Hungry minds
Party planning in a foreign country for an event with uncertain numbers is always a nerve-wracking business. A couple of hours before the...
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Liberal optimism
After interviewing a largely optimistic Russell I took a walk around the Berkeley campus, feeling a little adrift (and retrospectively...
Supervised learning
I continued on to the Science Centre and had my normal ambivalent reaction. It’s a striking building with, as promised, spectacular views...
Buzzing over Berkeley
My interview with Stuart Russell had been arranged in the radio studio on the Berkeley campus with the Guardian listening in from London....
Nursemaid to a Mustang
More often than not when I’m in San Francisco I make the mistake of having a car with me. Someone once estimated that at any given moment...
Nepenthe is non-negotiable
I had to get to San Francisco that evening and it was after 2 by the time I left Hearst Castle. I couldn’t resist taking a final...
Motel 6, pick up sticks
Heading north from Santa Barbara I substituted ‘go somewhere really cheap’ for ‘don’t decide where you’re staying’. I have no idea who...
Cold Spring hillbillies
Another advantage of a very lightly timetabled journey is that you can respond immediately to random suggestions. One of the LA Salon...
Live in Santa Barbara
Heading out from LA I decided to do the drive ‘without having a place to stay thing’. I had an indifferent Thai green curry in Ventura...
Getty reaches out
Finally in LA I went up for lunch at the Getty Museum. Having worked at Wellcome Trust for many years it was really interesting to...
Winston stayed with Marion
As part of my Churchillania quest I cycled up from Venice to the Annenburg Community Beach House a jolly space beyond the Santa Monica...
Into the Mouse’s lair
Found my way onto the Disney Studios lot to visit Alice Taylor who runs StudioLAB there. Obviously I can’t say much about what I saw but...
To a Hammer everything looks like a nAIl
So my first Salon of the trip was generously hosted by the Hammer Museum, a sparkling space off Wilshire Boulevard. It’s connected to...
Pulling off the freeway
My first Churchill salon was in LA on the Wednesday evening so I set off up the freeway to get there in good time. I lasted a little over...
Uncanny ravine
I also caught up with Ayse Saygin who works on social robotics and told me all about the weird flowers currently blooming in the ravine...
Artificial improvisation
My aunt told me about an evening of avant garde improvisation featuring jazz and classical musicians engaging with a series of AIs. Given...
Rhodopsin, briefly
Although I was just passing through San Diego I pulled up an old introduction from my goto maven Sarah Caddick and called up...
Circles in the air
Waiting for dawn in San Diego. Landed last night and now feeling that funny slight dizziness when the input from your eyes to your body...
Coming to America
Winston Churchill only visited the west Coast of America once but he captured the essence of Hollywood with characteristic flair in this...
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