Expanding Worldviews: Astrobiology, Big History, and the Social and Intellectual Benefits of the Cosmic Perspective
Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Thursday 19 July, 2018
Astrobiology and Big History are two relatively new intellectual disciplines, the former focussed on searching for life elsewhere in the universe and the latter on integrating human history into the wider history of the cosmos. Despite some differences in emphasis these two disciplines share much in common, not least their interdisciplinarity and the cosmic and evolutionary perspectives that they both engender. This meeting, held under the auspices of the Humanities Research Centre, will provide a forum for discussing the relationships between Astrobiology and Big History, with an emphasis on their wider intellectual and societal benefits.
Contributions are welcome on the following broad topics:
· Opportunities for interdisciplinary research collaborations between Big History, Astrobiology, and related disciplines.
· Intellectual benefits of Big History and Astrobiology in overcoming boundaries between different academic disciplines, both within and between the sciences and humanities (e.g. in helping to overcome CP Snow’s “Two Cultures”).
· Societal benefits of disseminating the expanded worldviews inherent in both Big History and Astrobiology to a wider public.
Colleagues interested in presenting a paper at this meeting are invited to send a brief synopsis to the organiser, Professor Ian Crawford, at: i.crawford@bbk.ac.uk
