A free event with "Who Are We Now?" author Blaise Agüera y Arcas

The AI researcher talks about what's happening to the human species at the Sorrento on Saturday, June 1 at 3 pm

Blaise gave a sneak peek of some of his findings about gender in FrizzLit’s November 2021 Orlando book club. Photo by Steve Corn

Blaise Agüera y Arcas is a leading AI researcher whose new book Who Are We Now? is a mind-blowing and lavishly illustrated exploration of how biology, ecology, sexuality, history, and culture have intertwined to create a dynamic “us” that can neither be called natural nor artificial.

If he looks familiar to you, you were probably in the FrizzLit club that read Orlando by Virginia Woolf in 2021. He showed us some of the research about gender he was about to publish — and Who Are We Now? is the book we’ve been waiting for.

Live music starts at 2:30 pm, talk begins at 3 pm

Arrive at 2:30 pm the Fireside Room at Hotel Sorrento (900 Madison Street) to get a good seat and to enjoy half an hour of live piano music, free.

It will be performed by Paul Matthew Moore, the Silent Reading Party’s resident musician. There is a brunch Silent Reading Party earlier in the day, from 12:30 to 2:30 pm. By special arrangement, Paul will play for an extra half an hour after the reading party, as reading party attendees leave (or stick around?) and Blaise fans show up.

The event with Blaise begins at 3 pm goes until 4 pm. It’s free. Hosted by Christopher Frizzelle. No tickets or reservations required.

You must be 21+ because the Fireside Room has a bar in it.

More about Blaise and this book

If you are not already familiar with Blaise’s work, check out his TED Talks over here and here and here. He has written widely at the intersections of machine intelligence, art, ethics, and social science. 

Who Are We Now? is a book so massive in scope that it hardly seems possible, showing the human pattern in greater and more exciting detail than you can imagine. It’s revelatory, persuasive, and engagingly written. Blaise’s voice shines through, reaching out to readers (like me) who are not data experts and making the information relatable and thrilling.

FrizzLit Happy Hour follows the free event

Immediately after the free music from 2:30-3 pm and the Blaise event from 3-4 pm, there will be a FrizzLit happy hour in the room next door, at the Sorrento’s restaurant STELLA., from 4-6 pm.

Reservations are required for the happy hour, and seating is extremely limited.

We’re going to do Symphony of Sentences LIVE at this happy hour at 5 pm, using a microphone set up in the restaurant. Please bring any sentence from Blaise’s work that you would be willing to read aloud.

Or you may bring a sentence by Herman Melville, because he’s the next author we’re reading in the FrizzLit book club, starting June 6.

Please note: there is a $20 minimum on food and drink at the happy hour, which is not included in the reservation fee. (The reservation fee will be used to pay the piano player for his free performance from 2:30 to 3 pm before Blaise’s event in the Fireside Room.)

Again: you need a ticket for the happy hour. Seated is extremely limited and expected to sell out.

Both of these books will be on sale from Elliott Bay Books at the free event at 3 pm in the Fireside Room, as well as the ticketed happy hour at 4 pm in the Sorrento’s restaurant.