Have at you! Next Weds features dueling theories, dueling minds, and dueling sword canes. Or dual, as the case may be, as we discuss the weird boundaries of things that are both particles and waves, intersections of machine and human intelligence, and items both weapon and fashion accessory. Plus drinks, tamales, DJ, and tons of awesome people who are all singularly wonderful. Be there and be square!
In honor of our 100th show and over 8 years of nerdery (whaaaaaat!), this line-up features a mix of both new and returning speakers. A sincere and heartfelt thanks to all who have attended or starred in our events over the years, and a big welcome to the many new folks who join our ever-growing community. Cheers!
Wednesday, 9/19/2018
Doors at 7 pm, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here
———–
“Through Two Doors at Once” by Anil Ananthaswamy
The famed double-slit experiment has continually challenged our ideas about the nature of reality itself. How can a single particle behave both like a particle and a wave? Does a particle, or indeed reality, exist before we look at it, or does looking create reality? This headscratcher of an experiment has a fascinating 200 year-old history, filled with the mysteries and paradoxes of quantum mechanics, and it continues to confound and challenge our intuitions about the nature of reality.
Anil Ananthaswamy is an award-winning journalist and author. He contributes regularly to the New Scientist, and has also written for Nature, National Geographic News, Discover, Nautilus, Matter, The Wall Street Journal and the UK’s Literary Review. “Through Two Doors at Once” is his third book, after “The Edge of Physics” and “The Man Who Wasn’t There”.
———–
“Black Box: How AI Will Amplify the Best and Worst of Humanity” by Jacob Ward
For most of us, our own mind is a black box: an all-powerful and utterly mysterious device that runs our lives for us. And not only do we humans just barely understand how it works, science is now revealing that it makes most of our decisions for us using rules and shortcuts of which you and I aren’t even aware. Meanwhile, every area of human activity, from criminal justice to corporate hiring to military strategy, is turning to “black box” artificial intelligence systems for cost savings, efficiency, and moral clarity. Jacob Ward reveals the relationship between the unconscious habits of our minds, and the way that AI is poised to amplify them, alter them, maybe even reprogram them. What will society look like if we allow our unconscious habits to be shaped by AI and machine learning? Or is it possible to institute guidelines for the development of AI and ML that will help protect us from our own worst instincts?
Jacob Ward has appeared at Nerd Nite SF twice before in our 8 years, but he’s probably a little more famous as a journalist, TV correspondent, and the former editor-in-chief of Popular Science. He’s now a fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, along with its partner the Berggruen Institute.
———–
“The History and Outlaw Status of Sword Canes” by Erin Simon
Delve into the early history of the dapper gent’s most lethal accessory! Marvel that so many people still try to sneak them on planes! Laugh at the California law that calls them out by name (the wrong one)! By looking at ngrams, silly pictures, and even sillier laws, we’ll learn about sword canes, how a ballistic knife is different from a lipstick case knife, and what California law has to say about boobytraps. The pen may be mightier, but the sword cane is way more fun.
Erin Simon is the product counsel for Google Books and various other pieces of Search. When not researching obscure weaponry, she makes pictures and accumulates books. (Erin gave this talk way back in 2015, and we asked for an encore.)
———–
With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the set list on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Alicia’s Tamales los Mayas returns!
Wednesday, 8/15/2018
Doors at 7 pm, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here
This month, we put our foot down! Or eight feet, as the case may be. A physicist puts Elon Musk in his place. An economist weighs in one of the field’s most fundamental arguments. And a science writer stops this whole “octopuses are aliens from outer space” nonsense. Three talks, plus tunes by DJ Alpha Bravo, delicious sammies from Grilled Cheez Guy, and plentiful beverages from the Rickshaw Stop bar. Be there and be square!
