EFTA00385141.pdf

From: To: Subject: John Brockman Sept 6/7 Info! Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 17:43:15 +0000 Begin forwarded message: From: John Brockman Subject: Fwd: save the date Date: August 23, 2013 1:29:24 PM EDT To: Jeffre E stein <eevacation mail.com> Cc: JE, In car to airport. ON cell. About to call you. Here's the list to date, and below is the plan. JB CONFIRMED Nicholas Christakis Daniel Dennett Jennifer Jacquet Danny Kahneman Joshua Knobe Rob Kurzban David Pizarro Anne Treisman John Brockman Katinka Matson Max Brockman REGRETS Adam Alter Paul Bloom Rodney Brooks Dan Gilbert Jonathan Haidt Eldar Safir AWAITING RESPONSE Mahzarin Banaji Rebecca Goldstein EFTA00385141 Joshua Greene Joe Henrich Joe LeDoux Sendhil Mullainathan Michael Norton Liz Phelps Steven Pinker Laurie Santos Philip Tetlock Dear xxx„ Danny Kahneman and Anne Treisman will be our houseguests at in Bethlehem, CT the Friday September 6- Saturday, Septmeber 7th, and I want to plan something entertaining and interesting. I have in mind a rehearsal, or dry run, for a possible annual event which would be a weekend that focuses on state of art of what the social sciences have to tell us about human nature in the past year or two. For want of something more serious, it's "THE HEAD CONFERENCE" or "HEADCON". We would host a couple of dinners Fri and Sat nights, and on Saturday, a day of hanging out at the Farm. During those periods, there would be a series of talks by the invited guests. EDGE would pick up hotel room charges and transportation expenses. Some background: In 1992, when the physicist George Smoot announced his findings from the COBE satellite regarding cosmic background radiation and the beginning of time, I left a message on the voicemail of the late, great Sidney Coleman of Harvard : "Sidney, I hear there's something new in the Universe. What is it?. And what's in it for me?" The message went viral after Sidney posted it on the electronic bulletin board of the physics community. My question was inspired by an annual event in Italy for leading physicists where Sidney gave the keynote talk. The topic of his lecture was essentially "What's new in the Universe?" Sidney would detail the advances and developments in the past year or two across many areas of physics. In this case, I would be asking you, and the other guests, to give a half hour talk responding to a similar question: "What's new in your field of social science in the last year or two, and why should I care? Why do I want or need to know about it and how does it change my view of human nature'? I would ask you to focus broadly and address the major developments in your entire field (including but not at all limited to your own research agenda). It would have to be new, fresh, and original: an up-to-date field report on your area of social science. This talk should be, to the extent possible, conversational, and not a canned Power-Point or slide-driven conference talk. We would videotape the entire event and present the videos and texts as an EDGE Special Event. For this dry run, on September 6 & 7, we're focusing on one day, replicating the usual Edge Events at See:http://www.edge.org/events/eastover-farm-meetings To date, the following are confirmed. Awaiting word from a number of others: Nicholas Christakis http://edge.org/memberbio/nicholas a_christakis Daniel Dennett http://www.edge.org/memberbio/daniel_c_dennett EFTA00385142 Jennifer Jacquet http://www.edge.org/memberbio/jjennifer_jacquet Danny Kahneman http://www.edge.org/memberbio/daniel_kahneman Joshua Knobe http://www.edge.org/memberbio/joshua_knobe Rob Kurzban hftp://www.edge.org/memberbio/rob_kurzban David Pizarro http://www.edge.org/memberbio/david_pizarro Anne Treisman http://www.edge.org/memberbio/anne_treisman FRIDAY 4:00-5:00pm arrive at 6:30pm Dinner at Woodward House (2 miles away) SATURDAY Talks - Lunch - and hanging out at farm 5:30 ends. 6:00 Early casual dinner at Good Enough to Eat, a restaurant on way to the highway. People can get back to Boston or NY by 10pm. Please advise if you can attend. EDGE will pick up your transportation costs and room charges at a nearby hotel for Friday night. Best, JB John Brockman Mobile President Edge Foundation, Inc. tel: x110 260 Fifth Avenue fax: New York, NY 10001 Visit EDGE at: http://www.edge.org EFTA00385143