Dear all,
We are happy to invite you to a discussion group on philosophy and foundations of physics involving members of the Theoretical Cosmology and Quantum Information Theory groups. The group is open to students, PhDs, Postdocs and Professors alike. We include a description of the group and further details below, in case you are interested in participating.
The motivation for this discussion group stems from the fact that a lot of great physics, such as general relativity and quantum mechanics, has been influenced by philosophical ideas. In turn, new physical and mathematical insights have also sparked philosophical discussions. The two disciplines are tightly related to each other and in many cases there is no clear division between them.
We believe that discussions on philosophy and foundations deepen our understanding of physics and mathematics. In our view, engaging in such discussions can also guide our own research, sharpen our critical thinking, and complement our computational, analytical and communication skills. This view is also supported by the history of science, as great insights have come from questioning the status quo, identifying biases, prejudices or implicit assumptions. Furthermore, in recent years, there has been a lot of interest and progress towards connecting ideas from quantum information theory and gravity, which suggests the importance of inter-disciplinary exchanges in making advances towards solving some of the larger open problems in physics.
The spirit of these discussions is to promote exchanges between our research groups in a flexible and open-minded manner. To get started, we have compiled a list of topics that are potentially of interest to both groups. This list of topics, along with a list of current participants and potential guest speakers can be found at the following link. Any of the participants are welcome to vote on existing topics, suggest further topics and guest speakers. If you are interested in joining the group, please request editing access on the google spreadsheet below, and also include your details in the list of members, so that we can add you to the mailing list for the group.
Once you have access to edit the spread sheet, you can vote on each of the suggested topics, by clicking on the second tab, titled "List of subjects and questions" and adding 1 to the corresponding entry in the "vote" column. Please feel free to also add your topic and speaker suggestions to the spreadsheet. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FQ8-kvlKdu3mnVDjAP3FejzlXlCTotj5wlGX...
In order to pick a suitable time for our first meeting, we have created a doodle poll which is linked below. If you are interested in joining the group, please fill out the poll as well. The first meeting would be a good chance for all of us to get to know each other and decide on the format of future meetings. If you would be joining, it would be great if you could prepare to say a few sentences about yourself and your research interests. We will aim to have the meeting in hybrid mode, with the option of participating either in person or online. Once we have finalised a date and time, we will inform you about the venue (if your email is on the spreadsheet). https://doodle.com/poll/5vybdcgufugcsxp2?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
We wish you a good end of the week and look forward to meeting and getting to know you,
Best regards, Fabio D'Ambrosio Vilasini Venkatesh