Facing the Future Vox Pops
Videos of an event held at Newcastle University,
5th November 2011
Event sponsored by Economic and Social Research Council
and Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability
Vox pop interviews with participants of
The Great Debate: Facing the Future,
a day of active debate and documentary-making
held as part of ESRC Festival of Social Science 2011.
Participants took a critical look at current discussions around population
and the limits to social and technical engineering.
In an era when "technical fixes" are dismissed by many as inappropriate to solve
problems, yet belief in social change is generally viewed as naive and unrealistic,
the debate over how we approach the future could not be more pertinent.
In the debate "Engineering the Future",
Ian Abley,
architect and director of
audacity
and
Barry K Gills,
Professor of Global Politics, Newcastle University
scrutinized the idea that we can engineer
our way to a better future
and asked whether technology can continue to improve our quality of life.
Sixth form student Heather Robinson's initial thoughts on population and technical fixes
Heather reflects on what has and hasn't changed
Sixth form student Emily Oldroyd's initial thoughts on the topics
Emily's reflections at the end of the day
Helen Adams' thoughts on population and technical fixes
University student Jennifer Thompson on population and technical fixes