RSA Events

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Friday 8th September 2017 Commissioned by the Prime Minister to undertake an independent review in 2016, last November David published his interim findings alongside an in-depth analysis which identified some of the stages in the CJS at which disproportionality is most pronounced. Among other notable points, the analysis evidenced that black men and women are sentenced more harshly than white men and women for committing the same type of crime. Having now completed his review, David will share his further findings and set out the recommendations he believes can ultimately make sure the CJS is fair for all. Speakers: Rt Hon David Lammy MP, Chair of the Lammy Review; Juliet Lyon CBE, Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody; Matthew Ryder QC, Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement; David Isaac CBE, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Chair: Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/09/trust-fairness--responsibility-launch-of-the-lammy-review-report

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 13th July 2017 In May this year, James Williams, a former Google employee and doctoral candidate researching design ethics at Oxford University, won the inaugural US$100,000 Nine Dots Prize. James’ winning piece argued that digital technologies privilege our impulses over our intentions, and are gradually diminishing our ability to engage with the issues we most care about. In this event – his first public event since winning the prize - he will cover: How the ‘distractions’ produced by digital technologies are much more profound than minor ‘annoyances’ How so-called ‘persuasive’ design is undermining the human will and ‘militating against the possibility of all forms of self-determination’ How beginning to ‘assert and defend our freedom of attention’ is an urgent moral and political task The Nine Dots Prize is supported by Cambridge University Press and the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), both departments of the University of Cambridge. Speakers: James Williams, Nine Dots Prize winner and recipient of Google’s Founders’ Award Jonathan Rowson, Co-founder and Director, Perspectiva Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/07/are-digital-technologies-making-politics-impossible

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Tuesday 11th July 2017 Forget what you thought polls could tell you – our Google searches and other online behaviour reveal our true selves. Welcome to the biggest and most accurate dataset in human history. Harvard-trained economist and former Google data scientist, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz’s analysis of our digital footprint reveals that much of what we think we know about ourselves is simply wrong. The reason is simple – we all lie – to our doctors, in surveys, on social media, and even to ourselves; but less so, when sat in front of our keyboards searching for information online. This data exposes our deepest desires, hopes, fears and prejudices, and our conscious and unconscious decision-making, in a way that less than twenty years ago would have been unfathomable. Hailed as the heir to Freakonomics, Stephens-Davidowitz’s groundbreaking research will change the way you think about everything. Speakers: Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, Writer and Former Google Data Scientist Rowan Conway, Director of Innovation and Development, RSA Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/07/everybody-lies

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Tuesday 11th July 2017 How do we build a future that doesn’t leave humans behind? How do we need to respond – as individuals, communities, companies, institutions – to harness technological progress the benefit of the many, not just the few? Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee's bestselling 2014 book The Second Machine Age had widespread influence on the global debate around how technological progress is transforming the way we live and work. Their new book Machine, Platform, Crowd focuses on the ‘second phase’ of the Second Machine Age. This phase, they argue, has a greater sense of urgency, as ‘deep learning’ technologies are now demonstrating that they can do much more than just the type of work we have thought of as routine. So can we now replace fears that automation will erase jobs with hopes that advanced AI will actually improve rather than displace human work? Elsewhere, how do we ensure increasingly powerful platforms, such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, have a positive impact on the way we live our lives? And how can we harness the rise of crowd-based innovation to shape a better future for all? Speakers: Erik Brynjolfsson Co-founder and Director, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy Anthony Painter, Director of the Action and Research Centre, RSA Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/07/machine-platform-crowd

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Tuesday 4th July 2017 Access to a hands-on approach to learning – designing, creating, exploring, experimenting, ‘tinkering’ - can have transformational impact. So, how can we create more opportunities for more people to learn through making? To celebrate the long history of collaboration between the RSA and the Comino Foundation, a distinguished panel of designers, makers and educationalists gather to explore the power of making, and to discuss why access to making is important for everyone; how we risk losing the chance for young people to learn through making; and what the RSA, Comino and others are doing to challenge that. Speakers: Daniel Charny, Director, From Now On and Fixperts Liz Corbin, Institute of Making and co-founder of Open Workshop Zoe Laughlin, Co-founder/director of the Institute of Making and the Materials Library project Bill Lucas, Co-creator, Expansive Education Network & director, Centre for Real-World Learning Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/07/making-matters

