origin

Anyone who has even a modicum of interest in physics and its subsidiary fields and has gotten a look at the lineup of panelists and speakers on tap at the ORIGIN Symposium must definitely be jumping for joy about now. Not to blow our own horn or anything … but the international stars of science who will be doing the explaining, discussing and imparting in Linz on September 2nd and 3rd make for a truly extraordinary conclave. It’s tough to pick out individual names. Where’s a blogger to begin?

Maybe with Lisa Randell (US), one of the world’s most highly respected physicists in the field of string theory, architect of a model of the universe that contains no fewer than five dimensions … dimensions that human beings can’t even comprehend (to say nothing of personally experience) but that hasn’t prevented Randell from proving their existence experimentally.

Or perhaps we should be especially looking forward to encountering Paul Davies (UK), who’s not only a brilliant astrophysicist; he’s absolutely unsurpassed in getting science across in term that laypeople can grasp. Speaking of which: we would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly recommend his book “Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life” in which he speaks about the “accident” that just happened to bring about the ideal conditions for the origins of life right here on our planet. Davies’ work is just the thing for those who seek a deeper understanding of why things are the way they are. If you wish to explore some of the ideas he’s going to present in his talk beforehand, we recommend to read his “The Goldilocks Enigma”.

Needless to say, we’re also thrilled at the prospect of experiencing Humberto Maturana, a renowned biologist and the philosopher who founded radical constructivism (but has since turned away from it). A school that he founded and is still associated with is the Instituto Matriztico in Santiago de Chile, where scholars are not constrained by boundaries separating such disciplines as sociology, biology and psychology as they pursue their research into the origins and nature of humankind.

And what about the head of the world’s largest and greatest research facility? Rolf-Dieter Heuer is director general of CERN. He previously served there as research director for high-energy physics before taking over the top spot in 2009. He’ll also be participating in the symposium, where he’ll join Joichi Ito in discussing how to foster innovation, a field in which CERN certainly has a tremendous amount of leading-edge expertise.

But, as mentioned above, with a conference lineup featuring so many top names, it behooves us to not pick out individual panelists (and thereby fail to mention others), so let’s just leave it at that. In any case, this symposium is sure to be fascinating and educational. Whoever can make it should definitely not miss these addresses and, above all, the discussions that follow. Unless, of course, you have the opportunity on a regular basis to join the directors of CERN and the MIT Media Lab in speculating about the origins of human existence. But the rest of us should definitely plan on being in the Brucknerhaus on September 2nd and 3rd.

ORIGIN SYMPOSIUM I, 02.09.2011 Fr/Fr, 10:00-13:30
ORIGIN SYMPOSIUM II, 02.09.2011 Fr/Fr, 15:00-18:00
ORIGIN SYMPOSIUM III, 03.09.2011 Sa/Sat 10:00-13:30
ORIGIN SYMPOSIUM IV, 03.09.2011 Sa/Sat 15:00-18:00 (Brucknerhaus)
ORIGIN SYMPOSIUM IV, 03.09.2011 Sa/Sat 15:00-18:00 (Deep Space)