ogni_ingles_capa.indd 1-2 15/02/2016 22:23:02 organizers USP President Marco Antonio Zago Vice-Pre- Critical Rapporteurs Textual re- sident Vahan Agopyan Provost for Undergraduate ports Gonzalo Iparraguire, Julia Buenaven- Studies Antonio Carlos Hernandes Provost for tura, Rosa Levandovski, Victoria Rodner Graduate Studies Bernadette Dora Gombossy de Audiovisual reports Jessica Candal Sato, João Melo Franco Provost for Research José Eduardo Alberto Menna Barreto, Larissa Figueiredo, Krieger Provost for Culture and Extension Maria Rafael Urban Arminda do Nascimento Arruda Provost for In- ternational Cooperation Raul Machado Neto IEA Director Martin Grossmann Deputy Director Paulo Saldiva Board Beatriz Barbuy, Senior Committee for the In- Eugênio Bucci, Fernando Queiroz Cunha, tercontinental Academia Regina Guilherme Ary Plonski, Regina Pekelmann Pekelmann Markus, Takao Kondo, Till Roen- Markus, Renato Luiz Sobral Anelli and Ri- neberg, Eliezer Rabinovici, Sami Pihlström, cardo Oktake Research Committee Hamilton Hisanori Shinohara, Martin Grossmann, Bernd Varela Headquarter Staff Aziz Donizetti Salem, sponsor Kortmann General Secretary Carsten Dose Claudia Regina Tavares, Dario Borelli, Edilma Martins, Eduardo Costa dos Santos, Fátima IEA-USP Scientifi c Commit- Moreno, Fernanda de Mattos Cunha Rezende, tee for the Intercontinental Flávia Dourado Maia, Flávia Mendes, João Fer- Academia José Eduardo Krieger (president) nando da Silva, Jorge Paulo Soares, Marcelo Regina Pekelmann Markus (vice president) Vera Rodrigues dos Santos, Maria Leonor Calasans, supporters Lúcia Imperatriz Fonseca, Marcelo Knobel, Re- Marisa Macedo Gomes Alves, Marlene Signo- nato Janine Ribeiro, Hernan Chaimovich, Mas- retti, Marli Pedro, Mauro Marcos de Oliveira simo Canevacci, Martin Grossmann, Eugênio Bellesa, Raimunda Rodrigues dos Santos, Ra- Bucci, Sérgio Adorno, Paulo Saldiva fael Borsanelli, Richard Meckien, Roque Ce- leste Passos, Sandra Sedini, Sergio Bernardo, Young researchers Adriano De Ceza- Tizuko Terezinha Sakamoto São Carlos Hub ro, André Cravo Mascioli, Boris Roman Gibhar- Renato Luiz Sobral Anelli, Hamilton Brandão dt, David Gange, Eduardo Almeida, Eva Von Varela de Albuquerque, Thais Cardoso, Lucia Contzen, Helder Nakaya, Kazuhisa Takeda, Liu Elena Losapio Pereira, Rosemari Siqueira Ri- Yangyang, Marius Müller, Nikki Moore, Norihi- beirão Preto Hub Fernando de Queiroz Cunha, to Nakamichi, Valtteri Arstila Antonio José da Costa Filho, João Henrique Rafael Jr., Rafael Sica Speakers Context Axis Ana Lydia Sawaya, partner Fernando Mussa Abujamra Aith, Sylvia Duarte Services Service Hiring Alípio Monteiro, Dantas, Suzana Pasternak, Hugo Segawa, Paulo Alípio Monteiro Jr. Transportation Europatur Time Axis Saldiva, Martin Grossmann, Eduardo Monteiro, Viagens Turismo Ltda. EPP, Ricardo Rodri- Fernando Iazzetta, Neka Menna Barreto, Rodri- gues de Mesquita Accommodation WZ Cen- go Oliveira Time Axis Carolina Escobar, Till Ro- tury Paulista, Roberto Gracioso Catering Neka enneberg, Eliezer Rabinovici, Regina Pekelmann Gastronomia, Neka Menna-Barreto; Mocotó Markus, Ruud Buijs, Massimo Canevacci, Vera – Restaurante e Cachaçaria, Rodrigo Olivei- Lúcia Imperatriz Fonseca, Sami Pihlström, Tia- ra; Amadolce Festas e Eventos, Adriana Cris- go Quental, Karl Heinz Kohl, Leopold Nosek, tina Garcia Luiz Gylvan Meira Filho, Matthew Kleban, René Nome, Hideyo Kunieda, Takao Kondo, Laymert Publication Editorial Coordination Garcia dos Santos University Axis Marco Antonio Martin Grossmann Editing and coordination Zago, Naomar de Almeida Filho, Klaus Capelle, Fernanda Rezende News writing Flávia Dou- Carlos Vogt, José Goldemberg, Luiz Bevilacqua, rado, Mauro Bellesa, Thaís Cardoso Trans- Marcelo Knobel, Sabine Righetti, José Eduardo lation Richard Meckien, Carlos Malferrari Krieger, John Heath, Hernan Chaimovich, Cars- Revision Richard Meckien Graphic design ten Dose, Helena Nader, Dapeng Cai Gilberto Mariotti, Vitor Pissaia

ogni_ingles_capa.indd 3-4 15/02/2016 22:23:03 University Axis

Context Axis

ogni_ingles copy.indd 3 15/02/2016 22:28:32 3 Sailing the Times of São Paulo: Collective Effort, Audacity and Multiculturalism by Gonzalo Iparraguirre http://ica.usp.br/docs/sailing-the-times São Paulo, April 18 & 19, 2015

Coffee and palm trees, parks, avenues, buildings, cathedrals, rivers, museums, paintings, graffiti, people, vehicles, football, favelas, sounds and noises; São Paulo is presented to us in a shocking, monumental and polychronic way: we are introduced at once into its past and its present, we access its history while we understand how it came into being, in the words of our expert guide and host of the ICA in São Paulo, Professor Martin Grossmann. We began the scientific and cultural tour furrowing the city by bus, driving through kilometers of cement, cars and palm trees. The contrast between the green tones of the dense vegetation and the gray tones of the magnificent buildings creates a score of simultaneous dissonance and harmony. The absence of advertising in the streets allows us to appreciate in detail the amalgam between centenary architecture and contemporary industrial design. After visiting the Independence Park and the surrounding palaces, one can understand

ogni_ingles copy.indd 4 15/02/2016 22:28:32 4 that the urbanization of São Paulo was a clear mological threshold – or paradigm – from borhoods of Portuguese, Japanese, Bolivian, attempt to domesticate nature. The transfor- which it is not easy to escape, or even to Paraguayan, and Korean populations, among mation of rivers into underground cement ca- face. To create art beyond the limits of tra- many others. São Paulo is, in this sense, a nals, of native forests into enclosed parks and ditions and contexts of epoch was the idea multiethnic nation in itself, bringing together of hills into uncountable edifices expresses that Levy’s music conveyed to me, resonating nationalities from all over the planet. the materiality of the ideals of an aristocracy with the spirit of the ICA event of bringing Regarding scientific imaginaries, the Uni- that believed wilderness should be tamed, that various researchers from around the world versity of São Paulo managed to further the the indomitable nature of the tropics could be to creatively discuss new ways to investigate education of its first graduates in different controlled. This made it possible to create the the ubiquitous problem of Time, as well as universities of the US and Europe to plan the city, to dominate it and to inhabit it. the challenge of rethinking academic life in creation of its own faculties, leveraging their Brazil is rooted in aboriginal cultures that its social and academic contexts. vast experience, which in turn was used to date more than 12,000 years. Besides the São Paulo has reinvented itself sever- develop public policies that gave voice to the hundreds of