Towards a Theory of Quantum Gravity — Panel in Two Days

Followup post on 12/3/2009.

This coming Sunday, in two days, there will be a panel discussion with the topic:

Towards a Theory of Quantum Gravity

This is at noon, November 20th, 2009, at the Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention, in Cherry Hill, PA. Directions and so forth at www.philcon.org.

The official description of the panel is:

Modern physics has two fundamental models of reality – Quantum mechanics and general relativity. The first describes the world of fundamental particles, the second explains gravity in terms of warped space time. A theory of quantum gravity would unite these two models and finally bring gravity into the unified field theory, along with the other three fundamental forces. The current leading contender is string theory, but there are others, such as loop quantum gravity, supergravity and noncommutative geometry. Which, if any, of these theories will prove to be the answer?

Panelists: Catherine Asaro (moderator), John Ashmead, Jay Wile, Robert Kauffmann, Karl Kofoed

The multi-talented & charming Catherine is the Guest of Honor at Philcon this year.  She has a Ph. D. from Harvard in chemical physics, is a former professional dancer, and has written a series of very successful science fiction romances, most recently Diamond Star.

I hope to do a blog post in a bit on her notion of complex time, “Complex speeds and special relativity”,  published in 1996 in the American Journal of Physics.  Amusingly enough, she has used her ideas on complex time in a few of her novels.  Science fiction feeds on science which feeds on science fiction which ..

I’ll do a post on how the panel went, come Monday.  Should be interesting.

Towards a Theory of Quantum Gravity
There will be a panel discussion, Towards a Theory of Quantum Gravity, this coming Sunday, at noon, November 20th, 2009, at the Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention, in Cherry Hill.  Directions and so forth at www.philcon.org.
Modern physics has two fundamental models of reality – Quantum mechanics and general relativity. The first describes the world of fundamental particles, the second explains gravity in terms of warped space time. A theory of quantum gravity would unite these two models and finally bring gravity into the unified field theory, along with the other three fundamental forces. The current leading contender is string theory, but there are others, such as loop quantum gravity, supergravity and noncommutative geometry. Which, if any, of these theories will prove to be the answer?
Sun 12:00 PM in Crystal Ballroom Three—
Panelists:  Catherine Asaro (moderator), John Ashmead, Jay Wile, Robert Kauffmann, Karl Kofoed
Catherine Asaro http://www.catherineasaro.net/

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categories Announcement, Quantum Gravity | | datetime November 20, 2009 10:46 am

  • By Jay Wile, November 24, 2009 @ 12:08 pm

    I loved doing this panel and the biological computers one with you! I started plowing through your thesis, but it might take a while!

Other Links to this Post

  1. Time and Quantum Mechanics» Blog Archive » A Typology of Quantum Gravities – Followup on Quantum Gravity Panel — December 3, 2009 @ 6:38 pm

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