Please join us to meet four famous physicists to focus on
the “Big Questions” of the future of science and humanity:
Wednesday • Oct 15, 2008 • 19:00 • Lake View Hotel
Dinner will be followed by discussion. Books will be available to you at no cost.
Listen to four world famous scientists who have received Nobel and Templeton Prizes:
Charles Townes, Nobel Prize winner who developed the discovery in quantum mechanics which created the laser revolution.
George Ellis, co-developer with Stephen Hawking of modern singularity theory.
Ian Barbour, visionary physicist and ethicist who created the modern field of “Science and Religion” in the USA and Britain.
Paul Davies, physical cosmologist and world famous author of many books on science.
What will the human future be like? Will we create prosperity and harmony? Or will we create global disaster? Modern science is a hugely successful area of human culture. It is a core cause of expanding wealth and prosperity all over the world. Francis Bacon, the early modern thinker and “prophet of science”, said “Knowledge is power.” Because scientific knowledge is expanding rapidly, the future of science will generate new forms of power. Expanding power, however, requires expanding ethical responsibility, ---the wise “stewardship” of power. But it's easier to expand power than to expand goodness or virtue. What vision is needed to create a harmonious future with such expanded powers? How can goodness or virtue also be expanded?
The forum will try to answer questions such as:
Can science be a source of human values and ethics?
Is science alone sufficient to guide the future of humanity
or do we need something more?
Does science undermine religion or other traditional values of society?
What is the proper relationship between science and the humanities?