Speakers: Joshua Zahl (University of British Columbia)Title: The Kakeya set conjecture in three dimensionsAbstract: A Besicovitch set is a compact subset of ℝn that contains a unit line segment pointing in every direction. The Kakeya set conjecture asserts that every Besicovitch set in ℝn has Minkowski and Hausdorff dimension n. I will discuss some recent progress on this conjecture, leading to the resolution of the Kakeya set conjecture in three dimensions. This is joint work with Hong Wang.

Speaker: Johannes Walter, HarvardHost: Seychelle VosTitle: "AI-powered studies of vertebrate DNA repair"The Biology Colloquium is a weekly seminar held throughout the academic year — featuring distinguished speakers in many areas of the biological sciences from universities and institutions worldwide. More information on speakers, their affiliations, and titles of their talks will be added as available. Unless otherwise stated, the Colloquium will be held live in Stata 32-123 (Kirsch auditorium) Contact Margaret Cabral with questions.

Andres Drenik Univ of Texas at Austin

Time: 3:30 PMLocation: Cambridge, MA

Presented by Sasha RickardPhD candidate in Political Science at Boston College and Assistant Director of Concourse, MIT Abstract: Despite Socrates’ reputation as a moral gadfly, there is much disagreement about his position on the role of pleasure in the good life. In the ancient world, schools of thought as opposed as Epicureanism and Stoicism grew out of interpretations of Socratic teachings. Neither is this disagreement resolved by modern scholars. In Plato’s Philebus, Socrates interrogates a young interlocutor about the nature and goodness of pleasure. In the course of this interrogation, Socrates walks us through a phenomenological account of pleasure in its many forms, helping us to clarify our own experiences as well as the Socratic perspective on the role of pleasure in the good life. At the same time, through the arguments and decisions of Socrates’ interlocutors, Plato shows us something about the allure of hedonism. I will suggest that a careful reading of the Philebus helps to resolve the long-standing disagreement about Socrates’ perspective on pleasure, and to point to forces which incline us in the modern world, and especially intellectually ambitious young people, toward the belief that pleasure is the greatest good. Sasha Rickard is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Boston College, writing a dissertation on Plato and the politics of hedonism. She is also the Assistant Director of the Concourse program at MIT. Her scholarly interests include Plato, Shakespeare, early modern political thought, and American political thought.For more info: ams-events@mit.eduSponsored by MIT Literature Section and History

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