Maps and Measures: On the Boundaries of What We Know

How do we measure and understand the world around us? What are the limits of the human? Where are the frontiers of knowledge? And how do we know when we are crossing them? All of this comes together in the question of maps and measuring. The tools of surveying and the arts of the cartographer; the bound and unbound volumes of dictionaries and encyclopedias; scientific instruments from astrolabes to stereopticons, telescopes to microscopes; Google Earth and surveillance cameras on street corners; the mapping of the brain and the plumbing of the seas; passports, airports, terminals and borders of all sorts; travelers’ tall tales and fables of the distant past; friends, neighbors, tribes and aliens — all these lead us to ask what are the ways we know who we are, where we are, and what surrounds and mystifies us?

September 17, 2009
Discovering the World: Collections, Curiosity and Evolution

September 24, 2009
Projecting Mapping: Israeli Identity and the Idea of the Map

October 15, 2009
How to Win a Nobel Prize

October 22, 2009
How to Win a Nobel Prize: Part II

November 3, 2009
Inventing Global Networks: Weather, Telegraphs, Railways and Novels

November 6, 2009
Human Time, Geological Time: Discrepancies and Adaptations Preview

November 7, 2009
Human Time, Geological Time: Discrepancies and Adaptations

November 24, 2009
Birthday Party — Origin of the Species

Janurary 26, 2010
The Map of the World: Movement and Mystery

February 2, 2010
Arts Humanities, and Economic Thought – A Solo Performance Piece

February 18, 2010
Who Owns Ideas?: Intellectual Property and the Future of Ideas

March 26, 2010
Beyond Neural Cartography, Mapping the Social Brain

April 6, 2010
Lorraine Daston: Order, Wonder, Things

April 20, 2010
The Poetry of California/The Beauty of the World: A Tribute to Carol Muske-Dukes, Poet Laureate of California