Lecture Abstract, Institute of advance studies

* 2 November 2006
Speaker: Dr. W. Robert Hudgins, Frederick, Maryland, USA
Topic: Predicting the Future: A Biological Imperative(C)
Abstract:
Contemporary physics postulates that Time is an illusion, or a human construct, relative to the location of the observer of an event. And science generally disparages prediction of future events as "crystal ball reading". Yet, within the part of the universe in which we live, all organisms, from the most primitive to the most sophisticated, use information and time measurement to alter their behaviour in response to changing environmental conditions. The evolution of the nervous system suggests that Time not only exists, but is of paramount importance. Over time, the ability to change behaviour drives natural selection. Natural selection results in the development of more-sophisticated perceptual systems in more-complex organisms and with enhanced ability to accurately predict the future. The mechanisms by which organisms, ranging from bacteria to humans, predict the future will be discussed along with how, in higher organisms, memory is a multiplier of this ability. Time, information acquisition, and current directions in the globalization of culture will also be addressed in this context.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Hudgins received his BA in Chemistry from the University of the South, an MA in Biochemistry from the University of Tennessee, and his PhD from George Washington University in Biochemistry - with specializations in Bioenergetics, Neuroscience, and Molecular Biology. Most of his working life was on the National Institutes of Health campuses in both Bethesda and Frederick, Maryland.
His research has ranged from the physical organic chemistry of carcinogens to the control of gene _expression for non-toxic therapies in cancer and sickle-cell-anemia.

Officially retired, Dr. Hudgins is presently studying the relationship between information, entropy, and energy - with attention to the nature of quantum limits and time. These interests are augmented by a fascination with geological processes and the evolution of life.

* 15 November 2006