Open Transcripts

The Conversation #1 — Reverend John Fife

presented by Aengus Anderson, John Fife, Micah Saul

What has redeemed the faith community throughout the centuries of history has been that there has always been a sector of the faith that has not sold out, that has recalled the genuine moral and ethical values of that faith and its tradition, and has renewed that, and therefore moved the agenda into the future, that is moral and ethical and just.

The Conversation #0 — Aengus Anderson and Micah Saul

presented by Aengus Anderson, Micah Saul

Historically, there have been all of these moments, moments of social turmoil where people have come together and they have questioned a lot of the common sense of their eras and they’ve torn it to bits. And the result has been kind of…truths, like new truths that become common sense later.

Uncreative Writing

presented by Kenneth Goldsmith

With the rise of the Web, writing has met its photography. And by that I mean writing has encountered a situation similar to what happened uh, to painting with the invention of photography. A technology so much better at replicating reality that in order to survive, painting had to ors— or, uh, alter its course radically.

John Waters RISD 2015 Commencement Keynote Address

presented by John Waters

“But how can you be so disciplined?” friends always ask when I tell them my job is to get up every day at 6 AM Monday to Friday and think up insane stuff. Easy. If I didn’t work this hard for myself, I’d have to go work for somebody else. Plus, I can go to my office one room away from my bedroom in my own house dressed in my underpants if I want to.

Maira Kalman RISD 2013 Commencement Keynote Address

presented by Maira Kalman

We live between despair and hope. No one knows why we are here, and nothing makes sense. Don’t forget that. You could ask yourself, “What is the point?” until you go crazy, literally. So, the starting point is to not know. And then to proceed.

Bruce Mau RISD 2014 Commencement Keynote Address

presented by Bruce Mau

Work on what you love. This is such an easy thing to say, and it seems so obvious. What else should we work on? What else could we work on? And yet the problem of aligning our passion and our production, our love and our work, remains one of the great life challenges that we face as artists, as designers, and as citizens.

Inventing Media

presented by Robin Sloan

We have these beautiful, intimate, tactile screens that’re all connected to the internet. There’s something here. And therefore, I think, by power of syllogism, there must be creations just as wonderful and unforeseeable as Kane or Back to the Future waiting in our future that we cannot see, that we cannot imagine, but that we can begin.

Controlling the Brain with Light to Reactivate Lost Memories

presented by Susumu Tonegawa

The key molecule of optogenetics is a light-sensitive protein called channelrhodopsin, which is extracted from green algae. Scientists can insert channelrhodopsin into memory cells. Subsequently, scientists can even activate these with blue light which they deliver deep inside the brain with optic fibers.

Machines That Can Read Human Emotions

presented by Maja Pantic

The face is a constant flow of facial expressions. We react and emote to external stimuli all the time. And it is exactly this flow of expressions that is the observable window to our inner self. Our emotions, our intentions, attitudes, moods. Why is this important? Because we can use it in a very wide variety of applications.

The Rise of Social Robotics

presented by Vanessa Evers

Social referencing is so great robots should do it, too. But first there are some technical challenges that we need to solve. For instance, low energy consumption. Throughout these technical challenges, what these robots really need to do is understand the social environment that they are in.