——————–
“Not So Fast, Elon: Challenges of Resurrecting the Martian Atmosphere” by Dr. Robert Lillis
Mars’s atmosphere is dry, cold, and too thin to stop you from bursting like a balloon or getting cancer from cosmic rays. Eeeek, right? But billions of years ago it was thick, warm and (sometimes) wet. If humans want to live on Mars long-term, we need to find a way to resurrect the Martian atmosphere to its former glory. I’ll tell you where the ancient atmosphere went and what it will take to rebuild it. Spoiler: it’s gonna be tough. Real tough. Oh yes.
Robert is a research physicist at the NASA-funded UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory. He’s been a member of three Mars mission teams and has been studying Mars for 16 years.
——————–
“Is Your Uber Driver Rational?” by Michael Sheldon
Twenty years ago, a seminal paper rocked one of the most fundamental understandings in economics. The finding? That taxi drivers drove *less* when earnings were high and days were busy.
While this finding may seem unimportant, the crux of the question is whether taxi drivers (and the rest of us) are rational economic actors. Behavioral economists argue that these findings show classic economic models fail to capture the realities of imperfect decision making; neoclassical economists argue the results are due to poor data analysis. To address the divide, we analyze the behavior of thousands of Uber drivers and see how rational we really are.
Michael is a data scientist at Uber who specializes in supply behavior and pricing. He is also a well-known dog whisperer and IPA enthusiast.
——————–
“Octopuses: Not Aliens, Still Awesome” by Danna Staaf
Have you ever heard someone claim that octopuses are really aliens? Or have you ever wondered why so many of our fictional aliens look undeniably octopus-like? Well, octopuses and their fellow cephalopods are truly awesome and even alien–just not in the from-outer-space sense. A Nerd Nite fan-favorite, “cephspert” Danna Staaf returns to our stage to debunk the space alien myth and celebrate one of the weirdest creatures on Earth.
Danna is the author of “Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods” – which chronicles the 500-million-year evolutionary journey of cephalopods from masters of the primordial sea to calamari on your dinner plate – and a contributor to the upcoming anthology “Putting the Science in Fiction.” She earned her PhD in “Squid Sex and Babies” from Stanford University and works as a freelance science writer.
——————–
With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the set list on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Grilled Cheez Guy!
Wednesday, 7/18/2018
Doors at 7 pm, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here
Get your therapy at a cellular level from a duo of Stanford postdocs, resuscitate your zest for life with an ER doc and end-of-life protocols expert, and reflect on some space magic with an astrophysicist who also critiques Star Trek science. Drinking will be involved, as will ingestion of bao and bopping to some beats. You know, just a typical mid-July nite at the Rickshaw. Be there and be square!
——————————
“Fighting Cancer from Within: Are We Ready for Cancer Immunotherapy?” by Saumyaa and Rachel Lynn
We all know the drill. A devastating cancer diagnosis, followed by months or years of chemo and radiation. These treatments can and do save lives, yet in the process unleash powerful toxic agents on an already frail and embattled human body. But what if there was another way? Cancer immunotherapy is an exciting new approach that harnesses the power of your own immune system to attack cancer cells. And like all things that seem too good to be true, there may be more than meets the eye. Would you know which to choose? And is there one right answer?
Saumyaa and Rachel are postdoctoral researchers at Stanford University. Saumyaa also co-hosts Taste of Science San Francisco Bay.
——————————
“Written in Ink: Tattoos and Best Practices in Medical Directives” by Derek Kuhl Richardson
You see a man collapse at a concert; before you start CPR, you see he has a tattoo reading “DNR” across his chest. Do you assume this means “do not resuscitate” and respect his wishes for a peaceful death? Or might he simply be a zealous fan of groundbreaking German synth band Das Nacht Reinhold and want full medical care?
Derek is an ER doctor, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at UCSF, and a researcher in communications of end-of-life goals of care. He has an unambiguous Neutral Milk Hotel chest tattoo.
——————————
“Magnifying the Distant Universe” by Rachael Livermore
With the Hubble Space Telescope, we can find galaxies so far away that the light left them when the universe was in its infancy. This gives us a glimpse of some of the first sources to light up the universe, but it’s incredibly difficult as these most distant galaxies are so small and faint. To overcome this difficulty, we use an amazing quirk of general relativity that causes dark matter to act as a natural telescope in space, magnifying these very distant galaxies to make them bright enough to see. If this sounds like magic, that’s because it is.