indigenous Amerindian and al times thanks to its cultural cannibalism demands of a city in constant growth. This African peoples that faced – and still face – – and continues to do so. When visiting pluri-ethnic and academic landscape that colonization, many ethnicities took part in USP’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC- allowed USP to grow over the last 80 years the construction of a globalized mega-nation. USP), we witnessed, in addition to a formi- and establish research centers like the IEA The cannibalism attributed to some Ama- dable art exhibit and a panoramic view of frames the Atlantic horizon where the partici- zonian tribes can be interpreted today as a Ibirapuera Park, a performance of musical pants of the ICA may conceive and develop a metaphor of the multicultural exchange that anthropophagy: the mega-city noise filtered new dawn of science without borders (nation- traverses the city as one of its identifiable fea- through the pharaonic walls of the museum al, ethnic, academic or economic). tures: feeding on other cultures to build one’s and turned into quadraphonic sound, a poet- We ended the two days of our exhaust- own. Martin mentioned this idea to explain ry spiral that repeated itself in changing pat- ing Paulista tour by visiting the Nutritional the history of São Paulo’s cultural heritage, terns, as in a Bach fugue, but implemented by Education and Recovery Center in the Vila from the architecture of public buildings to electronic pulses, cables and magnetic speak- Medeiros favela. As we listened to the cele- the structure and design of the Schools of the ers. The sonic culture of São Paulo, nurtured brations with shouts and pyrotechnics com- University of São Paulo. on samba and on baroque music, has man- ing from the houses of the goals of the match This idea turned up again later, when we aged to digest the dissonances and arrhyth- between Palmeiras and Corinthians, I read listened, through the hands of young pianists mias of the 21st century urban jungles, and a 50-meter graffiti on a huge wall that capti- from USP, the music of Brazilian composer has also been bold enough to capture its lush vated me: “We will not be forever, but we Alexandre Levy (1864-1892). Listening to the fidelity and intercultural language. This is an- will be always sailing the times of eternity.” piece “Brazilian Tango,” I recognized the 2x4 other of the resonances that echo the melody An excellent phrase not only to reflect upon tempo of Buenos Aires’ tango milonga, and the running through the ICA participants in São the philosophical dilemma of time, life and mixture of tango and classical piano referred Paulo: audacity, fidelity, multiculturalism. eternity, but also to make us willing to create me to Piazzolla, the great Argentine composer The landmark and scientific imaginaries change and remain positive even in the most who was able to devour the rigid tradition of the of São Paulo combine in an intercontinental hostile sociocultural conditions, or in the tango and create a new musical being, called the mode; the ethnic diversity enters and dispers- least expected places. The ICA in São Paulo “New Tango,” integrating timbres and rhythms es throughout the land, like the rivers that inspires us to be strong from each of our own of classical music and jazz. cross the city to reach the entrails of the earth. small places in the world and to be aware of I then thought of the artistic anthropophagy The landmark imaginaries not only appertain the collective effort that means being part of required to compose art or science beyond to the hybridization of architectural styles and an intercontinental network of collaborative the traditions and schools that form and limit the multiple forms of urban expressions, but academic work.  us, what in science often defines the episte- are also part of the communities and neigh-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 5 15/02/2016 22:28:32 5 On the Size of Time: lectures on the same day was a revelatory ex- Several others things were fascinating in his a report on the first day perience, one being the counterpoint of the talk. For example, he described how the Milky of the Intercontinental other, and not only because of the explicit di- Way seemed like a stroke in the sky because of Academia chotomy between big and small – i.e., between the viewpoint from which we observe it. From by Julia Buenaventura the galaxy and the molecule – but also because our humble world, we see only the side of what both talks helped me realize that the issue of is really an ellipse and misname it “Way.” One http://ica.usp.br/docs/size-time scale concerns size, certainly, but time as well, more thing worthy of note – and I’m already São Paulo, April 18 & 19, 2015 or rather, that the size of what one examines leaving too much out – was the use of the first implies the size of the time being measured. person in the lecture, something one does not The first day of conferences Kleban, the physicist, who sees things that often see in a scientist. Several times during his of the Intercontinental are afar, spoke of billions of years; Nome, presentation, Kleban used the pronoun “I” to Academia, April 20, gave us a the chemist, who observes things close by, re- state his own views and opinion, that is to say, ferred to nanoseconds. The zeros went back the viewpoint from which he observed history counterpoint that might best be and forth, either billions of years of age and a and the heavens, emphasizing his awareness of described as the contradiction billionth fraction of a single second. In a nut- his position on the globe, even if his subject between nearsightedness and shell, what became clear was that time actually was everything that’s outside it. Like Kepler, measures space, that it is the unit we have to Kleban did not lose his own perspective, as in farsightedness. Two opposing diagnose bodies – a cell cannot be described the following observation he made: “How can kinds of personality: one is unable in years, a star cannot be ascertained in days. we count in years, that is, in number of revo- to see clearly what lies in the Kleban opened his talk with a fundamental lutions around the sun, something that existed distance and so approaches each question, “What is the difference between past before the sun itself was there?” and future?” He claimed that physicists doubt René Nome, the chemist, in turn, also letter as if it were examining ants; a discrepancy exists between the two instanc- talked about extraordinary matters. His lec- the other cannot see what is close es. I think Luther, who believed in predesti- ture focused on how to record motion inside at hand, so sees printed matter nation, would agree with Kleban, but beyond the cells, movements that occur at unthinkable that, what this shows is that time is a matter speeds. Nome showed the first picture ever as if it were looking at stars. The of space. And if we can go back in one, why taken of a galloping horse, which shocked the nearsighted enjoys details; the shouldn’t we be able do it in the other? 