Because of the general strike (and in
particular strike of the trains coming from Paris) announced for
tomorrow, the seminar below has been moved from Friday, Oct. 7, to
Monday, Oct. 10!
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Please distribute...
You are hereby invited to our twenty-third "Evolution, Complexity and
Cognition (ECCO)" seminar of 2005:
A Philosophical Approach to
the Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis
by
(philosophons.com &
Université Paris 1-Sorbonne)
Place: room 3C204 (building C, 3rd floor), VUB campus
Etterbeek
Time: Monday, October 10, at
17:30 h.
Abstract:
This seminar will propose a possible philosophical project for
research within ECCO. It is about a very large worldview,
developed by James N. Gardner, linking in a deep way the universe,
life and intelligence. Based on the strong anthropic principle, and
Lee Smolin's reproducing universes, Gardner tackles big questions
like: Why is our universe bio-friendly? What is the meaning of life
and intelligence in the universe? What are the beginning and the end
of the universe? I'll present the main points of Gardner's
argumentation. A critical point of view will be adopted, and avenues
of research to develop an evolutionary-systemic philosophy will be
suggested.
In addition, I will shortly present another project about
scientific communication. In the spirit of Marko Rodriguez's work on
self-organization of scientific knowledge, it will be proposed that
Open Commentary (OC), a proven very efficient way of scientific
communication, could be extended to all scientific documents.
More info:
- Gardner, J. N., (2003) Biocosm. The new scientific theory of evolution: intelligent life is the architect of the universe. Inner Ocean Publishing. See www.biocosm.org where the introduction is available. Gardner, J. N. (2001) Assessing the Robustness of the Emergence of Intelligence: Testing the Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis. Acta Astronautica 48, no. 5-12, p951-955. Abstract : http://www.setileague.org/iaaseti/abst2000/gardner.pdf Smolin, L. (1997) The life of the cosmos. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Vidal, C. (2005) Le commentaire ouvert. http://clement.vidal.club.fr/temp/vidal2005.pdf
About the speaker:
Clément Vidal has studied philosophy and logic at the
Université Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne, where he wrote a thesis on
the notion of infinity. He is now finishing an additional Master in
Cognitive Science. He is webmaster of the site philosophons.com,
which supports discussion and the writing of philosophy papers. In
addition to the subject of the seminar, he is interested in the idea
of the Internet evolving into a global brain.
ECCO
seminar programme coming weeks
The programme for the new academic year is being prepared.
Proposals for lectures are most welcome! Already note the following
lecture from Marko, presenting some of the work he has done at the
Los Alamos National Laboratory:
- Oct 28: Marko Rodriguez: A Hyper-Cortical Model of the Scholarly Process
ECCO seminars normally take place each Friday at 17h30 in room
3C204 of the VUB Campus Etterbeek. Everyone interested is welcome.
The seminars are very interactive, with small groups (about 8-10
people). The intention is to discuss in depth the research being
proposed, and to look for interdisciplinary connections with other
ECCO-related themes. Seminars last about two hours, after which the
remaining participants go to take a drink or a snack in the Opinio
Café on the campus, to continue the discussion in a more relaxed
setting.
--
Francis Heylighen
"Evolution, Complexity and Cognition" research group
Free University of Brussels
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
Francis Heylighen
"Evolution, Complexity and Cognition" research group
Free University of Brussels
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
--
Francis Heylighen
Evolution, Complexity and Cognition group
Free University of Brussels
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
Francis Heylighen
Evolution, Complexity and Cognition group
Free University of Brussels
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
