Debate Big Questions

Big History reaches across disciplines to integrate a continuous stream of remarkable insights into the nature of universe and ourselves. These insights from science also give rise to astonishing transformations, changing both our world and our worldviews.

As the pace of scientific discovery and innovation accelerates, Big Problems arise. There is an urgent need to thoughtfully and carefully reflect on these epic changes and challenges in a constructive way that involves the world’s cultural and philosophical traditions.

Today, we face Big Questions about meaning and purpose, virtues and values, and how to shape our common future, as we continue to strive to understand our origins and place in the universe.

At Metanexus, our goal is to create a vibrant and thoughtful conversation around the biggest mysteries of our time. Does our universe have a purpose? How does the mind and consciousness arise from the biological brain? What is a person? Are there natural laws to be derived from Big History? Or are morals merely human conventions? Are there limits to reductionism, and when and how is the sum more than the parts? Are there patterns to emergence? Is mathematics discovered or invented? Why do scientists talk about information even though they don’t agree about what it is or how to measure it? What is the relevant unit of reproduction and survival—genes, genomes, individuals, societies, networks? Does science disprove the existence of God? How might contemporary science change our understanding of the transcendent?

Probing these and other Big Questions requires a deep, broad, and integrative dialogue. While we honor the details and complexities of each discipline, we must not shrink from the task of building exploratory and substantive connections on issues of broad and enduring significance between the variegated cultures of the sciences and the humanities. It also requires that we all keep wondering, searching, and working to understand fundamental concepts, breakthroughs, and findings, while bringing our own voices, thoughts, and ideas to bear.

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