tying up a few loose ends

The conference is now over, and I think it was a very good one. I’ve had it on my plate for the past 18 months since first being invited, so there will now be a hole in my future expectations where Manchester used to be.

A few quick loose ends to tie up:

*Some asked me the name of this conference. It is CRESC, Centre for Research on Social Change. They just ended their five-year grant period for the conference, but were renewed for anotehr five years. You can Google for CRESC if you want; I still cannot cut and paste.

*Jeremy let me know that that “Upside Down” song is by Diana Ross. I shouldn’t have forgotten that, being a big fan of The Supremes as I am.

*Peter Gratton didn’t really do a “frontal assault”, though I was joking anyway. Peter does the Philosophy in a Time of Error blog, which I also cannot link to here, so go see for yourself his expressions of incredulity while typing on his laptop and watching me from across the room (I didn’t even see him there). But I definitely think there was a “debate” tone to my discussion with him and Law last night, though it was by no means out of line. I enjoyed it.

*Weirdest of all, I met a guy from TU Delft on the way out of the building. I told him I had lectured there on time, space, and essence in November 2007 (the “Beaterice” essay is based on that talk) and was shocked when he told me the whole architecture building burned down in May 2008! I cursed it, apparently, through the mediator of a faulty coffee pot that triggered the blaze.

Great Indian dinner coming up at a much-praised Indian restaurant, where I will again meet and “debate” Gratton. (Just joking. His paper was actually more supportive of my position than of Meillassoux’s, though I am not yet convinced by his claim that Nancy is my object-oriented ally against Meillassoux. I have a Nancy essay coming out next year that explains why, in the Gratton/Morin Nancy anthology to be publisehd by SUNY Press.)