Unleash Imagination.
Shape the Future.
Arthur C. Clarke Awards and the Clarke Conversation on Imagination
November 21, 2024
Once in a Lifetime Reception • Dinner • Awards Program • Dessert
Embassy of France, Washington, D.C.
2024 Arthur C. Clarke Awards and Clarke Conversation on Imagination
INNOVATOR AWARDEE
JULIE PACKARD
Founder and Executive Director Monterey Bay Aquarium
for her global leadership in ocean conservation and initiating the importance of ecological education.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDEE
NICHOLAS NEGROPONTE
Co-founder MIT Media Lab
for his vision and guidance designing the future of human-computer interaction in business and society.
IMAGINATION IN SERVICE TO SOCIETY AWARDEE
SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE (STScI)
for allowing us, through stunning images and analyses, to feel like fellow explorers of the universe.
THE 2024 CLARKE CONVERSATION ON IMAGINATION
Sirius XM Host of “Briefing with Steve Scully,” and former White House correspondent, Steve Scully, will moderate this year’s Clarke Conversation on Imagination.
How might we augment vision and beneficial collaboration between AI and other technologies and Humanity?
In his book, Profiles of the Future, visionary Arthur C. Clarke taught us the limits of the possible, while also allowing us to reimagine the impossible. He was a man of extraordinary prescience and vision who forecast that the partnering of technology with our planet’s inhabitants could either prove of great benefit or an imminent threat.
Nearly six decades ago, his HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey served as a warning, and yet pinned the humans who programmed HAL as the ultimate culprits. Mindful of this warning, and his reminder that “data isn’t information, and information isn’t vision,” how do we get people in our 21st century AI world – young and old – to think like Arthur Clarke – with vision and insights, while also serving vital pro-humanity values? Change agents, those with fresh visions, are often maligned or ignored.
How do we promote beneficial new ideas, including from the young and not yet societally recognized, as decision leaders, and make such ideas more accessible to and accepted by decision-makers and investors?We are being swept into a world where technological advances, often happening too fast to even comprehend, are raising more questions than answers.
How can we use this period of questioning to humanity’s benefit? SIRIUS XM host Steve Scully will engage the three 2024 Clarke Awardees whose visions and accomplishments advance human well-being, seeking their thoughts about where we are and where we need to go from here.
Reserve your seat in the audience today.
THE SIR ARTHUR CLARKE INNOVATOR AWARDEE
JULIE PACKARD
for her global leadership in ocean conservation and initiating the importance of ecological education.
Julie Packard is the founding executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. She has led the Aquarium to become a global force for ocean conservation, through innovative exhibits and education programs, and science-based initiatives addressing sustainable seafood, plastic pollution, climate change and protection of ocean wildlife and ecosystems.
A trustee of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, she chairs the board of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, a leader in deep ocean science and technology.
She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the Audubon Medal for Conservation.
A marine biologist, Packard earned bachelors and master’s degrees in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a focus on marine algae.
Introduction and special remarks
John Racanelli
President and Chief Executive Officer
National Aquarium
THE SIR ARTHUR CLARKE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDEE
NICHOLAS NEGROPONTE
for his leadership and vision, designing the future of human- computer interaction in business and society.
Nicholas Negroponte is the co-founder (with Jerome B. Wiesner) of the MIT Media Lab (1985), which he directed for its first 20 years. A graduate of MIT, Negroponte was a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design and became a member of the MIT faculty in 1966. He gave the first TED talk in 1984, as well as 13 since. He is author of the 1995 best seller, Being Digital, which has been translated into more than 40 languages.
In 2005 he founded the nonprofit One Laptop per Child, which deployed $1 billion of laptops for primary education in the developing world.
In the private sector, Negroponte served on the board of directors of Motorola (for 15 years) and was general partner in a venture capital firm specializing in digital technologies for information and entertainment. He has personally provided start-up funds for more than 40 companies, including Zagat’s and Wired magazine.
Introduction and special remarks
Larry Irving
President
Irving Group
THE SIR ARTHUR CLARKE IMAGINATION IN SERVICE TO SOCIETY AWARDEE
SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE
for allowing us, through stunning images and analyses, to feel like fellow explorers of the universe.
The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. STScI helps humanity explore the universe with advanced space telescopes and ever-growing data archives.
Established in 1981, STScI has helped guide the most famous observatory in history, the Hubble Space Telescope. Since its launch in 1990, the institute has performed the science operations for Hubble. SCScI also leads the science and mission operations for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which launched on December 25, 2021.
About Jennifer M. Lotz
Dr. Jennifer M. Lotz is the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScl), an 800-person multi-mission operations center for NASA’s flagship astronomical observatories and a world-class astronomical research center. She provides leadership and vision for all institute activities and champions a science-driven approach to support our missions and the communities we serve. STScl conducts science and flight operations for NASA’s flagship astronomical observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations for both the iconic Hubble Space Telescope and the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Observatory. As director, Dr. Lotz works closely with government, corporate, academic, international, and public partners to help humanity explore the wonders of the universe with advanced space telescopes and their data archives.
Introduction and special remarks
Associate Administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD)
NASA Headquarters
VIEW FULL BIO
The 2024 Silent Auction is Irresistable!
Never before has there been a prize package so broad and exciting – and available nowhere else by at the event!
The silent auction is always a great success, and many lucky winners walk away thrilled with their winnings, and for having supporting the future of the Unleash Imagination program! Bid on this exclusive library and images pictured below:
Bay of Life
Autographed by
Julie Packard
Being Digital
(2024 special edition)
Autographed by
Nicholas Negroponte
Visionary
Sir Arthur’s only
authorized biography
And this year only, there will be a special BID SHEET AUCTION for these magnificent images from STScl! Images include:
Blood Soaked Eyes
NASA’s Webb, captured by
the Hubble Telescope
Lagoon Nebula
Captured by the
Hubble Telescope
Pillars of Creation
Captured by the
James Webb Telescope
Just use subject line: Virtual Auction Bid and email to