19th century world because motion had here- farsighted loves the landscape. Kleban then discussed his specific field, tofore never been stopped and, thus, no one cosmology, a science dedicated to writing the had ever understood how galloping worked, This dichotomy can also be described biographies of galaxies and stars, and which a matter that implied profound anatomical as the one that exists between a magnifying has determined the age of the universe to be questions. Everything that was thought about glass and a spyglass, between a microscope 14 billion years. How?! I always wondered galloping horses went overboard after that pic- and a telescope, or even between chemistry how someone could establish such a number, ture; one has only to look at Gericault’s paint- and physics. Chemists love loupes; physicists, but Kleban answered my eternal question very ing from a couple of decades earlier. needless to say, having Galileo among them, clearly and very simply: by means of Hubble’s Nome went on to explain how that process adore telescopes. Something tells me, as a Law. Hubble was the scientist who noticed that had continued, achieving ever greater preci- matter of fact, that physicists must be myopic galaxies farthest from Earth were moving fast- sion in the capture of minuscule moments, and chemists hypermetropic, because they er away from it, confirming that the universe is helping us understand the motions of particles are verily surprised when, through a lens, they expanding. By calculating how fast they were inside a cell. To accomplish this, it was neces- see what the eyes of the other behold. moving away, he was able to determine when sary to distend time, that is, to create slow mo- The conferences of physicist Matthew they had all been together. He called this mo- tion mechanisms capable of showing us what Kleban and chemist René Nome ment “the beginning,” if not of time, at least of happens very, very quickly. From galloping acknowledged this. In fact, to attend both the world, the genesis of everything. horses to photosynthesis, this is the scope of

ogni_ingles copy.indd 6 15/02/2016 22:28:32 6 Nome’s studies. His aim is to understand pho- God, the brain and black tosynthesis, the process by which plants cap- holes - Exploring the ture sunlight for energy and that takes place at conceptualisations of enormous speed – although I do not know if time in the realms of it is greater than that which separates the stars. Philosophy, Biology and Perhaps I should say I don’t if they’re com- Astrophysics parable, because one seems slow (given the by Victoria Rodner and enormous distances) and the other seems fast Rosa Levandovski (because it is very near). Finally, one more comment: Nome dis- http://ica.usp.br/docs/god-brain-black-holes played an absolutely amazing machine, a São Paulo, April 21, 2015 container with some sort of contraption that made it possible to whirl the liquid held inside. Day II (April, 21) of talks at Nome proceeded to put three drops of color- Intercontinental Academia (ICA) ed ink, spin the device and mix the colors. He then spun the device in reverse and the colors and we are stimulated yet again by were separated, becoming three drops of ink a variety of disciplines, scholars, again. Contemplating our expressions of in- and approaches to the issue of finite distrust, Nome assured us that there was time. From religion to the origin no film running backward; it was a chemical effect, an effect of extraordinary beauty that of the universe, from the circadian gave us the feeling, of course, of having turned rhythm to Realist and Relativist back the clock, of going back in time. ontologies, attendees at ICA are He showed many more of these curiosities of science, which are its foundation. Every sci- invited to broaden their horizons entist is a spy, every scientist must be deeply sus- as they dive head first into rich picious, and that is why their search never ends. and diverse new fields of research. Going back to the beginning, the curious thing about both lectures, about the relationship We start the day with Professor Sami Pihl- between them, was the dialogue between the ström from Helsinki Collegium for Advanced diminutive and the humungous, questions of Studies in Finland, who presents the issue size that resulted in questions of time: each sci- of Time from a Philosophical standpoint. A entist seemed to use a fraction of time that was Professor of Practical Philosophy, Pihlström diametrically opposed, yet it was essentially one delves straight into the metaphysics of time and same time – ours – of which we can only and temporality, with his talk entitled Time & have a notion thanks to our traveling spaceship, Eternity, where he considers whether time is our planet Earth. Kleban measures the universe an objective truth (and therefore ‘real’) or a so- in years, that is, how long Earth takes to travel cially constructed concept, as argued by Kant’s around the Sun; Nome measures his particles transcendental idealism. Prof Pihlström leads in nanoseconds, which after all are nothing but us seamlessly through the philosophies of phys- fragments of a day-hour-minute- second-nano- ics, history and religion and how these various second, this is, of the time our beloved Earth approaches provide us with a variety of concep- takes to spin around itself.  tualisations pertaining to Time. In his talk, he presents us not only with these varied conceptu-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 7 15/02/2016 22:28:32 7 alisations on Time, but also with the contested issue of ‘eternity’, asking natural rhythms of night and day (having lights the public whether or not this concept can even be considered (in phil- and entertainment at night, eating during the osophical or scientific terms) coherent. Ancient philosophers argued night, working nights, and so on) which is known that the natural world around us was in fact eternal (although always in as circadian dyssynchrony and gives the body the flux). However from a Judeo-Christian standpoint, we are given a much wrong signals. Prof Escobar advocates for circadi- more linear framework of time, where there is a palpable beginning an health in order to keep our biological clocks and an apocalyptic end to world as we know it. Despite this inevitable functioning, meaning that we should try to follow ‘doom’ promulgated by some organised religion, there is a belief of natural time cycles more closely to ensure physi- an eternal life after our time on earth. Beyond this dichotomy, Prof cal and mental health. She gives a vivid example Pihlström highlights notions