Computers – Aid or Aide?
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| Admission: Entry free |
| Ticket: Please book your tickets online or at the cash desk at the Foyer. |
| Planning: Duration: 60 min |
| Which languages: English, German |
| Venue: Humboldt Lab, 1st floor |
Humboldt University’s Computermuseum is more than a mere collection of old fashioned electronics. The objects from its collection show, in fact, the genesis of modern computing systems. But are modern computers only tools to aid us in our daily tasks? Or have we become so dependent on them that moving without their assistance is more or less unthinkable?
The financial system in particular shows our dependency on computers: High frequency trading and algorithms predicting market developments dominate stock exchange trading – they also played an important role in the financial crisis of 2008. Most recently, cryptocurrencies have begun to revolutionise the global monetary system.
Curators of the Computermuseum – among them Professor Wolfgang Karl Härdle, expert in blockchain technology – will give insights into the invention of the first computing machines and the journey into our digital present and future. As contributors to the Humboldt Lab‘s new series “Meet the Scientist”, they will present their research in the exhibition hall and be open to visitors’ questions.
Wolfgang Karl Härdle is Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz Professor of Statistics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the director of the Sino German Graduate School IRTG1792 on “High dimensional non stationary time series analysis”. He also serves as head of the joint BRC Blockchain Research Center (with University of Zürich) and regularly organises Blockchain Nights.
Together with fellow researchers Stefan Höltgen and Christoph List he is a curator of Humboldt University’s Computermuseum and co-editor of the book ”Computing Machines” on its collection.