DATE | TITLE | TOPICS DISCUSSED |
March 1996 | on Consciousness Explained by Daniel Dennett | neural darwinism, philosophic (mind/matter) dualism, qualia |
April 1996 | the Tucson Consciousness Conference | Do computers think? Can there be truths inaccessible to science? Neural nets. |
May 1996 | the Teachings of Gurdjieff | spiritual teachings, Gurdjieff's All and Everything, free will, Spinoza |
June 1996 | Quantum Loss of Identity | Unseen objects lose identity; the conundrum of quantum mechanics. A demonstration of the effect. |
July 1996 | the Birth and Death of Stars | How astronomers reach conclusions from observations. The significance of star clusters. What the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram tells. |
August 1996 | How Measure Information? | How define information? How measure it? Connection to uncertainty. What a bit is. Compression coding. |
September 1996 | Real Magic | Spiritual exercises, their mystical roots. God, the kabala, occult method of prayer, active meditation, hermetic magic |
October 1996 | Holography: Data Storage and the Holographic Mind | What holography is, how it works, how it provides a metaphor for thought processing in the brain. |
November 1996 | Anatomy of an Antinomy | Mathematical paradoxes. Georg Cantor. Infinite sets. The Turing machine. Counting integers and rationals. How construct an irrational number. |
December 1996 | The Philosophy of Gratitude | Spiritual pursuits. Selfless vs. selfish. Distortions of meaning. What is a philosophy of Gratitude? |
January 1997 | In The Beginning There Were Masers | Lasers evolved from masers; microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. What this means. How it is made to happen. |
February 1997 | Year One Celebration: Conceptual and Culinary Treats | Dowsing, spiritual vs. scientific outlooks, the joys of fellowship. |
March 1997 | Feng Shui & The Dynamics of Qi | The 'resevoir of knowing obscured by rationality'. Are mystical beliefs valid? A role for superstition. Fantasy vs. rational thought. |
April 1997 | The Sphinx, New York Taxi Drivers and Layers of Strategy | Levels of strategy. Anti-self-interest behavior. Pscho-logic and myths. |
May 1997 | Basic Color Terms - Window on Human Language Evolution? | Linguistics. The birth of words used for color. Universality among languages. |
June 1997 | On The Book Food of the Gods by Terrence Mc Kenna | Psychedelic mushrooms and human evolution of consciousness. The evils and the blessings of authority. |
July 1997 | What Is Light?: A Book Report | Is there a metaphysical alternative to physics? The pursuit of simplicity. How distinguish substance from illusion? Using the establishment. |
August 1997 | A One-Lecture Introduction To Group Theory | The mathematical group; its definition, significance and implications |
September 1997 | Mind Play: The Meaning In Words | What does it mean to speak of 'meaning in life'? Epigrams; packaged truths! |
October 1997 | Show And Tell Potpourri | Human motivations. On justice. On free will. On the appeal of mathematics. The internal combustion engine. Spirituality. |
November 1997 | The End Of Certainty, A Report | Entropy, the self-organization puzzle. Pagans among us. Poetry vs. understanding |
December 1997 | Philosophy Expo | Does 'progress' exist? Miracles. Ineffables. Im ponderables and explanation. Reductionism; scientific and religious. |
January 1998 | Qaballah | Mysticism. Symbology; a language of qualities. Getting what you want. |
February 1998 | Categories and Metaphors | Metaphor generates meaning; the philosophic implications. |
March 1998 | Creative Thinking | Self-help on creativity. Imitate the creative! |
April 1998 | Who Are We? | Participants' biographical tidbits. |
May 1998 | On Dawkins' Selfish Genes | Purpose in the universe? Natural selection; cause and effect. Nature of consciousness. |
June 1998 | Eve Spoke | Origin of speech. An evolutionary advantage of a physical ability. |
July 1998 | The Life of the Cosmos | Cosmic natural selection. Black holes. |
May 2007 | Garden World | Is the world a better place? |
February, 2011
Marvin Chester
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