The Future of Life
Thoughts & Reflections
Nobel Prize Dialogue Tokyo 2025
By Dr R Neerunjun Gopee
The Nobel Prize Dialogue is a free-of-charge, full-day event inspired by Nobel Week Dialogue which has been taking place in Sweden in Nobel Week since 2012. The event ‘aims to stimulate discussion at the highest level on a topical science-related theme by bringing together Nobel Prize laureates, the world’s leading scientists, key opinion leaders, policy makers, different interest groups and the general public, online as well as on-site. By bridging science and society, it’s an opportunity to stimulate thinking, excite imagination and inspire greatness.’
‘Nobel Prize Dialogue Tokyo 2025: The Future of Life’ was produced by Nobel Prize Outreach AB in cooperation with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and Tokyo College Associate Professor EMA Arisa was one of the speakers. It was held at the Pacifico Yokohama Conference Centre on March 9.
One of the things that struck me was the number of times that the expressions ‘In my humble opinion,’ ‘I have no answer to this…’ ‘I do not know’ were heard during the day-long session. Nobel Prize laureates who have the humility to concede that they do not know, do not have all the answers, whereas we would expect the opposite!
Well, that actually shows their greatness. In fact, in a lively discussion on the future promise of quantum technology, which is based on quantum mechanics, the physicist actually working in that field to design quantum computers, said he doesn’t understand quantum mechanics! The others said as much too, not shy of confessing their ‘ignorance’.
It is said that when Einstein had come up with his Theory of General Relativity, only two other physicists along with him understood what it was all about. The situation today is still that comparatively a small number of physicists understand it. For laymen like us, it suffices to appreciate that general relativity is concerned about how large objects such as planets move about in the universe, with the force of gravity playing a major role, and that quantum mechanics is about how microscopic particles of matter such as atoms and subatomic particles move in relation to each other.Read More… Become a Subscriber
Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 11 April 2025
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