The Nature of Reality: University Panel

An Interdisciplinary Panel Discussion

"The Nature of Reality" will take place at the Folino Theater on March 31, 2011 at 6:00 pm. The event is organized by the Schmid College of Science in partnership with the Dodge College of Film & Media Arts, and the Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The panel discussion will be moderated by Chapman Chancellor, Dr. Daniele Struppa.

The panel discussion will start by asking two questions, "Is there an Ultimate Reality?" and if yes, "Can it be accounted for by science such as mathematics, biology and physics?" The panelists will address the questions, then they will be given a chance to respond to each other and interact, followed by opening up the floor to Q&A from the audience.

We expect a variety of views from science, and philosophy and the event will be lively and informative. The panelists are practicing scientists, authors, health professionals as well as experts in philosophical systems from different fields. As the two main paradigms in science are, in a broad sense, the physical and the biological, these questions will be addressed by both physicists and biologists/M.D.'s as well as other experts. The role of mathematics as the fundamental language of nature, quantum measurements, philosophical approaches, biological, psychological and neuroscience findings for brain and mind, are all possible discussion points.

The Panelists: Deepak Chopra, M.D. (Author of more than 50 books on spirituality and well-being), Stuart Hameroff, M.D. (Consciousness expert and Emeritus Professor of Anesthesiology and Psychology, University of Arizona), Menas Kafatos, Ph.D. (Dean of Chapman University's Schmid College of Science; Vice Chancellor for Special Projects; Director of the Center of Excellence in Applied, Fundamental, and Computational Science; Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics), Leonard Mlodinow, Ph.D. (Caltech physicist and co-author (with Stephen Hawking), The Grand Design), Carmichael Peters, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Chapman University), Michael Shermer, Ph.D. [Executive Director of The Skeptics Society, founding publisher of Skeptic Magazine, bestselling author (Why Darwin Matters)], Daniele Struppa, Ph.D. (Chancellor of Chapman University; Professor of Mathematics), Henry Stapp, Ph.D. (Physicist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; expert on the nature of consciousness as seen through quantum mechanics), Jim Walsh (Founder and Chairman of the Board of Human Energy System Alliance), Bill Wright, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Biology, Chapman University).

Questions for the panelists? Natureofreality@chapman.edu

General Admission: $25 Chapman University students, faculty, staff, and board members register to melton@chapman.edu