Rachael received her PhD in astrophysics from Durham University in England and now works at University of Melbourne in Australia. Her research focuses on the most distant galaxies in the universe.
——————————
With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the setlist on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Delicious pork-belly bao and other bun goodness from Cross Hatch Eatery.
Choanoflagellate colony courtesy Kayley Hake
Wednesday, 6/20/2018
Doors at 7 pm, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here
The third Weds of the month fast approaches, and that means it’s time for another Nerd Nite! Get your budget crunched and your blood stanched at this month’s gathering of wanna-know-it-alls. The Money Lady of City Hall shows us the money, Dr. Anti-exsanguinator keeps us glued to the spot, and two big minds talk about a tiny world. Don’t miss three talks, two turntables, a microphone, and countless drinks–be there and be square!
——————–
“The Money Lady and the $10 Billion Conversation” by Assessor Carmen Chu
The city of San Francisco’s budget is $10 billion and growing. Have you ever wondered where all of that money comes from and how spending decisions are made? Join Assessor Carmen Chu as she demystifies the city budget. Also know as the Money Lady of City Hall, Assessor Chu and her team help generate $2.7 billion in revenue, which funds critical city services such as education, health, public safety, neighborhood improvements, and more. Prior to taking office in 2013, Carmen served as District 4 supervisor for the Sunset/Parkside neighborhoods, chairing the Board of Supervisor’s budget and finance committee.
——————–
“My Doctor Glued Me Back Together…and Other Cautionary Tales from the ER” by Brian Wai Lin
Ever had a bad encounter with a box cutter and a late-night trip to the ER? Expecting stitches and surprised when your doctor whipped out a tube of Super Glue? You probably wondered why you made a $300 hospital trip rather than a $6 hardware store purchase. Believe it or not, you made the right decision–and it’s based in biochemistry, not just in keeping your friendly neighborhood ER doc employed. Dr. Lin will deep-dive in to the history and science behind medical cyanoacrylate glues and describe his novel technique, now used worldwide, to stop you from exsanguinating through your fingertip when kitchen knives attack.
Brian is a practicing physician at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, a UCSF assistant clinical professor, and certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. Check out his educational website Closing the Gap.
——————–
“Love and Death in the Planktonic World” by David Booth & Thibaut Brunet
David and Thibaut are post-docs at the King Lab at UC Berkeley trying to understand the origin and evolution of animals by studying their closest living relatives, the choanoflagellates.
——————–
With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the set list on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Grilled Cheese Guy returns but with a twist — a mac and cheese pop-up!
Wednesday, 5/16/2018
Doors at 7 pm, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here
Dodge those un-prettily parked sidewalk scooters and don’t trip on the way over to this month’s nerdering, where a singing scientist talks Bell’s palsy; a certified Legal Geek reviews the rules of a galaxy far, far away; and a transport expert tells us if it’s maybe okay to toss aforementioned scooters into the Bay or not. Grilled cheese, terrific tunes, and no bar maximum: Be there and be square!
——————–
“About Face: How a Disability Turned a Singing Scientist into a Scientific Singer” with Heidi Moss Erickson
Face it – the face is important. We all use ours to express emotion and connect with others. But for singers the face is a vital part of the vocal instrument. After suffering cranial nerve damage, opera singer Heidi-on the cusp of a promising international career-lost control of her facial muscles, and neurologists doubted she’d ever be able to perform again. But this award-winning singer had a hidden talent: science! Through reductionist experimentation and diving into literature on the neuroscience of vocal learning, she has returned to the art she loves and the science she adores.
Heidi received a double degree in vocal performance and biology from Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, studied biochemistry at Penn and singing at Juilliard, and was covered by the New York Times for her research and her singing in the same year.
