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Club of Amsterdam Journal, July 2004, Issue 28
Content Tim Harper about NanoWater about the future of Water & Nanotechnology News about the Future Recommended Book IntelCities Questionnaire about ‘the future of Culture & Religion Upcoming Events Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Tim Harper about NanoWater CEO, CientificaExecutive Director,European NanoBusiness AssociationSpain NanoWater is a very simple idea that grew out of a meeting with Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres at the World NanoEconomic Congress in Washington DC last year. He made the only speech I have ever seen get a standing ovation at a nanotech conference, with the simple message that perhaps technology could do something positive. We followed this up with a visit to Israel just before Christmas last year to understand at first hand the problems facing countries with scarce water resources. There are two compelling reasons for the nanowater initiative. Firstly lack of clean, affordable water is not a problem confined to the developing world. Southern Europe, Israel, the western United States, the Middle East and areas of south-east Asia such as Singapore all suffer increasing pressure on scarce water shortages. While any number of programs are looking at ameliorating the situation in the developing world, the real resources to address water issues will come from the countries above. These are all rich countries whose economies and future prosperity could be damaged by lack of access to water. If there is a solution to be found, it will be driven by economics, not charity. Secondly, water remediation is already available in the form of filters, desalination technologies, and water recovery systems. The reason we have a water problem is because these technologies are not yet cheap enough, either in terms of efficiency, maintenance, or the energy required to operate them. Nanotechnology is already being applied across a wide range of areas that be either be used directly, or adapted for use in the water industry. In addition, almost every application of nanotechnology in industry is being driven by the economics of the bottom line. So the question becomes, can we use nanotechnology to make water remediation more efficient, and ultimately more economically viable? The preliminary results indicate that we can. Tim Harper speaks at NanoWater, September 27, 09:00-18:30, RAI Conference Center, Amsterdam about the future of Water & Nanotechnology Water that won’t freezeThe structure of water inside carbon nanotubes has been debated for several years. Now some experimental light has been shed on the issue.By Philip Ball, nature.comThe structure of water inside carbon nanotubes has been debated for several years. Now some experimental light has been shed on the issue. Water held inside carbon nanotubes is very different from normal water, researchers in the USA have found. They say that it adopts a structure quite unlike that seen in the bulk liquid or in ice. The ‘nanotube water’ shows ‘soft’, liquid-like behaviour even at temperatures as low as 8 K. And it displays no abrupt melting transition between a solid and a liquid as it is warmed up. A Soak Cycle at Inframat, and Pollutants Come Out in the WashBy Candace Stuart, Small Times Features EditorMillions of villagers in Bangladesh were exposed to unhealthy levels of arsenic in drinking water in the 1980s and ’90s after the naturally occurring poison seeped from bedrock into groundwater supplying wells.After a decade of exposure, the Bangladeshis began to show skin abnormalities and other signs of toxicity, including cancers. The contamination still plagues Bangladesh, India and several South Asian nations.A handful of companies and research labs are working to provide nanotechnology-based solutions for these domestic and foreign markets. One platform is proving versatile enough to capture not only arsenic in its various forms but also mercury.“The opportunity for this kind of activity is excellent,” said David Reisner, chief executive of Inframat Corp. in Farmington, Conn. News about the future Vision 20/20: Future Scenarios for the Communications Industry – Implications for Regulationby the Australian Communication AuthorityTwo representatives from the Australian Communication Authority Vision 20/20 team undertook an international road test of the preliminary outcomes of the project to date. It was also an opportunity to discuss strategic implications with relevant experts and agencies including the Club of Amsterdam. Europe and Germany in 2020 – A Future Scenarioby Z _punktWe have no reason to expect miracles,but by 2020 society and state have managed to revitalise themselves.The basic scenario described below assumes changes set off by existing trends and by widely accepted reforms rather than unsettling external events or sudden wide-spread changes of mind.We wanted it to be a down-to-earth vision,a desirable perspective based on realism;in this respect,it is a ‘preferable scenario ’.However, it demands high learning ability from society and individuals as its fundamental condition for change,as well as the willingness in everyone to shoulder responsibilities and to embark on a process of change which carries the risk of failure. Recommended Book Springer Handbook of Nanotechnologyby Bharat Bhushan“Professor Bhushan has harnessed his own knowledge and experience, gained in several industries and universities, and has assembled about 100 internationally recognized authors from three continents to write more than 40 chapters. The authors come from both academia and industry … [This book] is a timely addition to the literature on nanotechnology, which I anticipate will stimulate further interest in this important new field and serve as an invaluable resource to members of the international scientific and industrial community.” IntelCities IntelCities (Intelligent Cities) is a research and technological development project to pool advanced knowledge and experience of electronic government, planning systems and citizen participation from across Europe. The project is being led by Manchester City Council (UK) and the City of Sienna (Italy). It brings together eighteen European cities, twenty ICT companies (including Nokia and CISCO) and thirty-six research groups. The project is part of the European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme, with €6.8m of the €11.4m budget from the EU’s Information Society Technologies programme. IntelCities will help achieve the EU policy goal of the Knowledge Society by 2010 through new forms of electronic governance of cities and greater social inclusion through enhanced access to services by citizens and businesses. The project aims to create a new and innovative set of interoperable, e-government services that will provide information to all citizens and businesses about all aspects of city life via interactive city-wide Internet based applications. By providing these services, IntelCities will: Address poor quality information that prevents the effective use, management and planning of cities.Support the everyday needs of citizens and business by providing 24 hour access to stransactional city services.Develop more efficient city management by integrating services across city authorities, regional and national government agencies, utility and transport system providers, non-governmental organisation networks and citizens.Enable citizens and businesses to play a far more participative and inclusive role in city planning via more reliable city modelling, predictive planning, and advanced visualisation technologies. Questionnaire about ‘the future of Culture & Religion’ At our recent Club of Amsterdam evening about ‘the future of Culture & Religion‘ we asked the audience some questions: 1. Can the actions of politicians and moreover world leaders be legitimised by there religious convictions? 67 % yes33 % no 2. Is there an overkill of religious and spiritual supply in modern society? 17 % yes83 % no 3. Should separation of state and church be a world standard? 50 % yes50 % no 4. Is religion an inevitable thing for the human kind that survives anyhow? 100 % yes0 % no 5. Are you religious? 33 % yes67 % no 6. Does Muslim culture in Europe have to change? 83 % yes17 % no 7. Is there a need for a new religion? 33 % yes67 % no Club of Amsterdam Upcoming Events September 27, 2004 NanoWater January 26-28, 2005 Summit for the Future 2005 Club of Amsterdam Season 2004/2005 October 27, 2004 the future of ICT November 30, 2004 the future of Developing Countries February 23, 2005 the future of the Service Industry March 30, 2005 the future of Water April 27, 2005 the future of Branding June 1, 2005 the future of Robotics June 29, 2005 the future of Philosophy
Club of Amsterdam Journal, June 2004, Issue 27
Content Q&A with Anton van Harskamp about the future of Culture & Religion News about the Future Bioenergy at Wageningen University and Research Centre Recommended Book Q&A with Joep de Hart Upcoming Events Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Q&A with Anton van Harskamp Anton van Harskamp, Professor, Social and Cultural Antropology, VU Amsterdam Club of Amsterdam: The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), as the main human dimension institution of the OSCE is responsible for fostering the implementation on freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief. What are the key conflicting areas when dealing with cults and sects?Anton van Harskamp: It is by no means clear what comprises a cult or a sect. The definition of a cult or a sect is in the eye of the beholder (and that eye, when it belongs to a ‘normal’ modern person, often designates in advance a sect as a frightening, absurd and dangerous group, which almost ever is a prejudice). Moreover, when we define a sect as for instance a religious, high demanding group, in which by authoritarian leadership a strict and ‘strange’ doctrine is taught, the number of that kind of groups in Western Europe is not high. Neither is the number of adherents. Even if one thinks of ‘new religious movements’ and if one includes self-development groups and small congregations in mainstream religion, the total number for e.g. Great Britain does not exceed the 1000. And when we could see recent figures about the membership of sects in for instance Germany, we’ll see figures like: 350 devotees for ISKCON (Hare Krishna), 500 for the Divine Light Mission, 600 for the Unification Church, 20 for the Family. Also the 5000 ‘members’ of Scientology do not form an impressive number. Nevertheless, strict religious groups can sometimes harm individual members. The key conflicting area can concern individual freedom. According to an American specialist in religious studies (Charles Kimball) there are five warning signs for the corruption of all religion, which also are signs indicating that things can go wrong in a religious group: when absolute truth claims are brought forward, when blind obedience is demanded, when the group anticipates on the ‘real’ time, when the group teaches that the end justifies any means, and when the group is prone to declare a Holy War. As far as I’m able to see, at this moment there are no religious groups in Western Europe, which meet all these criteria. What is the value of spirituality for a European Society?Anton van Harskamp: