Starmaker: The Philosophy of Olaf Stapledon - Events

Starmaker: The Philosophy of Olaf Stapledon

England (South East)

23. 11. 11

9.30am - 4.00pm

Williams Olaf Stapledon was born in May 1886. A philosopher by Doctoral training, his PhD thesis was the basis of one of his first books on A Modern Theory of Ethics. Arguably his two crowning achievements in his literature career were Last & First Men and Starmaker. The concepts explored in these books were decades if not centuries ahead of their time. The British-born physicist Freeman Dyson attributes the concept of the ‘Dyson Sphere’ to originating in the writings of Stapledon. In 1948 Stapledon came to London at the request of Arthur C Clarke to deliver a lecture on ‘Interplanetary Man’.

Clarke, who was also influenced by Stapledon, said that “he was the most civilized human being I had ever met”. Were the writings of Stapledon complete works of fiction? Are there some elements of a possible future for our species lurking between the pages of his philosophy? This symposium is dedicated to the writings and philosophy of Stapledon and is part of the ‘BIS Inspiration series’ of symposia.

All presentations are to be written up for submission to a special issue of JBIS. Submissions relating to this topic or closely related themes are invited. Interested persons should submit a title and abstract to the Executive Secretary.

http://www.bis-space.com/2011/08/18/2424/starmaker-the-philosophy-of-olaf-stapledon