We are pleased to announce that the 2016 annual Science Section Conference will take place in Ann Arbor, Michigan. \u00a0On Wednesday evening November 30th there will be a public talk by Andrew Linnell on\u00a0<\/span>The Role of Technology in Human Evolution<\/strong>.<\/em>\u00a0On\u00a0Thursday, the conference will begin for members of the School for\u00a0Spiritual Science who<\/span><\/span>\u00a0will devote themselves to inner preparation for\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the public part of the conference that runs from 4:30 pm on Thursday through midday on Sunday the 4th of December (see the schedule for details).<\/span><\/p>\n Last October over 100 scientists from many parts of the world came together in Dornach under the guidance of the Natural Science Section at the Goetheanum for Evolving Science 2015<\/em>, a conference aiming to take stock of recent developments in Goethean and spiritual science and to assess how these developments relate to current research in mainstream science. \u00a0A wonderful lineup of presenters, workshops, world cafes, and professional group meetings was the result of gathering issues and questions during the preparatory Ideas-Workshop Evolving Science 2014<\/em>.<\/p>\n We envision our December Section conference in Ann Arbor as a similar preparation for a larger gathering of scientists in North America in the summer of 2018.<\/p>\n We would like to invite you to this special brainstorming conference at the Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor, MI. The theme of the conference will be \u201cEvolving Science and the Task of the Science Section.\u201d We will be honored with the participation of Johannes K\u00fchl.\u00a0We are excited that Arthur Zajonc plans to join us and offer his recollections of our past and his perspectives on the work for the future.<\/p>\n The focus of the conference will be twofold: 1) We will survey current developments in natural science and seek to understand them in the light of the evolution of human consciousness, and 2) we will assess our own work as scientists inspired by the pioneering work of Goethe and Rudolf Steiner with the goal of laying the groundwork for future collaboration. The motivation for this conference arises out of a growing awareness that recent developments in modern science are calling for insight into the spiritual nature of the physical world.\u00a0 It is the task of our Section to foster and stimulate research that leads to such insight.<\/p>\n Fred Amrine will start us off on Thursday evening with a talk on What Is Scientific About Spiritual Science? <\/i><\/em><\/strong>Fred will discuss the evolution of human consciousness as it is reflected in contemporary science. With this overall theme in mind, the conference will then take stock of what research is being done by Section members and our colleagues and lay the groundwork for future collaboration. Friday evenings talk will be\u00a0Approaching the Etheric through Light and Electricity<\/i><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by the head of the Natural Science Section at the Goetheanum, Johannes K\u00fchl, and for Saturday evening we are pleased to have Gopi Krishna Vijaya, PhD from\u00a0Salt Lake City, Utah speak about Goethean Science and the Reciprocal System<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/i><\/em>\u00a0Gopi writes that “The principles of Goethean science have had an unexpected successor in the work of the Reciprocal System of Dewey B Larson in America, who arrived at an independent understanding of Goethean polarity. This is the basis for the Reciprocal System of Physics that develops both qualitative and quantitative predictions in several areas of physics, and coincides admirably well without introducing ad-hoc<\/em> assumptions. A description of both the principles and the successes in calculations reached in this system of physics is given in this talk, and its relationship to the other researches in Physics by spiritual scientists is highlighted.” These four evening lectures (Wed – Sat) are open to local members and guests of the Anthroposophical Society. Donations will be accepted at the door.<\/p>\n We are looking for individuals working in biology, neurobiology, chemistry, geology, astronomy, physics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, mathematics, and other scientific fields to share their experience of working with Goethean-anthroposophical methods and to help lay the groundwork for this larger, more public conference in the summer of 2018. We are hoping that you will participate in this concerted effort to coordinate, strengthen, and enhance awareness of our work. Please share a snippet of your research and a short bio in this website’s Forum.<\/p>\n Over the past several years the annual conferences of our Section have been devoted to building the inner capacities<\/strong> required to conduct such research that goes beyond the materialistic\/mechanistic paradigm. We feel that the time has now come for us to add a focus on cultivating a sense of scientific community among us in order to gather our collective forces in an effort to reach out to our colleagues and to prospective colleagues who are looking for a new way of doing science.<\/p>\n We hope that you will be willing and able to take part in this important endeavor.<\/p>\n