Meeting programOntological Distinction between Mechanical, Chemical & Biological Systems

PROGRAM

DAY 1:  FRIDAY, 31st January 2020. 

Hall 3, Center for IC&SR, IIT Madras.

08.30 to 9.00

Registration

09.00 to 09.30

Auspicious Lamp Lighting, Invocation & Booklet Release

09.30 to 11.30

Plenary Session to Introduce the Theme of the Conference

Chair: (Opening Remarks: 9.30 to 9.35)
Sangeetha Menon, Ph.D., National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore, India

Plenary Talk 1: (9.35 to 10.20)

How Physical Sciences can Overcome the 'False Elephant'?
Bhakti Niskama Shanta, Ph.D., Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Institute, Bengaluru, India

Plenary Talk 2: (10.20 to 11.05)

Why Organisms are not only Machines?
John Jay Kineman, Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder, USA
Discussions and Q & A: (11.05 to 11.30) 

11.30 to 11.45

Refreshment Break

 11.45 to 13.15

Session 1:  Exploring a Deeper Understanding of Life
Chair: (Opening Remarks: 11.45 to 11.50)
Bhakti Niskama Shanta, Ph.D., Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Institute, Bengaluru, India


Talk 1: (11.50 to 12.20)

Epistemic Integrity and Compatibility in Understanding Life and its Purpose ⁠— A Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Perspective on Science and Śāstra
Bhakti Kamal Tyagi, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Nabadwip, India


Talk 2:
(12.20 to 12.50)

Approaches to the Consciousness Question in Neuroscience
V. Srinivasa Chakravarthy, Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India 
Discussions and Q & A: (12.50 to 13.15) 

13.15 to 14.00

Lunch Break

14.00 to 15.30

Session 2: Mind Beyond Brain

Chair: (Opening Remarks: 14.00 to 14.05)
John Jay Kineman, Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder, USA


Talk 1: (14.05 to 14.35)

Vedantic Concept of Life: Biology is Irreducible to Mechanics or Chemistry
Bhakti Vijnana Muni, Ph.D., Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Institute, Bengaluru, India


Talk 2: (14.35 to 15.05)

Beyond Body, and Experiencing Consciousness: Distinguishing the Ontology of the Brain and the Self
Sangeetha Menon, Ph.D., National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore, India
Discussions and Q & A: (15.05 to 15.30) 

15.30 to 15.45

Refreshment Break

15.45 to 18.00

Session 3: Life is Beyond Mechanics

Chair: (Opening Remarks: 15.45 to 15.50)
Bhakti Vijnana Muni, Ph.D., Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Institute, Bengaluru, India


Talk 1: (15.50 to 16.20)

Difference between the functioning of Organic Heart and Plastic Heart
Sundeep Mishra, M.D., All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India


Talk 2: (16.20 to 16.50)

Why the Functioning of the Cell Cannot be Understood by the Logic of Mechanical and Chemical Systems
Medicharla Venkata Jagannadham, Ph.D., CSIR - Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India

Talk 3: (16.50 to 17.20)
Why AI cannot be called as Natural Intelligence?
Satish Krishna Das, BNP Paribas Bank, Singapore
Discussions and Q & A: (17.20 to 18.00) 

<END OF DAY 1>

 DAY 2:  SATURDAY, O1st February 2020. 

Hall 3, Center for IC&SR, IIT Madras.

09.00 to 11.15

Session 1: A Philosophical View on Understanding Life Beyond Mechanics and Chemistry

Chair: (Opening Remarks: 09.00 to 09.05)
L. S. Ganesh, Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Tamilnadu, India

Talk 1: (09.05 to 09.35)

A Vedic Approach to Develop Unified Ontological Elements for Mechanical, Chemical and Biological Systems
Bal Ram Singh, Ph.D., Institute of Advanced Sciences, Dartmouth, MA, USA; Institute of Advanced Study, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Talk 2: (09.35 to 10.05)

