The Blind Spot - ADAM FRANK

(Yogi)

As part of our outreach program, we organize a series of public online discussion sessions with philosophers, biologists, and other researchers who do work that is relevant to our own project. The format is that of a short introductory presentation by our guests, followed by a panel discussion and a Q&A session involving the whole audience.

“There can be no experience of the world without the experiencer and that, my dear friends, is us.”

This discussion revolves around “The Blind Spot” (2024), a book co-authored by physicists Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser with philosopher Evan Thompson. It discusses the importance of science for the survival of humanity in our current moment of metacrisis, but also takes a critical stance towards interpretations of scientific knowledge that neglect the uniquely situated standpoint of the limited human observer. Using numerous examples from physics, biology, and cognitive neuroscience, it proposes various ways to overcome this “blind spot” towards a more grounded, humane, and sustainable science for the 21st -century.

Adam Frank is professor of computational astrophysics at Rochester University, with a research focus on magnetic flows involved in star formation and the dynamics of planetary nebula. He is also an active researcher in the field of astrobiology, studying the planetary impacts of our own civilization, in order to better understand the evolution of potential exo-civilizations. Adam is a very active science communicator, co-founder of the 13.7 and 13.8 science blogs, frequent contributor to NPR and the New York Times (among other major media outlets), and the author of books such as “About Time,” “Light of the Stars,” and the “Little Book of Aliens.”