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15th Annual March 29 — April 2, 2007 |
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This
conference has established a tradition of informality both in style and
substance that
features open discussion and mutually respectful interactions among
participants. It is open to metaphoric as well as formal explorations of
systems/holistic thinking into science (including psychological, social,
biological disciplines, mathematical, and logical disciplines), education,
society, and philosophy. We range over rather diverse subjects in philosophy,
education, research, social applications, and theory. Whether based on
presenters’ published materials or works-in-process presented for feedback
and collaborations, we have been fortunate to have been exposed to so many
fresh, innovative, often ground-breaking, ways of approaching and/or
perceiving the world around us. This web site can change on any day as we add
participants, titles, abstracts, and commentary. The parts of this site are
(1) this home page (scroll down for list of participants and titles to date),
and (2) The Snowflake 2007 Newsletter (link above right) for abstracts,
commentary, and pictures of the participants. There are also links to earlier
Winter Conferences and Snowflake Newsletters (above). The conference
self-organizes; the schedule is sketched out but adjusted at times; the order
of presentations is developed at the opening, and adjusted as desired. This year’s venue is in Puerto Rico,
which offers a unique environment in which to explore the mysteries of the
human mind as well as the outer reaches of the universe and the depths of our
own plant, Earth. We start by lodging at the beautiful beach-front Inn: La
Hosteria del Mar. Then, we are privileged to have Daniel Altschuler, Director
of the Office of Public Understanding of Science (OPUS) of the Arecibo Observatory as
our host and as a participant. Arecibo is home of the world's largest
single-dish radio telescope, one of the main sites for SETI [the Search for
Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence], … and the location where Carl Sagan’s novel:
Contact was filmed).[1]
Arecibo Observatory is part of the National Astronomy and
Ionosphere Center, a national research center operated by Cornell University
under a cooperative agreement with the NSF. A very short distance from the Arecibo
Observatory is the world renowned “Cavernas de Cumuy”. This incredible
268-acre park is the site of the great subterranean caverns carved out, over
one million years ago, by the Camuy River (the worlds’ 3rd largest
underground river). The park is one of the world’s largest underground
formations in the Western Hemisphere. Sixteen entrances have been found and
only seven miles (11 km) of this series of limestone coves have been fully
explored. The impeccably maintained trails gently descend 200 feet through a
fern filled ravine to the yawning, cathedral-like caverns. We will be guided
through one cave and two sinkholes, with fine examples of stalactites,
stalagmites and, of course, plenty of bats. Naturally, we will also be touring Old
San Juan, the oldest European city in all of the Americas (>500 years old)
and we will hold our first presentation at the Puerto Rican Athenaeum (an
institution similar to an academy of science that encourages learning)
located there. For those who are interested, before or
after the conference, there are countless other sites and attractions (it has
been said that Puerto Rico is a continent the size of Connecticut because of
its enormous variety of terrains, climate zones, variety of vegetation. |
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To submit titles and abstracts or make
inquires, contact: |
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Lodging & Travel |
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Lodging the first night, March 29, is at the Osteria del
Mar (a beautiful ocean-front inn in San Juan). Rooms priced from $89 double
occupancy. Rooms are reserved for us, but to get the best priced rooms call
soon. The next three nights (March 30, 31,
April 1) we will be moving near the Arecibo Observatory. The lodging there is
Parador El Buen Café. Rates: $91/double occupancy, $105.93/triple occupancy, $120/quad occupancy. Mention the Winter Chaos Conference
booked by Carlos Torre to insure getting our rates and blocked rooms. Neil is booking rental cars and he and
his wife and Carlos will help with transportation with their cars, so we
suggest you do not book your own rental cars. Carlos
suggests Expedia to book your flights to San Juan. |
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This year’s co-sponsors: Co-auspiciado por el (co-sponsored by the) Proyecto de Destrezas de Pensamiento;
el Departamento de Ciencias Físicas; y el Decanato de la Facultad de Estudios
Generales del Recinto de Río Piedras de la Universidad de Puerto Rico.. |
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Created by fred,
December 21, 2006; updated March 21,
2007; |
