On Machines, Humans and Our Common Future

How will humans and machines interact in the future? Join us on February 12, 2015, for the second annual Tak Yan Lee Endowed Lecture on Science and Faith to hear Dr. Rosalind Picard discuss “On Machines, Humans and Our Common Future.” Dr. Picard, a former atheist who is now a Christian, is a pioneer in the fields of human-computer interaction, wearable sensors and affective computing. She is founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab and co-director of the Things That Think Consortium, the largest industrial sponsorship organization at the lab. Dr. Picard co-founded two businesses: Empatica, which creates wearable sensors and analytics to improve health; and Affectiva, which delivers technology to help measure and communicate emotion. Dr. Picard and her Empatica team recently launched a product called Embrace, the first medical-quality wearable watch to measure stress, epileptic seizures, activity and sleep. This groundbreaking device purposes to reduce Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), the leading cause of death of those with epilepsy. Embrace is just one of Dr. Picard’s many inventions, which have applications in autism, epilepsy, sleep, stress, autonomic nervous system disorders, human and machine learning, health behavior change, market research, customer service and human-computer interaction. "Contemporary Christian reflection on science and faith often veers strongly to questions of origins, cosmology and evolution. While important, it seems we must also think well about progress, innovation and the ongoing, developing relationship between humans and machines. Dr. Picard is a perfect speaker on this topic, and we’re very glad to have her with us," says Dr. Tal Howard, Director of the Center for Faith and Inquiry, and a professor of history. A reception will be held in the Ken Olsen Science Center Loggia at 4 p.m., followed by the lecture and Q&A with Dr. Picard at 4:30 p.m. in the adjacent MacDonald Auditorium. Learn more. The Tak Yan Lee Endowed Lecture on Science and Faith is part of the Faith Seeking Understanding Lecture Series hosted by the Center for Faith and Inquiry at Gordon College. The Center for Faith and Inquiry is dedicated to promoting first-order scholarship, reflection, creativity, and conversation, drawing from Christian intellectual and spiritual traditions, the various academic disciplines, and the wisdom found in societies and cultures at large. The insights and ideas derived from their work aim to serve Gordon College, the Body of Christ and the common good.