program: core questions & agenda

core questions

Through the "Fitness of the Cosmos for Life: Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning" project — workshop and research volume — we intend to explore the following five core research questions, which will form the basis of the other major initiatives within the project's overall mission:

1. Do analogs to the fine-tuned "biocentric" parameters in physics and cosmology exist in biochemistry?
2. How can this question be addressed adequately within biochemistry?
3. Might "fine-tuning" in biochemistry be fundamentally different from "fine-tuning" in physics and cosmology?
4. Are there new research directions worth pursuing in biochemistry based on lessons learned from the discovery of "fine-tuning" in physics and cosmology?
5. Can new research in biochemistry further illuminate the domain of inquiry into selection effects and ensemble ("multiverse") theories in cosmology?

agenda

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2003:
PUBLIC KICKOFF EVENT WITH PAUL DAVIES AND SIMON CONWAY MORRIS AND OTHER SPECIAL GUEST DISCUSSANTS
Science Center, One Oxford Street
http://www.templeton.org/fridaynightfitness/

6:00 PM: Free Pizza and Soft Drinks with Student I.D.
7:00 to 9:30 PM: Program, Lecture Hall B

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11-12, 2003:
FITNESS OF THE COSMOS FOR LIFE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM
Phillips Auditorium, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2003: Day One

8:30 AM: Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM: Historical Background on L.J. Henderson's Life and Work

"Locating 'Fitness' and L.J. Henderson" - Everett Mendelsohn

9:40 AM: Big-Picture Overview

"The Multiverse Debate and Biochemistry" - Paul Davies

10:10 AM: Mid-Morning Break
10:30 AM: Topical Session I: Setting the stage for the symposium from three perspectives: biochemistry, evolutionary biology, and philosophy

"Creating a Perspective for Comparing" - Albert Eschenmoser
"Tuning into the Frequencies of Life: Does Life on Earth Have Cosmic Implications?" - Simon Conway Morris
"Complexity in Context: The Metaphysical Structure of Natural Complexity" - Edward Oakes

12:15 PM: Lunch
1:15 PM: Topical Session II: Specific technical issues in consideration of counterfactuals-considering the relation of counterfactual variation spaces in physics as contrasted with counterfactual variation in chemistry and biochemistry

"Evaluating Biological Constants and Standards at the Root of Life" - Stephen Freeland
"Unusual Chemistry and Circumstances in the Oldest Habitable Planetary Systems" - Abraham Loeb
"Cosmology and Life" - Mario Livio
Gerald Gabrielse [title pending]

3:15 PM: Mid-Afternoon Break
3:45 PM: Topical Session III: Considerations of ways to approach the question of fine-tuning in the properties of basic chemical components (for example, chemical properties of water, RNA, DNA, phosphorus chemistry)

"Geometry and Physics of Proteins" - Jayanth Banavar
"The Protein Folds as Complex Natural Forms: Further Evidence that the Properties of Matter May be Fine-Tuned for Life as It Exists on Earth" - Michael Denton
"On the Origin and Fine-Tuning of Metabolism" - Harold Morowitz (and Eric Smith)

5:15 PM: End of Day One

SATURDAY EVENING EVENTS:
SANDRINE'S BISTRO
8 Holyoke Street - Cambridge, MA 02138
617.497.5300
Fax: 617.497.8504
http://www.sandrines.com

6:00 PM: Cocktails and Hors d'Oeuvres
7:00 PM: Dinner
Dinner Menu and Location Map

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2003: Day Two

8:30 AM: Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM: "Other Universes" in Chemistry and Biochemistry: A View from Physics

"Sensitivity in Physics and Chemistry" - John Barrow

9:30 AM: Fine-Tuning in the Transition from Astrophysics to Biochemistry

"Fine-Tuning and Interstellar Chemistry" - William Klemperer

10:00 AM: Topical Session IV: Specific technical ideas regarding fine-tuning in relation to the origin of life

"The Hallmarks of Life"-Christian de Duve

10:30 AM: Mid-Morning Break
10:50 AM: Session Resumes

"On the Origin and Fine-Tuning of Metabolism" - Eric Smith (and Harold Morowitz)
"Coarse-Tuning in the Origin of Lives?" - Guy Ourisson
"Evolution of Intelligent Behavior: Does Complex Chemistry Offer Evidence of Purpose?" - Julian Chela-Flores

12:20 PM: Lunch
1:15 PM: Topical Session V: Deep understanding of the generalized dynamics of evolutionary processes in relation to questions of possible fine-tuning in biochemistry

"Design, Purpose, and Biochemical Fine-Tuning: Theological Reflections" - John Haught
"Bioenergetic Teleology: Directional Bootstrapping in the Evolution of Life Strategies" - Jeffrey Schloss
Martin Nowak [title pending]

2:45 PM: Mid-Afternoon Break
3:05 PM: Topical Session VI: Emergence, self-organization, and systems perspectives in biochemistry in relation to fine-tuning

"Explaining the Universe Without a Clue"-Jack Szostak
"What, If Anything, Have We Left Out? Where Do We Go from Here?"-George Whitesides
"Thoughts on Prebiotic Molecular Self-Organization in Water" - Shuguang Zhang

4:45 PM: Final Open Session-Brainstorming
5:15 PM: End of Day Two