Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along.
Address: V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9PA
Details: Wednesday 15th march.
Tickets: Early nerd tickets £6, general admission £7.50. Tickets available here
Doors open 6.30pm, event starts 7.30pm
Join us for a line up to fulfil every nerd’s dreams: engineering, artificial intelligence, and zombies. What engineering secrets are hidden inside our houses? What can chess teach us about AI? Why are zombies so hangry? Be there and be square- Wednesday March 15th.
Revenge of The Mechanical Turk: How computers simultaneously killed and saved Chess – and what it means for the rest of us
Chess at the highest level has almost become a memory competition – who can better recall the moves their computer recommended tends to win. However, accurately computing positions dozens of moves deep has revealed hidden beauty, and more possibilities lying in the 64 squares than we thought possible. So, how do humans still take on our silicon counterparts?
This talk will explore the links between human and artificial intelligence through the wonder of Chess. Exploring whether education needs to be reshaped in the face of AI and deep machine learning, if intuition and idea generation are more valuable than being able to recall facts in the online age.
Henry C. Blanchard is an undefeated ChessBoxer, philosophy/physics grad, start up mentor and all round amateur geek.
Brain Food: dishing on zombie neuroscience
Mary applies neuroscience to help explain some classic zombie behaviours such as undying hunger, out of control rage, and their less than graceful movements. After this talk you will definitely be in the mood for more… dare we say it… brains.
During her ten years as a San Jose State University biology lecturer, Mary Poffenroth has made innovation in science education and communication a priority. Whether through video, popular writing, or live science events, her goals are always the same: make science accessible for all. She has created videos with TEDed and Wiley & Sons, hosted live shows with Nerd Nite Silicon Valley, written for Science Magazine, and Cognella published her first solo title, “Write, Present, Create: Science Communication for Undergraduates” in 2015. Leveraging her specialty in large lectures, she created an outdoor environmental student volunteer program, which has donated over 15,000 work hours to local non-profit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and is still going strong, now in its ninth year.
Don’t Judge a Building by Its Facade: Why infrastructure is cool
Infrastructure is all around you! (But not in a creepy way.) It works 24/7, 365 days a year to keep people around the world moving, toilets flushing and light switches turned on. Let’s explore some of the amazing ways engineers achieve this and how they are planning for the future.
Kate Ward is a Senior Transport Planner at WSP. This means she works on all the aspects of infrastructure projects before they go to construction: planning, building traffic models, design review and project management. In her own time she is obsessed with transportation and has been known to take time out on vacations to go look at train stations. Nevertheless she can’t explain why your tube was delayed this morning or when Southern will get their act together.
All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we are partnering with the Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds. More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, liking us on Facebook or visiting our website. For more information about the Shine Trust visit www.shinetrust.org.uk