a) Spirituality has its value in itself; when it must have a value for e.g. the well-being of a person or a society, it will have no ‘Spirit; b) It will be a good thing when people are aware of mystery in reality, or when they for instance know of empty spaces in the networks of political society. Is our society in need for new religions?Anton van Harskamp: Western societies, which are collective bodies, are not in need of new religions. Western societies are in need for people who know about the invisible religions and quasi religions, which actually are functioning in these societies (the market, sports, ‘Experience’/Erlebnis). Jacques Janssen speaks at our Club of Amsterdam Event about‘the future of Culture & Religion‘ on Wednesday, June 23, 18:30-22:15! about the future of Culture & Religion Secularization in a Context of Advanced Modernityby Liliane VoyeAs described by Dobbelaere (1981), secularization – considered as a process on the macro-level – is in general still an unquestionable fact in Europe. Functional differentiation is persisting; the organized world is based on impersonal roles and on contractual patterns. The privatization of religion signifies not only that institutional religion loses its capacity to exercise an impact on public affairs but also that religion is considered as a matter of personal choice. This choice is enlarged by the numerous opportunities which have appeared in the “religious market” and, among other things, by the development of New Religious Movements. Such a context stimulates the relativization of religious messages, and their acceptance appears to be more and more oriented to a “this worldly” end, to the immanent level of everyday reality. The Challenge of Multiculturalism after Westernalizationby Dae Ryeong KimWhile the history of culture might be as long as the history of human civilization, it was during the nineteenth century that the word, “culture” began to be circulated in its modern sense. Expanding the modern civilization to the world, and facing the strong resistance from traditional cultures throughout the world, the Europeans began to recognize the reality of the diversity of culture. While the Enlightenment had been the force to motivate the Westerners to expand the western civilization to the rest of the world, it was, ironically, this very process of westernalization that has trigged the reaction of the multiculturalism in the western societies in postmodernity. News about the future World’s Smallest GuitarImagine playing the world’s smallest guitar, with a laser for your guitar pick. Some nanotechnologists are strumming tiny strings this way – but there’s no jamming going on.Physicists at Cornell University have created a nanoscale “guitar” about as wide as a single red-blood cell. EU needs to set renewable energy targets for 2020, EEA head saysThe European Union needs to set renewable energy targets for 2020 to help cut greenhouse gas emissions and give energy markets long-term investment security, Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the EEA.“Lack of security for investors in renewables could lead to delays in retiring older fossil-fuel power stations, making it more difficult in turn for the EU to meet its commitments to cut emissions that are contributing to climate change,” Prof. McGlade said. Bioenergy at Wageningen University and Research Centre Bioenergy at Wageningen University and Research CentreBioenergy is produced from biobased resources. These are derived from biological origins within biological time such as plants, animal waste, and food processing residues. Biomass is a replenishable resource, this is in contrast with fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) that are derived from biological sources but in a geological timeframe (millions of years). By offsetting fossil fuel use and increassing the cultivation of carbon-fixing plants, a strong biobased products and bioenergy industry will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change. Wageningen UR has extensive research experience in the field of biobased products and bioenergy, including production, collection and storage of biomass, conversion to biofuels, and economic and environmental aspects of biomass utilisation. This experience enables Wageningen UR to deal with political, social and industrial topics related to biomass and bioenergy. To attain sustainability the approach taken at Wageningen UR is three-dimensional or “triple-P”, integrating Planet (environmental aspects), People (socio-economic impact), and Profit (commercial viability). Four key research themes built up the research infrastructure of biobased materials and bioenergy at Wageningen UR: Sustainable Biomass ProductionResearch on biomass production at Wageningen UR is known world wide because of its profoundness. It integrates multi-functional land use and economics of biomass crop production. Examples are the development of switchgrass as an energy crop in Europe, introduction of Willow, Miscanthus and Hemp as energy crops, and combination of land farming with willow. Biomass Logistics, PretreatmentAt Wageningen UR, research on collection and storage of biomass boosted the quality of biofuels. Development of rapid analysis methods to assess storability, quality and energy yield, as well as simulation and optimisation of the logistics of bio-energy chains play a keypart. Pre-treatment of biomass is a major challenge in utilizing biomass for the production of monomeric sugars, the starting point for production of bio-fuels such as ethanol. A combination of chemical and physical steps is used for size reduction, modification of the plant matrix to facilitate enzymatic hydrolysis. Challenges include the production of sugar-destructing inhibitors, the regeneration of stock chemicals, and the efficient utilisation of inorganic waste streams. Biofuel ProductionAt Wageningen UR, research discloses biomass conversion routes producing solid, fluid or gaseous bio-fuels that meet the requirements of industrial partners. The research ranges from metabolic engineering of microbial pathways, fermentation, product recovery, process development to research on implementation strategies. Examples of projects includes the production of ethanol and butanol for the automotive industry, value-adding to organic waste streams, production of solid biofuels from energy crops (e.g. switchgrass), and the production of bio-hydrogen for fuel cell applications. Bioenergy Chain AspectsAt Wageningen UR, policy research includes socio-economic impact of biofuel productions, public perception and ethical aspects of biomass utilization, as well as chain management. The sustainability of alternative fuels are studies form ‘cradle to grave’ (Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)). Recommended Book The Beginning and the End of ‘Religion’Nicholas LashWhat is the subject of theology? These fourteen essays argue against the view that “religion” is the name of one particular territory that we may consider or ignore if we feel so inclined. That “religion” is a subject quite different from others, such as politics, art, science, law and economics, is peculiar to modern Western culture. But Professor Lash states that the “modern” world is ending, and in the consequent confusion is the possibility of discovering new forms of ancient wisdom that the “modern” world obscured from view. Part I explores the dialogue between Christianity and Hinduism. Those essays in Part II (six were published between 1988 and 1994, and five are unpublished) consider relations between theology and science, the secularity of Western culture and questions of Christian hope or eschatology. Supporter of the Club of Amsterdam event about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology‘ on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 is: Q&A with Joep de Hart Joep de Hart, Scientific Worker, Social and Cultural Planning Office Club of Amsterdam: What is social capital and how does it relate to religion?Joep de Hart: Social capital refers to the capacity to work together in finding solutions for collective problems. The quality and quantity of social interactions are crucial for this. Religious communities contribute strongly to the building and preservation of social capital. International research has shown over and again that especially churchgoing people, among other things, donate more to charitable causes, are much more often active as volunteers or givers of informal care, subscribe stronger to pro-social values and give more importance to transferring these values to their children. It is not, incidentally, the content of people’s believes which appears to be the determinant factor, but rather the simple fact that they meet each other regularly; which gives them opportunities to appeal to each other for these kind of activities. Is the separation of state and church a must for a future Europe?Joep de Hart: The draft text of the European constitution is clearly a compromise. It contains no explicit reference to the Jewish-Christian legacy, but it does state that Europe is inspired by cultural, religious and humanistic traditions. That way it expresses that the Union has not just a economic identity, but that it is also a community of values, with religion as one of its important sources. Neither more nor less. And what’s more, it’s a point of view which is biblical: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”The richness of Europe consists in the variety of ethnic, cultural and religious traditions. How does the new Europe affect the role of the churches and religious communities?Joep de Hart: It is difficult to give a general answer. Clearly the future situation will be more like that in the Netherlands (or the US) than in for example Italy or Denmark. Countries will differ in their reaction to this, but not just countries, there will be differences between religious traditions and faith communities too. There are established churches and national churches (the Church of England, the Lutherans in Sweden), there are churches with worldwide pretentions (the Roman Catholic Church), and there are faith communities which have been familiar with an open religious ‘market’ for ages (for instance the Calvinist churches in the Netherlands). Club of Amsterdam Upcoming Events June 23, 2004 the future of Culture & Religion September 27, 2004 NanoWater January 26-28, 2005 Summit for the Future 2005
Club of Amsterdam Journal, June 2004, Issue 26