that appear eternal, for instance numbers of her recent research at a neo-natal ICU where and mathematical truths, propositions from philosophers, abstract en- premature infants who had night / day cycles (ver- tities, and perhaps even the concept of God as an omnipresent being. sus constant exposure to light) showed significant What I found most interesting of Prof Pihlström’s talk was the notion weight gain and improved health compared to of personal motivation and time. In his seminal essay of 1973, moral those who ‘ignored’ these circadian cycles. In her philosopher Bernard Williams noted how an eternal life would in fact style and her content, Prof Escobar was able to become tedious (what he calls the ‘tedium of immortality’), as the abil- capture the attention of any scholar in the room, ity to do everything within a continuous ‘lifetime’ would in fact make scientist and social scientist alike, as her research us indistinguishable from others, who also had an eternal lifetime to is both coherent and thoroughly convincing to all. achieve everything we had achieved, concluding therefore that an eter- After lunch, we are introduced to Professor nal life would in fact be demotivating. It would be interesting to consid- Ruud Buijs, colleague of Prof Escobar at UNAM. er this notion further and explore how various cultures (with different Known to insiders as ‘the brain man’, Prof Bui- philosophical or religious underpinnings) differ in their motivation giv- js as a Neurobiologist goes into further detail on en their conceptualisation of time. This was a thoroughly interesting the biological clock and how it is crucial for the talk on the issue of time and brought up some very thought-provoking human body to function. Through empirical re- questions from the audience. search, he demonstrates how the brain prepares From philosophy we move swiftly into biology with a talk by Pro- the body for hormonal activity, including the in- fessor Carolina Escobarfrom the Universidad Nacional Autonoma take of food. These stages of bodily activity can de Mexico (UNAM). In her talk, Biological Time & the Dangers of a be altered if the food source shifts, as he shows Disrupted Rhythm, Prof Escobar gives a compelling account of how in the example of Finnish bats tending to fly less our modern ways have in fact broken prevailing circadian biorhythms at night in the winter months because of a lack of and are having detrimental effects on the human body and psyche. food source. Prof Buijs goes on to explain how She asserts that, from a scientific standpoint, we are all in fact exposed seasonal shifts affect not only food sources and to the effects of time and thus the concept is real and not socially hence eating patterns, but also sexual activity in construed. Although we are bound to a linear passing of time (from the animal kingdom. Closer to home, he argues our birth to our death), our bodies rely on natural annual, monthly that there is a clear link between sleep duration or daily cycles that are in constant repetition. However, modern man and obesity, so that a disturbance of the biologi- has ignored these natural cycles with the invention of clocks and un- cal clock can even develop diseases such as Type natural light to break away from our day/night dependency and ma- 2 Diabetes and Obesity in humans. As these nipulate our conceptualisation of time. Prof Escobar’s area of exper- UNAM scholars presented their research over tise revolves around the biological clock (or suprachiasmatic nucleus the two sessions, ICA attendees were presented located in the hypothalamus of the brain) and her current research with a stimulating and well-researched account of interest focuses on not only the exposure to natural and unnatural the issue of time from a biological point of view. light, but also the effects of food on our circadian rhythm. Thanks to Worlds apart but equally stimulating, Profes- an alleged dominance over nature, humans are able to break these sor Hideyo Kunieda from Nagoya University pre-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 8 15/02/2016 22:28:32 8 sents us with Time in Astronomy. As an astro- of questions, the last one was related to the day before: where was the physicist, Prof Kunieda’s talk centres round the sunset? Being part of this didactic experience, made us think more role of physics in the understanding of time. In carefully of time and space. The assumption behind it (the fact that preparation for next year’s event (March 2016), most of our answers were right) was not thanks to our memory, but Prof Kunieda took the opportunity to briefly in fact because our brain provides us with a model related to space present Nagoya University and its areas of schol- and time. arly expertise to the public. After this introductory experiment, Prof Roenneberg became Dividing his talk into three distinct areas, Prof more provocative; setting the idea that the circadian clock does not Kunieda covers the issues of a definition of time, in fact resemble an actual clock at all. To explain this, he went into the history of the universe (or cosmological time) some detail on Darwin’s theory of biological evolution of the species, and the theory of relativity. Hearing Prof Kunie- giving us some vivid examples. At that time we had to switch on again, da’s talk made me regret my lack of knowledge in to philosophical concepts of evolution, stating that all organisms arise this particular field and wish I had taken the time and develop through the natural selection of small variations allow- to read my copy of Hawking’s A Brief History of ing the individual’s ability to survive. What we know as the circadian Time or at least some of Michio Kaku’s work so clock is therefore not really a clock, but can be used as a clock as it as to better appreciate the vast subject matter of works as a model that allows the representation of time and space for the talk. Nevertheless, Prof Kunieda gave a con- organisms.Biological rhythm works as the rest of the universe does, vincing presentation where he aimed to capture as an example of the laws of physics anticipating or predicting what the enormity of his subject in a nutshell. His par- will happen next. The concepts ofentrainment give us the evidence ticular area of expertise lies in taking x-ray pho- that the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN), in animals and humans, can tographs of the universe to explain the cosmos be adjusted by the light-dark cycle. Although the blind are physically and give us a better understanding of the concept unable to distinguish these cycles, they can be synchronized using of time. Guiding us through (not-so-simple) equa- melatonin, the hormone responsible for entrainment, which takes tions, charts, diagrams, and breath-taking pho- place in the SCN. Moving to the contemporary period, Prof