Event
Science on Screen: Theater of Thought
Real Art Ways Science on Screen® season invites you to experience the unique combination of a feature film and a relevant talk from a notable local figure in science.
“A characteristically playful documentary in which the filmmaker scrambles for whatever errant insight he can find into the world of tomorrow.” – indieWire
“Worth listening to and beholding.” – Deadline Hollywood Daily
Synopsis:
Werner Herzog sets his sights on yet another mysterious landscape – the human brain – for clues as to why a hunk of tissue can produce profound thoughts and feelings while considering the philosophical, ethical, and social implications of fast-advancing neural technology.
6:30: Pre-Film Discussion with Dr. Shreya Saxena
Dr. Saxena will lead a talk on the building blocks of intelligence, how thoughts are constructed, and how organic thought compares to artificial intelligence.
About Dr. Shreya Saxena
Dr. Saxena is an Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department and a core member of the Center for Neurocomputation and Machine Intelligence at the Wu Tsai Institute. She joined Yale in 2023 from the University of Florida’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Before this, Saxena was a Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute in the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience. She did her PhD in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, studying the closed-loop control of fast movements from a control theory perspective.
Saxena received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and an MS in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
Science on Screen is an initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.
