2009-2010
21 June 2010, 3:00pm (Monday), LPS seminar room
Topic: Sam Fletcher and Jason Hoelscher-Obermaier on physical computation
Readings: Please read a short paper by Michael Nielsen and the discussion notes by Sam and Jason in preparation for the meeting.
23 May 2010, 3:00pm (Sunday), LPS seminar room
Topic: Jim Weatherall on explanations in physics
Readings: Please read his manuscript in preparation for the meeting.
1 May 2010, 3:00pm, LPS seminar room
Topic: Jeff Barrett on Everett, constructive empiricism, and empirical faithfulness
Readings: Please read the following documents in advance of the meeting: (1) a copy of Everett’s short thesis with Jeff’s commentary as adobe post-its, (2) a short review of Bas van Fraassen’s recent book, and (3) a short draft paper on Everett’s notion of empirical faithfulness, (4) the second appendix of Everett’s long version of the thesis, which contains Everett’s most careful description of what a satisfactory physical theory should do.
27 February 2010, 3:00pm, LPS seminar room
Topic: Sheldon Smith on Batterman on causation in classical physics
Readings: The paper is sent out individually.
23 January 2010, 3:00pm, LPS seminar room
Topic: John Baez on the spin foam approach to quantum gravity
Readings: We will start the session by talking about John’s misgivings about quantum gravity, on which more can be found here. John will then present his work on the spin foam approach to QG, the ideas behind it, and the problems with it. In preparation, please read this article. As background, you may also want to look at this more technical article.
5 December 2009, 3:00pm, LPS seminar room
Topic: Elias Okon: “Quantum challenges to the equivalence principle”
Readings: Elias has written a handout that can be downloaded here. You may also want to read Elias’s project proposal for his postdoc, which can be found here. Please do not distribute either document.
3 October 2009, 3:00pm, LPS seminar room
Topic: Tarun Menon: “The Conway-Kochen free will theorem”
Readings: An electronic copy of the paper can be found here. The paper is a draft and not fit for distribution. Please read also the recent paper by Conway and Kochen.