THE NATURE OF REALITY & HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
Our Sunday, August 26, Science & Buddhism discussion will be on current efforts to understand the nature of reality and human consciousness.
Jikoji teacher Doug Jacobson will lead the discussion, which will pick up on his talk earlier that day, as part of our Sunday Program, on the concept of Form (Rupa) in Buddhism.
Among the books and articles informing the discussion:
- Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality, by Max Tegmark
- Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma, Bhikkhu Bodhi, General Editor (free PDF download)
- Why Physicists Are Saying Consciousness Is A State Of Matter, Like a Solid, A Liquid Or A Gas, The Physics arXiv Blog
- Scientific American, September 2018, The Hardest Problem, by Susan Blackmore: decoding the puzzle of human consciousness.
- Scientific American, June 2018, What is Consciousness?, by Christol Koch: short, no-nonsense summary of his decades of research in consciousness, particularly on which neurons do what with regard to our experience of consciousness. Koch also talks about Tononi's work on one mathematical theory of consciousness (see next link.)
- YouTube, Why is Consciousness so Baffling?, Giulio Tononi, 10 minutesYouTube, Is Consciousness Entirely Physical? Marvin Minsky, 8 minutes
- Several recent articles at New Scientist
Talks by Max Tegmark (Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality) can be found here:
- Our Mathematical Universe (at Microsoft)
- Our Mathematical Universe (at Google)
As always, the discussion will be quite open and informal with all invited to participate.
We also invite you to join us that Sunday morning for our 10 am Sunday Program, Dharma Talk, and social lunch, ahead of our 2 pm Science & Buddhism session. Doug will be giving the Dharma Talk, at 11:45, on the related topic of Form (Rupa) in Buddhist philosophy.
All are welcome. No prior experience with science, Buddhism, or meditation is necessary. Hope to see you there!
About Doug: Doug Jacobson is a Jikoji teacher and resident, a civil engineer, and Jikoji's Maintenance Oversight Manager (MOM.) He received Dharma transmission from Shoho Michael Newhall in 2015. Doug also assists prisoners with Buddhist practice.