Ticket registration for this event will be closed at 4pm today. However, there will be a small number of tickets available on the door.
Held on the apt Friday 13th, Dr Brooke Magnanti will give a public lecture on chance and luck.
"What is luck, and what is chance? While these two terms are almost interchangeable in everyday usage, the meaning can be unclear.
Chance, odds, and other such ideas relate to the probability of occurrence - simple notions of discrete mathematics that, if the 65% of people who consider the lottery as a likely source of their retirement income indicates, are poorly understood. Using a few simple examples the statistical concepts will be illustrated.
But in the more philosophical sense, what is the meaning of luck? The finding of a lucky penny is determined by chance. Its discovery is imbued with the assumption that a semi-random action can subtly influence the events which occur after it. In other words, the universe is not a predetermined, closed system.
Both the ideas that the universe is predictable, but that it is also not determinable feed not only into popular understanding - and misunderstanding - of luck and chance, but also more sophisticated notions such as cosmic uncertainty, dark energy, whether the cyclic model of the fate of the universe is correct, and when, exactly, we can expect the singularity (hint: probably not on Friday the 13th)."
Doors: 6pm for 6:30pm start.
Location:
St. George's Lecture Theatre