Title:
Big Mirrors, Bayesian Evangelists  and the Public:
How Advances in Mirror Technology, detectors, databases, machine learning
and crowd-sourcing are driving Astronomy into the future

Abstract:
A plethora of technology advances over the past 40+ years have coalesced
to drive ground-based Astronomy into directions barely imagined a generation
ago.  Advances in everything from materials science to information
technology have made this possible. I will go through the historical
record in some of these technologies and show how radically things
have changed for the workaday Astronomer today and perhaps see where
these technologies are taking us.