Future Imperfect author David Friedman was recently interviewed on KCSB Santa Barbara’s The Marketplace of Ideas.

Have a listen!

Lew McCreary, writing for Harvard Business review, recently commented on Future Imperfect.

We want the world to be orderly, but too often it is simply a mess. Friedman, a law professor, gleefully sorts out a host of messes having to do with a wide range of world-changing technologies. For every manifest benefit (say, reducing crime through universal surveillance), there’s a gnarly negative (adios, privacy). Friedman doesn’t duck the big issues: the death of copyright protection; nanotechnology; cloning, genetic engineering, and other advanced reproductive therapies; cognitive enhancement through pharmacology; the growing difficulty (due in part to tools that allow users to veil their identities) of enforcing contracts in cyberspace.

Friedman is honest enough not to claim to be a seer—the future is both imperfect and uncertain. But he frames the possibilities evenhandedly, with energetic comprehensiveness.

We have several busy authors speaking at events this week.

Will you be in NY or DC? Give your brain the attention it deserves and stop by!

Marci Hamilton - author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect its Children

Marci is the keynote speaker for the SNAP Press conference backing Statutes of Limitations reform

October 29, 4:00 PM
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
55 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003

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Susan Pinkard - author of A Revolution in Taste: The Rise of French Cuisine

Susan Pinkard of Georgetown University will be speaking and signing copies of her new book, A Revolution in Taste, at Bridge Street Books on Thursday, October 30 at 7:00 PM. A Revolution in Taste traces the development of modern French habits of cooking, eating, and drinking. Pinkard examines the interplay of material culture, social developments, medical theory, and Enlightenment thought in the development of French cooking, which culminated in the creation of a distinct culture of food and drink.

Bridge Street Books
Thursday, October 30, 7:00 PM
2814 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 965-5200

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Ross Garnaut - author of The Garnaut Climate Change Review

Ross Garnaut will be speaking about his latest book, The Garnaut Climate Change Review, at the Brookings Institute at 3:00 PM on Thursday, October 30. As part of the Australian Government’s focus on climate change, Professor Garnaut led an investigation into the impact of climate change on the Australian economy. The Garnaut Climate Change Review, which has been very influential in Australia, identified policy recommendations that would maintain the country’s prosperity while mitigating the negative influences of global warming. Professor Garnaut’s final report, embodying proposals for domestic and international policy, was given to the Australian Prime Minister and State Premiers on September 30, and was published by Cambridge University Press on October 16.

Thursday, October 30, 2008
3:00 PM to 4:15 PM
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 797-6105