My talk in University of Limerick next Tuesday

Next Tuesday (9th of March) at 4pm in the University of Limerick I will be giving a talk on the topic "Confronting the Crisis: Can Technology Save Us?" as part of the series of conversations hosted by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge in Society (ISKS).

The instructions I received from the organizers were that this should not be a prepared lecture, but should instead be more in the style of an informal conversation between the invited speakers (myself and Prof Liam Bannon) and the audience. I received quite a few suggestions in response to my earlier blog post looking for ideas about what I should say (although most of the people with suggestions were too shy to post public comments). I will now need to create a set of slides to accompany my 20 minute opening address. The slides won't be a series of bullet points that I read, but here are the  bullet points I supplied to the organizers to summarize the main points I will be making.

• One of the main gains from the Celtic tiger years is the fact that Irish people have the self confidence to start their own business rather than look for a safe job.
• Maslov's hierarchy of needs applies to nations as well as individuals, because the nations needs change as the nation develops. Hence our goals should be different from those of our parents.
• Technology will play a vital part in our future. However, the people who will benefit most from new technologies are not its inventors, but the people who understand the best way to use it.
• The open source movement and the arrival of web 2.0 has taught the IT industry that radically different business models are possible. If other industries learned these lessons we could improve lives in ways that are much more powerful than either socialism or unfettered capitalism.

Anyone who is in the Limerick area next Tuesday is more than welcome to come along and join in the conversation. The talk is scheduled for 4-6pm and will be held in the East Room of Plassey House.