In addition to the regular Talks and Posters that will be presented by/to the expert participants at this conference, we are pleased to announce an additional Evening Session, titled "An Evening of Science and Philosophy" to take place on June 24th, 2024. This session is intended for the General Public, keeping in mind a Non-Expert Audience. As a participant in this session, you will have the opportunity to ask the speakers questions regarding the subject of their talks, or ask any other related questions that you may have; there will be ample time provided for this after each talk. There is no fee to participate in this event.
Registration: If you are not already a participant at this conference and you are interested to attend this Public Session, then please register yourself by sending an Email to Dr.Norbert.Euler@gmail.com. Seats are limited, so register early to secure your seat at this unique and exciting event! Participating in this event is free for everyone. The registration deadline is June 1st, 2024.
Time: 19:00, June 24th, 2024
Place: Häcker's Grand Hotel, Bad Ems
Programme:
19:00 Opening
- Some words of welcome by the Mayor of Bad Ems, Mr. Oliver Krügel.
- A Foreword by Norbert Euler, President of ISNMP; Editor in Chief of OCNMP
19:15 Speaker: Athanasios S. Fokas
Title: The two ‘big bangs’ of our mental evolution
20:00 Speaker: Adrian Constantin
Title: Geophysical flows and waves
20:45 Some closing remarks by Norbert Euler
Details and Abstracts
Speaker: Athanasios S. Fokas, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Title: The two ‘big bangs’ of our mental evolution
Abstract: Visual perception will be used to show that every conscious experience is preceded by an unconscious process. In particular, in visual perception, which is achieved via the deconstruction of a given percept followed by its reconstruction, about a third of second after an unconscious reconstruction, the unconscious informs consciousness of the given percept. At this moment, the first ‘big bang’ takes place: awareness.
Many of our evolutionary predecessors possess consciousness. So why do we differ from them qualitatively? Many scholars have highlighted language as the key difference between us and other creatures possessing consciousness. In my opinion, this is not entirely correct. Instead, I propose that we possess a predisposition to construct real versions of our mental images and their unconscious forms, or to assign to them specific symbols. I label the emerging constructions or symbols, metarepresentations. This is the second ‘big bang’ of or mental evolution, which in addition to language, includes the metarepresentations of mathematics, computers, technology, and arts. A painting of Kandinsky will be used to illustrate the meta-representation of arts.
Note: The latest book by Prof. Fokas is titled "Ways of Comprehending: The Grand Illusion and the Essence of Being Human". The cover of this book can be downloaded here.
Speaker: Adrian Constantin, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Title: Geophysical flows and waves
Abstract: Using a few examples, it is explained how the interaction between measurements, mathematics and computer simulations enables insight into climate-relevant natural phenomena.
Note: We recommend the following video clip about Constantin's research (in German).