Content Q&A with Jacques Janssen about the future of Culture & Religion News about the Future Questionnaire about ‘the future of Architecture’ Recommended Book Club of Amsterdam Round Table: Homme Heida Upcoming Events Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Q&A with Jacques Janssen Prof. Jacques Janssen, Professor of Cultural Psychology and the Psychology of Religion, section of cultural psychology and psychology of religion, University of Nijmegen Club of Amsterdam: Does religion need its own social base in the support of one class or social grouping in order to survive?Jacques Janssen: Religions will survive as institutions allied with special groups: Christianity, Buddhism etcetera. The number of religious institutions will increase, the number of adherents for each institution will decrease (sectarisation). At the same time these institutions function as deliverers of religious products on an existential market and a lot of people who are not members of religious institutions ‘buy’ these products. Rodney Stark, a sociologist of religion, wrote: “For nearly three centuries, social scientists and assorted Western intellectuals have been promising the end of religion…. Modernization is seen as the causal engine dragging the gods into retirement…”. Is the scientific faith in the theory of secularization just wishful thinking?Jacques Janssen: Religion as an institution and religion as a basic human need are often confused. Of course institutions can change and even disappear. Basic human needs will stay and will eventually be realized in a different way. When religion is strictly defined as belief in a God (e.g. Pascal Boyer) religion is evolutionary seen as a frill, just like art: we have the capacity to do it, and we like it, but is avoidable. Boyer defines religion as “a probably, although by no means inevitable by-product of the normal operation of human cognition”. When religion is defined more generally as a basic need to understand and control existential problems, for instance the fear of death (as in the terror management theory), then it is seen as a direct result of evolution and necessary for survival. “Considering Europe, we can see that many individuals seem to set up some kind of “religious patchwork,” using various existing resources which they compose according to their own needs, views, and experiences.” [Liliane Voye] Is the coming religious age a private one?Jacques Janssen: Indeed individualization is an important phenomenon. But this does not mean that institutions are superfluous in an individualized society. Institutions are becoming more flexible. A good example is the temp agency. People have the idea that they just choose their job. They want to change jobs. This is highly individualised behaviour, but it is at the same time guided by an institution. The prevailing idea is that people who work for a temp agency are free. In my opinion this is ideology, but it works: people think they are free. To survive in modern culture religious institutions have to become more flexible. Jacques Janssen speaks at our Club of Amsterdam Event about‘the future of Culture & Religion‘ on Wednesday, June 23, 18:30-22:15! about the future of Culture & Religion Religion and state in the candidate countries to the European Unionby Balazs SchandaIn my paper I shall focus on the Central European region – Cyprus and Malta are in a very different situation from these countries. […]All the candidate countries of Central-Eastern Europe suffered communist governance for over four decades. Religious freedom was curtailed in them all. Certainly there were significant differences between countries and periods. Probably believers in the former Soviet Union suffered the most. The record for Czechoslovakia is definitely worse than that for Poland. Practices varied from open persecution to administrative harassment and discrimination with one common element: there was no religious freedom as such. Religious Freedom and New Religious Movements in Europeby Merudevi DasiEveryone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This is guaranteed in several legal documents, most importantly in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) (UDHR) and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). These articles allow us to hold any beliefs we desire, whether they are theistic, non-theistic or atheistic. The right to manifest these freedoms is only restricted in order to protect the fundamental rights of others.The emergence of ‘new religious movements’ (NRMs) in the West since the 1960s has put these articles to the test. Are all expressions of faith acceptable in our society, and how should we react to them? European countries have chosen to interpret freedom of religion and belief in diverse ways, and have adopted different strategies on how to deal with these NRMs. In this article we look at some of the developments in Europe in this regard, particularly in France. France is by no means unique in its approach towards NRMs, but it is well ahead in introducing restrictive legislation against them. News about the future Machine Learning (ML)Machine Learning (ML) is a general paradigm aiming at the estimation of the parameters of an unobserved system given observed samples (also called examples). As such, ML can replace and/or supplement the traditional development of hand-coded rule-based systems. A direct consequence is that ML can be used to acquire useful lexical information, since such information is usually obtained through rule application. Thus, ML is often seen as a solution to the data acquisition bottleneck.Xerox Research Centre Europe (XRCE) focuses on three main areas at the very heart of textual information access, and in which ML plays an important role. The first one deals with the automatic acquisition of relevant textual units and their typing according to a given set of types. The second one deals with the automatic acquisition of relevant links between these units. Lastly, the third one deals with the general problem of text categorization and clustering. Scaling up Drinking Water ServicesBy Junaid K. Ahmad, David Savage, and Vivek SrivastavaWorldwide there have been many successes in the delivery of drinking water services. The reform of Phnom Penh’s public utility in Cambodia and Cartaghena’s water privatization in Colombia are outstanding examples. But, there are also cases of dramatic failures – Cochabamba, Bolivia, or Bangladesh’s arsenic crisis. These successes and failures offer a host of lessons for reformers, but one stands out in particular: the success of service delivery depends on whether institutions of service provision are accountable to citizens. The challenge is thus “not to fix the pipes, but to fix the institutions that fix the pipes.” [World Bank: Development OUTREACH, Spring 2004] Questionnaire about ‘the future of Architecture’. At our recent Club of Amsterdam evening about ‘the future of Architecture‘ we asked the audience some questions: 1. Do you think current architecture is exciting? 64 % yes36 % no 2. Should a future architect have a different profile? 73 % yes9 % no 3. Do you think architects nowadays can show their creativity? 73 % yes18 % no 4. Is computational architecture going to improve quality of living? 82 % yes18 % no 5. Would you support a more user centric design of housing supported by computational architecture? 100 % yes0 % no 6. Do you think computational architecture will improve design creativity? 91 % yes0 % no 7. Would you be willing to pay more for a house if it is designed using upcoming computational design techniques? 45 % yes55 % no Recommended Book Europe Without Borders: Remapping Territory, Citizenship, and Identity in a Transnational Ageby Mabel Berezin (Editor), Martin Schain (Editor), John Agnew (Contributor)The creation of the European Union in 1992 reflected new economic, political, and cultural realities on the continent. The dissolution of national borders and the easing of transit restrictions on people and goods with Europe, have contributed to a radical rethinking of such basic concepts as national sovereignty and citizenship. In Europe without Boundaries, Mabel Berezin and Martin Schain bring together leading experts from the fields sociology, political science, geography, psychology, and anthropology to examine the intersection of identity and territory in the new Europe.In this boldly interdisciplinary effort about the impact of reconfiguration, contributors address such topics as how Europeans now see themselves in relation to national identity, whether they identify themselves as citizens of a particular country or as members of a larger sociopolitical entity, how both natives and immigrants experience national and transnational identity at the local level, and the impact of globalization on national culture and the idea of the nation-state. Theoretically sophisticated and empirically informed, the essays explore an emerging global phenomenon that will have profound political, social, and economic consequences in both Europe and around the world.Contributors: John Agnew, UCLA; Roland Axtmann, University of Aberdeen; Mabel Berezin, Cornell University; Neil Brenner, New York University; Craig Calhoun, New York University, President of the Social Science Research Council; Juan Diez-Medrano, University of California, San Diego; Roy Eidelson, University of Pennsylvania; Nicholas Entrikin, UCLA; Riva Kastoryano, Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales; Krishan Kumar, University of Virginia; Ian Lustick, University of Pennsylvania; Levent Soysal, New York University. Supporter of the Club of Amsterdam event about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology‘ on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 is: Club of Amsterdam Round Table: Homme Heida Homme Heida Cultural behaviourIf you have endured five years of Sunday school and decide to become a drop out, than it doesn’t mean you are religious enough to enter real life. On the contrary it is likely that you have reached a point of no believe. All those holy stories become suddenly fairy tales and you are on longer capable of taking them seriously. If more and more people have trouble with holy representatives of the all mighty who can produce thunder or walk on water or promise you at least seventy virgins after you die, that doesn’t mean religion becomes extinct. Not even when scientists and other intellectuals predict for centuries that rationality will be the absolute winner at the end. If we must accept the fact that religious behaviour has survived the enlightenment and that we easily combine a heathen tree with a catholic crib, that doesn’t mean we are tolerant Christians. Getting on your knees five times a day bowing in the right direction does not convince every new generation you are right. Being able to empty your mind in concentration will ease the tension but does not bring you prosperity. Are we then lost in a spiral of idle convictions? Is there no way to escape from this ever so penetrating phenomenon we call religion, believe, faith or fate? If next to sand, water, air and fire, now information is a fifth element, cannot we expect that all peoples will learn from each other and take the rituals they like and add them to the tree, the crib, the mat on which they concentrate, bow or move as slowly as they possibly can? And is it not likely that we then no longer talk about religion, but just call it global cultural behaviour? Club of Amsterdam Upcoming Events June 23, 2004 the future of Culture & Religion September 27, 2004 NanoWater January 26-28, 2005 Summit for the Future 2005
NanoWater, September 2004
