CONF. ANNOUNCEMENT: Einstein Meets Magritte
Per Helmersen
E I N S T E I N M E E T S M A G R I T T E
================================================
An interdisciplinary reflection on science,
nature, human action and society
International Interdisciplinary Conference
at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel
May 29 / June 3, 1995, Brussels, Belgium
Never before has humanity made such an attempt as now to take its
fate into its own hands (science and technology). The increasing
speed of current global changes, however, leads to a sense of
disorientation.
Need this paradox be resolved, and if so, can it be dealt with
from a perception that knowledge and actions lead to ever larger
fragmentation?
Different attitudes prevail, involving respectively;
(1) an attempt to reconstitute a form of unity, often projecting
the hope that the alleged unwanted effects of scientific and
technological progress will become comprehensible and eventually
controllable;
(2) a relativist attitude, depicting the modern worldview, with
its instruments and products (western science and technology), as
one among many conceivable, and probably not the most desirable,
course for humanity.
Each of these attitudes tends to portray the other as a
caricature. 'Relativists' stigmatize attempts at unification as
dictatorial, unfeasible and naive. Relativism, in its turn, is
said to lead anywhere and nowhere at all.
The aim of the conference is to gather scholars from different
domains, inviting them to set up a dialogue between the above
attitudes, and integrate the more relevant insights of both into a
new perspective on global change.
We have taken up the two myths of Albert Einstein and Rene
Magritte, because we believe that where they 'meet' some
significant clues might be revealed. How does science (producing
knowledge and technology) confront art (producing revelations and
sensations)? Do we have to oppose life 'within object' (the
conscious ordering of the physical and social world, symbolized
in 'Einstein') to a form of life 'beyond object' (symbolized in
the imagery of Magritte)?
List of invited speakers:
------------------------
Brian ARTHUR, Santa Fe Institute, USA.
Zygmunt BAUMAN, Leeds University, United Kingdom. *
Francis CRICK, Salk Institute, USA
Anne Teresa DE KEERSMAEKER, Rosas, Brussels, Belgium *
Bob EDWARDS, Cambridge University. United Kingdom. *
Murray GELL-MANN, Caltech and Santa Fe Institute, USA *.
Stephen Jay GOULD, Harvard University, USA.
Adolf GRUNBAUM, University of Pittsburgh, USA. *
John HOLLAND, University of Michigan, USA.
Julian JAYNES, Princeton University, USA.
Stuart KAUFMANN, Santa Fe Institute, USA.
Gyorgy LIGETI, Hamburg, Germany.
John MAYNARD SMITH, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Rigoberta MENCHU, Mexico.
Roger PENROSE, University of Oxford, UK
Constantin PIRON, University of Geneva, Switserland. *
Ilya PRIGOGINE, University of Brussels, Belgium. *
Michel SERRES, Sorbonne-Stanford, France.
Peter SLOTERDIJK, Germany.
Zeev STERNHELL, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel *.
Bas VAN FRAASSEN, Princeton University, USA. *
Francisco J. VARELA, Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France. *
John ZIMAN, United Kingdom.*
(* = have already accepted the invitation)
Different workshops will be held during the conference, on the
following themes:
(a) Science, society and the university.
(b) The nature of life (and death).
(c) A world in transition.
(d) Worldviews and the problem of synthesis.
Three satellite symposia will be organized during the main conference on the themes :
(A) Quantum physics and the nature of reality.
(B) Foundations of Nonlinear Dynamics.
(C) The evolution of complexity.
Conference proceedings "Einstein meets Magritte" will be
published, including contributions of participants.
Anyone wishing to take part in the conference, or to receive a
second announcement containing a more complete programme, should
fill in the reply form and return it to us.
Conference Office: Orga-Med.
Ria Maes, tel: 32 2 582 08 52, fax: 32 2 582 55 15
For electronic mail correspondence concerning the conference use:
e-mail: ein...@vub.ac.be
For more information concerning the 'academic aspect' of the
conference contact:
Prof. D. Aerts,
TENA, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050
Brussels, Belgium,
fax: 32 2 629 22 76, tel: 32 2 629 32 39, e-mail:
dira...@vub.ac.be
Prof. C. Sybesma,
BIOF, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050
Brussels, Belgium.
fax: 32 2 629 32 68, tel: 32 2 629 32 69, e-mail
csyb...@vnet3.vub.ac.be
The conference is part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the
'Vrije Universiteit Brussel', which was founded in 1969 as a
separate university from the 'Universite Libre de Bruxelles'. It
is co-organised by CLEA, an interdisciplinary research centre at
this university investigating the possible ways of integrating
different worldviews.
For those who wish to receive automatically all future information
about the conference, a mailing list einstein-magritte has
been created at the university of Brussels. To subscribe to this
mailing list please proceed asfollows:
Send an e-mail message to the address majo...@rc1.vub.ac.be
leaving the 'subject field' of your message empty, and writing
subscribe einstein-magritte
end
in the editor field of the message.
More information on the conference is also available on
the World-Wide Web, at URL:
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Conf/EinmagAn.html
****************************************
REPLY FORM:
----------
I am interested in taking part in the conference "Einstein meets
Magritte : An interdisciplinary reflection on science, nature,
human action and society", and wish to receive the second
announcement.
Name :..................................................
Affiliation :...........................................
Address :...............................................
City :..................................................
Country : ..............................................
Fax :...................................................
Tel.:...................................................
E-mail:.................................................
I prefer future correspondence by
o e-mail,
o ordinary mail.
For the submission of a contributed paper and to help us shape the
final form of the conference, we ask you to send us the following
information:
(1) include with this form an abstract for the paper of not more
than one page.
(2) make full reference to other parts of your scientific work
(3) indicate whether you prefer
o an oral communication
o a poster presentation
(4) fill out the title of your paper
........................................................
........................................................
(5) indicate your main area of research and/or field of interest;
(6) give any other information concerning your participation
that might be relevant for finalizing the programme
All accepted abstracts will be published in an abstract book. We
would like to receive your abstract as soon as possible; the
ultimate deadline for acceptance is 1 March 1995.
Typing instructions for the abstract:
- The abstracts should be written in English.
- Authors should use a maximum of one single page for their
abstract.
- The header of the page should contain the title, the
author with surname first followed by initials, and the
institution identified with full address.
- Use a laser printer or an electric typewriter with carbon
ribbon.
- Abstracts and the additional information may be sent by e-mail,
not later than March 1, 1995, to ein...@vub.ac.be. In this case
the author should put his or her surname in the e-mail header.
- If sent by ordinary mail, not later than March 1, 1995, use the
address :
'Einstein meets Magritte'
Theoretical Physics, TENA,
University of Brussels,
Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels,
Belgium.
**********************************************************
This form should be sent to:
"Einstein meets Magritte", TENA, Vrije Universiteit Brussel,
Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
e-mail: ein...@vub.ac.be
-----------------------------------------------------------
Per Helmersen Per.He...@tf.tele.no
Norwegian Telecom Research Phone: +47 63 80 91 58
P.O Box 83 / N-2007 KJELLER FAX: +47 63 81 00 76
NORWAY
-----------------------------------------------------------