All lectures will take place at the UA's Center for Creative Photography. This year lectures are on Tuesday nights, with additional Thursday night lectures by the 2008 Templeton Fellow Jennifer Michael Hecht. Lectures begin at 7pm and are free. The closest parking garage (hourly fee) can be found at the Park Avenue Garage.

We would like to announce the following speakers for Spring 2008:

NEXT LECTURE:

Tuesday April 29, 2008
Ursula Goodenough - Biologist at Washington University
"Biology and the Sacred: Implications of Life on Earth"

An exploration of what we know about the origins and evolution of earthly life, with emphasis on the emergence of purpose and meaning.

FUTURE SPRING 2008 LECTURES:

Tuesday May 6, 2008
Nick Woolf - Astronomer at The University of Arizona
"All Hitched Together"

There are three main ways of looking at the Universe. In the top down way, everything is seen as a consequence of the Big Bang. There is the theory of everything way, in which all processes are seen as a result of matter and energy interacting. The third way, the way of this talk, is the systems way. Dr. Woolf will discuss a framework that puts together non-living things, life forms and social activities, explaining change and what determines survival. Systems show common features such as the way that human and fish embryos show their common heritage. The features result from survival depending on transitions, each bringing a new capability and new complexity. The framework has humanity working to towards a new kind of co-operation. Whereas in the first two views, humanity appears as a chance feature of the universe, in the systems view humanity is facing the great transition.

PAST SPRING 2008 LECTURES:

Tuesday January 29, 2008
Jonathan Lunine - Planetary Scientist at the University of Arizona
"Titan, Organic Evolution, and the Implications of Weird Life for the Sacred"

Saturn's giant moon Titan gas a surface shaped by geologic processes much like Earth's, but with different materials and under different conditions. If like exists there it will be VERY different from our own at a fundamental level. What would this discovery imply about the specialness - or not - of our existence?

Tuesday February 5, 2008
Lisa Kaltenegger - Astronomer at Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge
"Characterizing Pale Blue Dots in the Sky"

In a famous paper, Sagan analyzed a spectrum of the Earth taken by the Galileo probe, searching for signatures of life. In this talk we focus on what makes a habitable planet, using Earth as our example. The detection and characterization of Earth-like planets is approaching rapidly and dedicated space observatories are already in operation or in development phase. After a decade rich in giant exoplanet detections, observation techniques have now reached the ability to gain information on the physical structure and chemical content of some of the detected planets and also to find planets of less than 15 Earth masses – so called super Earths. Can they be habitable? We live in an exciting time where comparative planetology and the search for life on exoplanets is becoming a reality. In my talk I will focus on the fascinating new results and models for Earth over its evolution to super Earths and the signs of potential habitability of rocky terrestrial planets.

Tuesday February 12, 2008
Gregory Benford - Author, Astrophysicist at UC Irvine
"Seeking Ozymandias: Building and Searching for Beacons"

What would transmitters be like if built by civilizations with a variety of motivations, but who cared about cost? We have considered the physical limitations a beacon builder would face in constructing extremely high power radiators. Beacons built by distant advanced, wealthy societies may have very different characteristics from what SETI researchers now seek. Very high power systems have driving factors set by fundamental properties of materials, such as cooling of such high powers. The Principle of Parsimony suggests that beacon will compete with other social goods, for altruistic reasons. Such Beacons will have narrow beam widths, be pulsed and broadband, to minimize costs. Therefore, the transmission strategy for a distant beacon may be a rapid scan of the galactic plane, to cover the angular space. Searches for such intermittent, broadband signals could find signals we have neglected, because we believed earlier that the Beacon builders will be spendthrifts. Yet stable societies do not sacrifice their societies for distant others. Perhaps we should consider long-term stability from a moral point of view.

Tuesday February 19, 2008
Roger Angel - Astronomer at The University of Arizona
"Climate Change, Solar Energy and Geoengineering"

Solar energy from the world's deserts could largely replace coal as an energy source for electricity, mitigating current climate change. The lecture will also consider geoengineering solutions that may, nevertheless, be needed to avoid a climate catastrophe.

