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Special Guest Lecture:<br><br>
"A Tear at the Edge of Creation: Cosmos, Life and the Search for a
Final Theory"<br><br>
by MARCELO GLEISER<br><br>
Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy, Professor of Physics and
Astronomy, Dartmouth College<br><br>
{Sponsored by the STS Program, Physics Department, and the Knight Science
Journalism Fellows Program}<br><br>
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DAY: Tuesday, April 13<br>
TIME: 12:30--2:00 p.m.<br>
PLACE: room E51-315, MIT (2 Amherst Street, Kendall
Square, Cambridge)<br><br>
Free and Open to the Public<br>
Feel free to bring your lunch<br><br>
Contact person: Judy Spitzer, jspitzer@mit.edu, <br>
617-253-4044, STS Program, MIT<br><br>
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ABSTRACT: Can we find a Final Theory that explains Nature in all of
its complexity? Or is this search fundamentally misguided, more a
dream than a reality? Some of the greatest scientists of all time,
Kepler, Newton, Faraday, Einstein, Heisenberg, and Schrödinger, believed
in and searched for this elusive "hidden code of Nature."
In this talk, I will argue that the belief in a Final Theory is rooted in
the monotheistic religious tradition. Examining the teachings of
modern science, from theories about the origin of the universe to the
origin of matter and of life, we learn a very different lesson: that
Nature's creative engine depends on asymmetries that manifest themselves
in all levels of complexity. This revelation has implications for
all of us. If we are here because Nature is imperfect, how common
is life in the universe? Can we guarantee that, given similar
conditions, life will emerge elsewhere? What about intelligent
life? Are there other thinking beings in the cosmos? I will
argue that although life may exist elsewhere, intelligent life is
exceedingly rare. This makes us very important in the big scheme of
things. Being rare and precious, we have the moral directive to
preserve life and this planet. And we don't have a minute to
waste.<br><br>
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