In the first talk of the series following a launch in December, Professor Luke O’Neill addressed the Edmund Burke Lecture Theatre in a tour de force talk on what it means to be human from a scientific perspective. Looking at the origin of life on Earth that led us to evolving on the plains of Africa some 200,000 years ago, Professor O’Neill covered topics such as love, sleep humour and music in answering some of the biggest questions on life.
Professor Luke O’Neill holds the Chair of Biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin where he leads the Inflammation Research Group. His research is in the area of the molecular basis to inflammation with a particular focus on innate immunity, and in 2018 he was named by Clarivates as one of the world’s most influential scientists, being in the top 1% in Immunology.
In 2018 he published the book Humanology: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Amazing Existence, it’s chapters providing the signposts for his recent talk. “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?”
Taking the audience on a “rollercoaster ride” through existence, he firstly tackled our “eco-centric” nature as humans to ask questions like “what does it mean to be human?”
Outlining some startling facts about our species, Professor O’Neill put things in perspective: “We make up point 0.01% of life on earth as a species. Even worse we’ve made 83% of animals extinct in our time and 50% of plants.” “What is the purpose of life?”, he asked, stating that for a scientist “the only purpose of life is to copy DNA. The earth is awash with DNA; it’s a biological thing that happened 4.2 billion years ago”.
Putting our existence in further perspective he spoke of the 40 billion planets and man’s first walk on the moon. “There’s no doubt we’re a speck on a speck on a speck. Life has no meaning. How do we deal with this? Thankfully we’ve got our friends in the humanities to help us! That’s their purpose, is to give our life meaning”.
“Life evolved through random chemistry,” Professor O’Neill explained and when it comes to attraction and love, “the truth is, we’re just a bunch of hormones”.
Discussing the combination of hormones which create desire, attraction and attachment he also discussed sleep, ageing, and why some people in the world live longer than others.
Finally coming to extinction and the question ‘where are we going?’ he talked about driverless cars, education and the future of science.
“The reason I became a scientist is because I wanted to see something for the first time”, he reflected, stating that a lot more discover is needed. “If we follow science…we might finally reach the ultimate ambition which is to live long and prosper.
Next up in the series “What does it mean to be human in the 21st Century?” is Professor Ian Robertson, clinical psychologist and neuroscientist who will speak on the ‘The Era of Mind.’ For further information and registration details click here.
This series is organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute in partnership with The Dock, Accenture’s global research & incubation hub in Dublin.
Hillary Term at the Trinity Long Room Hub – Message from the Director
23 January 2019 –The start of a new year presents some exciting new opportunities to engage with the research of Trinity’s Arts and Humanities schools and the many events and activities taking place in the Trinity Long Room Hub and within Trinity more widely.
Marking the start of the Hilary Term, I’m delighted to share some upcoming events and the latest news from the Trinity Long Room Hub.
Jane Ohlmeyer, Director, Trinity Long Room Hub
Looking ahead
The first Behind the Headlines of the term will look at Climate Change, a view from the humanities asking ‘Can Stories save the World?’ Event and registration details are available here.
Our new lectures series ‘What does it Mean to Be Human in the 21st Century?’ in partnership with The Dock, Accenture’s global research & incubation hub in Dublin will continue at the end of January with Professor Luke O’Neill’s talk on ‘our amazing existence and the future of humankind.’ This event is now sold out, but will be livestreamed on the night and available in audio podcast following his talk.
Next up in this series will be Professor Ian Robertson, School of Psychology, author of the 'The Stress Test' delivering his talk on the 27th of February 2019. More info available here.
Also ongoing are our two signature lectures series’ ‘Trinity and the Changing City’, and ‘Out of the Ashes’, as well as the final lecture of the series ‘1918 and the New Europe.’
‘The Tyranny of Ambient Location: Ephemeral Maps’ is the second lecture of the new three year lecture series 'Out of the Ashes' and will be presented by Dr Ed Parsons,
Geospatial Technologist, Google on the 28 January 2019.
All events are listed on our events page here.
Visiting Researchers
We are delighted to welcome Professor Premesh Lalu who joined us last week from the University of the Western Cape for a three-month fellowship in association with the Creative Arts Practice research theme on ‘The Practice of Post-apartheid freedom.’ Professor Lalu will speak at our Coffee morning on the 30th of January at 11am.
Also joining us this term are Professor Judith Buchanan, York University; Mr Alex Alsemgeest with the Mansucripts, Books and Print Culture research theme; Professor Dallas Costis from the University of Toronto in association with the Digital Humanities research theme; Professor Leo Lefubure, Georgetown University in association with the School of Religions, Peace Studies and Theology and Dr Simona Marchesini, Alteritas in association with the School of Histories and Humanities.
You may have already met our Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellows for 2018-19: Dr Anna Barcz from the University of Bielsko-Biala; Professor Katherine Zieman from the University of Notre Dame; and Dr Christopher L. Pastore from the University at Albany. Christopher’s op-ed piece marking the centenary of the first Dáil was published this week in the New York Times.
Listen up!
Have you visited our Soundcloud recently? Get inspired with a number of compelling talks and lectures from Trinity’s Arts and Humanities community and beyond. To start you off, here is our current top 5:
- Aoife McLysaght in conversation with Catherine Corless | Listen now
- What it Means to be Human in the 21st Century – Panel Discussion | Listen now
- ‘Why Make Movies?’ Ruth Barton in conversation with Lenny Abrahamson | Listen now
- Out of the Ashes – The Library of Alexandria: Rebirth and Revolution | Listen now
- ‘In Defense of Horror’ – A Lecture by Darryl Jones | Listen now
Many of our signature events are now livestreamed and the videos are available on our video gallery here.
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