God and Computers (fwd)

Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 21:13:44 +0100 (BST) To: Humanist Discussion Group <humanist(a)lists.Princeton.EDU> From: Anne Foerst <annef(a)ai.mit.edu> GOD AND COMPUTERS Minds, Machines, and Metaphysics Public Lecture Series --------------------- Wednesdays, MIT 34-101, 50 Vassar St, Cambridge, MA 02139 Refreshments 4:15 p.m., talk 4:30-5:30 p.m. SCHEDULE: Oct 1: "GOD, THE SCIENTIST", Paul Penfield, head of the MIT Department for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Oct 8: "HOW HUMANS EVOLVED A SENSE OF SELF AND AN UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR MORTALITY", Marc Hauser, Associate Professor, Departments of Anthropology & Psychology, Program in Neurosciences, Harvard University Oct 15: "BRAIN, MIND AND SPIRITUALITY", Ming Tsuang, head Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center; director Harvard Institute of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics Oct 22: "ARTIFICIAL HUMANITY", Rodney Brooks, director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Oct 29: "SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT IN STUDYING SCIENCE", Federico Girosi, Principal Research Scientist, Associate Director of the Center for Biological and Computational Learning at MIT Nov 5: "WHY A SCIENCE OF MIND IMPLIES THE TRANSCENDENCE OF NATURE", Francisco Varela, Director of Research, Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Center for Scientific Research, Paris, France Nov 12: "ALL IS FOREKNOWN, BUT FREE WILL IS GIVEN", Lynn Andrea Stein, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Laboratory for Computer Science, MIT. Nov 19: "INTELLIGENCE AND GOD: SHANKARA'S VIEW OF THE WORLD AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR COGNITIVE SCIENCE", Bijoy Misra, Faculty in Computer Science, Harvard Extension School; Consultant in Radiology and Neurology, Harvard Medical School and Brigham Women's Hospital Dec 3: "THE AGE OF SPIRITUAL MACHINES", Ray Kurzweil, Chairman and CEO of Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. Dec 10: "TOWARD MACHINES THAT CAN DENY THEIR MAKER", Rosalind W. Picard, NEC Development Professor of Media Technology, MIT Media Lab Abstracts will be published one week before the talk on the website http://www.ai.mit.edu/events/god-and-computers.html. For information please contact Anne Foerst, annef(a)ai.mit.edu, Tel: (617) 253-7891 or the Boston Theological Institute, bti(a)world.std.com, Tel: (617) 527-4880. -- Dr.theol. Anne Foerst Postdoctoral Fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory 545 Technology SQ, NE 43 - 812 Cambridge, MA 02139 +1 / 617 / 253-7891 Harvard Divinity School Center for the Studies of Values in Public Life 56 Francis Ave Cambridge, MA 02138 http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/annef/