Please note: There has been a shift in the conference start time to 8 a.m.
The notion of “causation” is fundamental to what it means to understand. In scientific disciplines, “causes” range from the reductive kind to the more holistic kind, and researchers from Chapman made significant contributions in understanding the subject.
This conference will explore the implications of these ways to see causation for many disciplines – psychology, philosophy, education, the arts and more. Some of the most creative thinkers from a variety of disciplines will participate, including Yakir Aharonov, Ph.D., recipient of the National Medal of Science and professor in Chapman’s Institute for Quantum Studies and Schmid College of Science and Technology, Paul Davies, Ph.D., physicist, author, a professor at Arizona State University, as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Professor Andrew Briggs, the inaugural holder of the chair of nanomaterials at the University of Oxford, and many others.
Location: Merle E. and Majorie J. Fish Interfaith Center
Business or business casual. Men: no tie required. Ladies: casual dress or slack/blouse combo fine.
Admission is free but a ticket and RSVP will be required for entrance to the event.
Schedule
7:30–8 a.m. - Continental Breakfast
- Michael Pace: Morning Introductions
8–8:45 a.m. - Paul Davies: Introductory Remarks
8:45–9:30 a.m. - Alyssa Ney: Separability, Locality and Higher Dimensions in Quantum Mechanics
9:30–9:45 a.m. - Break
9:45–10:30 a.m. - Amir Raz: The Brain Correlates of Consciousness: Insights from Research on Higher Brain Functions
10:30–11:15 a.m. - Karma Lekshe Tsomo: (Title to come)
11:15–noon - Yakir Aharonov and Jeff Tollaksen: The Flow of Time in Quantum Mechanics
noon–1:15 p.m. - Lunch
- Nancy Martin: Afternoon Introductions
1:30–2:15 p.m. - Andrew Briggs: Unreasonable Effectiveness of Curiosity
2:15–3 p.m. - Richard Rose: The Lord's Prayer as an Example of Top-Down Agency in a Christian Cosmology
3–3:45 p.m. - Roundtable discussion moderated by Paul Davies, with Yakir Aharonov, Alyssa Ney, Roger Penrose, Amir Raz, Richard Rose, Jeff Tollaksen and Karma Lekshe Tsomo
4–5 p.m. - Roger Penrose: Capstone Address
programming speakers
|
Yakir Aharonov, Ph.D., is professor of theoretical physics at Chapman University, where he holds the James J. Farley Professorship in Natural Philosophy. Considered one of the most highly regarded scientists in the world, Dr. Aharonov received the prestigious Wolf Prize in 1998 for his co-discovery of the Aharonov-Bohm Effect, one of the cornerstones of modern physics, and the National Medal of Science award from President Barack Obama in 2009.
Prior to coming to Chapman University in 2008, Dr. Aharonov served on the faculties of Brandeis University, Yeshiva University, Tel Aviv University, the University of South Carolina and George Mason University. He holds the title of emeritus professor from Tel Aviv University.
|
|
Paul Davies, Ph.D., is an English physicist, author, and broadcaster, a professor at Arizona State University as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute for Quantum Studies at Chapman University and has held previous academic appointments at the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Adelaide and Macquarie University. His research interests are in the fields of cosmology, quantum field theory, and astrobiology. In 2005, he took up the chair of the SETI: Post-Detection Science and Technology Taskgroup of the International Academy of Astronautics. He is also an adviser to the Microbes Mind Forum.
Davies' inquiries have included theoretical physics, cosmology, and astrobiology; his research has been mainly in the area of quantum field theory in curved spacetime. His notable contributions are the Fulling–Davies–Unruh effect, which proposes an observer accelerating through empty space will perceive a bath of thermal radiation, and the Bunch–Davies vacuum state, which is often used as the basis for explaining the fluctuations in the cosmic background radiation left over from the big bang. He is also the principal investigator at ASU’s Center for Convergence of Physical Science and Cancer Biology, which is part of a program established by the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute to involve physicists in cancer research.
Davies' talent as a communicator of science has been recognized in Australia by an Advance Australia Award and two Eureka Prizes, and in the UK by the 2001 Kelvin Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics, and the 2002 Faraday Prize by The Royal Society. He also received the Templeton Prize in 1995. The asteroid 6870 Pauldavies is named after him.
|
|
Alyssa Ney, Ph.D. is associate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Davis, where she has taught since July 2015. Prior to that, she taught at the University of Rochester for ten years and holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Brown University and a B.S. in physics and philosophy from Tulane University. Ney’s research examines what our best fundamental physical theories can tell us about the world. Most recently, she has been engaged with interpretations of quantum theories. In a series of articles, she explores and defends the view that quantum entanglement may suggest that the world we inhabit is not fundamentally constituted by a collection of objects in three-dimensional space, but rather a field spread out in a much-higher-dimensional space. She acknowledges that quantum theory forces us to substantially revise our fundamental picture of the world and this is an exciting option worth exploring. In her work, Ney continues to explore how to fit facts about the mind and consciousness into the picture presented to us by our best physical theories, defending a staunch reductionism about mental phenomena, however arguing that this leaves open a number of interesting metaphysical questions.
|
|
Amir Raz, Ph.D., ABPH
- Canada Research Chair in the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University
- Department(s) of Psychiatry (Neurology & Neurosurgery, and Psychology)
- Senior Researcher, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research Institute for Community and Family Psychiatry at the Jewish General Hospital
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
|
|
Karma Lekshe Tsomo, Ph.D., a specialist in Buddhist studies, has taught at the University of San Diego since 2000. She offers classes in Buddhist Thought and Culture, World Religions, Comparative Religious Ethics, Religious, and Political Identities in the Global Community, and Negotiating Religious Diversity in India. Her research interests include women in Buddhism, death and dying, Buddhist feminist ethics, Buddhism and bioethics, religion and politics, and Buddhist transnationalism. She integrates scholarship and social activism through the Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women and Jamyang Foundation, an innovative education project for women in developing countries, with 15 schools in the Indian Himalayas, Bangladesh, and Laos.
|
|
Richard A. Rose, Ph.D. is a Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the University of La Verne. He completed the Master of Divinity degree at Howard University School of Divinity and received his Ph.D. degree from the Claremont Graduate School. His dissertation is titled ³Howard Thurman¹s Life and Thought: Implications for Religious Pluralism and Interfaith Dialogue.² In addition to his faculty position, Dr. Roseserves as the Director for the University of La Verne¹s Ecumenical Center for Black Church Studies Program; through satellite locations, non-traditional age students earn their B.A. degree in an ecumenical setting. He is an ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and is the Assistant Pastor at Christ Our Redeemer A.M.E. Church in Irvine, CA. Dr. Rose is a founding member of the Southern California Committee for a Parliament of the World's Religions and serves on its Board of Directors.
His current research examines trends in the training of clergy as it relates to Interfaith dialogue and Religious Pluralism. His most recent publication, 7 MEDITATIONS ON THE LORD¹S PRAYER, shows how this Christian prayer corresponds to the chakra energy centers and is in essence Jesus¹s instructions for spiritual enlightenment.
|