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Recent Highlights
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In July 2008, Eiko Ikegami and I published a
paper Avatars
are for Real: Virtual Communities and Public Spheres in the first
issue of the open-access, transdisciplinary, and
peer-reviewed Journal of Virtual
Worlds Research. We show how artistic circles in Tokugawa Japan
provided a "virtual world," a kind of early modern "second life."
Also in July, I participated in a panel discussion
on Scientists
and Science Outreach in Second Life, as part
of Second Life's 5th
Birthday celebrations. Here
is my introduction
at the start of the panel.
In June 2008, I attended
the 2008 NMC Summer Conference.
Even though the conference was held in Princeton, I participated virtually,
since at that time I was visiting Kyoto, Japan. So while I was the
co-presenter at the
Avatars
in the Lab session, I spoke through virtual presence in a Qwaq session.
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In April 2008, we launched MICA,
the Meta Institute
for Computational Astrophysics, in Second Life. We start with a
weekly set of offerings, including a popular talk on the first Friday
of each month, a school for simulations on each third Friday, and two
journal club sessions on the second and fourth Friday of each month.
Also in April, I started another Second Life activity,
Play as Being.
In daily meetings I invite visitors to join me in an ongoing discussion
about how to view our own life as a laboratory, in an exploration of
what we are versus what we have.
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In March, I gave a talk titled Life as a laboratory:
contemplation in the spirit of science at the New York branch of
Cafh, a path of spiritual
unfolding. I was happily surprised by the great opennes of and
interest displayed by the Cafh members in the audience.
Also in March 2008, I participated in a
Symposium on
Neuroscience and Free Will at Columbia University, where I will
give a talk on Science beyond methods and goals: how the future may
surprize us.
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Also in March, I led a discussion at the Philoctetes center, titled
Real
Research in Virtual Worlds, together with co-presenter
Karen
Sobel Lojeski. We attempted to demonstrate both Qwaq and Second
Life sessions, but technical problems implied that we did not get very far.
Even so, we had some very lively in-depth conversations with the audience
about the use of virtual worlds and their implications for society.
In February 2008, I started a new series of
interdisciplinary
conversations at the Institute for Advanced Study, together with
my colleague Caroline Bynum.
We call it after-hour conversations, since they start at 5:30 pm
with a brief presentation by one of the members, followed by a lively
discussion.
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In January 2008, I appeared in an interview on
UgoTrade,
a blog dedicated to the discussion of developments in
Second Life and other virtual worlds.
This was my first public appearance as the avatar Pema Pera in Second Life.
Also in January, I wrote a short invited note on
Explanations at
the web site of the
World Question Center,
in response to the questions ``What have you changed your mind about? Why?''
In December 2007, I wrote a paper on
Virtual Laboratories
and Virtual Worlds in which I summarize my experience using
Qwaq and other virtual worlds
for remote collaborations and meetings. I have mentioned there
two Qwaq organizations that I founded: MICA, a Meta Institute
for Computational Astrophysics, and
WoK Forums.
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Also in December, I attended the
MODEST-8 workshop
in Bonn, Germany, as a member of the scientific organizing committee.
This meeting was the eighth in a series of yearly meetings, in the
context of the MODEST
initiative.
In November 2007, I organized a
Roundtable
discussion on The Role of the Subject in Science, in New York City
at the Philoctetes Center.
A group of five physicists and astrophysicists will discuss their
expectations as to a possible role for first-person experience in
future science.
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Also in November, I was one of the organizers of the
AstroGPU 2007 workshop on
General Purpose Computation on GPUs in Astronomy and Astrophysics,
at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
In October 2007, I gave a talk at the
IHPST in Paris,
titled `Beyond Objects: the Future of Science' (click on the second entrance of
October 4
in their calendar), in which I posed
the question whether the empirical methods of science can be enlarged
to include not only objects but also subjects and subject-object
interaction.
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In September 2007, I attended the IAU Symposium 246 on
Dynamical Evolution of
Dense Stellar Systems in Capri, Italy, as a member of the
scientific organizing committee. The symposium was held in honor of
the 60th birthday of my long-time collaborator
Douglas Heggie.
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