The Stanford 2020 “Visions of Tomorrow” Symposium brought seven professors to Dinkelspiel Auditorium yesterday to speak about the significance and future of their respective research.
Event organizers Danny Crichton ’11 and Adam Adler ’12 described the event as a “debate over ‘consilience’ — the idea that all of the diverse departments at this University are universally connected.”
“In an increasingly specialized world, we want to show that no one academic discipline is most important,” Adler said. “The future will not be made of ‘techies’ and ‘fuzzies.’”
Highlights included associate professor of computer science Mehran Sahami’s “Grand Challenges and Immense Impacts of Computing,” which delineated the need for more computer sciences majors at U.S. universities given the three-to-one job-to-graduate ratio in the field.
“I chose that title because it was sufficiently general and vague that I could talk about whatever I wanted,” Sahami said. “What I want to talk about is the lack of wizards in the world … At a certain point there’s so much technology under the hood that it appears like magic.”
He showcased various recent innovations at Stanford — including a self-driving car and the original google.stanford.edu — as examples of computing as “an accelerant for growth” which “allows this kind of magic to happen.”
He also mentioned the recent decline in the number of computer scientists, but juxtaposed this with the 83-percent increase in students that Stanford’s department has seen in the last two years due to its curriculum restructure to focus on the holistic context of computing. Additionally, more than 1,600 students took either CS 105 or CS 106A this year.
“Back in 2000 we were partying like it was 1999, partially because it was really close to 1999, but 2005 — not so much,” he said. “Every single person from every single computer science department, including the very worst student from the very worst department, can get a job. What can we do? Say ‘Come to computing, we’ve got cookies!’”
Director of Iranian Studies Abbas Milani spoke on “Iran, Islam and Modernity: The Future of the Middle East.” He hypothesized two situations of international relations that could exist in 2020.
“Imagine a world where the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) has collapsed,” he said. “There are estimates that by then, if there is no NPT, there will anywhere from 30 to 40 countries with nuclear bombs … Imagine that radical Islamists from the Muslim brotherhood have won power in regions in Pakistan and in Libya and [that] the Hezbollah is the absolute ruler in Lebanon.”
“The other scenario: there is no country in the Middle East that has a nuclear bomb,” he added. “There are secular democratic governments. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has finally been resolved … Scholars] are starting to go back to the Middle East because they’re finding out that’s where they can be more productive.”
Other speakers included bioengineering department chair Russ Altman, history professor Londa Schiebinger, English department chair Jennifer Summit, classics professor Ian Morris and communication professor Clifford Nass.
The event was funded by an ASSU Executive Action Grant as well as the office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and co-sponsored by several campus organizations.