"Origins symposium"

[Zucht]

Van 3 tot 6 april is er een symposium over de oorsprong van heelal en leven aan de universiteit van Arizona. Het is te volgen op live webcast feed:
http://www.origins.asu.edu/symposium/webcast/index.php

Questions of origins resonate across all academic disciplines and among the general public because they directly confront the mysteries associated with our existence, our past, and our future. Questions such as:

* How did the Universe Begin?
* How did life arise?
* How does life evolve?
* What is the Origin of Human Uniqueness?
* What is the origin of disease?
* How does consciousness arise?
* How do human institutions arise and develop?
* What will be the technologies of the future?

These are questions that provoke fascination and heated debate whenever they arise, and are, at the same time, central to forefront research at the edge of human knowledge. The Origins Initiative at ASU will continue a tradition of transdisciplinary activity, and an unusually strong existing research emphasis on origins issues from evolutionary biology to nanotechnology, from human institutions to the origin of the universe. It will have a two-pronged thrust: by bringing together scholars from different disciplines we will explore how a broader and more inclusive perspective may arise in addressing these fundamental questions. At the same time, progress in addressing key fundamental disciplinary questions can occur by bringing together a critical mass of experts, both within the university and from the outside.

Tussen de deelnemers vinden we
* Stephen Hawking
* Steven Pinker
* Richard Dawkins
* J. Craig Venter
* Lawrence Krauss
* Brian Greene
* Donald C. Johanson
...

[Metternich]

Richard Dawkins is de atheïstische versie van een fundamentalist.