The only down side was that I had to wear a different name tag, a boy's name tag too, but thankfully he has a unisex name so I managed to pull off the identity fraud. I jest. I did tell the registry station the truth, 'legit' is my middle name after all.
It was a truly wonderful day with a fine tuned mixutre of former TED talk videos and actual live TED talks, there was also a performance of 150 year old sounds; played from magnificent genuine Gramaphones that didn't make much sense in the beginning but then you could finally make out the sounds of a steam engine. Unfortunately once the realisation was made the novelty died off and I think the audience (myself included unfortunately) were not able of appreciating the effort to play the sounds or the value of their preciousness due to a dividing phenomenon called MP3.
All the talks were interesting, some were relevent and some were truely inspiring. The first talk by Manel Tores was about Spray on Fabric that I heard of in the news a few years ago, yes it was interesting, but I felt Dr Tores' passion for the new fabric's capacity in the fashion world overtook the perhaps more sort of 'sensible' capacities in healthcare etc. I felt that the audience didn't share his passion for skin tight spray on fabric either. Perhaps the audience didn't share his enthusiasm because most of them were men, I know it's sexist to say that men are not interested in fashion, but most of the audience were imperial guys, and from my 4 years experience in Imperial, I haven't met one that was interested in catwalks.
The second talk by the ever inspiring Nick Sireau spoke of a rare disease that affects his two sons and how he and his companions strove to bring to light the diease's very existence and the importance in funding research into it. He named his talk 'Fundamental Diseases' as it was found that research in to rare diseases (which don't get much publicity, funding or notice) aids in discovering how more common diseases work, such as osteoarthritis. His story, starting from the birth of his son and ending in the national recognition of the disease, was truly inspiring. It made me realise that parental love is not simply a tear jerky moment in some sad film where a father carries his dying daughter in his arms (Anyone watch The Woman in Black?), it is a drive to protect one's child against all odds of success, and it can work if you are proactive about it.
The third talk was about music and the genome by a polymath, stand up comedian and anaethetist called Andrew Morley. Honestly, I really didn't understand it, I got the genetic side, just not the musical and I think that's due to my own severly limited musicality. Somewhere there was supposed to be a point that was meant to reach me, which didn't. However, I think it was that different topics and different subjects of study can overlap and collaborate. But I'm not sure if that was it.
We had a break (muffins and fruit) then back to the Great Hall (my last visit of this place was for the enviable task of performing an exam).
Fourth talk of the day was by an enthusiastic gentleman called Michael Korn who spoke of his pull out screen or wall divider. A product that originated as an undergraduate project and developed into a reality. His talk was mainly aimed at designers and engineers, which I am neither (I am an artist and scientist). I felt Korn's talk was vital, because at imperial the main career direction you get is to sell your soul to the Financial industry and work forever in the city's investment banks. The essence of Korn's talk was not about his pull out divider, but that there is actually another way to career development for Imperial Graduates other than The Banks. Imperial say their Careers Advice office is one of the best, but when I was an undergraduate I just remember being lost.
Fifth talk was by Alexander Schey who described his team's success in driving an electric racing car through both of the Americas. I knew of this from television when the treck was being televised. It was inspiring, but forgot to mention that electric cars are truly and undoubtedly expensive which is why they still haven't become the nation's favourite type of car despite many attempts to convert the people.
Sixth talk was by a truly wonderful woman called Sofie Scott, and coincidentally the only female talker of the day. Before I veer off into a feminist rant I'll explain what Professor Scott described in her talk. It was mainly about her work in laughter and how it is a globally recognised tool of communication despite language barriers. The talk was an opportunity to learn why we have laughter and how important it is. I'm not sure if it has a medical significance but I'd definitly like to learn more.
Before the break (a.k.a FOOD!) John Graham-Cumming gave the seventh talk, a highly enlightening mini lecture on the history of computing, or more specifically the work of Charles Babbage; a semi mad man who had a passion for numbers and half finshed projects. He designed the world's first computer or 'Analystical Machine' or simply, a calculator. It naturally never got built because the man's mind was too busy creating more ideas, but the London Science Museum (my second favourite place in the world) later created it in order to demonstrate Babbage's work (I keep thinking of cabbages everytime I type his name down), the Science museum must have liked him because they also hold possesion of his brain. Graham-Cumming also described the alliance of Babbage's ideas with Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter (the only legitimate one), who could be considered the world's first computer programmer (my feminist level soared with pride at this moment) because despite having Byron genes, she had a numerate brain and wrote a book on Babbage's work.
The food came and went.
The 8th talk for the day was by an undeniably inspiring man calle THE Professor of Public art, the number of men of his species needs to increase in order for competition to drive them and formulate even more great works of public art as his talk inspired. From the title I had not expected much, but I did not know what to expect at all. What was described was a wonderful world never previously thought of before; simply works of art held in public; which are mostly statues with complex latin inscriptions. What Prof Shoben described was that it didn't have to be complex and historical but simple and straight to the point, inciting feelings like happiness warmth and splendour in the viewer. I honestly enjoyed it, I think his talk and field (though very different from my own background) has the ability to change the most difficult thing: human thinking.
The penultimate talk was by a young undergraduate student called Joanis Holzigel, who spoke of how he and his team managed to install an electrilisation promgramme (not sure about spelling) in a town in Rawanda. The talk may not have been as... interactive as the others but it still highlighted the remarkable achievments of Imperial undergraduate students. Pat on the back to them!!
The final and perhaps most stunningly shocking talk of the day was by an ex offender and former prison inmate, probably the first one to step into Imperial's Great Hall. Mr Junior Smart is now a founder of the St. Giles Trust's Southwark Offenders Support Program. He pointed out the limitations of the British disciplinary systems and how there is a shockingly high percentage of re-offenders. He spotted out the flaws in the system, what it costs the government (three times my annual salary per inmate per year) and how to help resolve it. I thought it was a rightfully powerful talk to end the day and hope there are many more sucess stories like his to happen.
The talks closed and then I left with Miss. Short-Fuse into Queensway and ate more food before going home rather late.
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