what in the world?
In the past three days I have two attended conferences.(Dont tell, next week I head to a third - LIFT). The end of day conference on Tuesday was at the Portcullis House, a part of the House of Commons, but being the clueless Canadian wonder that I am, I made my way to Westminster with very little idea of what would come. The regular security strip-down occured and I made my way to the Population and Sustainability Network and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine hosted conference on "Population: the Unfinished Agenda".
Catherine McCafferty the MP and Chair of the APPG on Population, Development and Reproductive Health introduced the event, as well as her fellow panelists which included Gareth Thomas, Under-Secretary of State for International Development, Dr. Nafis Sadik, Special Adviser to the UN-Secretary-General, and Professor Rapley, the Director of the British Antarctic Survey. I was struck by the tone of the conversation which openly veered towards anti-American sentiments and criticism due to the United States lack of involvement and refusal to put sexual reproductive rights on the table. I don't know why it has taken me so long to realize that when it comes right down to it HIV/AIDS is very much an issue of empowerment and sexual reproductive rights control. Often the media glides around the issue, and I don't think in my research I have ever heard it discussed as openly as Dr. Sadik did.
I have to also commend the director of the British Antarctic Survey for openly stating that the most inexpensive way of reducing carbon emissions and reversing climate change would be to reduce population growth. It would cost us 1.3 trillion to invest in nuclear energy, 10 trillion for wind-energy and virtually nothing to slow down our growth, which yet again raises the issue of sexual reproduction and sexual contraception.
Yesterday, I attended a conference on the challenges of assistive technology for an ageing population. It was quite amazing to hear of the developments both in research and technology, as it seems to be quite a happy marriage. This led some to question the motivation of innovation as being private-sector driven as opposed to being driven by social need. I was particularly impressed by an innovation that Dr. Arelene Astell from Scotland introduced; a software product she developed for dementia patients. It is an interactive interface which allows patients to freely reminesce by choosing between a selection of songs and photos. Often progressive states of dementia lead to silence and a period of non-communication, and these memory boxes act as a trigger for patients and their relatives, as well as their caregivers. They also lessen the burden of care on overworked and understaffed residences.
The jury is still out on what is driving us into the future, and who and what will drive change, but an interesting think tank for democracy called Demos definitely peaked my curiosity. Web 2.0 and Humanity 2.0 are finally really merging.