About this Event
This talk will be streamed live online with a small in-person audience attending in San Francisco.
Watch & share this talk on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Long Now Live.
Long Now is delighted to welcome back speakers Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley. , is the subject of their new book and their talk for us; a timely and resonant topic that they began researching 10 years ago.
Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley track the history and future of quarantine around the globe, chasing the story of emergency isolation through time and space—from the crumbling lazarettos of the Mediterranean, built to contain the Black Death, to an experimental Ebola unit in London, and from the hallways of the CDC to closed-door simulations where pharmaceutical execs and epidemiologists prepare for the outbreak of a novel coronavirus.
But the story of quarantine ranges far beyond the history of medical isolation. In their new book, , the authors tour a nuclear-waste isolation facility beneath the New Mexican desert, see plants stricken with a disease that threatens the world’s wheat supply, and meet NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer, tasked with saving Earth from extraterrestrial infections. They also introduce us to the corporate tech giants hoping to revolutionize quarantine through surveillance and algorithmic prediction.
We live in a disorienting historical moment that can feel both unprecedented and inevitable; Manaugh and Twilley help us make sense of our new reality through a thought-provoking exploration of the meaning of freedom, governance, and mutual responsibility.
About the in-person event: There are limited tickets available to our first in-person talk of 02021. Due to the dynamic situation with the pandemic, this in-person event will have the following requirements:
- All attendees, staff and volunteers will need to be masked indoors for this event, including during ticket check-in, in the lobby and in the theater.
- Attendees will need to self-certify that they are vaccinated when purchasing tickets and we will also do a Vaccine Card Check at the door; please bring physical card, image of card, or QR code.
- Attendees must stay home if they have any COVID symptoms.
- Masks and hand sanitizer will be available at the Cowell Theater, which has also upgraded their HVAC system to Merv 13 filtration.
Long Now and our partner venues have policies and procedures around COVID that are in place to keep our staff, members, and the public as safe as possible. We will comply with local and state guidelines, and will let ticket holders know if any guidelines change before the event. Cooperation and compliance with these policies are required of all ticket holders, staff and volunteers. Thank you so much!
Geoff Manaugh writes extensively on design, architecture and the built environment at BLDGBLOG. Manaugh's areas of interest and expertise also includes cities, crime, infrastructure and technology; his writing is featured in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Wired, and many other publications. Manaugh is author of and his new book with co-author Nicola Twilley is .
Nicola Twilley is a writer known for her curiosity and acumen in uncovering the hidden stories of how our systems and infrastructure work. From the cold chain of refrigeration around the globe, to obscure and amazing stories about the science and history of food, you can find Twilley's writing and reporting at The New Yorker and on her Gastropod podcast. Twilley and Manaugh's new book is
were started in 02003 to build a compelling body of ideas about long-term thinking. Long Now Stainless Steel members hear about Seminars first & receive 2 free tickets to each Seminar. Become a member today to access your tickets or view our livestream of Seminars and Interval events online.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Cowell Theater, Pier 2, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, United States
USD 0.00 to USD 25.00