Upcoming Caltech Lecture
Does God have a Future?
A Great Debate Filmed by ABC's Nightline
* Event Date: Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 2:00 pm
* Location: Beckman Auditorium
* Speakers: Deepak Chopra & Jean Houston versus Michael Shermer & Sam Harris
* Tickets: This is a free event. Priority will be given to those who reserve tickets in advance (maximum of 10) through the Caltech ticket office at 626-395-4652. This event will sell out, but you can come the day of the event in case there are cancellations or no-shows.
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Dr. Deepak Chopra is an MD and board-certified Internist and endocrinologist. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Adjunct Professor at Kellogg School of Business and Management, and Senior Scientist with The Gallup Organization. Chopra is the Chairman and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing where he directs the educational programs. Hailed by Time magazine as one of the 100 icons of the century, and credited as "the poet-prophet of alternative medicine," Chopra is the author of more than 55 books that have been translated into 35 languages and sold over 20 million copies worldwide.
Dr. Jean Houston (B.A. from Barnard College, Ph.D. in psychology from the Union Graduate School and a Ph.D in religion from the Graduate Theological Foundation) is a scholar, philosopher and researcher in human capacities, and is one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement .She directs two schools of psychological and cross cultural studies as well as a school in social artistry dedicated to human development in the light of social change. A consultant to United Nations agencies in human development, she has also worked with other agencies in over one hundred countries training leadership and holds conferences and seminars with social innovators, educational institutions and business organizations worldwide. She is the author of 26 books including A Passion for the Possible, Search for the Beloved, Life Force, The Possible Human, Public Like a Frog, A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story, and Manual of the Peacemaker.
Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University, and the author of The Mind of the Market, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil and Why People Believe Weird Things. Dr. Shermer received his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He has appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, Dateline, Charlie Rose, and Larry King Live.
Dr. Sam Harris is a neuroscientist at UCLA specializing in the neural correlates of belief. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction. Harris's writing has been published in over 15 languages. He is a Co-Founder and CEO of The Reason Project, a nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.
Book signing to follow debate.
For more information go to deepakchopra.com
Follow Deepak on Twitter
Follow Deepak Chopra on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DeepakChopra
Sam Harris: Toward a Science of Morality
Science's failure to address moral questions has made it seem like little more than an incubator for technology. It has also given faith-based religion -- that great engine of ignorance and bigotry -- a nearly uncontested claim to being the only source of moral wisdom.
What does my consciousness need to be liberated from?
Mr. Chopra challenged Richard Shermer to a debate saying:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'd like to see if Shermer will accept the offer to debate me at length on such profound questions as the following:
• Is there evidence for creativity and intelligence in the cosmos?
• What is consciousness?
• Do we have a core identity beyond our biology, mind, and ego?
• Is there life after death? Does this identity outlive the molecules through which it expresses itself?
"The rules will be simple. He can argue from any basis he chooses, and I will confine myself entirely to science."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shermer accepted the challenge and Chopra announced that it would be a debate on the subject "Does the Mind Exist Apart from the Brain?"
Now it's a debate on "Does God have a Future?"
Do the same rules still apply?
Will Chopra confine himself "entirely to science"?
How would that be done with this change of subject matter?
Doesn't the title of the debate "Does God have a Future?" presuppose the existence of a god?
I'll definitely be watching ... it should be fun!
Go Sam Harris!
Which leads to this. If, as explained by Einsteins theory of special relativity, time stops at the speed of light; would it also hold true that an entity that was itself removed from all inertial frames, and was itself at rest in respect to all inertial frames, observe all things as happening at once?
Just asking.
The real issue is not the fact that God loves humanity for this is commonly accepted except among the unbelievers. God takes no delight in the suffering of the wicked. It is the Devil and his demons who will be tormenting the lost.
God is love.