This year’s New Orleans Book Festival provides an opportunity to ponder some of society’s most relevant science and technology topics: CRISPR gene-editing technology, the relationship between religion and science and the ethical challenges of the AI boom, among others.
Book Fest spans three days from Thursday, March 27 to Saturday, March 29. Moderated discussions with authors begin on Friday, and both days will see several science and technology-relevant authors.
Jennifer Doudna, Nobel prize winner and pioneer of CRISPR gene-editing technology, will discuss “the science, ethical considerations and future possibilities of CRISPR,” and its potential impacts on medicine, agriculture and more alongside moderator Walter Isaacson, Tulane professor of history at Tulane University.
Later Friday afternoon, several journalists and bestselling authors will take the stage to discuss how media consumption is evolving in the age of AI and social platforms. “Media critic Ken Auletta, former editor-in-chief of the New York Times Dean Baquet, journalist and political analyst Molly Jong-Fast and data journalist Nate Silver” will be moderated by former chair of NBC news Andy Lack during “Shaking it Up: AI, Social Media, Legacy Media and the ‘new’ News.”
Friday concludes with a discussion between Dr. Francis Collins, former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and former news anchor Don Lemon. The pair will discuss “how the worlds of faith and scientific knowledge can coexist” in a session entitled “Faith, Science and Ethics: Dr. Francis Collins on the Big Questions.”
Finally, Saturday features a discussion between author Steven Johnson and Nicholas Mattei, associate professor of computer science at Tulane, about the global impact of AI and “big data” and how they have transformed our daily lives, from “education, industry and government,” as well as the ethical challenges that AI has created. The discussion will be moderated by Provost Robin Forman.
This year’s Book Fest, beginning in two weeks, highlights a number of data and science-related topics, with many discussions focusing on the ethics of such rapidly evolving and ubiquitous technology.
