SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Convenor Valerie Conniff email valerie@vconniff.plus.com
The meetings are a presentation on a scientific or technical topic from a speaker or audiovisual presentation, followed by a question and answer session. Visits to places of scientific interest are arranged, usually during the spring or summer.
The group meets on the 2nd Tuesday afternoon of every month, except August, at Mitchel Troy Village Hall from 2.30 to 4.00pm. There is no restriction on membership and the subscription of £10 per year covers hire costs and speaker expenses. Meetings are open to the general membership but a charge of £2 per meeting is requested to cover set up costs.
The group meets on the 2nd Tuesday afternoon of every month, except August, at Mitchel Troy Village Hall from 2.30 to 4.00pm. There is no restriction on membership and the subscription of £10 per year covers hire costs and speaker expenses. Meetings are open to the general membership but a charge of £2 per meeting is requested to cover set up costs.
Tuesday October 6th 2020, 2.30pm (Zoom meeting)
Game Theory - Strategies, decisions and the Prisoners' dilemma
A presentation by Phil Charlesworth, Monmouth U3A
Game Theory - Strategies, decisions and the Prisoners' dilemma
A presentation by Phil Charlesworth, Monmouth U3A
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A message from Val We are a friendly group and an important part of our meetings is the informal discussion over a cup of tea after we have finished questioning our invited Speaker. There is no limit on membership and I welcome new members to our Science and Technology Group. No personal technical qualification is required to join the group, just a keen interest in science and technology in its broadest sense. Best wishes Val (Zoom) Meetings and Trips |
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Tuesday 6th October 2020
Game Theory, Strategies, Decisions and the Prisoner’s Dilemma – Phil Charlesworth
Phil Charlesworth is becoming a regular contributor to the science group having previously talked about amateur rocketry and solar powered flight. He turned a seemingly opaque topic into a simple to follow mixture of history, familiar games and only a tiny amount of formal mathematics.
The history of games and game theory can be traced from 1838 and then through the mid twentieth century when the subject was formalised by mathematician John von Neumann.
A game has two or more competitors and has some form of structure or rules. One example used was rock-paper-scissors where one player’s gain is the other’s loss (zero sum). Over time both players will expect to win half the games. Another example is where two companies compete for market share and can advertise and gain business unless the other company does the same, in which case neither wins and both suffer the cost of the advertising.
Although described as games such thinking has many serious applications and has been widely used in economics, but also auctions, biology and most seriously politics. We were asked to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy was faced with Kruschev, leader of the USSR, in a stand-off over a missile base on Cuba. This can be analysed as a “game” with competing players and a small range of strategies. Fortunately the outcome for the world was “benign”.
Modern “game theory” has developed with ever more complex situations and the availability of serious computing resources. There have been several Nobel prize winners in the field.
A question afterwards related to the current pandemic and we can all hope that game theory might contribute to an optimal solution. Michael Bone
September 8th 2020
River Usk: Source to sea. Part 1: Black Mountain to Abergavenny
This presentation given by Alan Bowring, Development Officer for Fforest Fawr Geopark, took us on an hours’ long virtual journey from the source of the River Usk in the Black Mountain to the point it reaches Abergavenny. Each stop throughout the length of the journey was accompanied by detailed information, beautiful photographs and useful map references. As well as highlighting the salient geological aspects, we learnt much about its archaeological, historical and industrial heritage. Our attention was drawn to important Grade 1 listed buildings and bridges along the way.
From the point of flowing out of the Usk reservoir, the river and its tributaries have been designated as a SAC ( special area of conservation) and SSSI ( site of special scientific interest). Unsullied by industrial effluent, the water is pure enough to sustain a wide variety of aquatic life, making it attractive to anglers (George Melly amongst them) and it is also home to otters.
Alan had interesting comments, observations and anecdotes to share, which we will take with us on our next visit to the area. We are very grateful to Alan and his colleagues in the Geopark for their work in conserving this unique environment. Valerie Conniff
Game Theory, Strategies, Decisions and the Prisoner’s Dilemma – Phil Charlesworth
Phil Charlesworth is becoming a regular contributor to the science group having previously talked about amateur rocketry and solar powered flight. He turned a seemingly opaque topic into a simple to follow mixture of history, familiar games and only a tiny amount of formal mathematics.
The history of games and game theory can be traced from 1838 and then through the mid twentieth century when the subject was formalised by mathematician John von Neumann.
A game has two or more competitors and has some form of structure or rules. One example used was rock-paper-scissors where one player’s gain is the other’s loss (zero sum). Over time both players will expect to win half the games. Another example is where two companies compete for market share and can advertise and gain business unless the other company does the same, in which case neither wins and both suffer the cost of the advertising.
Although described as games such thinking has many serious applications and has been widely used in economics, but also auctions, biology and most seriously politics. We were asked to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy was faced with Kruschev, leader of the USSR, in a stand-off over a missile base on Cuba. This can be analysed as a “game” with competing players and a small range of strategies. Fortunately the outcome for the world was “benign”.
Modern “game theory” has developed with ever more complex situations and the availability of serious computing resources. There have been several Nobel prize winners in the field.
A question afterwards related to the current pandemic and we can all hope that game theory might contribute to an optimal solution. Michael Bone
September 8th 2020
River Usk: Source to sea. Part 1: Black Mountain to Abergavenny
This presentation given by Alan Bowring, Development Officer for Fforest Fawr Geopark, took us on an hours’ long virtual journey from the source of the River Usk in the Black Mountain to the point it reaches Abergavenny. Each stop throughout the length of the journey was accompanied by detailed information, beautiful photographs and useful map references. As well as highlighting the salient geological aspects, we learnt much about its archaeological, historical and industrial heritage. Our attention was drawn to important Grade 1 listed buildings and bridges along the way.
From the point of flowing out of the Usk reservoir, the river and its tributaries have been designated as a SAC ( special area of conservation) and SSSI ( site of special scientific interest). Unsullied by industrial effluent, the water is pure enough to sustain a wide variety of aquatic life, making it attractive to anglers (George Melly amongst them) and it is also home to otters.
Alan had interesting comments, observations and anecdotes to share, which we will take with us on our next visit to the area. We are very grateful to Alan and his colleagues in the Geopark for their work in conserving this unique environment. Valerie Conniff
Science and Technology Meetings
2019-2020
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Science and Technology Meetings 2018-2019
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Science and Technology Meetings 2017-2018
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