The Information Universe Conference

Yesterday, via a notification from Lanyard, I came across a notice for the upcoming conference “The Information Universe” which hits several of the sweet spots for areas involving information theory, physics, the origin of life, complexity, computer science, and microbiology. It is scheduled to occur from October 7-9, 2015 at the Infoversum Theater in Groningen, The Netherlands.

I’ll let their site speak for itself below, but they already have an interesting line up of speakers including:

Keynote speakers

Erik Verlinde, Professor Theoretical Physics, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Alex Szalay, Alumni Centennial Professor of Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, USA

Gerard ‘t Hooft, Professor Theoretical Physics, University of Utrecht, Netherlands

Gregory Chaitin, Professor Mathematics and Computer Science, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Charley Lineweaver, Professor Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Australia

Lude Franke, Professor System Genetics, University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands

Infoversum Theater, The Netherlands

Conference synopsis from their homepage:

The main ambition of this conference is to explore the question “What is the role of information in the physics of our Universe?”. This intellectual pursuit may have a key role in improving our understanding of the Universe at a time when we “build technology to acquire and manage Big Data”, “discover highly organized information systems in nature” and “attempt to solve outstanding issues on the role of information in physics”. The conference intends to address the “in vivo” (role of information in nature) and “in vitro” (theory and models) aspects of the Information Universe.

The discussions about the role of information will include the views and thoughts of several disciplines: astronomy, physics, computer science, mathematics, life sciences, quantum computing, and neuroscience. Different scientific communities hold various and sometimes distinct formulations of the role of information in the Universe indicating we still lack understanding of its intrinsic nature. During this conference we will try to identify the right questions, which may lead us towards an answer.

Is the universe one big information processing machine?

Is there a deeper layer in quantum mechanics?

Is the universe a hologram?

Is there a deeper physical description of the world based on information?

How close/far are we from solving the black hole information paradox?

What is the role of information in highly organized complex life systems?

The Big Data Universe and the Universe : are our numerical simulations and Big Data repositories (in vitro) different from real natural system (in vivo)?

Is this the road to understanding dark matter, dark energy?

The conference will be held in the new 260 seats planetarium theatre in Groningen, which provides an inspiring immersive 3D full dome display, e.g. numerical simulations of the formation of our Universe, and anything else our presenters wish to bring in. The digital planetarium setting will be used to visualize the theme with modern media.

The Information Universe Website

Additional details about the conference including the participants, program, venue, and registration can also be found at their website.