The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim our Humanity in and Age of Machine Thinking
| When | Sunday 24 November 2024, 12 noon |
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| Where | On Zoom |
| Details | This is the event that we had to reschedule from February this year. Our speaker will be Professor Shannon Vallor, Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, and Department of Philosophy, University of Edinburgh. Professor Vallor’s research explores the ethical and governance challenges posed by new uses of data and artificial intelligence, and how these new uses can transform human capabilities. Professor Vallor’s talk will be an introduction to her new book, The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking, in which she makes a wide-ranging, prophetic, and philosophical case for what AI could be: a way to reclaim our human potential for moral and intellectual growth, rather than lose ourselves in mirrors of the past. Rejecting prophecies of doom, she encourages us to pursue technology that helps us recover our sense of the possible, and with it the confidence and courage to repair a broken world. Professor Vallor calls upon us to rethink what AI is and can be, and what we want to be with it. |
| Cost | $5 for members and guests |
| Info | Paul Bradley, pauljfrbradley@gmail.com 416-464-9771 |
The 2025 Burns Nightcap
| When | Thursday 23 January 2025, 6:30pm - 10pm (2 days before Burns) |
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| Where | The Duke of Kent, on Yonge Street, east side, at Roehampton Avenue, just north of Eglinton Avenue East. Parking underground across Yonge, or surface lot on Roehampton. |
| Details | All are part of the entertainment |
| Cost | TBA, but likely around $50 for members and guests; $55 for non-member alumni |
| Info | Brittany Howlett, britthowlett@hotmail.com 519-317-9048 or Jenna Shelley jenna.ks@gmail.com 416-816-5997 |
Privatizing Health Services: Implications for the Protection of the Human Right to Health
| When | Sunday 23 February 2025, 12 noon |
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| Where | On Zoom |
| Details | Dr. Johanna Hoekstra and Dr. Luis Felipe Yanes, both lecturers at the Edinburgh Law School, will explore the question as to how privatization affects the state’s compliance with the human right to health. Since privatization does not derogate the state’s obligation to protect the right to health, the characteristics of the contracts and contractual relationships underpinning private-public partnerships are critical. Shortcomings will be addressed and recommendations made to ensure the right to health can be guaranteed in a private-public contract context. |
| Cost | $5 for members and guests |
| Info | Alan Pearson, apearson@bell.net 416-237-9874 |
EDUCT Annual Dinner
| When | Friday 11 April 2025, 6:30pm |
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| Where | The Great Hall, The Arts & Letters Club, 14 Elm Street, Toronto |
| Details | Dr. Frank Cogliano, Dean International, North America, and Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh, will be our after-dinner speaker. In his talk, Dr. Cogliano will introduce us to his hew book, A Revolutionary Friendship: Washington, Jefferson, and the American Republic, and provide us with insights into the lives of two of the most prominent Presidents of the US and their relationship. Coming shortly after what will doubtless be one of the most significant presidential elections ever held in the US, the talk should help us to regain some perspective on the office of the president of the world’s most powerful country. |
| Cost | TBA, but likely around $105 for members and guests; $110 for non-member alumni |
| Info | Simon Miles, simon-miles@sympatico.ca 416-466-8793 |
Annual General Meeting
| When | Sunday 25 May 2025, 1pm |
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| Where | TBA, but likely on Zoom |
| Details | There is no charge for the AGM |
| Info | Anna Voineskos, avoineskos@bell.net 416-826-6655 |