Upcoming Evo Devo Universe Conference Pushes the Boundaries of Scientific Understanding
October 02 2008 / by Alvis Brigis
Category: Space Year: 2008 Rating: 2
Is the universe a giant computer rigged to generate life in multiple galaxies? Does it harness the power of both evolution and development for some specific purpose?
These are some of the questions that will be tackled next week at the world’s first ever Evo Devo Universe Conference held in Paris, France.
Organized by the Acceleration Studies Foundation, the conference will bring together some of the most progressive cosmologists, complexity theorists, systems thinkers, and philosophers currently “exploring and critiquing models, hypotheses, and questions relating to the extent and interaction of evolutionary (or quasi-evolutionary) and developmental (or quasi-developmental) processes in the universe and its subsystems.”
In other words, it’s a world-class pow-wow for the thinkers who are working to uncover the rule sets that govern information, physics, chemistry, and all universal processes. And it will probably catalyze the birth of some important new theories and research paths in the months to come. For example, it is possible that someone presenting at this conference will pave the way for a more comprehensive information theory that accounts technology and plays nicely with existing scientific laws.
Here’s what conference organizer John Smart, futurist and systems theorist (and good friend), had to say about the event as I caught him just before he left for San Jose airport yesterday:
Evo Devo Universe keynote speakers will include:
James N. Gardner, a complexity theorist and science essayist, with a background in philosophy and theoretical biology.
Francis Heylighen, a systems theorist and cyberneticist focusing on the evolution of complexity.
Laurent Nottale, a cosmologist and pioneering theorist in scale relativity and fractal space-time.
John Smart, who will also be presenting his latest paper, Evo Devo Universe? A Framework for Speculations on Cosmic Culture.
John Stewart an evolutionary thinker, author and evolutionary activist.
Clement Vidal a philosopher and systems theorist studying evolutionary cosmology.
If you find yourself in Europe at the time and are ready for the memetic brain-freeze of a lifetime, you can sign up here. It’s worth the 80 Euro, if you can handle that quantity of new information and theory.
Comment Thread (1 Response)
-
Exciting stuff! I think I am going to join that listserv he mentions and I can’t wait to here what happens at the conference.
Posted by: Mielle Sullivan October 03, 2008
Vote for this comment - Recommend