Saturday, September 13, 2003
MIT hosts the Dalai Lama
Starting today, MIT hosts a conference titled Investigating the Mind: Exchanges between Buddhism and the Biobehavioural sciences on How the Mind Works. Starring the Dalai Lama and an incredible array of scientists, the conference attempts to tap into the 2,500 year old Buddhist tradition of studying the mind. The speakers include such luminaries as Daniel Kahneman, Eric Lander and Jerome Kagan, besides the Dalai Lama himself. The conference includes sessions on Attention and Cognitive Control and Mental Imagery, among others. The conference sounds exceedingly promising, and if there are any interesting papers and insights that emerge, I will post it here.
For a brief look at what's being discussed, you can read this article.
Scientists are trained to trust "third-person" verification and are sometimes wary of "first-person" spiritual explanations. But psychologists and neuroscientists have become interested in meditation, a central component of Buddhist religious life, and in what it says about the limits of an individual's control over the mind. Panelists suggested that scientists are starting to see that expert meditators may be useful not only as guinea pigs, but in shaping understanding.
For a brief look at what's being discussed, you can read this article.
Scientists are trained to trust "third-person" verification and are sometimes wary of "first-person" spiritual explanations. But psychologists and neuroscientists have become interested in meditation, a central component of Buddhist religious life, and in what it says about the limits of an individual's control over the mind. Panelists suggested that scientists are starting to see that expert meditators may be useful not only as guinea pigs, but in shaping understanding.
