Gresham College Lectures

Software presents a paradox, its ease of use allows for complexity and adaptability, yet these features often make software impossible: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/how-can-software-be-so-hard

How can it be possible for teenagers to write smartphone apps that make them multi-millionaires when many commercial and Government IT projects fail, despite employing the skills and resources of international IT companies? What is software and how is it developed? How confident do we need to be that it is sufficiently correct, reliable, usable, safe or secure? What evidence would we need? The main reasons why software projects overrun, get cancelled, or deliver inadequate software will be explored, using examples of project failures and the litigations that often result.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/how-can-software-be-so-hard

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Software presents a paradox, its ease of use allows for complexity and adaptability, yet these features often make software impossible: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/how-can-software-be-so-hard
How can it be possible for teenagers to write smartphone apps that make them multi-millionaires when many commercial and Government IT projects fail, despite employing the skills and resources of international IT companies? What is software and how is it developed? How confident do we need to be that it is sufficiently correct, reliable, usable, safe or secure? What evidence would we need? The main reasons why software projects overrun, get cancelled, or deliver inadequate software will be explored, using examples of project failures and the litigations that often result.
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/how-can-software-be-so-hard
Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.
Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

Is the carry trade a ‘pennies from heaven’ magic trick, or does it tell us something fundamental about economic theory?: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-carry-trade-and-uncovered-interest-rate-parity

Basic economic theory tells us that borrowing money in a currency with low interest rates should not yield a profit compared to borrowing in a currency with high interest rates. This is because the interest rate differential should simply inform us about expected exchange rate depreciations. But, when it comes to the City, does the theory stand? Has it ever? Do funds make money because they ignore the theory?

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-carry-trade-and-uncovered-interest-rate-parity

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

The 2016 Boyle Lecture: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-mathematics-of-evolutionary-biology-implications-for-ethics

The latter part of the 20th century saw a revulsion against classic forms of "natural theology" which was propelled as much by theological fashion as by secular scientific resistance. This lecture lays out a cautious case for the reconsideration of a new style of "natural theology". It does so in the light of remarkable new discoveries in mathematicalized accounts of evolutionary "cooperation" which significantly challenge the idea of pervasive randomness in evolutionary processes. The ethical and teleological questions which are raised by these cooperative phenomena, it is argued, demand some sort of meaning-making response and ultimately metaphysical issues cannot be shirked. The question of God is reconsidered in this context, with a surprising final twist to the argument in which the human epistemic subject is itself drawn towards an invited transformation.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-mathematics-of-evolutionary-biology-implications-for-ethics

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Professor Joseph Silk explains what the relics of the earliest universe can tell us about our past and our future: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-formation-of-our-galaxy

A typical galaxy, like our Milky Way, has one hundred billion solar masses in stars. It is remarkable that one can do back-of-the-envelope estimates that lead to predictions of the characteristic mass of a galaxy. I will describe how galaxies formed. Beginning from infinitesimal fluctuations in the early universe, gravity helped concentrate the matter into clouds that fragmented into stars and assembled into galaxies. With the largest telescopes, one can look back in time and decipher the remote signatures of galactic youth and even birth.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-formation-of-our-galaxy

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Is the carry trade a 'pennies from heaven' magic trick, or does it tell us something fundamental about economic theory?: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-carry-trade-and-uncovered-interest-rate-parity
Basic economic theory tells us that borrowing money in a currency with low interest rates should not yield a profit compared to borrowing in a currency with high interest rates. This is because the interest rate differential should simply inform us about expected exchange rate depreciations. But, when it comes to the City, does the theory stand? Has it ever? Do funds make money because they ignore the theory?
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-carry-trade-and-uncovered-interest-rate-parity
Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.
Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

The 2016 Boyle Lecture: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-mathematics-of-evolutionary-biology-implications-for-ethics

The latter part of the 20th century saw a revulsion against classic forms of "natural theology" which was propelled as much by theological fashion as by secular scientific resistance. This lecture lays out a cautious case for the reconsideration of a new style of "natural theology". It does so in the light of remarkable new discoveries in mathematicalized accounts of evolutionary "cooperation" which significantly challenge the idea of pervasive randomness in evolutionary processes. The ethical and teleological questions which are raised by these cooperative phenomena, it is argued, demand some sort of meaning-making response and ultimately metaphysical issues cannot be shirked. The question of God is reconsidered in this context, with a surprising final twist to the argument in which the human epistemic subject is itself drawn towards an invited transformation.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-mathematics-of-evolutionary-biology-implications-for-ethics
Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.
Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

Professor Joseph Silk explains what the relics of the earliest universe can tell us about our past and our future: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-formation-of-our-galaxy
A typical galaxy, like our Milky Way, has one hundred billion solar masses in stars. It is remarkable that one can do back-of-the-envelope estimates that lead to predictions of the characteristic mass of a galaxy. I will describe how galaxies formed. Beginning from infinitesimal fluctuations in the early universe, gravity helped concentrate the matter into clouds that fragmented into stars and assembled into galaxies. With the largest telescopes, one can look back in time and decipher the remote signatures of galactic youth and even birth.
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-formation-of-our-galaxy
Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.
Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

The Data Protection Act 1998 is, currently, the only piece of English legislation which is specifically directed at protecting personal information and an individual’s privacy in respect of it: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/celebrities-the-media-and-the-personal-data-privacy-wars

The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) should properly have been called the Data Privacy Act: it is about privacy of personal data and not merely its security. Recent cases - if successful for the claimants - will change the litigation landscape for everyone.

The protection of personal data is, as a result, the fast-maturing celebrity privacy remedy of choice.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/celebrities-the-media-and-the-personal-data-privacy-wars

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

A History of the Maritime industry as told by an academic who has studied it: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/35-years-of-londons-maritime-cluster-through-the-eyes-of-an-academic

As a central figure in education, Professor Grammenos has seen the Maritime industry of London change enormously over his 35 years in the industry. He’s even been responsible for some of the larger changes himself. In this lecture, Professor Grammenos looks at the history of the Maritime Cluster, charts its changes and looks towards its future.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/35-years-of-londons-maritime-cluster-through-the-eyes-of-an-academic

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,800 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege