WDO 2008 ReferentenReferenten World Mysteries Forum 2008
Ulrich Dopatka (Schweiz) |
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Ulrich Dopatka (Switzerland)
Moderator of the World Mysteries Forum
Biography:
Born in Germany, Ulrich Dopatka became a Swiss citizen in 1989. Today he is engaged as a system-librarian at the University Library Bern. Dopatka is also the author of encyclopedias and anthologies in the paleo-SETI research field. He has long been engaged with the Research Association for Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI / A.A.S. R.A., gives lectures, takes part in television discussions and assists with the organization of world congresses on the topics. In 1998, with Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, (San Francisco, CA, USA) he co-founded the A.A.S. R.A. / legendarytimes.com, "Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Association" which operates in the English-speaking world parallel to the German language A.A.S. Paleo-SETI-Research. Together with a highly qualified A.A.S. R.A. team, he also co-established the internet presentation of this research association.
James N. Gardner (USA)
Biocosm - the Intelligent Universe: AI, ET, and the Emerging Mind of the Cosmos
Biography:
James Gardner-the author of The Intelligent Universe: AI, ET, and the Emerging Mind of the Cosmos-is a widely published science essayist and complexity theorist. His science essays and peer-reviewed scientific papers have appeared in Nature Biotechnology, WIRED, World Link (the magazine of the World Economic Forum), The Wall Street Journal, Complexity (the scientific journal of the Santa Fe Institute), Acta Astronautica (the scientific journal of the International Academy of Astronautics), the International Journal of Astrobiology, and the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. His first book-BIOCOSM-was selected by Amazon.com's editors as one of the ten best science books of 2003. BIOCOSM was featured in major articles and reviews in TIME MAGAZINE, U. S. News & World Report, Harper's, National Geographic and What Is Enlightenment? magazine and received outspoken praise from many prominent scientists, including UK Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees and astrophysicist and Templeton Prize-winner Paul Davies.
His Biocosm Hypothesis argues that intelligent life eventually emerges as the architect of the Universe. Gardner decided to use the approach of complexity theory to probe an odd feature of cosmology that had intrigued him ever since he began studying philosophy and theoretical biology as an undergraduate at Yale: the strangely life-friendly quality of the physical laws and constants that prevail in our universe. In the book BIOCOSM, James Gardner presented his "Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis".
Gardner has been a featured speaker at major scientific institutions and conferences including the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, the World Space Congress in Houston, the International Astronautical Congress in Rio de Janeiro, the 7th International Artificial Life Conference in Portland, Oregon, and the Chabot Space and Science Center in the San Francisco Bay Area. He currently serves as the principal freelance reviewer of popular science books for The Sunday Oregonian.
Gardner is a former Oregon State Senator and a partner in the Portland law and lobbying firm of Gardner & Gardner. He is a graduate of Yale College and the Yale Law School, where he was Article Editor of the Yale Law Journal. Following law school, he served as a law clerk for Judge Alfred T. Goodwin on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Potter Stewart on the United States Supreme Cour.
Prof. Dr. Wolf Dieter Grossmann (Germany)
A radically different view of economy, society and the biosphere
Biography:
Dr. Wolf Dieter Grossmann is Adjunct Professor of Climate and Society (beginning in 2003), and Founding Member of the International Center of Climate and Society (ICCS, beginning in 2002), University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is Visiting Professor of qualitative systems science (beginning in 2004), University of Graz. At University of Hamburg Prof. Grossman was lecturer for systems science, modeling, computer languages, data banks 1972 – 1982. He was Research Scholar at IIASA/Laxenburg 1982 – 1985, and international science consultant based in Vienna 1986-1989. Also he was Director of the Institute for Socio-Economics, Research Unit for Ecosystems and Environmental Rsearch for Austrian Academy of Science (1989-1992). Prof. Grossmann further scientific institutions had been: Head Section for Applied Landscape Ecology, Head Regional Future Models/Center for Environmental Research, Leipzig/Germany (1992- 2001). He participated in seminars on systems science in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Spain and gave longer term lectures at the universities: Economic University Vienna/Austria, University of the German Federal Army Munich/Germany. He was leader of the workshop on eutrophication of the Lake Neusiedl which solved the problem by creating the first national park in Austria, consultant to the Austrian Government and Austrian research institutes topic forest damage with results leading to the introduction of the catalytic converter for cars in Austria (and Switzerland) in 1986 and other pioneering research. His main research fields are: Information society, economic change, climate and society, integrated socio-economic modelling, including climate, integrated research and policy development for urban affairs and regional development. He received PhD in mathematics and operations research 1975. To mention are the books “Entwicklungsstrategien in der Informationsgesellschaft (Development Strategies in the Information Society – People, Economy, Nature)“, Heidelberg, New York: Springer (Springer, 2001) and “Nachhaltigkeit – Bilanz und Ausblick (Sustainability – Assessment and Prospects)”, with W. Eisenberg, M. Meiss, T. Multhaup (Eds.) 1999. Peter Lang: Frankfurt am Main.
Dr. Martin Tajmar (Austria)
The graviation field generator
Biography:
Dr. Dr. Marin Tajmar is a research scientist and project manager in the Space Propulsion group at ARC Seibersdorf research, Austria's largest research institution. Previous working experience include the advanced propulsion group at NASA JPL and the electric propulsion section at the European Space Agency ESA. At Seibersdorf research, scientists develop a unique micropropulsion thruster for satellites. The highly controllable thrust allows such satellite formations to detect e.g. planets outside of our solar system (DARWIN) or gravitational waves as predicted by Einstein more than 80 years ago (LISA). Prof. Tajmars second interest apart from propulsion is research on gravitation. He specifically is interested in so-called gravitomagnetism and any connection of gravitation with superconductivity, that could lead to new interactions which could be measured in a terrestrial laboratory. In this field he cooperate with ESA and the NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project. Prof. Tajmar finished a study for the European Space Agency together with O. Bertolami from the Instituto Superior Tecnico Lisbon, Portugal, titeled "Gravity Control and Possible Influence on Spacecraft Propulsion: A Scientific Study". Get involved in an absulute fascinating topic and let's discuss Prof. Tajmars lecture “The graviation field generator”. What are the impacts for future technologies and space travel, even to other solar systems?
Prof. Dr. Chandra Wickramasinghe (Sri Lanka)
Life from Space: Panspermia
Biography:
Chandra Wickramasinghe has made important contributions to the theory of cosmic dust. In 1974 he first proposed the theory that dust in interstellar space and in comets was largely organic, a theory that has now been vindicated. Jointly with the late Sir Fred Hoyle he was awarded the International Dag Hammarskjold Gold Medal for Science in 1986, and in 1992 he was decorated by the President of Sri Lanka with the titular honour of Vidya Jyothi. He was awarded the International Sahabdeen Prize for Science in 1996. He holds the highest doctorate (ScD) from the University of Cambridge and an honorary doctorate from the Soka University of Tokyo, Japan, along with several other international distinctions. Formerly a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, he is now Professor of Applied Mathematics and Astronomy at Cardiff University of Wales and Director of the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology. He is an award-winning poet and the author or co-author of over 20 books and over 250 scientific papers. He has held visiting professorial appointments in a large number of Universities world-wide and has at one time been advisor to the President of Sri Lanka. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Prof. Dr. Luis E. Navia (USA)
Inspirational Mining: The Progress of Science
Biography:
Dr. Luis E Navia is professor of philosophy at New York Institute of Technology, where he was teaching and serving as the dean for many years. He published many books in recent years, all of them in philosophy.
Luis E. Navia was born in Colombia, where he was educated by the Jesuits and where he was first introduced to the study of philosophy and classical languages at an early age. He came to the United States before his eighteenth birthday and has lived in New York since that time.
He received a B.A. in philosophy from Queens College (CUNY) in 1963, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in philosophy from New York University in 1967 and 1972. His doctoral dissertation was on Schopenhauer, specifically on the problem of the freedom of the will from the perspective of the German philosopher. In 1977 he was awarded a fellowship for post-doctoral work at Princeton University, where he studied ancient Greek cosmology. He holds a diploma in astronomy from the Coast School of Navigational Astronomy in California.
After a variety of jobs held in his early twenties (United Nations, The New York Daily News, and others), Navia began his teaching career in 1965 at Hofstra University, where he taught foreign languages, and at Queens College (CUNY), where he taught philosophy. In 1968 he joined the faculty of New York Institute of Technology, where he has been a professor of philosophy since that time and where he has held various administrative positions, including the deanship of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Communication. He has also taught courses in philosophy and astronomy at New York University, School of Visual Arts, Touro College, and other institutions. From 1974 to 2006, he worked for the Commission on Higher Education (Middle States Association) as an evaluator, consultant, and pro tempore commissioner.
He has been the recipient of numerous national and international awards for teaching and scholarship. His biography has been included in biographical works such as Who’s Who and Men of Achievement.
He is the author of twenty books, several of them on ancient Greek philosophy. Some of his books deal with the Cynic movement and with Cynics such as Antisthenes and Diogenes the Dog (whom he regards as the most faithful followers of Socrates). Some of his books, as well as his articles, have been translated into languages such as German, French, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, and Japanese. He views his new book, Socrates: A Life Examined, as the summation of his writing career and as his most significant contribution in philosophy.
Fluent in several languages and with a solid knowledge of Greek and Latin, Navia regards himself as a citizen of the world. He defines philosophy as a vocation, not just as a way of making a living, that obliges him to live an examined life and to regard reason as the only source of legislation for himself and those close to him. This, he believes, is the lesson that philosophy has taught him since the time, when as a child in Colombia, he learned about Aristotle from his father.
Favorite philosophers? Socrates, Diogenes the Dog, Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. Favorite quotes? From Socrates: “An unexamined life is not worth living,” and from Nietzsche: “A philosopher should be recognized not by what he says or writes, but by how he lives, even by how he walks.” Favorite composers? Bach and Mozart.
Best quote from his new book? “It takes only a small dosage of lucidity to conclude , as Schopenhauer did, that human life gives every indication of being some kind of a mistake. Still, at least from Socrates’ perspective, if human life is a mistake, it is we, not God or nature or even society, that are responsible for the mistake, and if so, it is we, in our own individuality, who must attempt to correct it.”
Unanswered questions? Many and growing in number with the passage of time. For many years, Navia has been puzzled about the issue of the origin of the human species and, in particular, with the development of the human mind. He has steadily suspected that the human species could have had an extraterrestrial origin and for this reason he has lent an attentive ear to the challenging ideas of Eric von Däniken, who has written extensively on this subject. Two of Navia’s early books dealt with this issue, and in them he attempted to validate the hypothetical value of the idea that the human species was once influenced by the presence of extraterrestrial beings on our dismal planet.
Renate Patzschke, M.A. (Germany)
The mysterious ancient Pre-Inca civilizations of South America: Example Sechín Bajo, Casma valley, Peru
Biography:
Over 5000 years ago, the time of the rising of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China… but since some year new discoveries in Peru proved that as well in South America ancient, high cultures civilizations existed. German archaeologists (Peter Fuchs of the Lateinamerika-Institut, Freien Universität Berlin, and his team) found in northern Peru, Casmo valley, in Sechín Bajo, a large area of temples, buildungs and a pyramid which was even older than Caral, earlier mentioned in international archaeological journals. The complex came into existence about 3300 before Christ and the main structure measures 180 m by 120 m by 168 m tall and is symmetrical along the central axis. This is the oldest monumental structure found in South America! Renate Patzschke, who is going to receive a doctor’s degree about archaeological research in Sechín Bajo, studied ancient American archaeology, early history and ethonology. Since 1992 she also works for “Archäo-Kontrakt”, a company specialized on archaeological excavations in various parts of the world. With the help of state-of-the-art computerized animations Renate Patzsche and her colleagues are trying to reconstruct the Sechín Bajo complex to figure out more about the meaning of this culture (compare also first link). Renate Patzsche touches open questions and mysteries of Sechín Bajo also in context to other Pre-Inca civilizations and their very advances cultures. Images and explanations of her lecuture will raise more questions about the sudden development of cultures in general!
Daniel M. Ebner (Switzerland)
"Primeval Code" reactivated: Living archetypes of plants and animals created at the laboratory. Exemplares presented live at the WMF!
Biography:
In laboratory experiments the researchers there Dr. Guido Ebner and Heinz Schürch exposed cereal seeds and fish eggs to an "electrostatic field" – in other words, to a high voltage field, in which no current flows. Unexpectedly primeval organisms grew out of these seeds and eggs: a fern that no botanist was able to identify; primeval corn with up to twelve ears per stalk; wheat that was ready to be harvested in just four to six weeks. And giant trout, extinct in Europe for 130 years, with so-called salmon hooks. It was as if these organisms accessed their own genetic memories on command in the electric field,
The Swiss pharmaceutical group patented the process – and then stopped the research in 1992. Why? The discovery was soon forgotten, without the global scientific community taking any notice. But this changed: In collaboration with the researchers involved – or rather their sons - author Luc Bürgin has for the first time now disclosed in detail how the principle of this revolutionary bio-experiment works.
Nevertheless many scientists who think along conventional lines may remain sceptical about this inexplicable biological effect. But now for the first time, renowned German expert botanists such as Professor Edgar Wagner of the University of Freiburg and Professor Gunter Rothe from the University of Mainz make positive statements about it in the book. Rothe even had replicated the Ciba experiments in detail at his university in 2001 – and was successful. And also for the first time, even a Nobel laureate – the world-famous Swiss microbiologist Werner Arber – is taking up the cudgels for this controversial discovery. Back then, Arber had given an expert opinion on the Ciba experiments in person in the laboratory. The professor said to the author: "I was impressed!"
After Guido Ebner and Heinz Schürch both passed away unexpectedly in 2001, their experiments were continued by Guido Ebner's son, Daniel – himself a biologist – on a private basis. Daniel M. Ebner (studies of biology, chemistry and biostatics at the Universities of Basel and Montreal) works as Management Consultant at the Swiss Arcondis company ("Art of Consulting and Development for Information System", CH-Reinach) in the fields of pharmaceutical validation processes and information technology. At the WMF 2008 he will present facts, reasonings and perspectives of the discovery of his father. Ebner’s involvement belongs especially in the practical usage of the discovery for food production of countries in the Third World.
Examples of re-created plants and animals will be presented live for the public at the WMF 2008!
Prof. Dr. Kathryn Denning (Canada)
The cultural / technological evolution of extraterrestrial civilizations
Biography:
Historical accounts of contact between human societies are useful analogues when considering contact between worlds. Archaeology can expand those historical accounts in some significant ways, and thereby contribute to understanding the full repertoire of human responses to contact.
Dr. Kathryn Denning is an archaeologist and anthropologist and works as Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her research examines scholarly and popular ideas about Others, their relationships to us, and how we can know them. The Others she studies include the ancient (in archaeology), the animal (in zoos), and the alien (in SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence).
SETI scientists have often drawn from archaeological and anthropologicalanalogues in thinking about what ETI might be like, what contact would involve,and whether or how meaningful communication might be possible. Dr. Denning has examined some of the arguments, and considered how current anthropology and archaeology might contribute to SETI discussions. In particular, she has published preliminary papers on several themes as they relate to SETI: theories of civilization; the lifetimes of technologically advanced civilizations; intercultural contact phenomena; and the theoretical challenges of deciphering communications in unknown formats and languages.
