ASU Logo

Symposium

Origins Symposium

The 2009 Origins Symposium served as the cornerstone of what would become the Origins Project at ASU. Some 70 of the world's leading scientists and scholars gathered in April 2009 to explore key origins issues and participate in a series of remarkable public activities, including a Nobel Panel at a local high school, a science-writing workshop for journalism students and other interested members of the ASU community, and a live broadcast of Science Friday from the ASU Campus.

 

The hallmark of the entire Symposium took place on Monday, April 6 at Gammage Auditorium. Broadcast live on the web, the public event assembled the most well known scientific public intellectuals in the world, including Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, J. Craig Venter, Brian Greene, Donald C. Johanson, and our own Origins Project director, Lawrence Krauss.  An unprecedented collection of Nobel Laureates also shared the stage, among them Sheldon Glashow, David Gross, John Mather, Frank Wilczek, Walter Gilbert, and Baruch Blumberg.

 

The Symposium breathed life into ASU's institutional commitment to Origins research and dialogue, giving rise to what is today the ASU Origins Project.

 

To purchase a 9-disk DVD box set of the entire symposium, remastered in high definition, contact Cynthia Schulze at cynthia.schulze@asu.edu or send check or money order for $29.95 + $5.20 shipping & handling** to:

ASU Origins Project
Old Main, Suite 105
400 E. Tyler Mall
PO Box 871902
Tempe, AZ  85287-1902

 

**Shipping & handling for non-US addresses:

  • $11.95/Canada and Mexico
  • $13.95/all other countries

A Celebration of Discovery from the Universe to Humanity

April 2-6, 2009

Arizona State University

Thursday April 2: Pre-Symposium Events

1:30-2:30 pm     Public High School Event

Nobel Laureates Baruch Blumberg, David Gross, and Steven Weinberg visit North High School


 

2:30-4 pm     Workshop on Science Writing at Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Panel moderated by Claudia Dreifus (New York Times): Dennis Overbye (New York Times), Sharon   Begley (Newsweek), Ira Flatow (Science Friday on NPR), Marc Kaufman (Washington Post), Charlie Petit (Knight Science Journalism Tracker)

 

Friday April 3 (At ASU, Tempe Campus)

8:30-10:30 am     Workshop for Journalists at Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication


  • Forefront questions in Evolutionary Biology – Richard Dawkins

  • Forefront questions on the beginning of time – Lawrence Krauss

 

11 am-1 pm     Science Friday, Live from ASU, Katzin Concert Hall

     Two Panels:

  • Physicists and the Origin of the Universe
  • Origins and Evolution of Life

 

1-2 pm     Lunch with students from Barrett, The Honors College at ASU

 

2-5:30 pm     Session 1: Origins of the Universe, Multiverse, Physical Laws, Katzin Concert Hall, ASU

     2 pm     Welcome: Sid Bacon, Lawrence Krauss


  •  Frank Wilczek: The Big Questions

     2:10-3:10 pm     Panel 1: How Far Back Can We Go?


Moderator: Michael Turner

  • Steven Weinberg: How Can we probe inflation?
  • James Peebles: Is all well with the Universe?
  • Brian Greene: What can string theory do?
  • Lawrence Krauss: Are there fundamental theoretical limits?
  • Stephen Hawking: The Origin of the Universe

     3:10-3:25 pm     Break

     3:25-4:20 pm     Panel 2: Is Our Universe Unique, and How Can We Find Out?

Moderator: Paul Davies

  • Andrei Linde: Inflationary multiverse and string theory landscape
  • Alan Guth: Eternal Inflation, Measures and Anthropics
  • David Gross: What is wrong with Anthropics
  • Sheldon Glashow: Is Particle Physics Over?
  • Alex Vilenkin: Mediocrity as a principle

     4:20-5:25 pm     Panel 3: New Windows on the Universe: What is knowable?

Moderator: Wendy Freedman

  • Barry Barish: LIGO and ILC: Which first? Which Best?
  • Adam Riess: Do Supernovae have anything else to tell us?
  • John Ruhl: Is the CMB a tool whose time is up?
  • John Mather: The Next Generation Space Telescope: So what?
  • Maria Spiropulu: The LHC: When will it work, what will it do?
  • Roger Blandford: The gamma ray sky

 

Saturday April 4: Symposium (Conference Rooms at Symposium)

8:30-11:35 am     Session 2: The Galaxy, Planets and Life

8:30-9:20 am     Panel 1: Do We Have a Successful Theory of Galaxy and Star Formation and How Will We Know


Moderator: Lawrence Krauss

  • Ben Moore: How low can we go? Can we understand galaxy formation in a CDM Universe?
  • Carlos Frenk: Dark matter rules
  • Joe Silk: Outstanding Puzzles, IMF etc
  • Rogier Windhorst: JWST and its promise

     9:20-10:20 am     Panel 2: How Common are Earth-like Planets?

Moderator: Ariel Anbar

  • Alex Halliday: When do solar systems form Earth-like planets?
  • David Stevenson: Can moonless "Earths" support life?
  • Ed Young: What are the building blocks of Earth-like planets?
  • Steve Desch: Where do planets get their water, and where can most liquid water be found?
  • Phil Christensen: Was Mars ever "Earth-like"?
  • Jade Bond: Is the chemistry of our Solar System unusual or unique? TBD.

     10:20-10:35 am     Break

     10:35-11:35 am     Panel 3: How Does Life Originate and How Do We Recognize It?


Moderator: Kip Hodges

  • Baruch Blumberg: What will it take to know about life elsewhere in the universe?
  • Paul Davies: Is the life we know the only life there is?
  • Antonio Lazcano: How do we define the transition from a pre-biotic to a biotic Earth?
  • Steve Mojzsis: Paleontologic evidence notwithstanding, what was the earliest life on Earth?
  • Everett Shock: Are there definitive biosignatures for life on other planets and, if so, what are they?

 

2:15-5 pm     Session 3: Origin of Species, Evolution, Human Origins

     2:15-3:10 pm     Panel 1: Origin and Evolution of Life and Phenotypic Innovations


Moderator: Manfred Laubichler

  • George Poste: Can we design new cells from scratch?
  • Doug Erwin: Extinction and the Origin and Diversification of Body Plans
  • Kevin Peterson: Complexity and Constraints in Animal Evolution
  • Randy Nesse: Disease as a by-product of social organization?
  • Peter Ward: Evolution

     3:10-3:20 pm     Break

     3:20-4:05 pm     Panel 2: Origin and Evolution of Sociality


Moderator: Jürgen Gadau

  • Richard Dawkins: Darwin´s Dilemma: How can we explain altruistic behavior?
  • Bert Hölldobler: The Origin of Eusociality as a Major Transition in Evolution
  • Joan Strassmann: Cooperation and Conflict: Two Intertwined Themes in Social Evolution
  • David Queller: Are the Basic Evolutionary Principles that Explain the Evolution of Social Life True for Bacterial Mats, Slime Molds, Eusocial Insects, and Primates, including Humans?

     4:05-5 pm     Panel 3: What is the origin of human uniqueness?


                          Q: What, from the point of view of your specialty, does it mean to be human?


Moderator: William Kimbel

  • Alan Rodgers
  • John Fleagle
  • Ian Tattersall
  • Don Johanson
  • Curtis Marean

 

Sunday April 5

9:30 am-12:40 pm     Session 4: Consciousness, Complex Cognition, and Language to Culture, Cooperation,              Morality and Institutions

Moderator: Roger Bingham (Salk Institute)

Panel 1: Consciousness, complex cognition, and language

  • Steven Pinker (language and cognition)
  • V. S. Ramachandran (neuroscience and cognition)
  • Patricia Churchland (philosophy of consciousness)
  • Robert Seyfarth (theory of mind in primates)
  • Jerrold Seigel (The idea of Self)
  • Sue Rosser (Gender consciousness)

     10:40-10:50 am     Break

            Panel 2: Human Uniqueness

  • Kim Hill: What makes humans unique?
  • Rob Boyd: What are the unique features of human cultural capacity that allow individually learned innovations to "stick" and be transmitted?
  • Robert Kurzban: Some have said that humans uniqueness lies in our capacity for large scale cooperation and moral behavior. What are the origins of these human traits?

           Panel 3: Culture and morality

 

  • Polly Wiessner: How did our ancestors maintain significant cooperative ties across much larger   stretches of space and time than any other organism?
  • Jonathan Haidt: What is morality, and why does it vary?
  • A.C. Grayling: What does Philosophy have to contribute to a more "human" understanding of the  implications of evolution by natural selection?

 

     11:50 am-12 pm     Break

           Panel 4: The State, social norms, and Institutions

  • Michael Macy: what are the origin and impact of social norms on individual and collective outcomes?
  • Margaret Levi: what is the origin of the state, and what are the causes of its failure?
  • Peter Bearman: what are the origin and impact of social networks on individual and collective outcomes?

 

Monday April 6

9:30 am-9:30 pm     Public Symposium, Gammage Auditorium, ASU Tempe Campus

     9 am     Welcome

     9:30 am-12:30 pm     Steven Pinker,
Don Johanson,
Brian Greene

     1:45-5:45 pm     Richard Dawkins,
J. Craig Venter,
Lawrence Krauss

                               Nobel Panel, moderated by Ira Flatow

  • Baruch Blumberg
  • David Gross
  • Walter Gilbert
  • Sheldon Glashow
  • John Mather
  • Frank Wilczek

     7:15-9:45 pm     World Champion of Magic, Jason Latimer


                                Panel on Science and Culture

  • Hugh Downs
  • Ann Druyan
  • Neil deGrasse Tyson
  • Lucy Hawking
  • Stephen Hawking (virtual presentation) 

Attendees and Speakers (as of March 7)

** Nobel Laureate

Invited Scientists, Scholars, Artists, Writers:

  • Ariel Anbar
  • Barry Barish
  • Bob Bates
  • Peter Bearman
  • Roger Blandford
  • Baruch Blumberg**
  • Rob Boyd
  • Dorothy Cheney
  • Phil Christensen
  • Patricia Churchland
  • Paul Davies
  • Richard Dawkins
  • Hugh Downs
  • Ann Druyan
  • Doug Erwin
  • John Fleagle
  • Carlos Frenk
  • Wendy Freedman
  • Walter Gilbert**
  • Sheldon Glashow**
  • A. C. Grayling
  • Brian Greene
  • David Gross**
  • Alan Guth
  • Jonathan Haidt
  • Alex Halliday
  • Stephen Hawking
  • Christopher Hitchens
  • Kip Hodges
  • Bert Hölldobler
  • Donald C. Johanson
  • Marc Kaufman
  • Lawrence Krauss
  • Antonio Lazcano
  • Margaret Levi
  • Andrei Linde
  • Michael Macy
  • Curtis Marean
  • John Mather**
  • Steve Mojzsis
  • Ben Moore
  • Randy Nesse
  • James Peebles
  • Kevin Peterson
  • Steven Pinker
  • George Poste
  • David Queller
  • V. S. Ramachandran
  • Martin Rees
  • Adam Riess
  • Sue Rosser
  • John Ruhl
  • Jerrold Seigel
  • Michael Shermer
  • Joe Silk
  • Maria Spiropulu
  • David Stevenson
  • Joan Strassmann
  • Ian Tattersall
  • Michael Turner
  • Sander van der Leeuw
  • J. Craig Venter
  • Alex Vilenkin
  • Peter Ward
  • Steven Weinberg**
  • Frank Wilczek**
  • Rogier Windhorst
  • Polly Wiessner
  • Ed Young

Attendance at scientific symposia is by invitation only. Those interested in attending and receiving an invitation should contact Origins Symposium staff coordinator, Jessica Lee. Some travel support may be available for Junior people.

Event and webcast locations

Journalism Workshop
The First Amendment Forum
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
ASU Downtown Phoenix Campus
555 N. Central Avenue
Directions

Science Friday
Katzin Concert Hall
ASU Tempe Campus, Music Building
Mill Avenue & Gammage Parkway
Map

Monday public symposium
ASU Gammage
1200 South Forest Avenue
Tempe, AZ 85287-0105
ASU Tempe Campus at Mill Avenue & Apache Boulevard
Map

Live on ASUtv
On Friday and Monday the Origins Symposium can be seen live on ASUtv

  • Phoenix Metropolitan Area
    • Quest Choice TV Channel 138
    • Cox Digital Cable on Channel 116 (digital tier only).
  • ASU Campuses and Cable Channel
    • Tempe Campus on Channel 80
    • Downtown Phoenix Campus on Cox Digital Cable Channel 116
    • West Campus on Channel 79
    • Polytechnic Campus on Channel 74

Live Webcast Feed

Web Viewing Options

Live Webcast Feed
The Origins Symposium
April 3-6, 2009

ASU large screen webcast PUBLIC VIEWING locations (Maps)

Tempe Campus

  • April 3, 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m. – Computer Commons, Room 120
  • April 6, 9 a.m.–6 p.m. – GIOS Building, L115
  • April 6, 1–5 p.m. – Fulton Center, 6th Floor Conference Room
  • April 6, 6–9:45 p.m. – Education Lecture Hall, Room 117
  • April 6, 6–9:45 p.m. – Neeb Hall, Room 105

Downtown Phoenix Campus

  • April 3, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. – Cronkite School, First Amendment Forum, 2nd Floor
  • April 6, 9 a.m.–9:45 p.m. – Cronkite School, First Amendment Forum, 2nd Floor

West Campus

  • April 3, 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m. – Sands Classroom Building, Room 131
  • April 6, 9 a.m.–9:45 p.m. – University Center Building, La Sala Ballroom

Polytechnic Campus

  • April 3, 10:55 a.m.–5 p.m. – Peralta Hall, Room 305
  • April 6, 8:55 a.m.–9:45 p.m.– Peralta Hall, Room 305

2009 Origins Initiative News Coverage