pdf version The aim of the NanoWater conference is to examine how nanotechnology can help address the issues facing the world’s water supplies. According to Unesco, although 70 percent of the world’s surface is covered by water, only a fraction of that – 2.5 percent – is freshwater, of which 70 per cent is frozen in ice caps. The remainder is present as soil moisture. This leaves less than one per cent of the world’s freshwater resources accessible for human use. Nanotechnology, while providing only a few radical new technologies for desalination, purification or waste water recovery, does have the ability to tilt the economic balance of many existing water related technologies in favour of large scale use. NanoWater will provide insight on those nanotechnologies and how they can be leveraged into the Water Industry to make them not only economically feasible but desirable. September 27th 08:30-09:30 Registration 09:30 Opening and welcome SESSION 1: The Big Picture: Where Nanotechnology Gets Wet 09:40 Nanotechnology & Water: Revolutionary and Evolutionary Developments SPEAKER: Kevin M. McGovern, Chairman and CEO of McGovern Capital LLC 10:10 An Overview of the State of the Art in Nanotechnology and where it Provides Greater Efficiencies and Cost Reductions for the Water Industry SPEAKER: Tim Harper, CEO, Cientifica, Executive Director, European NanoBusiness Association 10:40 Examining the Applications of Nanotechnology within the Water Industry SPEAKER: Uri Sagman, Executive Director, Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance, Founder & Director, C Sixty Inc. 11:10 Coffee Break SESSION 2: Clean Water 11:30 Detection and Monitoring SPEAKER: Dr. Bob Carr, Chief Technology Officer, NanoSight 12:00 Contaminant Removal SPEAKER: David E. Reisner, President & CEO, The Nano Group, Inc, President & CEO, Inframat Corp., President & CEO, US Nanocorp, Inc. 12:30 Filtration SPEAKER: Fred Tepper, President, Argonide SESSION 3: Affordability 13:00 How Nanotechnology Can Introduce Economic Benefits and New Efficiencies: Will these be Incremental or Disruptive? SPEAKER: Dr. Ir. Jeroen Boom, Project Design and Build Manager for Membrane Filtration, Rossmark Waterbehandeling B.V. 13:30 GWRI’s Activities in Applying Nanotechnology to Water Processes SPEAKER: Professor Raphael Semiat, Director, The Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research Institute, Head, GWRI Rabin Desalination Laboratory, The Chemical Engineering Department, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology 13:30 Lunch Break 15:00 OPEN PRESENTATIONS (15-20 minute presentations):Nano and Micro Engineered Water Filtration MembranesSPEAKER: Dr. Cees J.M. van Rijn,General Manager, Aquamarijn Research BV SESSION 4: New Sources 16:30 Nanotechnology & Desalination SPEAKER: Dr. Eric Mayes, CEO, NanoMagnetics Ltd. 17:00 Nanotechnology & Groundwater SPEAKER: Dr. Philippe Rychen, Head of Environmental Systems, Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM SA) 17:30 Nanotechnology & Energy=Sustainable Water SPEAKER: Diederik Jaspers, Senior Consultant, Altran Technologies Netherlands BV 18:00 Conclusions and Open Discussion. 18:30 Close of conference Speakers’ Bios Dr. Ir. Jeroen BoomProject Design and Build Manager for Membrane Filtration, Rossmark Waterbehandeling B.V.The Netherlands Working ExperienceJanuary 1989 till May 1989Trainee period at Heineken Nederlands Beheer B.V., Zoeterwoude, The NetherlandsStudy of technical and economical feasability of clarification of beer by means of microfiltration. August 1989 till September 1990Master thesis conducted at the Research Group Membrane Technology, Faculty of Chemical Engineering; University of Twente.Study into the relation between molecular structure and gas separation properties of poly-oxadiazole and polytriazole membranes December 1989 till March 1990Research fellow at X-flow B.V., Enschede, The Netherlands.Synthesis and characterisation of poly-urethane membranes to be used as artificial skin.Synthesis and characterisation of asymmetric poly-imide ultrafiltration membranes. October 1990 till October 1994PhD study at the Reseach group membrane Technology, Faculty of Chemical Engineering; University of Twente.Promotors prof.dr.ir. C.A. Smolders and prof.dr. H. Strathmann.Promotion date 11 November 1994Improvement of polymeric membranes for the separation of liquids and gases by means of incorporation of zeolites and the moddeling of transport through these type of structures. February 1995 till March 1996Post-doctoral fellow at Institute of Physical Chemistry, National Research Centre Demokritos, Athens, Greece“Study on the diffusion of small molecules in glassy polymers” May 1996 till February 1998Consultant membrane technology at the foundation “Membrane Application Center Twente” Enschede, The Netherlands.Activities are: consultancy, feasibility studies, pilot studies and project management for the implementation of membrane technology in industrial processes. February 1998 till March 1999Director MACTbv.Continuation of the activities of Membrane Application Center Twente on a commercial basis. Besides the activities mentioned above acquisition and general management were a part of the function. March 1999 till nowProcess engineer at Rossmark, Ede, The NetherlandsDesign of water treatment installations based on conventional techniques as well as membrane technology. Supervision of pilot studies and PhD students. From October 2001manager of the Process Engineering dept.http://www.www.rossmark.nl Dr. Bob CarrChief Technology Officer, NanoSight UKDr Bob Carr is founder and CEO of Macranal Ltd having previously led an optical detection and biosensor Research Group at Porton Down for 19 years. Recently acting as lead coordinator for a DTI BEP programme on the exploitation of MicroSystems Technology in the Biosciences, Bob is a committee member of the Microsystems Manufacturing Association. Bob will be CTO post funding.http://www.nanosight.co.uk Kevin M. McGovernChairman and CEO of McGovern Capital LLCUSA Mr. McGovern’s firm, McGovern Capital, is one of three owners of the largest manufacturer and worldwide seller of carbon filters for air and water purification, KX Industries (KXI). KXI has developed a revolutionary nanotech microbiological water filter (MB) that incorporates anti-bacterial and anti-viral agents into its structure.http://www.mcgoverncapital.com Tim HarperCEO, CientificaExecutive Director, European NanoBusiness AssociationSpain Tim Harper is the founder of CMP Cientifica, Europe’s largest nanotechnology information company, the Executive Director of the European NanoBusiness Association and an advisor to the US NanoBusiness Alliance.Before founding CMP Cientifica, Tim was an engineer at the European Space Agency’s research and development centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. He managed the micro and nanoscale characterisation facility, and has published extensively on analytical techniques and characterization of advanced materials.Tim lives in Madrid, Spain, with his family, after working in the UK, US, Germany, and the Netherlands. Originally from the UK, he also speaks French, Spanish, and Dutch.http://www.cmp-cientifica.comhttp://www.nanoeurope.org Diederik JaspersSenior Consultant, Altran Technologies Netherlands BVThe Netherlands Diederik Jaspers was born in 1965 in The Netherlands. At the Delft University of Technology he studied Chemical Technology and graduated in 1991. He worked on inorganic and physical chemistry, and did research on ceramic membranes and solid oxide fuel cells. This resulted in three patents. After that he studied further at MBA, at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where he did technology and ICT management orientation (MBI). Currently, he is the Specialist Consultant in the Skill Center Sustainability and Hydrogen at Altran Technologies Netherlands BV.http://www.altran.net/nl Dr. Eric MayesCEO, NanoMagnetics Ltd.UK Eric founded then served as NanoMagnetics’ chief technology officer until being appointed CEO in 2003. Dr. Mayes brings seven years of experience in technical management and the commercialization of nanomaterials. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bath and a BS in Physics from Arkansas State University. He is the author of over a dozen refereed academic journal articles and eight primary patents, and also serves on the UK’s LINK Information Storage and Displays Programme panel to advise the DTI and EPSRC on information storage related funding. He was recently named ‘Entrepreneur of the Year 2003’ by the Royal Society of Chemistry.http://www.nanomagnetics.com David E. ReisnerPh.D.President & CEO – The Nano Group, IncPresident & CEO – Inframat Corp.President & CEO – US Nanocorp, Inc.USA Dr. David Reisner, a 1978 University Honors graduate from Wesleyan Univ, received his Ph.D. at MIT in 1983 in the field of chemical physics. In 1996, Reisner co-founded both Inframat® and US Nanocorp® as a vehicle to develop nanostructured materials technology. Since founding, Inframat and US Nanocorp have been funded over $20 MM in Government Contract R&D. Both Companies have been recognized in both Y2002 and Y2003 for their fast revenue growth as Deloitte & Touche Connecticut Technology Fast50 Award recipients, the first time that two companies under the same management have won as well as being the first two nanotech winners in the U.S. He is head of The Nano Group, Inc. a recently formed holding company. He is also Chairman of US Nanocorp’s commercialization spin off, Battery IntelligenceTM Incorporated. Reisner is very active on the Board of the Connecticut Venture Group and has recently joined the Board of the Connecticut Technology Council. He is a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. Reisner is serving a 3-year term as a Technology Pioneer for the World Economic Forum.http://www.inframat.comhttp://www.usnanocorp.com Dr. Philippe RychenHead of Environmental Systems, Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM SA)Switzerland Mr. Philippe Rychen, Swiss and French citizen, began his studies in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Technology in Strasbourg (France) in 1982 and continued in Aalen (D). In 1986 he received his degree in Chemical engineering (equivalent to master’s degree in Science) in Aalen (D). In 1987 He started his industrial career at Christ AG, CH-Aesch, a well-established water treatment company in Switzerland with international Businesses. He started in the company as a process engineer then he became responsible as R&D director. In parallel, during two years, he built up a brand new production facility for the production of a novel product (SEPTRON Moduls) developed in House under his direction. Before joining the CSEM team, he gained one year in Business development as a product manager at ZEOCHEM in Uetikon (CH), selling Molecular sieves (Zeolites) for the oil & gas process market. In 2000 he finally joined CSEM as a manager in order to develop the sensor and Nano-Diamond technology for the water treatment market. This activity will be spin-off CSEM beginning of 2005 in a start-up company called “Adamant Technology” under his direction.http://www.csem.ch/fs/water.htm Uri SagmanMD, FRCPCExecutive Director Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance (Toronto, Canada)Founder & Director, C Sixty Inc.Canada Dr. Sagman is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance, an association dedicated to the promotion of the nanotechnology sector in Canada. The Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance has a diverse membership, which includes representation of government agencies, academic centers of excellence, industry and the investment community. Dr. Sagman is cofounder and President of C Sixty Inc. At C Sixty, Dr. Sagman has recruited some of the world’s leading scientists, including the 1996 Nobel Prize awardee and co-discoverer of fullerenes, to advance the development of fullerene-based technology for biomedical applications. To that end, Dr. Sagman has enlisted a