Time's up

All in all, I had a good time in Vienna and I am very glad that I went. The only negative was the insomnia on the night before the conference dinner, so that I was too tired to attend the dinner. In fact, I did very little in the way of socialising, though I did have some good conversations and meet some wonderful people.

It was daunting: they were all academics, some doing PhDs at the moment, but many actually, like, real, published philosophers. There were points when I struggled (and failed) to follow what was being said. In part because concepts and ideas were new to me and in part because often my thinking is slower than people's speaking.

That said, it was a superb group. Many said it was the best conference they had been to! I think the subject was interesting (you can find the details here), and that helped, but also it was really well organised and well run. Credit to Ruadhan Flynn, Martin Huth and Carlo Salzani. In addition, the group was generous in the way they attended to and responded to all the talks. It was a collegiate atmosphere, where I think that we all, not just the likes of me, learned a great deal.

One thing was very funny... to me, at least. When you came up the stairs, a sign pointed you right to Truth or left to Imagination!