On 23 January, Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert will be at University of British Columbia (UBC). Professor Deibert will participate in the “Utopia / Dystopia: Creating the World We Want” new interdisciplinary lecture series.
Green College and UBC’s Creative Writing Department present a new lecture series, Utopia/Dystopia: Creating the Worlds That We Want, that takes as its theme the powerful forces at play between what could be called utopian and dystopian worlds, forces that are in fact shaping our future.
Series convenor Deborah Campbell, an award-winning journalist and author, has spent many years living in the places she writes about, and well understands these forces. The theme reflects the growing unease many feel about the direction our world is taking, that for every promise of a better world there is a shadow side. Does oil guarantee our quality of life or undermine it? What is the greater threat to our security, Edward Snowden’s revelations or the surveillance agencies? Has the war in Afghanistan liberated women or enforced the conditions that do them harm? Can we still have real democracy when people feel their choices don’t matter? Is progress, as we understand it, the solution or the problem? We’re excited to bring nationally and internationally acclaimed nonfiction authors (see speakers and talks, below) who have wrestled with these questions to engage the public in a broad discussion of the sort of world we are creating.
All talks are free and open to the public (seats are first come, first served), and take place at Cecil Green Park House, 6251 Cecil Green Park Road, Vancouver, B.C. between 5-6:30pm.