The Future of Science International Conferences
THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE is a cycle of annual international conferences jointly organised by the Fondazione Umberto Veronesi, the Fondazione Silvio Tronchetti Provera, and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini. The aim of the Conferences is to examine the importance of scientific development as a means of improving the quality of our lives, and to delineate a new role for science in the society of the third millennium.
The idea of these conferences springs from an awareness that the problems and dilemmas generated by unrelenting scientific and technological progress are not being adequately discussed in society as a whole. As science exerts an ever more pervasive influence on our lives, society seems ill-informed about the short and long term implications of scientific advance, and in particular is unaware of the social, economic and cultural consequences of the continuous technological revolution. Experts of international renown from various spheres and disciplines have been invited to give their points of view on these issues − which are crucial to the destiny of our society − addressing a public of scientists, philosophers, theologians, industrialists, politicians, economists, journalists, students and others interested in the social, economic and political consequences of constant scientific development.
The 2011 Conference
The seventh World Conference on the Future of Science, entitled "Mind: the Essence of Humanity" has gathered together some of the world’s most eminent scientists to present and discuss new findings from one of the most and exciting and rapidly-progressing areas of research: the human mind.
The mind, which has remained an enigma since Plato and before, it only is now beginning to yield its secrets to scientific enquiry.
The opening session focused on our newly emerging understanding of the role of the emotions in human mental activity. Other sessions examined recent findings on the evolution of mind and of animal cognition (discussing the extent to which animals can be considered to have minds); the evolution of belief systems; the importance of empathy and altruism for the development of the social mind; and what research in artificial intelligence is teaching us about biological intelligence.
The Conference has also discussed the physiology of the brain, the mechanisms of memory, the implications of mirror neurons (which fire both when we act and when we observe the same action performed by another, and are perhaps concerned with recognizing the goals and intentions of others, other minds), the origins of language, psychoses and other illnesses of the mind-brain system, the neuroscience of music, art and pleasure, and the significance of sleep and dreams. As with all Future of Science Conferences, one Session has been dedicated to therapy, in this case the treatment of neurological and mental illnesses such as brain tumors, psychoses, and bipolar disorders. The closing session attempted to delineate how our minds make decisions using criteria that are not always rational or logical.