Ten thousand years ago, no-one on Earth was living a 'civilized' life. What hashappened since is remarkable and impossible to fully comprehend; yet, everyone has ideas about civilization, and how the world came to be as it is. Such understandings of civilizations on Earth inevitably influence speculation about extraterrestrial civilizations, in two ways. First, sometimes a specific Earthcivilization or historical experience is explicitly used as a basis forinferences about extraterrestrial civilizations. Second, more generalassumptions about the development and functioning of Earth's societies shapeconjectures about alien societies. This talk will address the latter, as Dr.Denning considers how we can use multidisciplinary approaches, and ourknowledge of Earth's civilizations, to our best advantage in SETI.
Prof. em. Dr. Günter Nimtz (Germany)
Zero Time Space: How Quantum Tunneling Broke the Light Speed Barrier
Biography:
Günter Nimtz is a german physicist. He studied electrical engineering and graduated at the University of Vienna and became 1983 professor for physics at the University of Cologne. 2001 he gave emeritus status. At present he is still teaching and doing researches at the University of Koblenz-Landau. Working at the Physics Institute at the University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln) in Germany, he has been conducting experiments that purport to show that under certain conditions, particles may travel faster than the speed of light. (Documented in the book: "Zero Time Space: How Quantum Tunneling Broke the Light Speed Barrier")
The speed at which light travels through a vacuum, about 186,000 miles per second, is enshrined in physics lore as a universal speed limit. Nothing can travel faster than that speed, according freshman textbooks and conversation at sophisticated wine bars; Einstein's theory of relativity would crumble, theoretical physics would fall into disarray, if anything could. New experiments have demonstrated how wrong that comfortable wisdom is. Einstein's theory survives, physicists say, but the results of the experiments are so mind-bending and weird that the easily unnerved are advised--in all seriousness-not to read beyond this point.
Can light travel across space in zero time? Is there such a thing as negative energy? The strange world of quantum mechanical tunneling has the answers.Tunneling, where a particle has a statistical chance of jumping straight through an apparently impassable barrier, is an essential component of physical processes like radioactivity and nuclear fusion. Experiments dating back to the early 1990s by Nimtz, Steinberg, Chiao, and others have shown superluminal tunneling of optical photons through mirrors and of microwaves through so-called forbidden zones of waveguides.
Günter Nimtz of the University of Cologne in Germany contends that information can indeed travel faster than the seed of light, casting doubts on both causality and special relativity. In 1995, for example, his research team encoded Mozart's 40th symphony in a microwave beam traveling at 4.7 times c to a receiver.
What impact have these experiments for science, research and future technical applications? What are the latest consolidated findings and research developments?
Lucius Werthmüller (CH)
The reality of paranormal phenomenons
Biography:
Lucius Werthmüller, geboren 1958 in Basel, setzt sich seit rund 20 Jahren intensiv mit allen so genannten "Grenzwissenschaften" auseinander. Er ist Projektleiter der "Basler Psi-Tage" und seit 1991 Präsident des "Basler Psi-Vereins". Lucius Werthmüller ist Gründungsmitglied und Stiftungsrat der Gaia Media Stiftung. Er war Projektleiter des Symposiums "LSD – Sorgenkind und Wunderdroge" 2006 und des "Welt Psychedelik Forums" 2008. Neben diesen Aktivitäten betreibt er in Basel ein Buchantiquariat. Lucius Werthmüller ist Vater dreier erwachsener Söhne und lebt mit seiner Frau in Basel.
Dr. Peter Creola (CH)
Space travel and the future of mankind
Biography:
Dr. Peter Creola war Chef-Delegierter der ESA Schweiz, Leiter des Eidgenössischen Büros für Weltraumangelegenheiten (SSO) bis 2002. In dieser Position war Dr. Creola zentral bei vielen richtungsweisenden Entwicklungen und Projekten der ESA beteiligt hatte natürlich engen Kontakt mit den Entscheidungsträgern der NASA und anderer Weltraumorganisationen. Dr. Creola lebt mit seiner Familie in Bern, und widmet sich in seiner Freizeit, neben dem Thema der Weltraumfahrt, einem – von ihm selbst konstruierten – Dampfschiff.