July. This is a crime story involving breeding Thoroughbred horses.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Kilda...

https://amazon.com/Murder-Kildare-Men...

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