von Neumann Memorial Lectures

On the occasion of remembering the 50th anniversary of his death, the von Neumann Memorial Lectures reflect upon von Neumann's life and legacy by exploring key issues facing humanity in the arenas of science, technology, and global ethics.

• View the von Neumann Memorial Lectures
• Princeton Public Events website

The Singularity Summit 2007

AI and the Future of Humanity

What are the major challenges to achieving advanced AI? What are the benefits and dangers? How far are we from self-improving AI? How should we prepare for this potentially powerful innovation?

• The Singularity Summit 2007
• The Singularity Summit 2007 Website
• Buy Tickets to Attend
• The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence

British Abolitionism and Noble Purpose: A Planning Grant to Organize a Conference on the Role of Progress in History

This grant is to plan a conference on the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade to consider a series of big questions about history, particularly whether moral progress is a possibility. The conference is jointly organized by The Historical Society and the John Templeton Foundation, in conjunction with the Spring 2007 Templeton Board of Advisors meeting in London.

• Project web site
• Slavery, Emancipation and Human Progress Webcast - Professor David Brion Davis speaks at Central Hall Westminster, London, 26 April 2007

"Evolvability: The Evolution Of Evolution" Conference

• Conference Website
• Purposes and Topics of the Conference (PDF)
• Conference Overview (PDF)

List of Presenters

• Chris Adami, Caltech
• Uri Alon, Weizmann Insitute
• Frances Arnold, Caltech
• Lynn Helena Caporale
• Michael Deem, Rice U
• Nigel Goldenfeld, UIUC
• Marc Kirschner, Harvard
• Richard Lenski, Michigan State U
• Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, Harvard
• Amos Maritan, U Padova
• Martin Nowak, Harvard
• Wilson Poon, U of Edinburgh
• Rob Reenan, Brown
• James Shapiro, U of Chicago
• Ralf Sommer, Max Planck Institute, Tübingen
• Sarah Teichmann, U of Cambridge
• Andreas Wagner, U of New Mexico
• Günter Wagner, Yale
• William Wimsatt, U. of Chicago

Organized by

Spirit in the World: The Dynamics of Pentecostal Growth and Experience: an international symposium

• Conference website

Horizons of Truth

Logics, Foundations of Mathematics, and the Quest for Understanding the Nature of Knowledge

Gödel Centenary 2006
An International Symposium Celebrating the 100th Birthday of Kurt Gödel

• Conference website

Amazing Light: Visions for New Discovery

This international symposium honored Professor Charles H. Townes in his 90th birthday year. Co-discoverer of the laser, Professor Townes asked the organizers to focus this symposium on the experimental and theoretical frontiers of physics and cosmology in the 21st century. Cambridge University Press will publish the edited volume, tentatively titled Visions of Discovery: New Light on Physics, Cosmology, and Consciousness, in 2007.

• Project website