This is a live blog of the COMIXED: A NETWORKED CONVERSATION event at the Zion Arts Centre, Manchester.

Comixed is a “Networked Conversation” on a number of pressing issues affecting all of us:

Climate Change / The Digital Economy / Ageing / Food Security / Synthetic Biology.

Please read the ‘provocations’ we posted earlier on Climate Change, The Digital Economy, Ageing, Food Security and Synthetic Biology to find out what people thought about these issues before the event.

Please contribute by commenting below, especially if you were there and spot any inaccuracies or inconsistencies!

We want you to get involved.  You can follow us on Twitter and/or contribute using the #cmxd hashtag.  We are @ComixedMcr on Twitter, perhaps follow us? (more…)

COMIXED: A NETWORKED CONVERSATION
12pm – 2pm, Wed 28th October, The Zion Arts Centre, Manchester

Comixed starts in less than an hour.

The Manchester Beacon for Public Engagement designed Comixed as a way of bringing different people together to explore ideas collaboratively.

Comixed is about listening and speaking and learning.  We want you to get involved.   Please do.

You can follow Comixed from the comfort of your computer by keeping an eye on the live blog of the event.

Please join the discussion by leaving a comment on here or on Twitter using the #cmxd hashtag.  We are @ComixedMcr on Twitter, perhaps follow us?

Image credit: 2manydesigners.net

Kate Bailey, Senior Research Associate, Food Process Innovation Unit, Cardiff Business School offers this provocation on Food Security:

As global population looks set to grow from 6 billion to 9 billion, food production will need to double at a time where there are real concerns over the availability of energy, land and water as well as the challenge of climate change.

Here in the UK, we may be facing an end to an era of ever cheaper and abundant food.  Technology will need to play its part in transforming production but is it the only solution?  How far will we also need to change our attitudes to food and food supply?

Great points.  What do you think?  How do our attitudes need to change?  Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Image credit: worldproutassembly.org

Dr Martyn Amos, Senior Lecturer and Public Engagement Fellow, Department of Computing and Mathematics, Manchester Metropolitan University puts forward this provocation on Synthetic Biology:

The engineering of living cells is now routine; synthetic biologists are beginning to harness the power of life for the purposes of human-engineered processing.

Cells, gels and DNA are the wetware of the 21st century.

Engineered biological micro-bots will be directed at some of the most challenging problems facing humanity, but what are the risks, and who might get hurt?

A slightly scary future, some might say.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Image credit: New Scientist

Professor Remco Polman, Director of the Centre for Applied Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Central Lancashire provides this provocation on Ageing/Lifelong Health and Wellbeing:

By the year 2060, nearly 30% of the UK population will be over the age of 65, according to this article by the Independent.

What are the implications of this and how are we going to be able to look after this group of people when resources are already stretched?

We need to have a radical re-think in terms of healthcare, the environment and the economy if we are going to be able to secure the future of humanity.

Your thoughts? Share them in the comments below.

Image credit: Age Concern Cardiff