Roen- tographs of stars and blackholes, Prof Kunieda neberg stated that our industrialized civilizations are now suffering concluded that time as a unit was determined by from a phenomenon known as a Social Jet Lag, where the circadian the earth’s rotation and orbit, that the time axis is clock has difficulty with entrainment. As the internal circadian system converted to depth of the universe, and that space is organized by the Sun’s clock (not by the social clock) the reality we and time are units of examination in the universe. face today is that up to 85% of the industrialized civilization relies on We have ended the day today, following the alarm clock to wake up in the morning, meaning that the majority a wonderful sunset with Professor Till Roen- of the population is forced to wake up before their internal circadian neberg, from the Institute of Medical Psychology, clock is ready to do so, thereby breaking the natural rhythm of the Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germa- human body. Social Jet Lag can be measured by the discrepancy be- ny (LMU), who brought together an interactive, tween internal biological times, work time, to the external social times philosophical, and biological talk into the field and leisure time. Throughout the talk, the young researchers had the of Chronobiology. Once again we had to switch opportunity to discuss their ideas with Prof Roenneberg in what an our minds to the field of the biological sciences. very stimulating and dynamic presentation. Sitting on a red stool, at the center of the audi- Today’s talks were peppered with brief presentations from the torium, Prof Roenneberg started his talk with an young researchers who have been invited to the conference to share experiment, where he invited us to close our eyes their research interests with fellow academics. Also a group meeting as he asked us some simple questions. Firstly, was arranged between the young researchers, critical rapporteurs and the audience was asked to point out where some audio-visual rapporteurs to discuss ways of disseminating the work of things were located in the room, forcing us to use each participant (via videos posted online) and how to make the most our memory if not our imagination. After a series of the ICA event as a platform for research. 

ogni_ingles copy.indd 9 15/02/2016 22:28:32 9 ‘There is nothing new under the sun’ by Victoria Rodner

http://ica.usp.br/docs/nothing-new-under-the-sun São Paulo, April, 22, 2015 He presents us with an iconic image of Prof Kohl stresses how ancient mythologies Charlie Chaplin’s film-still from Modern from across the globe have portrayed time as Times of 1936, where the ‘comic’ social com- cyclical rather than linear, so that the present Day III (April, 22) and we all mentator shows how man has become a slave is in fact a repetition of the past. become ethnographers. Professor to modernity because of continuous labour Linking his talk to previous ones, Prof Kohl Emeritus of the Goethe University patterns and perpetual notions of time. In the notes how Hinduism and Buddhism extend field of anthropology (and beyond) time was this cyclical notion of time to the origin of the Frankfurt, Karl Heinz Kohl considered for many years as progressive and universe, so that if an eventual ‘Big Crunch’ brings our attention to the issue linear. With the invention of the pocket watch follows on from a ‘Big Bang’, this would in of time from an anthropological and the train, mankind became obsessed with fact be a renewal the cosmos, not the end of standpoint. Unlike the applied keeping time, making time, saving time, meas- it. He also brings our attention to the mod- uring time, beating time, investing time and ern mythologies of the Aborigines in Australia, sciences, anthropology offers never wasting time. It is safe to say that with whose Dream Time centres round realities in no single definition for ‘time’, the Industrial revolution and zealous mod- parallel universes, which are repeated in our making this a truly multifarious ernisation, man’s concept of time broke away earthly world in a cyclical manner. Prof Kohl from the natural cycles that had dominated for concludes his talk with a well-known quote concept. Nevertheless, given the centuries if not millennia. from King Solomon - ‘There is nothing new framework of an hour-long talk, Time, and the manipulation of it, went under sun’ – thereby implying a cyclical quality Prof Kohl wishes to provide at hand in hand with the idea of progress. Those to the issue of time. This notion of perpetual least some selective concepts of who were seen to be unable to ‘keep up with repetition or cyclical nature of time seems to the times’, were dismissed as uncivilised, back- offer a more bearable existence for mankind time for the audience. First of ward, savage. However, there soon came some in both the short and long term. His talk ignit- all, he assures us that as a socially reconceptualisations regarding the issue of ed a variety of questions from scholars across constructed notion, how people time and a call for relativism in this field. As the fields, making this a truly stimulating and anthropologists became more interested and interdisciplinary approach to time.  experience time is necessarily sympathetic to the study of ‘other’ cultures, culturally embedded. This they soon noted how time could be cyclical, conceptualisation of time may well especially in agrarian communities. This real- vary within neighbouring societies, isation seemed to highlight the rigidity of the Western concept of time as linear and com- if the modes of labour differ partmentalised, calling into question its validity significantly. and perhaps even benefits for modern man.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 10 15/02/2016 22:28:32 10 During the delectable lunch hosted at the should focus on influencing policy through new rectory building overlooking São Paulo’s their research. In his talk, he presents a critical immense skyline, Professor Till Roenneberg review of the university and uses informative points out that our concern lies not merely in data taken from the 80th anniversary report the ‘future of universities’ (as physical structures that he published in 2014. Considering that and platforms for scholarship) but in the ‘future the university is fully funded by the State of of academia’. This subtle change helps expand São Paulo, he believes that it is crucial that the our dialogue on the subject and think beyond institution is able to justify its existence, which the bricks and mortar of the university as a means proving its relevancy well beyond the The Future of Academia – physical structure and to consider how we ap- realms of academia. He applauds the efforts reconsidering the role of proach research and teaching in more general of certain departments within USP