Buddhism & Technology: Historical Background and Contemporary Challenges – Schedule

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Day 1 – Friday, September 20, 2019 @ Tzu Chi Foundation Canada (8850 Osler)

15:00 Arrival, Registration, & Welcoming remarks

15:30-16:15 KEYNOTE LECTURE

T.H. Barrett (SOAS London): Buddhism, Technology, and a Question for Joseph Needham

16:30 – 18:00 Panel 1. Buddhism, Science & Technology in History

(Chair: Wittern)

1.1 (16:30-16:50) Jeffrey Kotyk (McMaster University): The Astronomical Work of Monk Yixing 一行 (673–727) and its Enduring Legacy in the Song to Ming Periods

1.2 (16:50-17:10) Bill Mak (Kyoto University): Buddhist Astronomy, A Misnomer? – The Case of the Transmission of the Jiuzhi li 九執曆 in China

1.3 (17:10-17:30) Liqun Zhou (Beijing Foreign Studies University): Transmissions of Indian Water Clocks in China

Discussion (17:30-18:00) Open Floor

18:00 – 20:00 DINNER

 

Day 2 – Saturday September 21, 2019@ St. John’s College, UBC

9:00-12:00 Panel 2 Buddhist Philosophy and Technology

(Chair: Bingenheimer)

2.1 (9:00-9:20) Christian Wittern (Kyoto University): Zen, Motorcycles and Burning Buddhas

2.2 (9:20-9:40) Peter Hershock (East West Center): The Intelligence Revolution and the New Great Game: A Buddhist Reflection on the Personal and Societal Predicaments of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence

2.3 (9:40-10:00) Justin Brody (Goucher College): Enaction, Convolution and Conceptualism: An AI-Inspired Theory of Buddhist Perception and Conception

2.4 (10:00-10:20) Douglas Samuel Duckworth (Temple University): A Buddhist Contribution to Artificial Intelligence?

2.5 (10:20-10:40) Charles Goodman (Binghamton University): Machine Learning, Plant Learning, and the Destabilization of Buddhist Psychology

2.6 (10:40-11:00) Joshua Stoll (University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu): Buddha in the Chinese Room: Empty Persons, Other Mindstreams, and the Strong AI Debate

Discussion (11:00-12:00) Open Floor

12:00-14:00 LUNCH

14:00-16:40pm Panel 3. Use of Computation for Buddhist Studies

(Chair: Duckworth)

3.1 (14:00-14:20) Bill Magee (Maitripa Institute): Open-Source Geshe: A Digital Assistant for Tibetan Debate

3.2 (14:20-14:50) Mei Wang (University of Science and Technology of China): Study on Artificial-Intelligence-Based Buddhist Murals Restoration

3.3 (14:50-15:10) Marcus Bingenheimer (Temple University): The Daoan-Huiyuan-Kumārajīva Triangle in the Historical Network of Chinese Buddhism

3.4 (15:10-15:30) Sebastian Nehrdich (Hamburg University): A Quotation Network for Buddhist Chinese Sources Based on Million-scale Nearest Neighbor Search

3.5 (15:30-15:50) Yu-chun Wang (Dharma Drum Institute for Liberal Arts): Word segmentation for Classical Chinese Buddhist literature

Discussion (15:50-16:40) Open Floor

17:00-18:45 DINNER

19:00-20:00 Book Prize Lecture – Sam van Schaik: The Meanings of Meditation in Early Zen Buddhism

Discussion (20:00-20:30) Open Floor

 

Day 3 – Sunday, September 22

9:30 – 11:30 Panel 4. Buddhism, Medicine, the Body [Concurrent with Panel 5]

(Chair: McGuire)

4.1 (9:30-9:50) Yan Lu (East China Normal University): 略论竹林寺僧证治“鬼胎—–以《竹林女科证治》为例

4.2 (9:50-10:10) Panyadipa Tan (Shan State Buddhist University, Taunggyi, Myanmar): Rediscovering the Buddha’s wisdom in Scientific Age: Buddhist Meditation and Research on Psychosomatic Health and Longevity

4.3 (10:10-10:30) Matthew King (University of California, Riverside): The Mind Beyond the Atom: Lozang Gyatso and the Logical Problems of Brain Science and Materialist Biomedicine

4.4 (10:30-10:50) Stuart Ray Sarbacker (Oregon State University): Buddhist Meditation and the Ethics of Human Augmentation

Discussion (10:50-11:30) Open Floor

9:30 – 11:30 Panel 5. Buddhist Philosophy and Technology (in Chinese) [Concurrent with Panel 4]

(Chair: Zhou Lijun)

5.1 (9:30-9:50) Jinhua Chen (University of British Columbia): Technology and Disaster: Buddhist Perspectives

5.2 (9:50-10:10) Guozhu Sun (China University of Political Science and Law): 智慧生命的多元可能——基於《起世經》文本的哲學考察

5.3 (10:10-10:30) Xiao Han (Université du Québec a Montréal): 「機器之心」——上座部阿毗達摩視角下的人工智能之分析

5.4 (10:30-10:50) Min Zhu (Harbin University of Science and Technology): 人工智能的「心識」限度——基於《成唯識論》的思考

Discussion (10:50-11:30) Open Floor

11:30-13:30 LUNCH

13:30-15:30 Panel 6. Buddhism, Technology, and Presence

(Chair: Mak)

6.1 (13:30-13:50) Natasha Heller (University of Virginia): The Aesthetics of Android Buddhas

6.2 (13:50-14:10) Beverley McGuire (University of North Carolina Wilmington): Buddhist Self-Tracking Apps: Identifying, Tracking, And Regulating Emotions in A Digital Era

6.3 (14:10-14:30) Gregory Grieve (University of North Carolina): The Virtue of Dependence: An Ethics of Social Media Based on the Mahāyāna concept of Pratītyasamutpāda and the Cybernetic Theories of Stafford Beer

6.4 (14:30-14:50) Jessica Falcone (Kansas State University): The Ambiguity of Digital Ruins: The Ephemerality and Impermanence of Virtual Spaces

Discussion (14:50-16:00) Open Floor

16:00-16:30 Closing Discussion and Remarks

17:00 DINNER