Monday 25th September
Welcome reception for attendees at Ognisko starting at 7pm.
Tuesday 26th September
Public lecture at 7pm in The Blackett Laboratory, Lecture Theatre 1.
Algorithms and Flow: Lupe Fiasco’s Creative Use of LLMs
Wasalu Jaco, professionally known as Lupe Fiasco, is a Chicago-born, Grammy Award-winning American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and community advocate. He is a luminary in the world of hip-hop, renowned for his thought-provoking lyrics, innovative storytelling, and unwavering commitment to social and political activism.
Rising to fame in 2006, following the success of his debut album, Food & Liquor, Lupe has released eight acclaimed studio albums; his latest being Drill Music in Zion released in June 2022. His efforts to propagate Conscious Material garnered recognition as a Henry Crown Fellow and he is a recipient of the MLK Visiting Professorship Program at MIT for the 2022/2023 academic year.
Lupe will talk about the use of LLMs in his creative endeavors, including co-writing a new rap song ‘Glass of Water’ with AI.
There will also be a special Interview with Irving Finkel, the Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum, where he specializes in cuneiform inscriptions on tablets of clay from ancient Mesopotamia. He was the first person to translate the rules of the ancient board game UR, which has been gaining popularity in Boston thanks to Lupe Fiasco. They will have a conversation on the intersection of board games, culture, history, and AI.
Wednesday 27th September
Workshop dinner at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel London Kensington in the conservatory starting at 7pm.
Restaurants and Pubs
There are a wide variety of restaurant within 15 minutes walk of the Physics Department at Imperial College. These are clustered around South Kensington and Gloucester Road tube stations. A Google map listing the restaurants, with reviews and showing their locations can be found here.
Similarly, there are a variety of good pubs in the area. The closest is the Queens Arms. While this is a good pub it can become a little crowded when there are events at Imperial It is also a rather expensive watering hole and there are plenty of alternatives near by. A Google map showing the locations of these can be found here.
Cultural and entertainment venues
Imperial College is surrounded by cultural institutions. There are three world-class museums (The Science Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum and The Natural Histroy Museum) within 10 minutes walk of the Physics Department. These can be seen on a Google map here.
There is the internationally renowned Royal Albert Hall concert hall within about 5 minutes walk from the physics Department.
Transport in London
Public transport is very convenient in London, with the oldest underground railway system in the world ('the Tube'), and an extensive bus network, served by the red double-decker vehicles that are famous around the world.
Most contactless credit cards and mobile phone payment methods can be used directly to touch in and out of stations as well as buses (touch-in only for buses, with free transfers possible within one hour), with a daily or weekly fare capping applying, so that you do not need to buy a day ticket in order to save money. See https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/pay-as-you-go/contactless-and-mobile-pay-as-you-go.
The River Bus is another wonderful way to explore the city, with Cadogan Pier being closest to the Imperial College area.
Football
London is home to no less than 13 professional football clubs, including famous names from the Premier League that need no introduction, such as Arsenal, West Ham United and Crystal Palace.
Whilst Premier League match tickets are quite difficult for non-supporters to secure, it is much easier to buy tickets for teams that are in the lower divisions. In particular, Queens Park Rangers, in the second tier of English football, play at Loftus Road, which is easy to reach from the Imperial College area and is a wonderful example of a traditional English football ground, unlike the soulless concrete bowls that many bigger clubs play in. QPR play Coventry City on Saturday 30th September, and tickets can be purchased at https://www.eticketing.co.uk/qpr/EDP/Event/Index/3523
