Pilani Shridhar University - Talk on Consciousness Studies: Darwin Under Siege

Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor - the birds and the bananas, the fishes and the flowers as a result of a process known as natural selection. Darwin's Theory is in crisis in light of the tremendous advances made in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics over the past five decades.

A group of scientists and scholars from Sri Chaitanya Math working on the fundamental topics in science – Consciousness: Origin of Life and Origin of Matter under the guidance of Dr Michael Marchetti visited Shridhar University Pilani on 01 December 2011. Prof BR Natarajan Pro Vice Chancellor welcomed them and introduced them to the audience comprising of faculty members and students of Shridhar University.

Dr B N Shanta Swami who holds a PhD from IIT Kharagpur gave a talk on “Sorry, Darwin: Chemistry never made the Transition to Biology.” Dr Shanta talking of Primordial Bombardments Dumped in Darwin’s ‘Warm Little Pond’, polymerization riddle, Pre-RNA world raised the question of metabolism first or replication first and pointed out that biology is not to be misconceived as an amalgamation of physics and chemistry. Dr Purushottama Jagannath Dasa talked about Cellular Sentience – Downfall of Central Dogma and Atomism in Biology. The talk was followed by a lively question answer session.

Thanking the speakers for visiting Shridhar University, Prof Natarajan pointed out that it is unfortunate that while many top ranking universities in USA and Europe were doing extensive research on Consciousness Studies not many universities in India today have been focusing on this area with exceptions like BITS Pilani which offers a collaborative program with Bhaktivedanta Institute, Mumbai.

The entire presentation is available on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUon2t6M16I

About Shridhar University: An initiative of the Sarvhit Trust, Shridhar University Pilani has been established under Section 2(f) of UGC Act 1956 incorporated by Government of Rajasthan vide Ordinance No. 3 of 2009 and the same ratified by the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly vide Act No. 4 of 2010 as The SHRIDHAR UNIVERSITY ACT BIGODNA, JHUNJHUNU. Further, Vide letter F.No 8-3/2010(CPP-I/PU) dated 31 May 2010, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has also notified Shridhar University under Section 2(f) of UGC Act 1956. ISO 9001:2008 certified Shridhar University has 11 Schools of Learning offering various Certificate, Diploma, Under Graduate, Post Graduate as well as Doctoral programmes. In order to prepare students for a global future, Shridhar University has actively taken up collaborations with various national & international institutions and already has signed MoU with top ranking Athens University of Economics and Business - AUEB, Greece. For more details regarding Shridhar University Pilani (Rajasthan) see http://www.shridharuniversity.ac.in

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This release was published on openPR.