*Please distribute to others who may be interested...*
You are hereby invited to the 5th weekly seminar in our seventh interdisciplinary series on Evolution, Complexity and Cognition<http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108>(ECCO). *Time*: Friday, Dec, 3rd 14:00-16:00 p.m (note: this year, all seminars take place on Fridays, 14-16 pm, unless announced otherwise) *Place*: Room B 0.036 (building B, level 0, close to the human sciences computer rooms), on the VUB Campus Etterbeek (Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels), in collaboration with MOSI. Coffee available. Free entrance: everybody welcome! ------------------------------ Black Holes as Attractors for Intelligent Civilizations Clément Vidal <http://clement.vidal.philosophons.com/>(ECCO, VUB) *Abstract:* The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) can probe into the existence of more advanced intelligent life. What kind of higher-level intelligent signatures can we seek? We contend with scientific, societal, technological, computational, complexity and philosophical arguments that black holes are attractors for intelligence. Observing black holes is thus a new potentially successful SETI search strategy. More generally, testing this or other similar conjectures can guide the future of humanity in the universe. ------------------------------ *Upcoming Seminars* *Dec. 8 (Wednesday) *Frank Tipler <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_J._Tipler> (Tulane University) The ultimate future - Of the Universe, of Computers, and of Humanity *Dec 10* Nathalie Gontier <http://vub.academia.edu/NathalieGontier> (CLWF, VUB) *Identifying the units, levels and mechanisms of evolution: an epistemological approach* *Dec. 17* Bertin Marten<http://books.google.be/books?id=r7CbVtlfc0sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=bertin-martens&source=bl&ots=Amuu-Z3p_8&sig=oD4mkFDgiTLlVLJo5xe7zUU2RqU&hl=en&ei=7D7ATKDFLZm8jAe8xMSUCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CC8Q6AEwBw>s (European Commission) *Economic exchange as a cognitive transmission channel in human societies* *Jan 14* Chris Exton <http://www.csis.ul.ie/staff/chrisexton/> (University of Limerick) *Crowd sourcing **Jan 21* Marco Fenici <http://unisi.academia.edu/MarcoFenici> (University of Siena) *Children's Understanding of Others' Minds: Empirical Research and Challenges Ahead* * * More info about the ECCO seminar program: http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108