comprehensive R&D network, based at leading academic centers, which include Rice University, UCLA, Columbia University, Dartmouth University, the University of Toronto, Erlangen University in Germany, and the University of Taiwan. Dr. Sagman is the Chairman of GRN Health International Inc., a globally based academic research organization dedicated to medical research and development.Dr. Sagman is currently engaged in the development of strategies for National Nanotechnology Initiative programs in several countries, specializing in the development of paradigms for public and private sector alliances. In addition, Dr. Sagman’s efforts are focused on the application of nanotechnology to problems of global scope.Dr. Sagman is a medical oncologist, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and a fellowship recipient of the Medical Research Council of Canada. He is a recognized researcher in the field of clinical oncology, tumor biology and immunology. Dr. Sagman obtained his training at McGill University, The University of Calgary, The University of Toronto and Oxford University. Dr. Sagman is the recipient of numerous awards and citations including the Young Investigator awards of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). He has organized and participated as keynote speaker at numerous nanotechnology-based conferences. Dr. Sagman has been extensively profiled in numerous journal and press publications, including Time Magazine, Newsweek, the Economist, the New York Times, Red Herring, Technology Review, Chemical Engineering, the National Post, the Houston Chronicle, and The Toronto Star amongst others.http://www.nanobusiness.ca Fred TepperPresident, ArgonideUSA Fred is a former Vice President for the Mine Safety Appliance Company (MSA) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When he retired in 1996, he had almost 40 years with MSA, starting out as a chemist/materials scientist in respiratory filter development and water purification. In 1970 he was promoted to General Manager of the Catalyst Research Corp, where he led the team that developed the long life lithium pacemaker battery. He was promoted again to General Manager of the Instrument Division of MSA that included several additional profit centers including the Callery Chemical Company. While his responsibilities covered all the facets of a profit center (manufacturing, marketing, accounting), Fred was never far from the research lab.http://www.argonide.com Professor Raphael SemiatDirector, The Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research InstituteHead, GWRI Rabin Desalination Laboratory, The Chemical Engineering Department, Technion – Israel Institute of TechnologyIsrael Research Topics Water TechnologyDesalination using evaporation and membrane processes. Development of scale free desalination evaporator. Problems of membranes fouling, pre and post treatment. Uses of membranes for water quality problems and waste treatment. Separation ProcessesDevelopment of improved method for phase separation in liquid-liquid settlers.Modeling of liquid-liquid settlers. Investigation of effective properties of concentrated suspensions. Mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement. Membrane processes.Crystalliztion. Nano crystallization. Industrial ProjectDouble falling film evaporator for solution concentration.Crystallization of aluminum chloride.Water treatments. Optical measurements techniquesUse of Laser Doppler Velocimetry for two phase-flow.Development of Laser Grating Velocimetry technique for relatively large particles.Study of liquid-liquid jet breakup by laser grating velocimetry.Study of drops motion in printing heads.Shear induced migration in concentrated slurries.http://wri.technion.ac.ilhttp://www.technion.ac.il/rdl
Club of Amsterdam Journal, May 2004, Issue 25
Content Q&A with Jelle Feringa about the future of Architecture News about the Future Media Lab Europe Recommended Book Paul Holister Upcoming Events Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Q&A with Jelle Feringa Jelle Feringa, Architect, researcher, EZCT Architecture & Design Research Club of Amsterdam: What is EZCT?Jelle Feringa: EZCT was created in 1999 and is an architectural research practice formed by an international and multi-disciplinary team. Due to the ever-increasing complexity of science and technology, EZCT uses new methodologies that are defined by cross-disciplinary interactions. As such EZCT established a network organization that allows specialized inputs and active involvements of outsourced theoreticians and academics. This rather unusual structure leads to an approach that considers architecture and design as a form of scientific research, as well as a part of a technological convergence process and information flux. What are you researching in the context of EZCT?Architecture occupied itself traditionally with the production of descriptions; drawings. By producing digital architecture we produce definitions; code which is not interpret by a person, but by a machine. In digital architecture architectural intentions are however still defined in lines, surfaces and volumes. Computational architecture defines these intentions in code instead of geometry. In many so called blob architecture projects, the relation between architectonic intention and resulting form seems rather indirect. In computational architecture, an absolute relation exists between intention and resulting form. Architecture is formalizing an intention and this is exact what you do writing code. Jelle Feringa speaks at our Club of Amsterdam Event about‘the future of Architecture’ on Wednesday, May 19, 18:30-22:15! about the future of Architecture Green Building StudioGreen Building Studio, a web service provided by GeoPraxis, Inc ., is the world’s first web service that gives 3D-CAD users quick, reliable, and free estimates of a building’s energy costs during the early stages of conceptual design.Behind the scenes, Green Building Studio relies on a proprietary data management architecture and a voluminous but tightly integrated system of relational databases containing hourly weather data, design data, and regionally relevant libraries of default building characteristics with common energy code baselines. Exploring a Virtual Futureby Pete Evans, AIAThe architecture profession is challenged by digital technologies on many fronts. Some of these technologies expand the way we practice and what we build. Some even reduce society’s reliance on built architecture. Yet the pace of change can be overwhelming and may tempt us to take too a narrow view of these issues.How do we appropriately embrace substantial changes digital technology is bringing to the practice, product, and teaching of architecture? How can we prepare for even larger and more unpredictable challenges in the future?I believe we need to broaden our understanding of practice to include the tools, methods, and knowledge of other fields. We can get a glimpse of that future by looking at how some architects are already exploring it. News about the future White Box RoboticsWhite Box Robotics is a group of visionaries with their sights set on dynamic commercial robotic products. White Box Robotics mission is to become an industry leader and innovator of PC based mobile robotic platforms for the entertainment, educational, and personal robotics industry.White Box Robotics has been working very closely with VIA Technologies, Inc. to create and define an entirely new industry called PC-BOTS. These robots are powered by an industry standard VIA Mini-ITX mainboard. This mainboard along with other hardware (hard drives, CD-Burners, DVD drives, web cams, etc.) are then installed in the White Box Robotics 912 mobile platform. The end result is an amazingly high-tech, functional mobile robot! Center for Chemical Hydrogen StorageAccording to Thomas J. Meyer, Associate Director for Strategic Research at Los Alamos, “Hydrogen storage has been a key technical barrier to developing a hydrogen economy in the United States. This new partnership will bring together expert researchers from the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories, with industry and academia experts to develop the science and technology needed to enable chemical hydrogen storage.”The new center is a step toward the development of a “hydrogen economy” — an economy based not on the fossil fuels we use today, but on clean, abundant hydrogen fuels. Media Lab Europe Media Lab Europe Leveraging the innovative and entrepreneurial operating model of the world renowned MIT Media Lab, Media Lab Europe adopts an interdisciplinary approach to developing new ways in which technologies can expand human potential.Media Lab Europe was founded in July 2000 as a collaborative venture between the Irish Government and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Modeled on the Media Laboratory at MIT, Media Lab Europe was established as a hybrid between academia and the corporate world, to create a unique new centre of excellence in digital technologies. Some research areas: Adaptive Speech Interfaces The Adaptive Speech Interface group explores new ways for humans to interact with complex systems. We are exploring the use of multiple, coordinated, parallel modalities, with an emphasis on speech and language used together with more traditional tools such as keyboards and mice. Humans communicate with each other using many simultaneous modes, such as language, gesture, poise, etc. We believe that communication with machines will be facilitated by allowing a richer palette of interaction channnels operating simultaneously. We do this already, when we grumble threateningly at the computer, pointing to its error, saying “Don’t do that!!! I wanted you to put that there!!”