Parliament of Worlds Religion 1993 Chicago IL

Author(s): Parliament of the World’s Religions
Publisher: USA Parliament of the Worlds Religions

Page 136

SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM
TUES-FRI, 8/31–9/3
"Cosmic Beginnings,
Human Ends"
The week of the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions offers a major opportunity to reflect upon the interaction of religion with science and technology today. The Parliament Science Symposium: "Cosmic Beginnings and Human Ends" will consist of a series of thematically linked presentations by distinguished members of the international scientific community, addressing key areas in which scientific and technological developments are raising issues of direct concern to the world's religious communities. Underlying these presentations are fundamental questions concerning life on earth and in the universe. The Council and Program Staff wish to thank Professor Clifford Matthews, Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Chicago, for his extraordinary leadership and effort in the development of this symposium.
Note: In addition to the Parliament Symposium, a second gathering, the Templeton Foundation Symposium (August 31-September 2) will focus on the single theme: "Science and Religion: Two Ways of Experiencing and Interpreting the World." The Symposium will be held at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. For more information, see the "Offsite Events" section of this program catalogue or call (312) 753-0670.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 31 10:00 AM–11:00 AM Salon III "The Origin, Evolution, and Distribution of Life in the Universe" Cyril Ponnamperuma According to the Oparin-Haldane hypothesis of chemical evolution, the formation of molecules of biological significance was a necessary preamble to the emergence of life on Earth. Laboratory experiments help us to retrace this evolutionary path. Planetary probes search for evidence of life or its precursor molecules within our solar system. Radio astronomers have detected a vast array of organic molecules between the stars. We are thus led to the inescapable conclusion that life must exist throughout the universe. Cyril Ponnamperuma Ph.D., Chemistry, University of California,
Berkeley; Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Laboratory of Chemical Evolution, University of Maryland, Science and Technology Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka; President, The Third World Foundation of North America; awarded the first A.L. Oparin Gold Medal for the best sustained program on the origin of life; awarded the Luminary of Science medal for his services to science and Sri Lanka.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 10:00 AM–11:00 AM Salon III "The Universe and Eye" Timothy Ferris From a variety of perspectives, including those provided by relativity theory, information theory, quantum cosmology and the multiple-universe cosmologies, we are led to consider that the subject matter of science ultimately has to do less with objective elements such as space, time, matter, and energy than with observer-inherent phenomena. If so, all science necessarily invokes a re-examination of the question of how mind interacts with nature. Timothy Ferris-Professor, Graduate School of Journalism, University
of California, Berkeley; author of six books on astronomy and physics, most recently, The Mind's Sky; and The Universe and Eye; Guggenheim Fellow; Director, Rocky Hill Observatory, member Board of Directors, Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
11:00 AM-12:00 PM Salon III "Cosmos, Bios, Noos: A Mandala for Science" Clifford Matthews A mandala, as in Buddhist art, is a diagram of the structure of human consciousness. To help in defining our scientific world view, we construct here a mandala arising from fundamental underlying concepts of science concerned with matter, life, and mind. Its mythic elements include the powerful ouroboros, yinyang, and DNA symbols. Clifford Matthews-Ph.D., Chemistry, Yale University; born in Hong
Kong and received his early education there and in London; after several years in industry, mostly at Monsanto, carrying out fundamental chemical research, became Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois, Chicago; research on cosmochemistry and the origin of life has led him to employ the unifying theme of universal evolution in all his teaching,
11:00 AM–12:00 PM Salon III "The Smallest Cells Can Teach Us Important Lessons" James Shapiro The conventional wisdom about bacteria is that they are primitive, single-celled organisms. Actually, bacteria (the smallest living cells) are essential and sophisticated actors on the stage of life, often outwitting larger organisms for their own (the bacteria's) benefit. Bacteria have an intricate social life that provides them with many adaptive advantages. This means that multicellularity is not an invention of so-called "higher" organisms. Like all cells, bacteria are outstanding genetic engineers, and they have used this capacity to withstand antibiotic chemotherapy. Bacterial antibiotic resistance is one of the best-documented examples of evolution by natural genetic engineering. The discovery that genetic change results from regulated, biological processes instead of random errors and physico-chemical damage to DNA has profound implications for theories of life and evolution. James Shapiro Ph.D., Genetics, University of Cambridge; B.A.,
English, Harvard College; Professor of Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago; 1993 Darwin Prize Visiting Professor, University of Edinburgh; organizer, initial conferences on DNA Insertion Elements, Episomes and Plasmids and on Multicellular Behavior of Bacteria; editor, Mobile Genetic Elements; current research on control of adaptive DNA rearrangements and multicellular interactions in bacteria.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 10:00 AM–11:00 AM Salon III "TAO, Modern Science, and Human Destiny" Hsing-Tsung Huang TAO is a basic philosophical and religious concept in Chinese culture. It is often translated as the WAY, but it may also be taken as the Ultimate Reality or the Order of Nature. In this paper we shall compare some aspects of TAO with traditional Christian beliefs and examine them in terms of modern discover
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