Thursday March 6, 2008 - Tuesday March 11, 2008 - Thursday March 13, 2008
Templeton Fellow Jennifer Michael Hecht - Poet, Author, Historian

Thu March 6: "Cosmic Cosmopolitanism"
We may soon be living with the fact of life outside our solar system, but the cosmic cosmopolitanism will be temporally staggered. We have only just become capable of listening to the skies. We may soon hear of life out there, but the message will have been sent a long time ago. The context of humanity changes when changes when cultures intermix. Finding Ancient Roman texts in the 1300s led Italy to produce the Renaissance. This lecture will consider how cultures through history have responded when confronted with a message in a bottle. The lecture will also posit how we are going to feel about this lonely kind of company and what that might lead us to do. It will also look at those people in history who have been able to think about these alien issues, especially Epicurus, Lucretius, Bruno, and Kant.

Tues March 11: "The Speed of Life and Hoarders of Magnitude"
Animals on earth experience the world on different scales of time, but many live short fast lives. The laws of physics dictate the sizes of organisms but there could be intelligent life that is much larger or smaller than we are. How do we feel about scale in beings on Earth? Our prejudices on the issues of speed and scale will be further complicated as we find out more about what is out there. This lecture will seek to isolate some generative questions.

Thu March 13: "Smarter Than Us"
If visitors from outer space actually arrive here, they are likely smarter than us; or at least technologically more sophisticated. That will put us in the position of the animals of Earth, or of the indigenous populations of the world that met with "exploring" Europeans. How are we going to feel about that? If they have more developed morality than we do, they will respect us, even though we are inferior and/or less powerful. However, if they do have better morality, they may not want us to keep slaughtering other earth animals. That might make us wish we had never found them. Some people like being taken care of and some people don't. Some people are used to being suspected and disliked, or coddled as cute but dumb, while others would find that a big shock. When others take care of you, you are spared anxiety but burdened by humility. This may seem strange, but I think most of humanity will prefer the humility to the anxiety. How will scientists feel? How will artists feel? How will ministers, priests, and rabbis feel? How will police officers feel? Will they find us entertaining? Sexy? Will they tease us about our taste in music? Will they make us share the planet with the other animals? Will they clean our cage?

Tuesday March 25, 2008
Lynda Williams - Physicist, Chanteuse
"Starship Earth: Future Evolution"

***LOCATION CHANGE***
This performance will now be held in Crowder Hall, which is adjacent to our regular location (Center for Creative Photography) and located in the Music Building.

Join the Physics Chanteuse, aka Lynda Williams in a live multimedia-musical-theater one-woman-show in which she blends science, song and personal narrative into a provocative exploration of past and future evolution of life aboard Starship Earth and beyond. Her smart and sassy critical analysis of the state of the Universe includes (but is not limited to) such diverse hot topics as climate change, astrobiology, space ecology, complexity theory, quantum entanglement, extraterrestrials, spirituality, philosophy, string theory, entropy, nuclear weapons, drugs, sex, love, violence and politics. Recommended for mature audiences due to adult language and content.

Tuesday April 8, 2008
Alan Weisman - Journalist, Author
"The World, With or Without Us"

Drawing on his interviews around the world with scientists, religious leaders, and many others for his 2007 book, The World Without Us, author Alan Weisman speculates on the future of life on Earth, human and otherwise.

Tuesday April 15, 2008
Martinez Hewlett - Biochemist, Philosopher at The University of Arizona
"What Does It Mean to be Human? Biological, Philosophical, and Theological Issues"

As we embark on the great adventure that searches for evidence of life outside of our own biosphere, I believe it is important to consider what it means to be a human person. I will examine this anthropological question first from a biological perspective, followed by a discussion of philosophical and theological considerations that are raised.

Tuesday April 22, 2008
Tom Boyd - Philosophy, Religion at the University of Oklahoma
"Preparing the Planet for Interstellar Visitations: A Sense of the Sacred and the Possibility of a Global Ethic"

My claim is that our planet is not prepared at present to receive visitors from elsewhere or to meet them in the abyss of space. To prepare the way more adequately for such visitations I want to propose that a sense of the sacred is necessary. Furthermore, a sense f the sacred grounds the possibility for a Global Ethic that will provide hospitality to all aliens, whether they live next door, in another country, near or far, or are arrivals from the dark reaches of the cosmos.

If you are not already on our email announcement list, please send us a note at templeton@as.arizona.edu to be added to our notice list.