EVENT DESCRIPTION
QUANTUM TIME TRAVEL
In Science and Science Fiction
The evening before the 2022 Comic Con San Diego, at the Comic Con museum, the Arthur C Clarke Center for Human Imagination hosts award-winning author Ted Chiang and a panel of quantum physicists to explore the possibilities and potentials of quantum time travel - as it has been imagined in science fiction, and as it is being investigated in physics. The kickoff event of a larger scholarly meeting at the University of San Diego gathering 20 scientists working toward the possibility of time machines, the evening begins with arriving for a photo opportunity with a Back-to-the-Future inspired Delorean, and seating for the in-person panel discussion is limited. The event will be streamed, and remain evergreen on the Arthur C Clarke Center website and Youtube channel, providing excellent opportunities for featuring sponsors to an enthusiastic audience on an ongoing basis.
FLYER
The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California, San Diego
The Institute for Love and Time (TILT)
Institute for New Social Infrastructure (INSI)
University of San Diego
and
The Comic Con Museum
present
QUANTUM TIME TRAVEL
In Science and Science Fiction
July 19th
7 - 8:30pm
arrive, mingle, and Delorean (a la Back to the Future) photo opp: 6pm - 7pm
Comic Con Museum
(website link)
Registration link
Featuring
TED CHIANG
(photo)
Acclaimed science fiction and fantasy short story writer Ted Chiang joins a panel of physicists, physicians, and philosophers for a mindblowing panel on scientific creativity and time travel. Is it possible? Has it happened? Can it happen? What are the tools physicists and SciFi writers use to remove blocks to creativity?
Opening Remarks by USD Provost Gail Baker, USD’s chief academic officer, author of numerous books and articles, and the winner of four Emmy Awards for Excellence in Documentary Writing and Producing.
Welcome and Introductory Comments by Dr. Erik Viirre, Professor and Director of the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California, San Diego
Panelists:
Ted Chiang, four-time Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award winning author of Exhalation: Stories, Seventy-Two Letters, and Story of Your Life, upon which the groundbreaking film Arrival was based, and many more.
Photo: https://www.gq.com/story/ted-chiang-exhalation-interview
Dr. Andrew Jordan, Professor and co-director of the Institute for Quantum Studies, Chapman University
Photo: https://sites.google.com/view/andrewnjordan/contact
Dr. Emily Adlam, postdoctoral scholar in the philosophy of physics at the Rotman Institute, University of Western Ontario
Photo: https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/portfolio-items/adlam-emily/
Moderator: Dr. Julia Mossbridge, co-founder of The Institute for Love and Time (TILT), President of the Society for Scientific Exploration, Affiliate Professor, University of San Diego, author of Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the Science of Consciousness
END OF FLYER
Optional “Learn More” for Gail Baker (for website, eventbrite or facebook event)
Dr. Gail F. Baker is senior vice president and provost of the University of San Diego. In this role, she is USD's chief academic officer and works closely with President James T. Harris III and the university's academic deans. Prior to joining USD in 2017, Dr. Baker was dean of the College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media at the University of Nebraska Omaha. She also served as executive associate to the chancellor of UNO as well as other university leadership positions. At the University of Florida, she served as chair of the Department of Public Relations in the College of Journalism and Communications. She later served as vice president of public relations and special assistant to the president. At the University of Missouri-Columbia, she was chair of advertising and directed the Minority Recruiting Program of the School of Journalism.
Dr. Baker holds a bachelor of science degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, a master of science degree in marketing communications from Roosevelt University and a doctorate in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her industry experience includes public relations positions with IBM and International Harvester (now Navistar). She was a reporter and editor for the Chicago Daily Defender Newspaper.
She has earned recognition for her work as a teacher, scholar, communications practitioner and writer. She has authored books and articles and is the winner of four Emmy Awards for Excellence in Documentary Writing and Producing.
Optional learn more for Ted Chiang (for website, eventbrite or facebook event)
Ted Chiang is an American speculative fiction writer. His Chinese name is Chiang Feng-nan. He graduated from Brown University with a Computer Science degree. He currently works as a technical writer in the software industry and resides in Bellevue, near Seattle, Washington. He is a graduate of the noted Clarion Writers Workshop (1989).
Although not a prolific author, having published only eleven short stories as of 2009, Chiang has to date won a string of prestigious speculative fiction awards for his works: a Nebula Award for "Tower of Babylon" (1990), the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992, a Nebula Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for "Story of Your Life" (1998), a Sidewise Award for "Seventy-Two Letters" (2000), a Nebula Award, Locus Award and Hugo Award for his novelette "Hell Is the Absence of God" (2002), a Nebula and Hugo Award for his novelette "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (2007), and a British Science Fiction Association Award, a Locus Award, and the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Exhalation" (2009). Chiang turned down a Hugo nomination for his short story "Liking What You See: A Documentary" in 2003, on the grounds that the story was rushed due to editorial pressure and did not turn out as he had really wanted. Chiang's first eight stories are collected in "Stories of Your Life, and Others" (1st US hardcover ed: ISBN 0-7653-0418-X; 1st US paperback ed.: ISBN 0-7653-0419-8). His novelette "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" was also published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. As of 2013, his short fiction has won four Nebula Awards, three Hugo Awards, the John W Campbell Award, three Locus Awards, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award. He has never written a novel but is one of the most decorated science fiction writers currently working.
Optional learn more for Dr. Jordan (for website, eventbrite or facebook event)
Prof. Jordan received his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics (1997) from Texas A&M University and his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics (2002) from the University of California, Santa Barbara, supervised by Prof. Mark Srednicki. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Geneva (2002-2005) with Prof. Markus Büttiker, and a research scientist at Texas A&M (2005-2006) with Prof. Marlan Scully. He served on the physics faculty at the University of Rochester from 2006. Dr. Jordan joined Chapman University in 2021 as co-Director of the Institute for Quantum Studies and Professor of Physics. Prof. Jordan's research interests are in theoretical Quantum Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, and Quantum Optics. Themes of interest include nanophysics, the theory of weak quantum measurement, quantum information, and random processes in nature. Nanophysics addresses fundamental physical problems that occur when a macroscopic object is miniaturized to dimensions at the nanometer scale. The theory of weak quantum measurement makes predictions about the random nature of continuous measurements made over some time period, and how these measurements are useful for the purposes of processing quantum information. Recent results include a stochastic path integral formalism for continuous quantum measurements, predicting thermoelectric properties of mesoscopic structures, and information theoretic approaches to precision measurements.
Optional learn more for Dr. Adlam (for website, eventbrite or facebook event)
I am a postdoctoral scholar in the philosophy of physics at the Rotman Institute, University of Western Ontario. I received my PhD in relativistic quantum information from the University of Cambridge. Prior to that I completed the Perimeter Scholar’s International programme in theoretical physics, and I did my undergraduate degree in physics and philosophy at the Univeristy of Oxford. I work on the foundations of quantum mechanics and related issues in the philosophy of physics. At the moment I’m particularly interested in approaches to physics which go beyond the time evolution paradigm – encompassing a range of possibilities like temporal non-locality, retrocausality, and all-at-once laws. I’m also interested in pursuing the consequences of these possibilities for philosophical topics like laws and determinism.