Science and Universities

The Barcelona Knowledge Hub of the Academia Europaea is organising, with the support of Barcelona City Council, the series Frontiers of Science and Technology in Society Dialogues. These scientific dialogue meetings will be held in two parts: Frontiers of Science and Technology in Society Dialogues, with a high academic level, the first of which will take place at the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, and the Citizen Agora, for a wide local audience.

During the former, talks will be held such as Understanding the brain: neurobiology or neuro computer sciences? A debate on 4 October with the collaboration of Mara Dierssen, from the Centre for Genomic Regulation, and Gustavo Deco, ICREA at Pompeu Fabra University and the Center of Brain and Cognition in Barcelona. How far has neuroscience, and more specifically neurobiology, come in this endeavour? A session to discover where the study of the brain and neuroscience is heading. 

The second meeting will take place on the afternoon of 22 November. The bases of language: from tabula rasa to biological determinism. The “tabula rasa” perspective, often associated with philosophers such as John Locke, suggests that the human mind is a blank slate at birth, and language acquisition is primarily the result of environmental factors and learning experiences. Biological determinism, on the other hand, postulates that humans possess innate, biologically predetermined mechanisms for language acquisition. Linguist Cedric Boeckx and computer science professor Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho will discuss the issue. 

The Citizen Agora dialogues, which will be held on 8 November and 13 December, aim to promote social commitment and the inclusion of citizen participation in scientific discussion, especially in the Barcelona area. These sessions will be held in Catalan and/or Spanish and will deal with scientific topics that are closer to the interests of citizens, such as biological ethics or artificial intelligence.