My friend Dan has connections. So he hooked a couple of us up to work at a huge international conference yesterday in Kyoto. As a Summary Writer for the Inaugural Meeting of the Science and Technology in Society forum, I attended sessions and meetings, looked professional, took notes on the speakers, and wrote beautifully phrased, yet concise summaries of the goings-on. For my help, I was priveleged to attend a swanky dinner at Daikakuji Temple in Arashiyama complete with maiko-san dancing on a boat in the pond.
One of the best things about this conference, however, were the massive amounts of intellegent/famous people in attendence. Let me just name a few and list some titles of others:
Prime Minister of Japan, Chairman of Toyota, Senior Vice President of Intel, former President of the United Nations General Assembly, two Nobel Laureates in Chemistry. I would say that 75% of the people in attendence had Director, Chairman, or President in their titles. There were also many high government officials present. I laughed when I looked through the book of speakers and saw Daniel Goldin, former head of NASA, and object of much controversy in BU's recent search for a new President.
This convention was very good for my friends, who are all science people. They each had at least one meishi party ( business card exchange) and made good contacts. Alas, someone studying religion doesn't have much of a chance at a science convention.
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2 comments:
You didn't say why they were wicked. In what way? Were they smart or intelligent?
"Wicked Smart" as in "Extremely Intelligent" as in winning Nobel Prizes, running their own very large companies, advising Presidents, ruling the academic universe sort of people.
(I take it you are not from the east coast, where the word "wicked" is no longer used in the traditional sense?)
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