AFP - Getty Images file British physicist Stephen Hawking is to make a "virtual appearance" at the Origins Symposium, presented by Arizona State University. |
How did the universe begin? How did life arise? How did evolution make us the way we are today? How would you answer these big questions. Oh, and by the way, keep your answers shorter than 140 characters.
That's the kind of experiment I'll be conducting this weekend at the Origins Symposium, presented by Arizona State University's brand-new Origins Initiative.
The initiative, headed by theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, is aimed at focusing research and reflection on the biggest questions posed by science - ranging from the birth of the universe to the rise of consciousness and culture.
To kick things off, Krauss and his colleagues have put together an all-star lineup, including cosmologist Stephen Hawking, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, "Lucy" discoverer Donald Johanson, genome decoder J. Craig Venter and a flock of Nobel laureates.
Today marks the beginning of three days of panels on the big questions, with a public forum to follow on Monday. I'll try to follow the action as it unfolds ... in a series of Twitter updates. That's where the 140-character limit comes in: Twitter "tweets" are meant to be short status updates, not extended philosophical musings. So it's entirely possible that this experiment will fail, due to causes ranging from loss of connectivity to an existential crisis.
To find out if the experiment is working, check out http://twitter.com/b0yle starting this afternoon. I'll flag my tweets with the tag #asuorigins09 (though I may sometimes forget in the heat of the 140-characters-or-less moment). NPR's "Science Friday" will be airing (and tweeting) from the conference as well.
There are other ways to follow the conference: ASU is offering a Webcast of the proceedings as well as a video archive. I'll also try to recap the action in blog postings Monday and Tuesday. Wish me luck!
Update for 5:45 a.m. ET April 6: Stephen Hawking had to pass up the trip to Arizona due to health issues, but he is making an audiovisual "virtual appearance," and his daughter Lucy Hawking will be in attendance as well.