——————–
“Star Wars Law!” with Joshua Gilliland
Could Darth Vader argue the insanity defense for following the Dark Side? Was it discrimination not to serve R2-D2 and C-3PO at the Mos Eisley Cantina? Was Han right to shoot first? Find out these answers and more from Joshua Gilliland, one of the attorney bloggers from The Legal Geeks at Star Wars Law.
Josh focuses his law practice on e-discovery and co-created the multi-award-winning blog The Legal Geeks. Josh has presented at legal conferences and comic book conventions across the United States. He also ties a mean bow tie.
——————–
“Street Fights! Bicycle Politics in San Francisco & Copenhagen” with Jason Henderson
Jason is a professor of geography and environment at SF State, where he teaches courses in transportation and land use. He is currently writing a book about the politics of the bicycle and car in Copenhagen, where he spent a research sabbatical in 2016. Jason is also writing about the politics of “tech mobility,” including Uber/Lyft, driverless cars, and private bus systems.
——————–
With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the set list on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Glorious grilled cheese from the master of the sammie, Grilled Cheese Guy, who now has his own physical restaurant at 529 Stevenson St. in SF!
In an infinite universe there are infinite speaker lineups, but in this one we like to think you’re getting the best of them all. An astrophysicist will collapse the many-worlds theory of Hugh Everett down to a single tale, a geriatrician talks about our grayer and flappier but hopefully awesome future sex lives, and a computational psychologist shares what our digital footprints reveal about ourselves. All this plus DJ Alpha Bravo, drinks, bao, and lots of friendly nerds. Be there and be square!
Wednesday, 4/18/2018
Doors at 7 pm, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here ->
——————————
“It Came from a Parallel World!” by Adam Becker
In 1957, the drunken prankster physicist Hugh Everett found good evidence for parallel universes buried in the mathematics of quantum physics. Learn the real science behind this bizarre idea — and the real history of how Everett’s idea was developed in the 1950s, almost immediately forgotten, and revived again over a decade later.
Adam is an astrophysicist, science writer, public speaker, and author of the book What is Real? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics (http://whatisre.al, and we’ll have copies available at Nerd Nite). He’s also a visiting scholar in the Office for the History of Science and Technology at UC Berkeley. Adam once fought off a horde of feral geocentrists, but he still sometimes forgets that not everything revolves around him.
——————————
“Granny Still Gets It On: Aging and Sexual Health” by Laura Perry
Why are we as Americans so terrified and grossed out by the idea of older adults having sexual lives? We’re just being prejudiced against our future selves. Dr. Laura Perry, a double board-certified geriatrician and primary care doctor, will talk about the many ways in which sexual lives change as time marches on. The good news: it’s not all bad news! The even better news: no one’s going to ask you to think about your grandparents going at it.
Dr. Perry is a clinical associate professor at UC San Francisco in the division of geriatrics and the associate medical director of adult primary care at Highland Hospital in Oakland.
——————————
“The End of Privacy” by Michal Kosinski
A growing proportion of human activities such as social interactions, entertainment, shopping, and gathering information are now mediated by digital devices and services. Such digitally mediated activities produce an unprecedented amount of digital footprints that can be used to reveal our intimate traits, emotions, and predict future behavior. Given the progress in Artificial Intelligence and computing, we should get ready for the future where privacy is a privilege reserved for the few.
Dr. Kosinski is the Assistant Professor in Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. He is a psychologist and data scientist. His research focuses on studying humans through the lenses of digital footprints left behind while using digital platforms and devices. Previously, Michal was the Deputy Director of the University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre, a researcher at Microsoft Research, and a post-doc at Stanford’s Computer Science Department.
——————————
With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the setlist on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Delicious pork-belly bao and other bun goodness from Cross Hatch Eatery.
Have at you! Next Weds features dueling theories, dueling minds, and dueling sword canes. Or dual, as the case may be, as we discuss the weird boundaries of things that are both particles and waves, intersections of machine and human intelligence, and items both weapon and fashion accessory. Plus drinks, tamales, DJ, and tons of awesome people who are all singularly wonderful. Be there and be square!
