Science, Knowledge and Humanity: debating the future of progress
October 26th to 28th, 2001, New York City.
Click here for programme and tickets:
http://www.instituteofideas.com/newyork.htm
'Science, Knowledge and Humanity' is a major series of public debates
about the future prospects for human innovation and progress, organized
by the London-based Institute of Ideas (www.instituteofideas.com) and
New York's Wolfson Center for National Affairs at the New School
University (www.newschool.edu).
Debates run from the evening of Friday, October 26th, 2001 through
Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th, and take place at the New School
University's Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street, NYC.
Speakers include:
Bruce Ames, author of 'Environmental Chemicals Causing Cancer and Birth
Defects'
Jean Bethke Elshtain, author of 'Who Are We?'
D Graham Burnett, author of 'Masters of All They Surveyed'
Napoleon Chagnon, author of 'The Yanomano'
James Chatters, paleoanthropologist, author of 'Ancient Encounters'
Jon Entine, author of 'Taboo'
Francis Fukuyama, author of 'The End of History and the Last Man'
Frank Furedi, author of 'Culture of Fear'
Joseph LeDoux, author of 'The Emotional Brain' and soon to be
published, 'Synaptic Self'.
Virginia Postrel, author of 'The Future and Its Enemies'
Edward Rothstein, 'critic at large', New York Times, author of 'Emblems
of Mind'
Charles Secrett, Director of Friends of the Earth UK
Jace Weaver, Yale (American Studies and Religion), author of 'Other
Words: American Indian Literature, Law, and Culture'
Click here for full program: http://www.instituteofideas.com/newyork.htm
Summary conference program:
Friday, October 26th, Opening Plenary (evening):
What is it to be Human?: what science can and cannot tell us about human
nature
Saturday, October 27th
Who's Afraid of Science?
Folklore versus Scientific Lore - Food Biotechnology
Folklore versus Scientific Lore - Alternative Medicine
Evening Plenary: The Future of Progress
Sunday, October 28th
The Ethics of Knowledge - Knowable but Unthinkable?
The Kennewick Man Dispute
Genetically Engineering People
Is the Future Human?
Tickets: $35 ALL DAYS ($10/$15/$15 Fri/Sat/Sun day prices respectively)
Student prices: $18 ALL DAYS ($4/$8/$8 Fri/Sat/Sun day prices
respectively)
To purchase tickets, telephone: +1 212 229 5488 (Monday-Thursday 1-8pm,
Friday 1-7pm)
Venue: New School University, Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street,
NYC (Between 5th and 6th Avenues)
For further information or to purchase your ticket:
Telephone (USA): +1 212 229 5353
Telephone (ROW): +44 20 7269 9229
Email: tonygilland@instituteofideas.com or specialprograms@newschool.edu
Background:
At the beginning of the 21st century human achievement is a cause for
celebration - not least in the fields of scientific enquiry and
technological application. We live longer, healthier lives than ever
before and have unlocked many of the great mysteries of the natural
world.
But have we gone too far? Global warming, species extinction, genetic
experimentation and the unexpected side effects of agricultural
technology, to name but a few, are recurrent themes in newspaper
headlines - and in our nightmares.
Are scares about modern food and medicines a rational response to a
world apparently dominated by corporate greed and government corruption,
or do they express an ill-founded pessimism about human achievement? Do
the complexities of the natural world demand a more precautionary
approach, or are we exaggerating uncertainties for fear of the future?
Have we abandoned the concepts of universal knowledge and objectivity
for good ? Is there something important about these ideas that needs to
be rescued? Does the ever-increasing ethical scrutiny of scientists'
work reflect a more responsible attitude to competing interests or an
unhelpful politicization of science?
Speakers confirmed to date:
BRUCE AMES, UC Berkeley (Biochemistry), author 'Environmental Chemicals
Causing Cancer and Birth Defects'
RON BAILEY, Science Editor, Reason Magazine, author 'Ecoscam'
JEAN BETHKE ELSHTAIN, University of Chicago, author of 'Who Are We?
Critical Reflections and Hopeful Possibilities'
D GRAHAM BURNETT, an Historian of Science and author of 'Masters of All
They Surveyed' , is Assistant Professor of History, Princeton University
NAPOLEON CHAGNON, Professor of Sociobiology, UC, Santa Barbara, author
'The Yanomano' and 'Adaptation and Human Behaviour'
IRENA CHALMERS, award-winning food writer, author, The Great Food
Almanac
JAMES CHATTERS, paleoanthropologist, author 'Ancient Encounters:
Kennewick Man and the First Americans'
JON ENTINE, author of 'Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why
We're Afraid to Talk About It'
MIKE FITZPATRICK, London medical doctor and author of 'The Tyranny of
Health'
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA, John Hopkins University, author of 'The End of History
and the Last Man', 'Trust' and 'The Great Disruption'
FRANK FUREDI, Reader in Sociology at the University of Kent at
Canterbury, author of 'Culture of Fear' and 'Population and Development'
NICK GILLESPIE, editor-in-chief, Reason Magazine
SARAH GLAZER, journalist and author of 'Therapeutic Touch and
Postmodernism in Nursing'
JEAN HALLORAN, Director of the Consumer Policy Institute, Consumers
Union
ROBERT KRAUSE, Yale University, Connecticut Global Action Network and
Danbury Independent Media Center
JOSEPH LEDOUX, New York University, author of 'The Emotional Brain'
author of The Emotional Brain, and soon to be published, 'Synaptic
Self'.
KENAN MALIK, author of 'Man, Beast and Zombie: what science can and
cannot tell us about human nature'
PHIL MULLAN, CEO of Cyberia Corporation and author 'The Imaginary
Timebomb'
VIRGINIA POSTREL, author 'The Future and Its Enemies'
EDWARD ROTHSTEIN, 'critic at large', New York Times, author 'Emblems of
Mind'
CHARLES SECRETT, Director of Friends of the Earth UK
ULLICA SEGERSTRALE, Illinois Institute of Technology, author 'Defenders
of the Truth: the Sociobiology Debate'
ANDREW VICKERS, Cancer Center, NYC, complementary medicine researcher
and editor of 'Examining Complementary Medicine - The Sceptical Holist'
JACE WEAVER, Yale (American Studies and Religion), author of 'Other
Words: American Indian Literature, Law, and Culture'
JACKIE WOOTTON, President of the Alternative Medicine Foundation and
editor of the Journal of Alternative Medicine
Sponsored by Reason Magazine (www.reason.com). Supported by Novartis
Inc. (www.novartis.com). Part of the UKinNY festival (www.ukiny.com)
Organised in co-operation with: Dorian Devins (Science Matters
Foundation); Natasha Gill (NYU); Norman Levitt (Rutgers University)
-- http://magma.ca/~gpco/ Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.—Kenneth Boulding
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