FQxI’s 3rd International Conference
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Setting Time Aright
Location
Bergen, Norway and Copenhagen, Denmark
Dates
August 27 – September 1, 2011
The time is out of joint—O cursed spite,
– Hamlet Act 1, scene 5 / William Shakespeare
That ever I was born to set it right!
This conference will bring together leading researchers across a wide range of fields within physics and cosmology, as well as from computer science, complex systems, biology, philosophy, and psychology. The participants will discuss a number of interrelated foundational questions related to the nature of time.
The meeting will take place Aug. 27-Sept. 1, 2011, in two parts:
- At Sea: Starting on August 27 with a chartered cruise aboard the National Geographic Explorer originating in Bergen, Norway and disembarking in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 29.
- On Land: The conference will then continue for three nights in Copenhagen.
The schedule (and unusual location) will be designed to maximize inter- and intra-disciplinary collaboration and interaction, with ample time for organized and free discussion in inspiring environments (tentatively including fjord cruising and group excursions in National Geographic’s Zodiac explorer vessels). Attendees will include members of FQXi and other select invitees, and will represent a broad range of disciplines bearing on the problem of time.
This conference is the third in a series of international conferences that FQXi organizes to bring together specialists and researchers working on foundational questions. Please visit our website for more info about previous FQXi conferences in Iceland and the Azores.
Conference Organizing Committee: Anthony Aguirre, Sean Carroll, Jesse Dylan, Brendan Foster, Jennifer Ouellette, Huw Price, Nick Pritzker, and Max Tegmark
QSpace Latest
PressRelease: Shining a light on the roots of plant “intelligence”
All living organisms emit a low level of light radiation, but the origin and function of these ‘biophotons’ are not yet fully understood. An international team of physicists, funded by the Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI, has proposed a new approach for investigating this phenomenon based on statistical analyses of this emission. Their aim is to test whether biophotons can play a role in the transport of information within and between living organisms, and whether monitoring biophotons could contribute to the development of medical techniques for the early diagnosis of various diseases. Their analyses of the measurements of the faint glow emitted by lentil seeds support models for the emergence of a kind of plant ‘intelligence,’ in which the biophotonic emission carries information and may thus be used by plants as a means to communicate. The team reported this and reviewed the history of biophotons in an article in the journal Applied Sciences in June 2024.