• Poetry & Literature

    Robert B. Laughlin - The Crime of Reason and the Closing of the Scientific Mind

    Robert B. Laughlin - The Crime of Reason and the Closing of the Scientific Mind

    Kepler's Bookstore

    October 22, 2008

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    We all agree that the free flow of ideas is essential to creativity. And we like to believe that in our modern, technological world, information is more freely available and flows faster than ever before. But according to Stanford Professor of Physics and Nobel Laureate Robert Laughlin, acquiring information is becoming a danger or even a crime.

    Increasingly, the really valuable information is private property or a state secret, with the result that it is now easy for a flash of insight, entirely innocently, to infringe a patent or threaten national security. The public pays little attention because this vital information is "technical" but, Laughlin argues, information is often labeled technical so it can be sequestered, not sequestered because it's technical. The increasing restrictions on information in such fields as cryptography, biotechnology, and computer software design are creating a new Dark Age: a time characterized not by light and truth but by disinformation and ignorance. Thus we find ourselves dealing more and more with the Crime of Reason, the antisocial and sometimes outright illegal nature of certain intellectual activities.

    • Ticket Info

      Tickets: Free

      Info Phone: 650-324-4321

    • Dates & Times

      Dates:
      October 22, 2008

      Times:
      7:30pm

    • Venue Info

      Kepler's Books

      1010 El Camino Real Menlo Park, CA 94025

      Full map and directions

    • Parking Info

      Free underground and nearby street parking.

    • Accessibility Info
      • Wheelchair Access

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