Wilton Library and the Wilton Historical Society will explore the effects and repercussions of technological progress in the scholarly lecture series titled “Innovation, Disruption, Revolution: The Impact of Technological Advancement.”
This is the 17th consecutive year of collaboration between the two organizations to present the special three-part series, beginning on Sunday, Jan. 28 from 4-5:30 p.m. The sessions will be hosted by either Wilton Library or Wilton Historical Society as follows:
Down Sodom: The Impact of Rapid Industrialization on Everyday Life in Late 18th- and Early 19th-Century Connecticut
Lecturer: Jamie Eves, Mill Museum Senior Curator
Sunday, Jan. 28, 4-5:30 p.m.
Wilton Library
In this kick-off program, Jamie Eves, senior curator of the Mill Museum in Willimantic, CT, will discuss how New Englanders dealt with the rapid evolution of many industrializing towns during the 18th and 19th century in the face of changing technologies. New innovations brought new businesses, wealth, and people to many Connecticut towns, in some cases even building entirely new communities with their own distinct identities. However, with change comes resistance and resentment as people connected to these communities embraced or rejected the new reality technology enabled.
Eves is the Mill Museum’s senior curator and historian in residence, as well as the town historian of Windham, CT. He earned a PhD in American history at the University of Connecticut. His doctoral dissertation, “Valley White With Mist,” examines the relationships between people and environment in the Piscataquis River Valley in northern Maine. He has an MA and BA in history from the University of Maine. He is executive director emeritus of the Mill Museum, having served in that capacity from 2011 until 2021. Eves has been teaching history at the university level for more than 25 years with research specialties including 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century American environmental and industrial history, the history of New England, and public history. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut League of Museums. This series is sponsored by Laureen Mody. The moderator is Wilton Historical Society Executive Director Nick Foster.
Where did the Internet, Stealth, GPS, and Covid mRNA vaccines come from? The Role of DARPA in Fostering Disruptive Technologies
Lecturer: William Bonvillian
Thursday, Feb. 15, 7-8:30 p.m.
Wilton Historical Society
In this lecture, William Bonvillian, MIT lecturer and Wilton resident, will discuss the crucial role of the U.S. government in the development of everything from the internet to COVID vaccines. Its role has been not just in funding the research that led to these huge technological advances but also in bridging the enormous gap between fundamental scientific breakthroughs and their commercially successful application.
One of the most extraordinary engines over the past half century for identifying breakthroughs and bridging them to real-world application is DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and, later, its “clones” in other government agencies beyond the U.S. Department of Defense that is DARPA’s home. This session will describe those technological breakthroughs and illuminate DARPA’s (and its clones’) role in bringing them about.
Bonvillian is a lecturer at MIT and a senior director at MIT’s program for Open Learning. From 2006 until 2017, he was director of MIT’s Washington office, supporting MIT’s long-standing role in science policy. He teaches courses on science and technology policy at MIT and is author of five books on innovation policy, including a 2020 book on DARPA. Previously he worked for over 15 years on innovation issues as a senior advisor in the U.S. Senate, and earlier was a Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of Transportation. He has served on two National Academies of Sciences’ Boards and nine other NAS committees and was named a Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. He is a Wilton resident and Wilton High School graduate and has degrees from Columbia, Yale and Columbia Law. This series is sponsored by Laureen Mody. The moderator is Steve Hudspeth.
The Future of Innovation
Lecturer: John Kao
Sunday, March 10, 4-5:30 p.m.
Wilton Library
In this lecture, John Kao, Turing Fellow at Yale’s Digital Media Center, will present a contemporary view of what innovation is, where it is going, and how advanced technology is reshaping its foundations. Our current way of thinking about and doing innovation does not, for the most part, fit our new business and societal realities. Innovation remains essential, especially in these turbulent times. But, to remain relevant, it needs to evolve. Its very definition needs clarification; its core methods need to be reimagined.
The future of innovation is now intimately entwined with the rapid advance of technology. Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT, innovation marketplaces, and augmented reality are only some of the powerful influences that will shape future innovation practices. And they raise the central question of how humans and machines will renegotiate the trade space for creativity, entrepreneurship … and innovation.
For the past 25 years, Kao has worked in an area loosely bounded by the terms innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and leadership. Dubbed “Mr. Creativity” by The Economist, his work has been partly academic: 14 years at Harvard Business School, visiting appointments at the MIT Media Lab, and the US Naval Postgraduate School among others. He’s also worked in Hollywood, Broadway, the music industry, the worlds of politics and national security as well as Silicon Valley. Kao is currently the Turing Fellow at Yale’s Digital Media Center, a visiting fellow at Yale’s engineering school and a Yale entrepreneur-in-residence. He co-founded and is Chairman Emeritus of ThayerMahan, Inc., a leader in maritime intelligence. With a BA and MD from Yale and a Harvard MBA, Kao has also written Jamming which looks at what we can all learn from jazz musicians, and Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters and What We Can Do To Get It Back. This series is sponsored by Laureen Mody. The moderator is Max Gabrielson.
Additional information about each lecture is posted on the library’s website, along with registration links. Registration is required for each individual lecture. There is no charge to attend; however, a $10 suggested donation may be made to the hosting institution directly from the individual registration pages.
For more information, visit the Wilton Library or Wilton Historical Society websites, or call Wilton Library at 203.762.6334.