Welcome, Mindful Metropolis readers, to the Chicago Humanities Festival!
Our fall festival is all about technology: it's 'technology' with knowledge at its center. Our programs are an array of terrific events: more than 80 in all, over 2 days in October and 2 weeks in November. The schedule is full of riches, and we've handpicked some to guide you through the festival offerings, especially if this is your first time visiting us. Tickets are very reasonable at $5-15 for many programs, and we offer free and reduced-price tickets to many programs for students and teachers.
Top CHF Events for Mindful Metropolis readers
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Science-fiction great William Gibson talks about both his work and the future of science fiction with Northwestern University's Bill Savage on Sunday, October 16.
- What happens to the ecosystem when species become extinct? Stefano Allesina , of the University of Chicago, made a splash in 2009 when he and his colleagues adapted Google’s PageRank algorithm, which prioritizes the order of its search listings, to describe species’ connections to their ecosystems and gauge the impact of extinctions. Hear more from him on Sunday, October 23.
- University of California–Berkeley professor Walter Hood talks about the movement to reclaim erstwhile industrial space for public use as green space, such as Chicago's Bloomingdale Trail project, on Sunday, November 6.
- We all know the saying, "you are what you eat." How does that meaning change, though, as biotechnology exerts ever-greater influence on farming and the food chain? What are the ethics of genetically engineering food? Hear from Paul Thompson whose work focuses on the philosophy of ecology and technology, discusses the promises and dangers of biotechnological agriculture, on Sunday, November 6.
- Join renowned Chicago-based architect Jeanne Gang as she addresses the pressing contemporary challenges of urbanization and climate change and calls attention to the need for innovation at both “high” and “low” ends of the technology spectrum, on Tuesday, November 8.
- Ours is the nation of the automobile. As gasoline becomes less available and more expensive, and related habits and needs change, a big 21st-century question asserts itself: What is the future of transportation in America? Jeff Chamberlain and Don Hillebrand of the Argonne National Laboratory discuss developing technologies that could define the future of personal transportation: green diesel technology, omnivorous engines, and the cost-effective, long-lasting batteries needed to make the electric car a reality on Sunday, November 13.
- What does the city of the future look like? Marshall Brown, Stephanie Smith, and Georgeen Theodore share how the varied urban landscapes of the Midwest have contributed to their architectural visions of the future on Saturday, November 12.
- Nuclear energy is a double-edged sword of technological progress, both powerful and perilous. Twenty-five years ago, the explosion of Chernobyl’s fourth reactor rendered large swaths of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine uninhabitable. To this day, cleanup and maintenance go on—a lesson Japan is learning in the wake of the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi. Agronomist M. Cristina Negri, of Argonne National Laboratory, talks about her work on developing trees that fight pollution, Sunday, November 13.
This list only scratches the surface. We hope that you find many more of our fall events of interest to you! Tickets are available online or by calling our box office at 312-494-9509, Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm.