A Philosophical & Ontological Understanding of Consciousness and Un-consciousness with reference to Indian Philosophical Systems
Sushim Dubey, Ph.D., Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi, India
Talk 3: (10.05 to 10.35)
Anticipatory Systems and the Signature of Life
Judith Rosen, Independent Researcher from USA representing the work of Prof. Robert Rosen who was an American Theoretical Biologist
Discussions and Q & A: (10.35 to 11.15) 

11.15 to 11.30

Refreshment Break

11.30 to 13.00

Session 2: Scientific Critique of the Mechanistic & Chemical Concept for Life

Chair: (Opening Remarks: 11.30 to 13.35)
P. Sudarsan, Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology Madras Tamil Nadu, India

Talk 1: (11.35 to 12.05)

Thermodynamics Challenge to the Materialistic View of Origin of First Biological System
Sumangala Devi Dasi, Ph.D. (Shilpi Saxena), University of Delhi, Delhi, India

Talk 2: (12.05 to 12.35)

Biological Evidence Against the Mechanical and Chemical Simplification of Organisms
Alak Kumar Patra, Ph.D., SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu, India
Discussions and Q & A: (12.35 to 13.00)

13.00 to 14.00

Lunch Break

14.00 to 15.30

Session 3: Life and Consciousness

Chair: (Opening Remarks: 14.00 to 14.05)
Sundeep Mishra, M.D., All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Talk 1: (14.05 to 14.35)

Bacterial Intelligence and Antibiotic Resistance
Madhab K. Chattopadhyay, Ph.D., (Retd.) CSIR - Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India

Talk 2: (14.35 to 15.05)

Ontology of Human Consciousness and Mind – A correlation of philosophical, mechanical and physicochemical systems
Varanasi Ramabrahmam, Ph.D., (Retd.) K.M. Center for P.G Studies, Pondicherry, India
Discussions and Q & A: (15.05 - 15.30)

15.30 to 15.45

Refreshment Break

15.45 to 18.00

Session 4: Ontological Distinction between Matter and Life

Chair: (Opening Remarks: 15.45 to 15.50)
Arul Lakshminarayan, Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology Madras Tamil Nadu, India

Talk 1: (15.50 to 16.20)
Difference between Life and Matter from a Vedantic Perspective
P.S.B. Sarma, Vedic Scholar from Kevala Advaita School, Hyderabad, India
Talk 2: (16.20 to 16.50)
Understanding Life beyond Machines and Chemicals
Deba Prasad Dash, M.D. (Ay.), (Retd.) Gopabandhu Ayurveda College, Puri, Odisha
Talk 3: (16.50 to 17.20)
Defining the Ontological Distinction Between Mechanical, Chemical & Biological Systems
Lovneesh Garg, M.D., Mohan Dai Oswal Hospital, Ludhiana, India
Discussions and Q & A: (17.20 to 18.00)

18.00 to 18.15

Valedictory Ceremony

2nd February 2020 (Sunday)

06.00 to 18.30

Post Conference tour to Sri Perumbudur, Kanchipuram and Pakshi Tirtha

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“As scientists attempt to understand a living system, they move down from dimension to dimension, from one level of complexity to the next lower level. I followed this course in my own studies. I went from anatomy to the study of tissues, then to electron microscopy and chemistry, and finally to quantum mechanics. This downward journey through the scale of dimensions has its irony, for in my search for the secret of life, I ended up with atoms and electrons, which have no life at all. Somewhere along the line life has run out through my fingers. So, in my old age, I am now retracing my steps, trying to fight my way back.”

:: Albert Szent-Györgyi
(Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937)





“From the reader's perspective, a book is composed of alphabetical letters; but the book itself did not originate from these letters. Ultimately it is from the ideas of the author that the letters of the book come to be. In the same way, the molecules of a biological organism are the result, not the origin of life. This is the difference between the order in which we come to know things (ordo cognoscendi) and the order in which something comes to be (ordo essendi).”

:: Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D.
(Conference Chair & Serving Director, Princeton Bhakti Vedanta Institute of Spiritual Culture and Science)





How Life Changes Itself: The Read-Write Genome by James A. Shapiro, Ph.D.


Bacterial Intelligence