that have universities terms. In a vivid panel discussion, 6 university made noteworthy contributions to technology, By Victoria Rodner presidents from Brazil and the UK discuss the science, or society (naming the Faculty of Ag- challenges that universities face today and will riculture and its advances in alternative forms face in the future. From digital education to glo- of fuel for instance). Prof Goldemberg is also http://ica.usp.br/docs/the-future-of-academia balisation, from peer to peer learning and the keen to measure USP against other universi- São Paulo, April, 20, 24 & 27, 2015 obsolescence of the university professor, this ties worldwide. Although the university is high- panel presented a variety of issues currently af- ly ranked (considering the dominance of US Intercontinental Academia fecting the university as a space for research and and UK research-led institutions in ranking ta- (ICA) not only presented itself education. It was particularly interesting to tap bles), Prof Goldemberg feels that USP still has into the actual workings of the university system a long way to go to have a stronger impact on a as a gathering of young and and how to reconsider the mission and vision of global scale. One way of increasing their aca- senior academics to present these institutions so that they meet the demands demic impact inevitably lies in more accessible their own approaches to the of the future. Compressed into 10-minute talks, research output by publishing in international issue of time. At the heart each panel member took the opportunity to journals. He provides us with evidence regard- share their approach to higher education and ing this move towards English publications, of this event we find a deep how they envision it for the future. At the end of which necessarily translates into a decrease of contemplation on the future this discussion, we are left with the thought that publications in Portuguese. Another key ingre- of universities as centres for universities as education vessels must adapt to dient to achieving this high impact is to con- their environments and can no longer behave tinue to encourage interdisciplinary work with research and training. From like metaphorical ‘ivory towers’ that are idylli- events such as Intercontinental Academia and the opening ceremony to cally distanced and untouched from wider mac- departments such as the Institute of Advanced an exclusive lunch with the ro-level forces. In order to survive and respond Studies. In his distinctive succinct yet eloquent University of São Paulo’s Rector to the macro-environmental demands of the manner, Professor Till Roenneberg echoes future, universities must adapt their teaching, these thoughts during the Q&A. He argues that Professor Marco Antonio research and outreach programmes to ensure research of the future does not lie in individual Zago, we note how the future their sustainability and relevance in society. but rather in collaborative thinking. However, of higher education remains a Focusing on the case of USP, former Rec- in order to work effectively in teams, individu- tor of the university and former Minister of al researchers must first and foremost become key concern for teaching staff, Education, Professor Jose Goldemberg argues experts in their field so that they are ‘unique’ directors of institutions, the that universities must have social relevance in what they do. Strongly advocating for inter- Ministry of Education, and, and encourage knowledge transfer as a way of disciplinary research, Prof Roenneberg argues naturally, students. bridging research to wider fields. Specifically, that this need not imply that researchers be- he argues that institutions of higher education come ‘the jack of all trades’ (and hence master

ogni_ingles copy.indd 11 15/02/2016 22:28:32 11 of none) but rather that they are prepared to this need to dialogue with other fields as a combine their knowledge with colleagues in means of expanding our own knowledge. departments well beyond their comfort zone. It is clear that the event hosted at USP’s This cross-disciplinary approach will lead to Institute of Advanced Studies in April 2015 much ‘bigger questions’ being made, which was warmly welcomed by both scholars and in turn will encourage marvellously innovative managerial staff alike. During his workshop, and high impact factor publications. Minister Renato Janine Ribeiro congratulated Expanding this notion of interdisciplinary the immersive nature of ICA and noted the research and the multi-faceted scholar of the productivity of the event overall. As both a po- future, Prof Zago at USP and the newly ap- litical figure and a philosopher (PhD, Univer- pointed Minister of Education Renato Janine sity of São Paulo) he feels strongly about the Ribeiro seem to long for a more holistic ap- role that universities play in shaping a country. proach to education where students’ learn- He presents us with some striking figures: in ing encompasses a wider field of disciplines 1968 Brazil had around 100,000 students at- so as to better prepare them for the world tending university, whereas today over 22% of of tomorrow. This seems to hark back to a the population graduates from university, be it previous scholarly approach when the social from a State, Federal or Private Higher Edu- elite was educated in a much broader field cation institution. For a nation such as Brazil, of study - including the applied sciences, hu- with its undeniable socio-economic challenges, manities, and the arts - in an attempt to bet- this increase of university attendance means ter understand the world around them and that higher education no longer lies in the become well-rounded intellectuals. However, hands of the elite. Nevertheless, Brazil still has over the centuries and in particular as a con- a long way to go and the Ministry of Education sequence of the Industrial Revolution, public would like to see a much broader expansion education has witness 2 distinct changes: first- of the university attendance. Minister Ribeiro ly, an expansion of education for the mass- gives a vivid example of why education does es, and secondly a professionalization of the not always capture the attention of the peo- market economy. During the 19th and 20th ple. Unlike health, a poor education is hard to century the world saw a mushrooming of uni- pinpoint, where those that suffer from a poor versities across the globe, making education education remain unaware of their academic (and even higher education) more accessible ‘disability’ and the detrimental consequences to the people. This accessibility came hand in a lack of education will have on their future. hand with an academic specialisation, where Minister Ribeiro attests that education lies at departments, schools and faculties trained the heart of the social inclusionist approach and prepared the workforce of the future. of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), which As a natural consequence of this increased aims to expand the nation’s middle class and specialisation, these faculties, schools and de- eradicate extreme levels of poverty in the coun- partments grew more and more distant from try. Historically, power discourses imposed by one another, so a cross-disciplinary dialogue the State or heads of the Church may have en- became increasingly difficult if not meaning- couraged social inequality and an acceptance less for research output. Events such as ICA of one’s marginalised social and academic sta- and the expansion of Institutes of Advanced tus. Today, however, the government and the Studies across the globe respond directly to market economy have the tools to pull people

