Evolution of the Universe-Life-Culture

Grantor: Ministry of Science and Higher Education, program: Science Popularization Activities. Funding amount: 320,500 PLN, Project Number: 625/P-DUN/2016

The project included the implementation of three tasks aimed at popularizing science: the creation of the innovative Copernicus College educational platform – the first Polish MOOC platform, a series of popular science supplements for “Tygodnik Powszechny,” and a series of open lectures, as well as a scientific program of events as part of the Copernicus Festival.

Task 1: Evolution of the Universe-Life-Culture – Preparation of a series of online courses, guest lectures, and an e-textbook for Copernicus College.

The goal of this task was to familiarize a broad audience with the state of contemporary evolutionary knowledge – both from a biological perspective and on the scale of the entire universe – and the cultural role of Darwinian evolutionary theory. The task funded the creation of 6 courses, 6 guest lectures, and one e-textbook.

Task 2: Big Questions – Preparation and publication of a series of popular science supplements for “Tygodnik Powszechny” and the organization of a series of popular science open lectures.

Human thought, though an individual activity, largely relies on concepts and cognitive schemas preserved in the linguistic and cultural heritage left by our ancestors. This is particularly evident in concepts and cognitive schemas derived from scientific and philosophical thought. These include pairs of concepts such as 1) mind-body; 2) reason-emotion; 3) human-animal; 4) life-inanimate matter; 5) chaos-order, which have been used for centuries to organize experiences, describe phenomena, and explain natural and social reality. For many centuries, it was believed that there were sharp boundaries between these pairs of concepts: that the mind is entirely independent of the body; that rationality is the opposite of emotions; that there is a metaphysical chasm between humans and animals, as well as between life and inanimate matter; and that chaos must oppose order. Meanwhile, contemporary science leads to the shifting or blurring of these boundaries, a fact rarely highlighted by science popularizers.

As part of the task, 5 extensive popular science supplements were prepared for “Tygodnik Powszechny” in the “Big Questions” series: 1. Human vs. Animal, 2. Mind and Body, 3. Reason vs. Emotions, 4. Life vs. Non-life, 5. Chaos vs. Order. All these supplements were also published online in open access. Additionally, a series of 25 popular science lectures was organized, with recordings published on the YouTube channel CopernicusCenter (link: YouTube Playlist).

Task 3: Copernicus Festival 2016: “Beauty” – Scientific Sessions: Lectures, Debates, Breakfasts with Masters.

This task funded the scientific sessions of the Copernicus Festival 2016, held under the theme of Beauty. The project included organizing popular science lectures by prominent foreign scientists (including Prof. Semir Zeki, a pioneer in neuroaesthetics), 5 meetings with leading Polish scholars (Breakfasts with Masters), and 5 expert debates on various aspects of the phenomenon of beauty. Recordings of these events were made available on the YouTube.com/CopernicusCenter.