. Someday, the computer will apologize and then do the right thing! Human Connectedness Humans have a fundamental need for contact with other humans. Our interactions and relationships with other people form a network that supports us, makes our lives meaningful, and ultimately enables us to survive. The Human Connectedness research group explores the topic of human relationships and how they are mediated by technology. Our mission is to conceive a new genre of technologies and experiences that allow us to build, maintain, and enhance relationships in new ways. We also aim to enable new kinds of individual bonds and communities that were not possible before but may be beneficial or fun. Story Networks Imagine the stories we would tell, if we could construct video movies as easily and playfully as we now use spoken language. The Story Networks group explores storymaking principles and technologies that enhance cinematic story creation and sharing as activities of intelligent play and seeks to discover the empowering and framing constraints of designing these experiences for digital delivery over emerging networks in contemporary social contexts. Research complements, informs and is informed by research on Media Fabrics at the Interactive Cinema group at the MIT Media Lab. Recommended Book Asymptote: Fluxby Lise Anne Couture (Author), Hani RashidAsymptote, an award-winning New York City-based architectural firm, expands the boundaries of traditional practice with work that ranges from buildings and urban design to computer-generated environments. Recognized internationally as both cutting-edge architects and virtual-reality artists, Asymptote partners Lise Anne Couture and Hani Rashid have designed and written the first book to document their ‘real world’ (as opposed to virtual) projects completed since 1995. It includes work as diverse as a trading floor for the New York Stock Exchange; a multimedia research park in Kyoto, Japan; a modular furniture system for Knoll; and a centre for art and technology for the Guggenheim Museum in Soho, New York.Rashid and Couture’s work is intriguing because it draws inspiration from a wide range of sources not traditionally associated with architecture – among them the design of airline interiors, sporting equipment, and organic systems like seashells and honeycombs; and various means of communicating and disseminating information. Asymptote presents a seamless trajectory of projects organized in a non-linear fashion and illustrated with installation photographs, collaged photographs, and computer-generated diagrams and environments. The projects are interspersed with descriptive text and the speculative writing that Asymptote is known for.Both partners combine architectural practice with teaching, Rashid at Columbia University and Couture at Columbia and Parsons School of Design. Supporter of the Club of Amsterdam event about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology‘ on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 is: Paul Holister Paul Holister, CMP Cientifica (Research Director, director, shareholder); Cientifica (CIO/CTO, director, shareholder, co-founder); European NanoBusiness Association (Research Director, co-founder). The opportunity to write something on a future-related subject of one’s own choosing offers up an embarrassment of riches for anyone who has been close to technological developments of late. These days the future’s not so much bright as kaleidoscopic. Given the growing fashion for prognostication, and efforts to approach the future systematically and proactively, maybe a cautionary note is in order. This particular note concerns our tendency to underestimate complexity, especially in biological systems. Artificial intelligence offers a classic example. The 1950s saw predictions of the imminent arrival of computers that could understand natural language. Yet decades after that dream was supposed to have been realised, Sony is boasting a robot that can, er, jog. Don’t even think about striking up a conversation with it. And mastering bipedal perambulation is a universe away from making a machine you can chat with. Consider the following exchange. He says, “I’m leaving you.”She says, “Who is she?” Got the picture? Sure you have – it’s simple. No it isn’t, it’s hugely complex. Think about it. We make the mistake not just with the brain but biological systems in general. For how many decades has a cure for cancer been just a few years away? And why hasn’t the mapping of the human genome produced the torrent of treatments that some predicted? Because life is rarely as simple as we imagine it. There’s more to genes than just genes (and ‘junk’ DNA was such a convenient simplification; pity it was wrong). So to those who suggest we will soon be able to build computers more intelligent than ourselves, tell them to come back when they’ve built a robot as sophisticated as an ant. To those who suggest that our growing ability to manipulate the world at the molecular level will automatically lead to a cure for cancer or even aging, tell them to come back when we’ve found a cure for the common cold, baldness and chronic acne. Never forget that we are here as a result of Mother Nature running billions of parallel experiments over billions of years. That’s one helluva R&D effort to match. Club of Amsterdam Upcoming Events May 19, 2004 the future of Architecture June 23, 2004 the future of Culture & Religion September 27, 2004 NanoWater January 26-28, 2005 Summit for the Future
Club of Amsterdam Journal, May 2004, Issue 24
Content Q&A with Kas Oosterhuis about the future of Architecture News about the Future International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design Questionnaire about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology’ Recommended Book Round Table: Claudia Rodriguez Upcoming Events Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Q&A with Kas Oosterhuis Kas Oosterhuis, Architect, Professor, Technical University Delft Club of Amsterdam: How do you make use of real-time data in your architecture? What are the parameters you address, how do these interact with the building?Kas Oosterhuis: All the work of ONL [oosterhuis_lénárd] is based on parametric concepts and design. Parametric design basically means the building of relations between all actors in real time. Actors are the building elements, but also the users of a building. Building relations in the end means building communication between a building and their users, between various building elements, between one building and another building, between buildings and other vehicles digesting information. Anything can connect to anything as long as they send and recieve data in real time. The parameters are created by being there and doing your thing, sensored by a variety of input devices into the communication processing system. What is the agenda of the hyperbody research group? What specific knowledge is being developed here?Kas Oosterhuis: The Hyperbody Research Group [HRG] main topic is to develop tools for collaborative design and engineering and prototypes for programmable architecture. The HRG uses game development software because that software is prepared to work in a multi-player fashion. many stakeholders in the design process are connecting to one continuously evolving reference model in real time. When the designer / stylist proposes a change in the geometry, the engineer will immediately see the changes in the proliferation of forces, and vice versa. Other stakeholders we are building interfaces for are: the ecologist [calculating in real time the diffusion of light and heat], and the economist [calculating in real time the costs and return on investment of the building body in progress. Not only has the digital paradigm changed the way you conceive architecture, it’s also changing the way your projects are executed. Can you elaborate on how you regained control over a building process?Kas Oosterhuis: ONL [oosterhuis_lénárd] has developed an effective file to factory [F2F] process to control the execution of the project. The parametric 3d model of the designer connects directly to the machines cutting, welding and bending the raw material. ONL has written in-houde special procedures, routines and scripts to extract the data from the point cloud geometry of the design proposal into a database which is scrutinized by another script at the manufacturers end. The Saltwaterpavilion [partly], th WEB , the TT Monument, and now the Cockpit and the Acoustic Barrier are all built according to the F2F process. ONL now controls both the geometry and the budget. ONL is able to build complex non standard geometries within standard budgets. Kas Oosterhuis speaks at our Club of Amsterdam Event about‘the future of Architecture‘ on Wednesday, May 19, 18:30-22:15! about the future of Architecture Archigram, the Original BlobmeisterWill Alsop: “This fantastic, hovering blob will be Archigram’s revenge for its many earlier disappointments, for competition-winning schemes that were never realised. […] And to me it is Archigram at its best. […] At last we will have a building worthy of their true spirit, albeit 35 years too late. Of course part of Archigram’s potency was its ability to initiate by going beyond what was possible, and some might argue that its ideas and messages were not intended to be built. But I believe the fact that this will be built, after so long, gives credibility to Archigram’s mid ’60s predictions. The amorphous quality of the form, internally and externally, manages to escape the language of a building type, which was one of the major points of Archigram in the twentieth century.” SmartGeometryThe SmartGeometry Group aims to furthering advanced education and research in the area of advanced 3D CAD applications. The group is dedicated to educating the construction professions in the new skills which will be required to use new systems effectively. The SmartGeometry Group includes Lars Hesselgren (KPF), Hugh Whitehead (Foster and Partners), J Parrish (Arup Sport) and Robert Aish (Bentley) They all have background in parametric modelling as applied to architecture and their work has resulted in some of the most admired buildings of the 21st century – Swiss Re and GLA in London, the Sydney Olympic Stadium in Sydney, the Waterloo International Station. News about the future EU Changing City Spaces: New Challenges to Cultural Policy in Europe“We explore new social and cultural dynamics in Europe, with particular reference to migration, xenophobia and multiculturalism. We propose that an innovative way of addressing contemporary change in Europe is through a metropolitan perspective. Our research centres on seven cities – London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Ljubljana, Belgrade. It addresses questions of multiculturalism within the urban space, and also the growth of new transnational flows and nexuses between cities. The empirical focus is on culture: new cultural practices, developments in cultural industries, the status of cultural policies.” NASA’s advanced “spaceship” — Starship 2040 “Starship 2040” is a full-sized, hands-on mock-up of what a spacecraft might be like 40 years from now. The exhibit demonstrates NASA’s vision for a space-age future – based on concepts and technologies now being studied.Housed in a dramatic 48-foot tractor and trailer rig, “Starship 2040” is touring the nation with stops at major events in several cities over the coming months. It will be open for visitors to experience future technologies and commercial opportunities in space.Visitors will see the control, passenger and engineering compartments of a giant spacecraft and learn first-hand how NASA and its partners are building a highway to space.Automated vehicle health monitoring systems, high-energy propulsion drives, navigational aids, safety systems and emergency systems are also featured. International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design The International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design (ISCID) is a cross-disciplinary professional society that investigates complex systems apart from external programmatic constraints like materialism, naturalism, or reductionism. The society provides a forum for formulating, testing, and disseminating research on complex systems through critique, peer review, and publication. Its aim is to pursue the theoretical development, empirical application, and philosophical implications of information- and design-theoretic concepts for complex systems. Complex systems research involves investigating the origin of systems with multiple interacting parts whose collective behavior cannot be simply inferred from the behavior of the individual components. In addition, complex systems research considers how parts of a system give rise to the collective behaviors of the system, and how the system interacts with its environment. Some example problems for complex system research are: How the neurons of the brain give rise to consciousness and other mental activitiesHow the individual parts of a society give rise to an economyHow non-life gives rise to the first living systemHow molecules control and regulate the development of whole organisms Research in complex systems concerns the nature and consequences of interactions and non-linearities in systems of many objects. The field of complex systems cuts across all traditional disciplines of science, as well as engineering, management, and medicine. Complex systems includes topics such as artificial life, cellular automata, chaos, criticality, evolutionary computation, fractals, parallel computation, self-organization, and others. Questionnaire about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology At our recent Club of Amsterdam evening about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology‘ we asked the audience some questions: 1. Are you satisfied with the current healthcare situation in The Netherlands? 