ogni_ingles copy.indd 12 15/02/2016 22:28:32 12 out of poverty and shift the mind-set of those 2025: The Entire Surface most in need. Much like access to water, elec- of the Earth Is Occupied tricity or the internet, Minister Ribeiro believes Comments on Vera Lúcia that access to higher education should be uni- Imperatriz-Fonseca’s versal, suggesting that if ‘50% of the population lecture, Biodiversity and goes to university, this would be a good thing’. Global Policies This increase in university attendance seems to by Julia Buenaventura echo recent UNESCO estimates that foresee that over the next 30 years more people will be http://ica.usp.br/docs/surface-earth graduating from university worldwide since the beginning of history. Despite these positive pro- São Paulo, April, 25, 2015 jections and an expansion of higher education across the globe, some education scholars have In Las maravillhas del año 2000 noted a lamentable devaluation of the univer- [The wonders of the year 2000], sity degree, so that in some societies a univer- sity degree is no longer sufficient, and students a book by Emilio Salgari, an are forced to pursue post-graduate degrees or older scientist convinces a young even doctoral degrees just to ensure employ- millionaire, bored with his own ment, meaning that some parts of the world fortune, to travel to the future. are witnessing a Higher Education inflation so to speak. Be that as it may, Minister Ribeiro They take a pill that, in 1903, is certain that widespread university education will keep them frozen for a is the key to success and his concern centres hundred years, so they can wake round the social equality and sustainability of the Brazilian education system as a whole. He up in 2003 and contemplate the ensures that Brazil – unlike some other mar- wonders of the new century. kets – is ready to accommodate this growing Salgari, who is a kind of Italian number of university graduates and that the lo- Jules Verne, dramatic and cal economy needs more trained professionals as the country continues to grow and develop. long-suffering, presents us a To conclude his talk, he suggests that higher string of incredible inventions, education need not be so deterministic in our all arising from electricity, in a future and employment prospects, a stigma that unfortunately continues to haunt Brazilian somewhat chaotic world where, graduates today: architecture graduates must nevertheless, humanity remains work as architects, linguists must work with more or less the same: we have languages, economists must work in finance, a bureaucracy, dissidents are and so on. Instead, he calls for a broadening of the academic experience and encourages a still rounded-up and there is multidisciplinary approach to learning, where- a very bitter struggle against by future graduates will be more prepared and nature – which, in Salgari’s flexible to face the ever-changing world that lies ahead of them.  future, has not yet been defeated (extinct). What is most striking

ogni_ingles copy.indd 13 15/02/2016 22:28:32 13 in the book, however, is the In this context, one of the most interest- ing points of her approach was the argument “premature” death of the two that, to address local problems, the solution main characters, the scientist must be local. This sounds simple but it is and the young millionaire, not, because one of the great contradictions of modernity and its modes of production is whose bodies cannot withstand to provide general answers to specific ques- the high electric voltage of the tions, i.e., to solve specific issues with exter- current world and succumb after nal solutions that quite often deteriorate or some instances of madness. destroy the habitat one sought to help. To state that local problems need local solutions is, in my view, a paradigm shift, opening up Written in 1907, the novel does not even what can we do to preserve certain areas, how the possibility that institutions or universi- contemplate the possibility of a communist can we close off some regions to unbridled ties will listen to the people, to their specific revolution, or rather, it tells there had been production. In short, how can we preserve problems, before proposing solutions – or, one, but that the project fell apart and only a and protect that which remains? To elabo- better yet, allowing solutions to emerge from few communities remained trying to grow their rate this issue, Vera Lúcia explained various the communities themselves. own food and develop group projects without agreements and protocols that have been es- Likewise, this point connects to anoth- resorting to capital. Salgari was a genius and his tablished globally since the 1972 Brundtland er one expounded by Vera Lúcia, namely, vision of the future reveals a lot about our own Report of the World Commission on Envi- that food is also a local issue, a position that present: first, the ingrained and arduous strug- ronment and Development, the Rio agree- calls into question a mode of production gle against nature on which our contemporary ments, the Millennium Ecosystem Assess- (monoculture, pesticides, fertilizers) that is world is based, with its modern framework ment (MS), the Intergovernmental Panel on literally wasting away the planet. Vera Lúcia of production and accumulation; second, the Climate Change (IPCC) and the Sustainable also stressed that, in order to achieve actual pollution and contamination that overproduc- Development Goals adopted by the UN at changes in themodus operandi of the system, tion generated in its attempt to save time (and the end of last year. it is necessary (and urgent) that academics it is amazing how clearly Salgari foresees, or Finally, Vera Lúcia focused on the Inter- leave their own circle and join fields of action guesses, or suspects this). governmental Platform on Biodiversity and that are often in the realm of politics. The conference by Vera Lúcia Impera- Ecosystem Services (EPBES), whose aim, as She later dedicated some time to discussing