Tons of tech events and invitations come pass through the Technical.ly newsdesk, but not all of them are worth going to. Some are, though! And next week is full of a bunch of them.
So if you’re looking for some stimulating evening programming but don’t have the time or knowledge to know what’s gonna good and what’s gonna be lame, here are our picks for the week of Feb. 26.
Monday
Code as Craft with Cathy O’Neil: Weapons of Math Destruction
- 6:30–9:00 p.m. | Etsytorium @ 55 Prospect St.
Cathy O’Neil has been at the forefront of one of the most interesting and important topics in the modern world, which is our use of data, and specifically our overuse of data. O’Neil’s work, which includes a book Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy about how our use of data can work as a crutch against critical thinking and also how about decision making based on data is frequently seen to be clean of bias, and how totally untrue that is.
Our only beef with O’Neil is that she claims to have invented the term “mathwashing,” which was actually coined by Kickstarter’s Fred Benenson, actually right here on this very site. But, that faux pas forgiven, we’re still excited to check out her talk.
Tuesday
- 5:30–7:00 p.m. | 630 Flushing Ave.
If you’re anything like me, you dream every so often of leaving behind the concrete, the cars, the scum, the filth and light out for the territory to farm country for some air and plants. But, just as often as you think it, you look down again and trudge over the concrete sidewalks to the next box you’re going to. Well, now we’ve got some farms of our own here in Brooklyn, N.Y., and they’re open and offering tours. See what the future of farming might look like with a tour of Square Roots Farms down at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where they’re growing crops in shipping containers.
Wednesday
- 7:00–10:30 p.m. | The Arrogant Swine @ 173 Morgan Ave.
One of the borough’s longest-running tech meetups, this variant of Code, Drink, Talk: Bushwick will meet at a barbecue spot in East Williamsburg. What’s great about these meetups is that they’re a low-key affair, with people who have been going for years. There’s not sales people and no one really there looking for a job. People don’t really exchange business cards here, it’s a community meetup.
Thursday
Book Talk: “Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America’s Secret Wars in Afghanistan, 2001-2016
- 6:30–8:00 p.m. | Brooklyn Historical Society @ 128 Pierrepont St.
Steve Coll is a Pulitzer Prize winner, the dean of Columbia Journalism School and a longtime New Yorker contributor. He’s one of the foremost public intellectuals of the day and an expert in Middle Eastern politics and wars. For $5 in the friendly confines of the Brooklyn Historical Society, this is an absolute must.
Friday
Data Through Design: Opening Reception
- 6:00–8:00 p.m. | Made in NY Media Center by IFP @ 30 John St.
The opening reception of a new, data-based art exhibit led organized by the Pratt art school, Bushwick mapping startup Carto and the Manhattan data firm Enigma, this should be really neat. The space where art and technology meet each other is fertile ground for creativity and this should be a great way for the cultured techie to start off their weekend.
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