33 % yes67 % no 2. Do you think the government should spend more money for ICT in healthcare? 67 % yes17 % no 3. Do you agree that technology in healthcare will improve the quality of life? 92 % yes0 % no 4. Should there be done more to empower the patient? 100 % yes0 % no 5. Would you like health data and medical record online? 83 % yes17 % no 6. Does the government – in your impression – know and follow the right path for the future in healthcare? 25 % yes67 % no 7. There is new EU without borders – do you prefer also a united EU healthcare market? 75 % yes17 % no Recommended Book Towards a New Architectureby Le CorbusierThis pioneering proclamation by the great architect expounds Le Corbusier’s technical and aesthetic theories, views on industry, economics, the relation of form to function, “mass-production spirit,” and much more. Profusely illustrated with over 200 line drawings and photographs of Le Corbusier’s buildings and other important structures. Supporter of the Club of Amsterdam event about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology’ on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 is: Round Table: Claudia Rodriguez Claudia Rodiguez, founder & ceo, contineaEconomics and education are the main drivers of demand for sustainable architecture and design. Heating, cooling and lighting of buildings represent a significant portion of all energy consumed in the industrialized world. Rising resource costs and the opportunity to improve the efficiency of building energy use are creating a huge demand for sustainable building in the marketplace. In response to this demand, improved building designs make use of natural lighting and ventilation; new technologies such as efficient appliances and light fixtures reduce energy consumption; and new construction materials and processes such as high performance insulation are achieving a higher level of thermal comfort and reducing the impact of buildings on the environment and human health. Cost savings come not only from lower electric bills, but from water conservation, waste minimization, low-impact use of land and improved indoor air quality. Education is also a key factor to moving architecture projects toward sustainability. As people become aware of the economic, environmental and health benefits of sustainable approaches they seek ways to embrace these strategies into their projects. With the combination of high-performance design, improved efficiency, economic benefits and increased awareness, there is little doubt that sustainable building will become a more fundamental factor in the future of Architecture. Club of Amsterdam Upcoming Events May 19, 2004 the future of Architecture June 23, 2004 the future of Culture & Religion
the future of Culture & Religion, June 2004
pdf version SupporterPricewaterhouseCoopers TO BE AND NOT TO BEAbout religion and God in a secularised society We live in a paradoxical world. Numerous religions and cultures provide people a sense of belonging and identity. At the same time they alienate people from themselves and each other. In Western Europe the historical religious institutions evaporate. Societies and daily life secularise continuously. At the same time religions live on as a wide variety of products, presented on a market of well-being, tailored to the personal needs of individuals. In each bookstand, at street corners and in railway stations, spirituality is a major topic. Four central questions arise: Can religion survive without the domain of the institutes? More and more churches are being used for differed purposes. Is there a critical size for religious communities? Can the actions of politicians and moreover world leaders be legitimised by their religious convictions? Is separation of state and church becoming a world standard? What are people in the future looking for, spiritually wise? Is there an overkill of religious and spiritual supply in modern society? Will all those different rituals widen the gap between groups and people? Is it a too easy playing field for sectarian organisations? What is the meaning of Muslims in Europe for the secularised western culture? The individualised experience of religious activities went far. Islamite newcomers bring in a total different set of standards. How do we think about freedom of religion and scholarship and acceptance of Muslims in general now? Has religion evolutionary roots or is it a temporally phenomenon in human behaviour? Is religion an inevitable thing for the human kind that survives anyhow? Or is it just a sideshow that does not really matter and will eventually disappear? You can download the presentations by: Jacques Janssen [*.doc] Ruud Peters [*.doc] Anton van Harskamp [*.doc] 18:30 – 19:30Registration, drinks, snacks, networking & great music featuring Russian singer Marynka Nicolai and her band ‘Some Lovely Girls’! 19:30 Welcome by our Host Homme Heida 19:45 Part I: Floor Wittink, saxophone Soliloguy…Pinter (1998) for altosaxophone solo by Shane Fage (*1964, Canada) British Playwright Harold Pinter is famed for the invention of a rather unusual theatrical construct…..the Pinter pause. At the ends of lines of text (in the script), Pinter will often include a series of periods which are intended to give the actor a sense of how long his or her “pause?should be. In other words, each period may represent a moment of silence which can be as long as a second, or even 2. Ultimately, this pause can be as long as 10 to 15 seconds. The reason Pinter uses these pauses is that he wishes to create an atmosphere of incredible tension…not just for the actors on stage, but more importantly for the people sitting in the audience. 10 minutes each for Jacques Janssen, Professor of Cultural Psychology and the Psychology of Religion, section of cultural psychology and psychology of religion, University of Nijmegen Joep de Hart, Scientific Worker, Social and Cultural Planning Office Anton van Harskamp, Professor, Social and Cultural Antropology, VU Amsterdam Rudolph Peters, Professor, Faculty of Humanities, University Amsterdam Floor Wittink, saxophone Billie (2003), for alto saxophone and ghetto blaster by Jacob ter Veldhuis (*1951, The Netherlands) Billie is about the life of Billie Holiday; her struggle with drugs, discrimination and her love for music. Jacob ter Veldhuis used samples of Billie’s voice and added rhythm and melody (played by the saxophone) to give her words a new dimension. The result is a fascinating dialogue between Billie and altosaxophone. 20:45 Coffee break 21:15 Part II: Panel with the Speakers and our Host Homme Heida. The panel is followed by an open discussion. Jacques Janssen Professor of Cultural Psychology and the Psychology of Religion, section of cultural psychology and psychology of religion, University of Nijmegen Jacques Janssen is professor in the psychology of culture and religion, University of Nijmegen. He got his Ph.D. in 1978 on a study on student activism. Published books and articles on youth culture and the survival of religion in secularized society. Recently he is doing psychological research on praying, meditation and religious experience in line with the new cognitive science of religion. http://www.socsci.kun.nl/psy/cultuurenpersoon Joep de Hart Social and Cultural Planning Office Joep de Hart is a senior researcher at the Dutch Social and Cultural Planning Office. His Ph.D. (University of Nijmegen) was on the religiosity of Dutch youth. His publications include books on youth subcultures, religion, time budget surveys, social participation after retirement, public opinion and morals, social cohesion and civil society. http://www.scp.nl Anton van Harskamp Professor, Social and Cultural Antropology, VU Amsterdam Anton van Harskamp is researcher at the Blaise Pascal Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and professor at the same university teaching on religion, identity and civil society. Got his Ph.D. in 1968 at the University of Nijmegen. He published on 19th century theology, social theory and the Soah. Recent publications are on secularization, new religiosity and (Christian) fundamentalism. http://www.vu.nl http://www.bezinningscentrum.nl Rudolph Peters Professor, Faculty of Humanities, University Amsterdam Rudolph Peters (1943) teaches Islamic studies and Islamic law at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam. He has published extensively on Islamic law (both its history and its present-day application) and on the political aspects of Islam. From 1982 to 1987 he was the director of the Netherlands Institute for Archaeology and Arabic Studies in Cairo, Egypt. His dissertation, Islam and Colonialism: the doctrine of jihad in modern history (1979) analysed the modern interpretations and the mobilizing force of the jihad doctrine. http://www.uva.nl Homme Heida Homme Heida is a generalist by heart, who worked as a journalist for several mass media like Algemeen Dagblad, Tros Aktua and publishing group VNU. After ten years he started his own bureau Promedia: company journalism, which slowly changed into business journalism. Now back again with larger media, he is editor-in-chief of Global Dutch, a magazine for Dutch entrepreneurs, who are active in foreign countries. Homme Heida has a continuing interest in a more philosophical approach of ‘being there’. His views on the future are very much based on new technologies. “Humans change only slowly by evolution. Technology will speed it up”, he argues. His credo is: ‘living body and soul’, which means to him a sportive challenge as well as an intellectual one. From the Amsterdam marathon till the Club of Amsterdam. Floor Wittink Floor Wittink (1976, the Netherlands) studied classical saxophone with Karel Bruin and Johan van der Linden. During her study, Floor has had masterclasses from Arno Bornkamp, Claude Delangle and others. After earning her Second Phase degree in 2002 she studied three months at the Banff Centre of the Arts in Canada. At the Banff Centre Floor worked with resident composers and musicians, focusing on contemporary music. As a result of inspiring artistic collaborations, the idea was born to record a solo cd. Her study in Canada had not been possible without the Henri Fock fund. Currently, Floor is playing in the Esquire Saxophone Quartet and with the pianist Marina Grigorowicz. Besides playing chamber music, Floor freelances in orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. http://www.esquiresaxofoonkwartet.nl