Digest week 0 Michaelmas Term 2020

MT20, Week 0 (5th - 10th October)

If you have entries for the weekly Digest, please send information to admin@philosophy.ox.ac.uk by midday, Wednesday the week before the event. 

Unless otherwise stated, all events will take place online.

Notices - other Philosophy events, including those taking place elsewhere in the university and beyond

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Seminar on Hans Blumenberg | 17:00 (UK Time) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89764748793 

Speaker: Rüdiger Zill (Einstein Forum), author of Der absolute Leser - Hans Blumenberg. Eine intellektuelle Biographie in conversation with Nicholas Halmi (Oxford)

WEH/Ethox Seminar | 11:00am to 12:30pm | This seminar will be held on Zoom, please see here for further information.

Speaker: Euzebiusz Jamrozik, Ethox Centre and Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, University of Oxford
Title: Human challenge studies in endemic settings: ethical issues

Abstract: Human challenge studies involve the intentional infection of research participants, usually with the ultimate aim of developing vaccines. These studies are increasingly conducted in low- and middle-income countries where many pathogens of interest are endemic, and they have also been proposed for Covid-19 vaccine development. In this talk I summarise the findings of a Wellcome Trust funded project on the ethics of challenge studies.

The major output of the project is the open access book Human Challenge Studies in Endemic Settings.

 

 

GovAI Webinar - Economic Growth in the Long Run | Artificial Intelligence Explosion or an Empty Planet? by Ben Jones & Chad Jones | 1700-1815 BST, (0900-1015 PT, 1200-1315 EST)

How will economic growth evolve in the long run? This session explores the wide range of plausible scenarios. Aghion, Jones & Jones 2017 analyze how artificial intelligence may super-charge the growth trajectory, causing a potential speed-up in economic growth as either production or the process of innovation itself – often considered the main driver of economic growth – become more and more automated. In the limit, these processes may lead to growth singularities. By contrast, Jones 2020 uses a similar framework to show that a markedly different outcome is possible – continuously declining living standards – if population growth becomes negative and slows down the process of ideas production.
The session will be moderated by Anton Korinek (UVA) and will feature Rachael Ngai (LSE) and Phil Trammell (Oxford) as discussants.

Further Info Here

 

AfOx insaka | 14:00 

Prof Caesar Atuire: Why the world will not have an African Herbal Medicine cure or vaccine for Covid-19 
Dr Anne Makena & Morategi Kale: Advancing research partnerships - the AfOx approach

The Africa Oxford Initiative (AfOx) is a cross-university platform with the aim of facilitating equitable research collaborations between researchers based in African institutions and the University of Oxford. One of our most successful activities is a regular networking event, the AfOx insaka, at which two speakers give short presentations followed by a Q&A session. During the current pandemic we have gone over to live digital insakas which, although they have the disadvantage of not having drinks afterwards, have the big advantage of widening participation for both speaker and participants outside Oxford and the UK.

Caesar Atuire is a philosopher and bioethicist based at the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Ghana, Legon. He was an AfOx Visiting Fellow in 2018, and a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College in 2020. His philosophical research interests explore both African and global sources of normative thinking. He has carried out research on the frameworks informing attitudes towards mental disorder and suicide in Ghana. Caesar is also the Founder and President of Amicus Onlus, an NGO delivering healthcare to marginalised rural communities in the coastal areas of Ghana.

Anne Makena is the Programme Coordinator of the Africa Oxford Initiative (AfOx). Anne is responsible for developing and implementing the overall strategy of AfOx as well as managing its core programmes. 

Morategi Kale is a DPhil student at the University of Oxford and the Student Engagement Liaison at AfOx. Mora works to identify areas where AfOx can support African students in Oxford, and helps plan programmes and events to deliver the support.

Participants will be able to send in their questions to the speakers during the talk. Register to get a reminder for the insaka here and join in live here