Jon Hersey

The basic ideas that people accept are like a computer’s operating system. If the OS has bugs and is vulnerable to viruses, it wreaks havoc on the machine and its user. If not, then it’s capable of incredible feats. The same goes for a person’s fundamental ideas about the nature of the world, his means of gaining knowledge, and what he ought to do with his life. This is true not only of individuals, but of entire cultures.

In this talk, Jon Hersey will provide an overview of the OS of Progress, the figures who developed it, those who opposed it, and how to sustain it today.

Johan Norberg

Innovation is the key to growth and prosperity, but how does it happen? Does it come from government regulations and carefully laid plans? Or from experimentation, trial and error, and difficult customers? Looking at different cases of innovation from history, from the bicycle to the personal computer, Johan Norberg will provide answers to these questions.

Angelica Walker-Werth

Is genetically modified food dangerous, unnatural, and immoral? Or is it safe and beneficial for us and our environment? This contentious issue has caused legal battles in many countries, with biotech and agricultural companies on one side and environmentalist groups on the other. Horticulture graduate and OSI fellow Angelica Walker-Werth will explore arguments and evidence from both sides of this fraught debate.

Thomas Walker-Werth

Why should we explore space? Will it benefit mankind? Should private companies or government agencies run space programs? Thomas Walker-Werth, host of the Innovation Celebration podcast, will look at the history of space travel, discuss the many exciting possibilities that it presents for the future of human life, and explore how we might go about securing freedom in the final frontier.

Rebecca Taylor

Particle accelerators are undeniable engines of discovery, directly responsible for more than twenty-five Nobel Prizes—but the impact they have had on industry and innovation is not to be understated. From the World Wide Web to radiotherapy treatments to security and imaging, Rebecca Taylor will discuss how the pioneering work of physicists has led to a whole host of related inventions and where the future lies for privatising the compact accelerator.

Daniel Pryor

People have used nicotine for millenia, as a way of relaxing and coping with stress. But smoking has become one of the world’s leading causes of preventable death. Under the banner of public health, governments have attempted to stub out cigarettes with sin taxes, regulations, and bans. Such policies curtail human freedom and often fail to achieve their stated aims: working against the individual rather than with him. But a new generation of safer smoking alternatives offers a solution. As always, however, there are those who are hostile to innovation. What can and should we do about it?

Several Panelists

What might the future look like? Is technology a force for good? What philosophic ideas encourage scientific progress? Join moderator Thomas Walker-Werth as he discusses these questions and more with Johan Norberg, Jon Hersey, Rebecca Taylor, and Daniel Pryor.