|
With a preference for the literary and philosophical presentations I caught most scientific presentations on the confusing log-in catch-up discord pages where attendees and subscribers could see them until 20th May 2025. (These files ought to be archived and preserved indefinitely).
The Hay Lecture - The Genomics Revolution And Infectious Diseases.
Presented by Liz Batty (introduced by Shana Worthen). Most diseases, parasites and bacteria carry genomic DNA, though a few have single, not double helixes. Many have 3 –5,000,000,000 base pairs, so computers are essential to their study, often with Frederick Sanger machines (Sanger being one of the few people to win multiple Nobel prizes). Genomic tracking proved invaluable in the fight against the 2020 Corona Virus and still tracks ongoing strains today.
Liz referenced an obscure tropical disease that was hitting many Americans living in separate States and with nothing in common except for buying a particular brand of homeopathic medication so product recalls and bans on sails quickly quashed the potentially deadly outbreak. Clearly Liz’s field of research saves many lives and her talk was fascinating.
Go Wilder: Our Changing Land In The Face Of Climate Crisis.
Moderated by Smuzz, this panel, including guest of honour Ian MacDonald.
The biggest threat from rising sea water is not general flooding, but potential (and in some places actual) salination of aquifers, destroying drinking water supplies. There seem to be so many things going wrong at once that we can feel helpless. A comparison was made to a severe case coming into a hospital’s A & E department. Not all the health threats can be fixed immediately, so decisions are made as to what to prioritize. The general climate was seen as the most threatening crisis we face today. The general direction of the discussion was towards optimism over doom-warning though. We were reminded of the real threat of destruction of the Ozone Layer, but that the problem was largely addressed. We can yet heal the planet. In SF the Solarpunk subgenre is generally optimistic and forward looking, There was notification that too much emphasis goes on alternate energies like Solar, wind and water driven energy for electricity, but electricity is only about 20% of our usage of resources. 80% is hydrocarbons, coals, etc. Much of the damage comes from China, still the World’s most successful exporter of commercial goods. The 1970’s children’s TV show Timeslip was referenced for showing (way ahead of its time), alternate futures where we are plunged into an ice age, and a deadly tropical climate heat wave too. We see the damage done to the Biblical Holy Lands, described in scripture as a fertile land of plenty but present day conflicts, war, and poverty have rendered it a rubble strewn wasteland. This is the region Eden may have once been in. Plastics are a bi-product of the oil industry and every atom of plastic ever used still exists. It is nigh-on impossible to recycle usefully. We can however change and improve things. We (largely) ended state-supported slavery, and we can heal the planet, but we first have to make sure we ourselves are in good health.
Smuzz was also a panelist in the Nicolai Plum moderated panel, ’The Technological Society’. Everything changed when the bicycle was invented. Women could easily cycle further afield, meeting women in other villages, comparing notes. Many working class socialist groups had bicycle riding, enabling unionisation away from the prying eyes of employers and mill owners.
Today, artificial intelligence (AI) enables us to send avatars of ourselves to team meetings/conferences, while threatening to render writers & artists redundant. In Q & A, one attendee admitted what I myself fear too, bewilderment, frustration and confusion generated by personal use of increasing dependency on tech. A panellist noted that in Japan, cash handling is now often mandatory as many (of the older generation in particular), struggle with digital payment exchanges.
Down sides. Too many events were carried by panels rather than individual presenters. There were far fewer creative workshops, poetry and performance opportunities than usual. The absence of an in memorial roll call for fans and famous genre contributors who have died since the previous Eastercon was a startling omission. This was also the first Eastercon I have been to that had no real ale bar. (I have attended most live Eastercons since 1997). Again, there was no real Dead Dog activity, just access to the hotel’s public bar which we would have had even without being there as convention attendees.
Nonetheless, overall, this was a delightful communal con, and Belfast itself is a city I fell in love with at first sight. My thanks to everyone I met on this adventure.
Arthur Chappell
[Up: Convention Reviews Index | Home Page: Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation]
[Article Index | Recent Site Additions | Most recent Seasonal Science Fiction
News]
[Updated: 25.9.15 | Contact | Copyright | Privacy]
|
