The IMSA Great Minds Program®
Engineering the Ocean Dr. Marcia McNutt, Geophysicist, President and CEO, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Tuesday, March 18, 2003, 7 p.m.
Developments
in microprocessors, artificial intelligence, and new forms of power
and communications for autonomous systems are already bringing about
a revolution in our ability to explore, experiment within, and ultimately
understand Earth's last frontier: the ocean. It is inevitable, with
this growing capability, that there will be pressure to use the same
and similar technology to manipulate and enhance
the
ocean environment, just as we have our terrestrial environment. We
will be able to fertilize the ocean to increase its productivity,
adjust its climate in an attempt to halt natural and human-induced
global change, harvest its internal energy to power our society,
mine its raw materials, manage its inhabitants to maximize fish harvest,
and exploit its overpowering beauty for human recreation. In this
lecture, I present a series of fictional, but not entirely fanciful,
future scenarios for man's intervention in the ocean. Such manipulations
might end up helping or hurting mankind. Will we have the intelligence
to understand the implications of our actions? The humility to admit
what we do not know? The unselfishness to take the long-term view
on what is the best policy for the planet? We are the first species
on Earth to have ever possessed the ability to purposefully change
the conditions on our planet. The question is whether we will use
this power wisely.
Adults $10.00
Seniors $6.00
K-12 students free