CHR Director Professor Premesh Lalu delivered an address at the media launch of Science Forum South Africa 2016 on 1 November at the Cape Town Science Centre. The event also featured a performance by Handspring Puppet Company.

The countdown to Science Forum South Africa 2016(SFSA) has begun, with this year’s event taking place from 8-9 December at the CSIR in Pretoria, under the theme ‘Igniting Conversations about Science’.

“Science Forum South Africa” is an initiative proposed by Minister Pandor to organise an ‘Open Science’ type event in Africa with the emphasis on creating a platform for a vibrant debate on the role of science, technology and innovation and society in South Africa; strengthening South Africa’s strategic international science, technology and innovation partnerships and creating a platform for senior government leaders, academics, scientists, industry, civil society, and students to interact.

Professor Premesh Lalu address SFSA Media Launch at the Cape Town Science Forum.

The Department of Science and Technology and the Humanities Faculty at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) introduced the 2016 instalment of SFSA at a media launch held at the Cape Town Science Centre today-1 November.

The event featured a theatrical production by the Handspring Company that interpreted this year’s theme. Titled, I Love You When You’re Breathing, the audience had a unique opportunity of seeing a puppet deliver a meta-theatrical address to critics and the general public. Using comedy and generous amounts of self-reflexive humour the presentation gave insight into the behind-the-scenes life of a puppet, as an object in the world of international theatre.

The production was followed by a panel discussion hosted by the DST-National Research Foundation Flagship in Critical Thought in African Humanities Centre for Humanities Research UWC. The topic of discussion, New Technologies and the Human Condition, provided for robust debate.

The emergence of new digital technologies has significantly altered the lives of millions of people across the globe, increasing access to communication and information. Yet it has also deepened the divides in our world by changing the very conditions of human existence. The question now faced is how these new technologies may be altering the landscapes of knowledge and human existence.

Head of UWC’s Humanities faculty said new technologies have produced new economies of knowledge, but at the same time they have also resulted in major consequences for the human psyche and for conditions of life…

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Source:
http://www.dst.gov.za/index.php/media-room/communiques/1984-igniting-conversations-about-science

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