Shane Fage Shane Fage (*1964, Winnipeg) is a Canadian composer of orchestral and chamber works (including music for film and documentary) that have been successfully performed in North America and Europe. Mr. Fage began his formal musical training at the University of Calgary and has completed his MMus in composition (which he studied with Allan Gordon Bell, David Eagle and William Jordan). During the course of his studies, he was the recipient of the Province of Alberta Graduate Scholarship, the Dean’s Special Master’s Scholarship, three graduate research scholarships, a Graduate Teaching Assistantship, and the Louise McKinney Prize. He has been a composer-in-residence at the Banff Centre several times and was the faculty ensemble coordinator for summer residents in 1999. He was a guest lecturer at the Esther Honens International Piano Competition and participated at the Krzysztof Penderecki Symposium and Festival in Kraków. He was also a liaison between the Banff Centre and the Penderecki family from 1998-2000. Mr. Fage was one of fifteen accepted to attend the International Young Composers Meeting and competition in Apeldoorn, Holland in 2000. He was also one of the winners of the Ottawa International String Quartet Festival’s Strings of the Future Composition Competition in 2001 and his String Quartet No. 1 was chosen for public reading by the Arditti String Quartet. His works have been performed by numerous Canadian and European ensembles and soloists, including the Arditti String Quartet, the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, ensemble de ereprijs, the Gelders Fanfare Orchestra, the National Youth Concert Band of Canada, cellist Shauna Rolston, and the Satie Quartet, among others. Jacob ter Veldhuis Jacob ter Veldhuis (1951) began his career in rock music, studied composition and electronic music at the Groningen Conservatory and was awarded the Dutch Composition Prize in 1980. He made a name for himself during the 1980s with melodious and effectful compositions, straight from the heart. From his past as a rock musician he kept his interest in sound and a lively stage presentation as means of expression. He is a virtuoso in using electronics and sampling techniques involving items like the Gulf War, Chet Baker or the Jerry Springer Show, as can be heard on his new CD Heartbreakers, a colourful mixture of ‘high and low culture’. Sold out concerts last year in Rotterdam during the four day ‘Jacob ter Veldhuis Festival’ show the growing reputation of this composer. His Goldrush Concerto became a hit, as well as the Third Quartet. Several choreographers like Hans van Manen were inspired by his music. Still a controversial figure amongst some established exponents of Dutch musical life, he has become one of the most frequently performed composers of the Netherlands today. He makes a stand against the ‘faded avant-garde’ and tries to escape from the isolated new music getto by writing in a straight – sometimes even provocative – style , banning the ‘worn out dissonant’, a completely devalued means of expression to his ears. His ‘coming out’ as a composer of ‘ultra tonal’ sugar-spiced music, has been brought to a temporary climax in the video oratorio Paradiso. At the moment ter Veldhuis is working on orchestral works for the Residentie Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
the future of Architecture – Architecture, a new kind of Science? / May 2004
Club of Amsterdam pdf version SupportersPricewaterhouseCoopersSurprising Switzerland Architecture and scientific research are assimilating into a new architecture. Methods such as generative and evolutionary design are changing the way architects plan and shape the future. What does the computational paradigm bring to architecture? The Club of Amsterdam invites leading researchers and designers in this field to clarify the implication of their work. 18:30 – 19:30Registration, drinks, snacks, networking and live music by Salvatore, the s(w)inging cook from Abbuffata! 19:30 Welcome by our Host Philippe-Marie Morel, Architect, theoretician, EZCT Architecture & Design Research, Paris 19:45 Part I: The Speakers are: Jelle Feringa, Architect, researcher, EZCT Architecture & Design Research, Amsterdam Kas Oosterhuis, Architect, Professor, Technical University Delft Ludger Hovestadt, Professor for Architecture and CAAD, ETH, Zurich 20:45 Coffee break 21:15 Part II: Panel with Keynote Speakers and the Challengers Flip Wegner, Partner, Eden Design & Communication Remko Scha, Professor for Computational Linguistics, University of Amsterdam and our Host Philippe-Marie Morel. The panel is followed by an open discussion. Jelle Feringa Architect, researcher, EZCT Architecture & Design Research, Amsterdam As a partner in EZCT based in Amsterdam Jelle is focussing on the research EZCT is conducting on the relation between computation and architecture, accumulating in the upcoming publication ‘Computational Architecture’. By this research EZCT is developing a close relation to scientists in fields such as evolutionary design, cad/cam and mathematics. EZCT has held workshops at university Malaquias, Paris and more recently at the technical university Delft, and has been participating in the ‘Architecture Non Standard’ and ‘Performative Architecture’ exhibitions earlier this year. In terms of research Jelle is focussing on dissolving the computational gap between conception and production, researching an integral approach to computing architecture. http://www.ezct.net Kas Oosterhuis Architect, Professor, Technical University Delft Architect kas oosterhuis and visual artist ilona lénárd are directors of the multidisciplinary design office ONL, where architects, visual artists, web designers and programmers work together and join forces, practicing the fusion of art, architecture and technique on a digital platform · ONL is an office where reality and virtuality meet · The portfolio of ONL exists of a variety of projects in divergent fields of experience · This includes housing projects, exhibition pavilions, corporate business buildings, city planning tools, online experiences, interactive installations, theoretical studies and much more · ONL has won many national and international awards for the realized buildings: the Garbagetransferstation elhorst/vloedbelt, the saltwaterpavilion, and the web of north-holland · http://www.oosterhuis.nl Flip Wegner Partner, Eden Design & Communication Philippe Wegner is partner of Eden Design & Communication, a leading design consultancy in corporate and consumer identity development, communication strategy and e-media, He studied industrial design at the University of Technology in Delft and was one of the first dutch designers active in the field of user interface design. After his study he worked for six years at Philips corporate design where the merge of the physical and virtual domain was an important theme in a number of advanced development projects in which he participated. These varied from electronic workplaces to environmental control within offices by means of ubiqitous computing. Philippe also participated in the development of the Interaction Design curriculum for the Utrecht School of the Arts. Later on he lectured New Media at the Rietveld Academy and was one of the masters at the Roelof Kiers masterclass organised by the VPRO and the Berlage Institute. Subject was the exploration of the relationships between Media and Architecture. At the moment he combines Eden with lecturing at CMD (Communication & Multimedia Design) at Avans Higher Professional Education Breda. http://www.edendesign.nl Ludger Hovestadt Professor for Architecture and CAAD, ETH, Zurich Ludger Hovestadt has been full professor for Architecture and CAAD since July 1, 2000 at the ETH Zurich and partner in the firm Digitales Bauen in Karlsruhe (D). He was born in 1960 in Gelsenkirchen (D) and studied architecture at the RWTH in Aachen (D) and at the HfG in Vienna (A) under Professor Holzbauer. Upon completion of his Diploma in 1987, he worked as a scientific researcher with Professor F. Haller and Prof. N. Kohler at the Technical University Karlsruhe (D) and received his doctorate there in 1994. Between 1997 and 2000, Dr. Hovestadt was a visiting professor for the department ³CAAD² at the University of Kaiserslautern (D). He has expertise in various disciplines (Architecture, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Mathematics, Cognition Psychology) and has carried out research and development in the areas of CAD, Artificial Intelligence, Multimedia, Virtual Reality, Computer Supported Co-operative Work and Intelligent Building. In 1998, he co-founded Digitales Bauen, a company which focuses on internet based building documentation, building programming, computer supported individualised building component production, and the integration of building automation, facility management and eCommerce. http://www.caad.arch.ethz.ch Remko Scha Professor for Computational Linguistics, University of Amsterdam Remko Scha studied Physical Engineering at the Technological University of Eindhoven. He managed research projects in Language Technology and Artificial Intelligence at Philips’ Research Laboratories (Eindhoven), and BBN Laboratories (Cambridge, Mass.). Currently, he is Professor of Computational Linguistics at the Institute of Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) of the University of Amsterdam. Remko Scha has built an automatic electric guitar band (“The Machines”), designed an image generation algorithm (“Artificial”) and developed a theory about language processing (“Data-Oriented Parsing”). In the Institute of Artificial Art Amsterdam (IAAA) he collaborates with Arthur Elsenaar, Jochem van der Spek and others on algorithmic approaches to art, music and theatre. In their joint venture Artificial Design BV, Remko Scha and Jos de Bruin investigate the possibilities of automatic design in graphics and architecture. For Eric Vreedenburgh (Archipel Ontwerpers) they developed an algorithm for random architecture; a penthouse designed by this algorithm will be built in Rotterdam later this year. In collaboration with the Dutch Design Institute Premsela and several large corporations (Oce, KPN, NS), they are working on software for interactive corporate style management. http://cf.hum.uva.nl/computerlinguistiek Philippe-Marie Morel Architect, theoretician, EZCT Architecture & Design Research, Paris Architect Philippe Morel is a founding member of EZCT Architecture & Design Research. Created in 1999, EZCT is an architectural research practice formed by an international and multi-disciplinary team. Due to the ever-increasing complexity of science and technology, EZCT uses new methodologies that are defined by cross-disciplinary interactions. As such, the team established a network organization that allows specialized inputs and active involvements of outsourced theoreticians and academics. This rather unusual structure leads to an approach that considers architecture and design as a form of scientific research, as well as a part of a technological convergence process and information flux. In the field of theoretical research, Morel’s work focuses particularly on new concepts of Neuromarketing and Integral Capitalism. In the field of applied research it focuses on panelization systems based on newly defined concepts of pattern. http://www.ezct.net