157

Authors:

 Rössler, Otto E. ; Stettler, René.

Title:

 Endophysics and Endoperspective

Keywords:

 superobserver / observer difference, complementarity, micro-relativity and micro-constructivism, man / animal difference, limits to science, ethics

Abstract:

 There are two ways to look at the world - from within and from without. „Endophysics" means „physics from within". Being inside the world leads to limitations which go beyond those discovered in formal systems by Gödel. The topic, nevertheless, has a long history going back to the pre-Socratic philosophers. Its reinventor in modern times is Roger Joseph Boscovich. In 1755, he published two papers on the same subject (space and time), one titled „On Space and Time" and the other „On Space and Time as They Are Recognized by Us." In the 20th century, the topic has been pursued by Bohr, von Neumann, Popper and - most recently - David Finkelstein (who coined the name „endophysics" in a letter to one of the authors (Otto E. Rössler, author of „Endophysics - The World as an Interface" / World Scientific 1998). There is a strong link with virtual reality on the one hand, and with artificial universes generated in the computer („molecular dynamics simulations") on the other. The basic idea is that the „interface" between an internal observer and the rest of his or her universe - the effective forcing function - represents the sole reality that exists, for the observer.

A theory of communication based on trust, and a theory of understanding the world based on trust, are both possible. In this bird's-eye perspective, ethics and pysics are one. Levinasian exteriority acquires a new facet. The computer - a deterministic machine - paradoxically frees the mind for the next step to rationalistic enlightenment. New experiments can be conceived both in artifical ethics (AE) and in artifical physics (AP). Animals and computers may be prompted to recognize their predicament. Crowds may be prompted to wake up. A new type of respect is needed to do each experiment. In the age of computer-assisted enlightenment, a profound and new look at our techno-transformed world and the ethical roots of science appears justified. By probing the deep structures of the natural world a new theoretical frame for the description and the understanding of the scientific, technological and social conditions of our postmodern world is at stake. The architectures of consciousness and the mind deserve a broad and interdisciplinary approach.
Roessler, Otto. University of Tübingen. Otto E. Rössler, born in 1940 an Austrian in Berlin and finished his medical studies with an immunological dissertation in Tübingen in 1966. Three years later he won a competitive visiting appointment offered by the Center for Theoretical Biology of the State University of New York at Buffalo. In 1975, Art Winfree initiated him into chaos. A tenured faculty position in theoretical biochemistry at the University of Tübingen came in 1976, after he had published his paper on the „simplest" chaotic attractor (as Ed Lorenz later put it). Three years later, hyperchaos followed, which was equally simple. A member of the Santa Fe Institute and a fellow of the International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics, the author has published about 250 scientific papers in various fields - including biogenesis (1971), dynamical automata (1972), artifical life (with an equation for a brain in 1974), artifical persons (1996) and quasar theory (current). (Lampascus, hometown of mankind on the Internet, is a dream: http://www.cs.wayne.edu/-kjz/lampsacus/ ).

Stettler, René. stettler@centralnet.ch http://www.parterre.ch/neugalu René Stettler, born in 1955, is director of the "Neue Galerie Luzern". An institution - supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture and local cultural institutions of the Canton and the City of Lucerne - the "New Gallery" defines itself as a "cultural laboratory". It is not connected exclusively with one or more faculties, but aims to involve people from all faculties, schools of thought and walks of life in a critical dialogue concerned with art, technological innovation, science and society which they have long sought themselves but for which there has been no point of contact to date. The New Gallery of Lucerne sees its role as that of a touchstone for such dialogues. Its activities are concerned with new challenges posed by widely varying fields of knowledge and research as advanced theory, telematic networks and artifical life. It organizes the biennal International Symposium of Science, Technics and Aesthetics. (Topics: „Brain-Mind-Culture", 1995; „Liquid Visions", 1997; „Frontier Communication: Human Beings, Apes, Whales, Electronic Networks", 1999). Stettler is co-author of „Interventionen: Vertikale und horizontale Grenzüberschreitung" together with Otto E. Rössler. (Stroemfeld/Roter Stern-Verlag Basel und Frankfurt, 1997). Address in the Internet: http://www.parterre.ch/neugalu

We declare that we may attend the conference in Brazil. It however depends on a formal invitation. It will not be possible to finance travelling expenses and accomodation by private and cultural funds in Switzerland and Germany. We should at least get enough support to have both travelling expenses and accomodation being covered by the organizers of the conference. We are sorry to cause inconvenience by restricting our participation in the important Brazil conference.