"The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for the Essence of Reality"
Can we know what "reality" is? Are there fundamental limits to knowledge?
In this interdisciplinary conference, Professor Gleiser will present some of the central ideas from his book "The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning," explaining why science provides a limited description of nature and why this limitation is crucial for our pursuit of a deeper understanding of reality and theories of "everything." Starting from Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Professor Gleiser will trace our ever-evolving worldview, moving on to cutting-edge examples in cosmology and the origin of the universe, quantum physics and its interpretation of the world, cognitive neuroscience, and the "hard problem of consciousness." Together, these examples illustrate how science and philosophy need each other to address some of the most fundamental questions of our time.
Marcelo Gleiser is the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and a professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College (USA), a world-renowned theoretical physicist, and a "public intellectual." His research in theoretical physics covers cosmology and the evolution of the universe, non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, the origin of life and complexity theory, and, more recently, the search for biosignals on exoplanets. He is the author of hundreds of technical articles and thousands of essays, as well as seven books in English translated into 18 languages. His popular writings explore the historical, religious, and philosophical roots of science, both past and modern, and the future of our civilization project.
Gleiser is a member of the American Physical Society, has received the Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House, and was the founder and director of the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth. He co-founded the Science and Culture blog for National Public Radio 13.7 and currently writes weekly for BigThink.com. He is the winner of the 2019 Templeton Prize, an honor he shares with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, and scientists Freeman Dyson, Jane Goodall, Francis Collins, Sir Martin Rees, and Frank Wilczek.