JMS at Mars Soc. Con Aug 14-16; Boulder CO

[mandragora]

I just found this on the internet:

It has been reported to MarsDrive today that J.Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame will be participating in the “Religion and Space Exploration” program at the Mars Society Convention as well as giving a separate talk concerning the relationship between science fiction and science reality.The Mars Society is pleased to announce that J.Michael Straczynski will be speaking at the 11th Annual International Mars Society Convention.

source: http://marsdrive.com/news/babylon-5-...onvention.html

The convention is 14-18th August at the University of Colorado in Boulder - details here:

http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2008

The list of speakers is here:

http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2008/11thConventionSpeakers/

ETA: Just saw that he's currently scheduled to speak on Saturday 16th, on a session titled "Religion and Space". The preliminary schedule is here:

http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2008/ConventionSchedule/attachment_download/file

[timk519]

ETA: Just saw that he's currently scheduled to speak on Saturday 16th, on a session titled "Religion and Space".

That sounds like an interesting session all by itself. Beyond the obvious title, what will it be specifically about?

[mandragora]

^^Unfortunately I've no idea beyond what's posted on the schedule:

Super Track: Religion and Space
2:00 – 2:40 pm Dr. Ted Peters, Professor of Systematic Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological & Julie Froehlig, Research Assistant for the "Peters ETI Religious Crisis Survey"
2:40 – 3:20 pm Brother Guy Consolmagno, Ph.D., J.S., Vatican Curator, Vatican Meteorite Collection in Castel Gandolfo
3:20 – 4:00 pm Michael J. Straczynski, Award Winning American writer/producer
4:00 – 4:40 pm Rt. Rev. James Heiser, Diocesan Bishop, The Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America
4:40 – 5:30 pm Panel Discussion Dr. Ted Peters, Julie Froehlig, Brother Guy Consolmagno, Michael J. Straczynski, Rev. James Heiser and Robert Zubrin)

http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2008/ConventionSchedule/attachment_download/file

The rather colourful assembly of speakers suggests it might be interesting indeed

[Jan]

This fits with his stated plans to be travelling doing his research. Man, I'd love to be at *both* of those panels!

Jan

[Joe Nazzaro]

Although it does specify somebody named Michael J. Straczynski. An evil twin perhaps?

[Dan Dassow]

Michael J. Straczynski. An evil twin perhaps?

Although it does specify somebody named Michael J. Straczynski. An evil twin perhaps?

Out of curiosity, I did a Google search on "Michael J. Straczynski" and got 2,080 hits.

[glindros]

Does JMS publish his public appearances anywhere?

Or is it just blind luck to find where he's going to be?

[timk519]

Although it does specify somebody named Michael J. Straczynski. An evil twin perhaps?

i'm thinking a dyslexic twin.

[mandragora]

No worries, it's him, the introductory article's got it right.

Does JMS publish his public appearances anywhere?

Or is it just blind luck to find where he's going to be?

It's neither; google is your friend ... it just takes an efficient search strategy.

[Jan]

It's neither; google is your friend ... it just takes an efficient search strategy.

Google Alerts is good, too.

Jan

[timk519]

The rather colourful assembly of speakers suggests it might be interesting indeed

As a Lutheran myself I'm a bit surprised that the panel contains not one but two speakers from Lutheran backgrounds - they'll be interesting all by themselves as they have radically divergent theological perspectives.

I'm also struck by the fact that the panel is populated by multiple Christians, one Atheist, but no practicitioners from other religions - were they not able to find people from other religions who were willing to participate?

[mandragora]

Google Alerts is good, too.

Jan

Problem with google alerts is that you only get what google considers "news" sources - which, unfortunately, doesn't equal what I consider news sources.

I'm also struck by the fact that the panel is populated by multiple Christians, one Atheist, but no practicitioners from other religions - were they not able to find people from other religions who were willing to participate?

I agree; apparently they've never seen "Parliament of Dreams".

[mandragora]

So has anyone heard anything about these presentations/panels at all?

[Jan]

There's this post from the moderated newsgroup:.

I was there for the Saturday sessions.

I'm hoping to transcribe his actual speech sometime in the next week or so. It was short, less than 10 minutes. Afterward he took questions from the audience and I hope to transcribe some of those also. I'm hesitant to try to convey what he said without actually transcribing it since it involved physics and stuff that might be misunderstood if I try to paraphrase.

Immediately afterward was the panel discussion with five people which was kind of a disappointment, partly because it was only scheduled for 40 minutes. Each panelist was first supposed to summarize their own talk and address points from the others. A couple of them didn't seem to understand the instructions and went on way too long. That was disappointing since I really wanted to hear what they had to say to each other.

Jan

[mandragora]

You were there? I'm jealous!!!

Seriously, a transcription would be great. I'd love to hear more about this discussion, as I'm very interested in that topic, and I'd have loved to be there. Living on the other side of the planet can be kind of a disadvantage.

Each panelist was first supposed to summarize their own talk and address points from the others. A couple of them didn't seem to understand the instructions and went on way too long. That was disappointing since I really wanted to hear what they had to say to each other.

Typical. So I gather it was more a presentation of POVs, and there wasn't much discussion at all.