Page 33 - Program 2018

What it’s Like to Be a Dog (Or a Dolphin) Heartificial Intelligence
Dr. Gregory Berns John C. Havens
Thursday 2–2:45 pm Thursday 2–2:45 pm
Walt Disney Room Anne Rice Room

Dr. Gregory Berns’ groundbreaking research uses MRI technology to better We are all wedded to our technology whether it is
understand how dogs think. The neuroscientist’s hope is that if he can understand our wearable devices, smart phones or self-parking
how dogs process things, he may be able to identify which dogs would be best cars. But our relationship with technology and
suited for different services, such as cancer sniffing dogs, seeing eye dogs, and specifically AI is fraught with anxiety as exemplified
military or police dogs. Dr. Berns’ work fundamentally reshapes how we think by the villainous computer HAL in the film 2001: A
about—and treat—man’s best friend. Space Odyssey. John C. Havens and Johan Sorensen
will discuss how to plan for our future with machines
and ways to bring humanity back to technology.

Powerhouse
James Andrew Miller
Thursday 2–2:45 pm
Joan Didion Room

In 1975, five young employees of a sclerotic William Morris Agency left to start
their own, strikingly innovative talent agency. In the years to come, Creative
Artists Agency would become the largest, most imperial, groundbreaking, and
star-studded agency Hollywood has ever seen—a company whose tentacles spread
throughout the world of movies, music, television, technology, advertising, sports,
and investment banking. Join author James Andrew Miller, Sharon Hall and Todd
Kessler as they discuss this powerhouse.

“Proof of social cognition means that dogs aren’t just
Pavlovian learning machines. It means that dogs are
sentient beings, and this has startling consequences

for the dog-human relationship.”
— Dr. Gregory Berns, How Dogs Love Us

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