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Monday 3rd July 2017 The Rt Hon David Lammy MP’s pioneering review of racial disparity in the criminal justice system is exposing levels of potential bias that are cause for serious concerns. The review’s interim findings, published last November, came with in-depth analysis to help identify the stages of the system at which disproportionality is most pronounced. It also evidenced that black men and women continue to be sentenced more harshly than white men and women for committing the same type of crime; over 40% of prisoners under the age of 18 are BAME; and that the number of Muslim prisoners has almost doubled in the last decade. Having illustrated the huge challenge Government faces in tackling what could be institutionalised inequalities in the criminal justice system, David Lammy is now in the final stages of completing his report. He will be sharing some of the in-depth, real-life insights this review has uncovered; and setting the scene for a national, political debate on these issues. Find out more about The Lammy Review of the treatment of, and outcomes for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the Criminal Justice System. Speakers: Rt Hon David Lammy MP, Chair of the Lammy Review Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/07/justice-for-all

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 29th June 2017 We want to believe that there are some things we would never do. We want to believe that there are others we always would. But how can we be sure? Why do human beings hurt other human beings – and what can we do about it? The celebrated human rights barrister and researcher Dexter Dias QC has identified ten ‘types’ of human behaviour; ten deeply ingrained evolutionary drives, which provide tools for decoding the best and worst that humans do. They are the people we become when we are faced with life's most difficult decisions. But who or what are these Types? Where do they come from? How did they get into our heads. Combining cutting-edge neuroscience, human rights and social psychology, Dias examines the very frontiers of the human experience with the aim of uncovering new ways to reduce the sum of human suffering. Speakers: Dexter Dias QC, Human Rights Barrister Leyla Hussein, Psychotherapist and Award-Winning Campaigner Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/06/why-humans-hurt-each-other

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 22nd June 2017 On the 23rd June 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU – arguably one of the most unexpected and momentous decisions ever taken by the electorate. The result sparked the resignation of a sitting Prime Minister, a renewed Scottish independence debate, a controversial legal challenge, a snap general election, the ‘regrexit’ phenomenon, and in an ironic twist, the person charged with steering the nation through the withdrawal initially voted to remain. One year on, and the situation is still uncertain. Are we committed to a ‘hard’ Brexit, and what does that actually mean? How much will it cost, how long will it take, and do we have enough skilled negotiators to get a good deal? Will there be deportations of EU citizens in the UK and vice versa? Will we see a rise of xenophobic sentiment like we did immediately after the vote? What of our trading relationships, and how will the millennial generation who largely voted ‘remain’ fare? Will the Union survive after a second Scottish independence referendum? We’ve gathered an expert panel to answer these questions, and help us consider the far-reaching implications of the Britain’s exit from the EU. Speakers: Jonathan Isaby, Editor of BrexitCentral Gina Miller, Investment Manager and Philanthropist Professor Anand Menon, Director of UK in a Changing Europe Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/06/brexit-one-year-on

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Wednesday 21st June 2017 Join us in celebrating the 2017 Awards and the power of design to make a positive social impact – this is a chance to meet the 2017 RSA Student Design Awards winners, participants and collaborators and hear about their work. Keynote speech by David Constantine, past RSA Student Design Awards winner and Founder Director of Motivation, a charity which initiates self-sustaining projects to enhance the quality of life of people with mobility disabilities. Speakers: David Constantine, Founder Director, Motivation Sevra Davis, Director of Design and Challenges and Director of the RSA Student Design Awards Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/06/designing-our-futures-the-2017-rsa-student-design-awards

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 15th June 2017 How can we champion truth in a world of lies and ‘alternative facts’? The Brexit vote; Donald Trump’s victory; the rejection of climate change science; the vilification of immigrants; many of the huge political issues of recent years have been based on the power to evoke feelings and not facts. Renowned journalist Matthew d’Ancona distinguishes post-truth from a long tradition of political lies, exaggeration and spin. For D’Ancona, what is new is not the mendacity of politicians but the public’s response to it and the ability of new technologies and social media to manipulate, polarise and entrench opinion. Where trust has evaporated, conspiracy theories thrive, and the authority of the media wilts; it is the primacy of emotions and beliefs that shape the public. This makes for a terrifying time in which democracy and pluralism are all at threat. But how do we fight back? Speakers: Matthew d'Ancona, Journalist Eliane Glaser, Writer & Producer Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/06/the-war-on-truth