Organised by: New Gallery Lucerne, http://www.neugalu.ch
TOPIC 2007: CONSCIOUSNESS AND QUANTUMCOMPUTERS
Registration / Programme: http://www.neugalu.ch/e_bienn_2007.html
Keywords: Quantumcomputers; Quantum Mechanics and the Brain; Quantum Mechanics and Computation; Quantum Physics and Consciousness; Quantuminformation and Consciousness; Buddhist Approaches to Consciousness; Brain and Mind; Relationship between Thoughts and Actions; Entangled Minds; Remote Viewing; Art and Innovation.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS: DO QUANTUMCOMPUTERS MAKE MINDS? (1/20, 2007) and
DO BRAINS MAKE MINDS? (1/21, 2007)
Simultaneous Interpretation English-German and German-English
The “Swiss Biennial on Science, Technics Aesthetics” is a discourse-oriented and interdisciplinary platform which has been focussing for some years on the polemical relationship between quantum physics and brain research. The goal of the lectures, talks and discussions at the Biennial has been to provide a better comprehension of physical realities including critical, epistemological positions and debates contributing to the relation of knowledge and reality, science and rationality, language and understanding, cognition and society.
More than half a century after inventing the transistor which triggered the development of modern electronics, computing, and telecommunications, research is challenged by the theoretical and technical problems of Quantum Computing. Fascinating experiments like quantum teleportation not only reveal the brilliant work of quantum physicists, but they are also of epistemological and special value. The new research field is about to explode; technical publications are increasingly available world-wide; market studies about the new technique refer to its potential being worth billions. A New York Times’ report comparing quantum computers to classical PCs concludes that «it’s like comparing nuclear power to fire». And acclaimed quantum physicists attest quantum computers yet undreamt capacities: By manipulating so-called quantum bits or qubits, they are expected to solve problems millions of times faster than today’s machines.
The 7th Swiss Biennial on Science, Technics Aesthetics «Consciousness and Quantumcomputers» presents internationally acclaimed speakers and specialists from the disciplines of quantum physics, consciousness research, art, and philosophy for interdisciplinary discussion (among them are the physicists Hans-Peter Dürr, Alternative Nobel Prize 1987, and Brian Josephson, Nobel Prize in Physics 1973). The debate’s major issues have their roots in earlier Lucerne conferences: Does our brain function according to quantum mechanical principles as some researchers claim? How does the new key technology challenge our conventional conception of matter, mind and information? Do we have to expect basic modifications of our understanding in «computing» as the Austrian physicist Anton Zeilinger states? Does quantum teleportation represent a method that allows quantum computers to communicate with each other in the near future? Do conscious actions in the brain – as the British mathematician Roger Penrose suggests – lie beyond the possibilities of computer simulations? How can we understand the Dalai Lama’s predication that «the physical basis of a computer decides if it can carry a stream of consciousness in the Tibetan-Buddhist sense»?
What is the function of art in view of the current dramatic development of scientific specialization, or the adjustment of the production of scientific knowledge to the technosciences? What kind of methodologies will be able to meet the dynamic development of the (natural)sciences most effectively?
Text: René Stettler
Confirmed Keynote Speakers, Presenters, Chairpersons:
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE AMMANN, History of Art, Frankfurt am Main; RAINER BLATT, Quantum Optics and Spectroscopy, Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck; COURTNEY BROWN, Mathematics / Political Science, Emory University, Atlanta, and Remote Viewing, The Farsight Institute, Atlanta; HANS-PETER DÜRR, Quantum Physics, Munich, Alternative Nobel Prize 1987; KLAUS HEPP, Theoretical Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Prize of the German Physical Society 2004; BRIAN D. JOSEPHSON, Quantum Physics, University of Cambridge / UK, Nobel Prize in Physics 1973; KARL KNOP, Physics, Baar / CH; CHRISTIAN THOMAS KOHL, Buddhism and Philosophy of Sciences, Freiburg im Breisgau; CHRISTINA LJUNGBERG, Cultural Studies, Semiotics, University of Zurich; GESHE LOBSANG TENZIN, Buddhism, Desprung Loseling Institute, Atlanta / USA; JOSEF MITTERER, Philosophy, Universität Klagenfurt / A; DEAN RADIN, Mind – Matter Interaction, Consciousness Research, Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma / USA; INGEBORG REICHLE, History of Art / Philosophy, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin; WOLFGANG TSCHACHER, Psychology, Abteilung für Psychotherapie, Universitätsklinik für Psychiatrie Universität Bern; HENRY P. STAPP, Physics, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley; PETER WEIBEL (Moderator of the Panel Discussions), Media- and Art Theory, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe.
