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El Reg Summer Lectures Span Dark Net, Rare Earths, and Vintage Tech

Expand your brain for the summer…(yes, there will be pies)

Reg lectures If you’re the sort of Reg reader who likes to expand their mind as well as their tech arsenal, you’ll want to snap up tickets for our Summer series of Lectures.

We’ve assembled a cracking trio of speakers, who between them will take you on a tour of sometimes obscure but incredibly interesting corners of the world of tech – all without you leaving the comfort of your seat and your nice cold pint.

Light and dark on the internet

On May 21, Jamie Bartlett will take us on a journey along the dark underbelly of the internet, introducing us to the range of internet subcultures, from pro-anorexia sites to webcam porn performers to cypherpunks, with which he got up close with for his book The Dark Net. He will also highlight, hopefully, the effect of the net on this year’s UK general election, which he will be observing up close and personal in his role as director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Media at the thinktank Demos. Ticket details here.

How the economics of rare metals really add up

The Register’s favourite economist and rare metals miner Tim Worstall will highlight the absurd economics underlying the technology industry on June 4, by taking us on a journey around the world’s rare metal hotspots, We keep being told that we're about to run out of all these lovely tech metals and others, but this is in fact incorrect, Tim argues. There's no metal or mineral we're going to run out of in any human timescale. The predictions of imminent Ecodammerung just aren't correct, and Tim will show you why. Ticket details here.

Computing: From cutting edge to museum piece

On June 24 we will be hosting The National Museum of Computing's co-founder Kevin Murrell, who will be telling us how his team track down the UK’s vintage computers before returning them not just to museum condition, but full glorious noisy working order. As well as hearing about living history, you’ll be able to see some exclusive video of the machines in action. Ticket details here.

It won’t just be one-way conversation, by the way. Once the speakers have delivered their formal lecture, we’ll have a break for, er, refreshment, before throwing open the floor for Q&A.

Together with the chance to meet your fellow Reg readers and acquire some exclusive Cash'n'Carrion merchandise, the stage is set for a trio of cracking nights out. In fact, you’d be mad not to buy tickets for the whole series. ®

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