triz-Fonseca, professor of the Ecology De- the name implies, is to preserve biodiversity, specific issues regarding the workings of this partment at the Biosciences Institute of the which faces serious threats because of its frail- platform. For instance, how to select scholars University of São Paulo, revolved around ness and of the long time periods involved. interested in participating in the project and this issue, the overexploitation of the world EPBES is a project in which Vera Lúcia par- how to lay out schedules and activities. that has been going on for over fifty years, to ticipates directly. (By the way, she has studied One final point. In Salgari’s book, the such an extent that, as she put it, 2025 will pollination systems in depth – the work that world does not face many environmental see the entire surface of the planet occupied, insects carry out discreetly, so to speak, but problems. Animals have not been extin- taken over, invaded. In other words, Earth underpins the very survival of plants, the ba- guished, a fact the characters actually see as will not have even one square centimeter sis for all living beings.) a sign of defeat, as something negative. Peo- free from human presence and, above all, ple are still engaged in farming, because they free from a mode of exploitation that leads have been able to solve the food problem to the annihilation of resources – that is not with electricity, even if machines are respon- sustainable, in other words. sible for everything else. In Salgari’s world, In this context, one of the fundamental there are no large food-producing corpora- questions professor Vera Lúcia raised was tions. Perhaps that is why it is humans (the

ogni_ingles copy.indd 14 15/02/2016 22:28:32 14 young and the scientists) who die by means ‘Ubiquitimes’ was introduced as a core of their own inventions, even if they are still concept of an anthropological methodology far cry from taking all life on Earth with to understand the transformation that digital them. In fact, in the novel, people continue cultures are making with respect to the linear to defend themselves and to annihilate – or, notion of space-time. Internet’s space-time at least, corral – wild animals, which they can be conceived nowadays as the emergence have failed to fully master. This notion tells of ubiquit times and spaces, interconnected us that, far from being a flaw in the plan, in multiple levels of imagination, meanings our current situation, our destruction of the and experiences. natural habitat, is, quite the opposite, a key In convergence with the mythological part of the project. metaphors remarked in many previous talks, The project was to have the entire world Canevacci mentioned that besides Chronos, dominated, “cleansed,” occupied and popu- Greek people had another divinity for time lated. Occupied! This will happen, as Vera called Kairos, referred to the displacement Lúcia indicated, in 2025. In short, what I’m of events, an indeterminate and spontaneous trying to say is that disaster is part and par- Kairos encounters Chronos. time. In dissonance with the metric, rationalist cel of the script we are following – unlimited The ubiquity of ethnography and linear time that Chronos manifests, Kairos production, progress and economic growth –, for achieving spacetimes in expresses a substantial mode to apprehend the not a contingency of the modern project that, digital cultures virtual and digital syncretism that characterizes owing to a series of mistakes, came to this. by Gonzalo Iparraguirre contemporary life. Thus, I think we must all fight for these Ubiquitimes are composed by three cen- projects that want to save biodiversity and http://ica.usp.br/docs/kairos-chronos tral concepts or statements: simultaneity, preserve what remains. But I also think it is chronotope and ubiquity. In the first one, the absolutely necessary to change the modern São Paulo, April, 27, 2015 synchronic link between subjectivity, aesthetic foundation of their approach. Talking about and political ideas is condensed; all of them “sustainable economic development goals” The last talk of the first come together and conform the landscape (like the UN does) is a contradiction in terms; phase of the Intercontinental where it is possible to experience simultaneity. the modern economy has no alternative but The second one expresses the unification of to keep accelerating and growing, because Academia was special to space and time in a narrative proposed by Mi- growth is its essence, because capital will col- reflect about the multiplicity kail Bachtin, who pointed out the end of the lapse if it does not grow. of topics that were treated in monological projection of the author by de- Actually, we need the collapse of the econ- the previous expositions and, centering this in the construction of the narra- omy, not these crises that merely bombard it. tive. Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead are In other words, we must stop – not produce as Jorge Luis Borges says, examples of this methodological implementa- more of what we already produce, not accu- the “ubiquitous problem of tion in anthropology writings. The last one is mulate, not progress. On the contrary, we time”. An appassionato Italian rooted in the traditional idea of the panoptic must slow down, distribute and rest: stop the view of God in Christian religion, the mystical- car, get off the locomotive and let go of the anthropologist, Massimo ly idea that everything could be seen, known illusion that we are saving the only thing that Canevacci brought to us a and judged in every place at any moment. cannot be saved: time. There is no wealth, strong dissertation entitled “The Applied to digital cultures, ubiquity embod- no agenda, no nothing that can capture time. ethnographic experiences of ies the relation that people have with digital Yet time is precisely what the modern project technology and Internet, mixing logical and wishes to conquer and save. Seeing it cannot, digital cultures and the syncretic sensorial experiences in many senses. This it attempts to destroy everything that exists.  mix of spacetimes”. allows to capture the connection between the

ogni_ingles copy.indd 15 15/02/2016 22:28:32 15 material and the inmaterial, to go beyond the prised that his Xavante informant was filming dualistic form of thinking. Ubiquity refers, Ca- at him, he asked to himself “Who is the an- nevacci emphasized, to the potential imagina- thropologist? Who has the right to represent tion connected to the rising of techno-digital. a different culture?” The answer, confessed As an example, he presented a street man- Cannevaci, take us to the problem of the ifestation in Barcelona, virtually practiced self-representation. through holograms to protest against a pub- Through all these ethnographic cases, it has lic policy without affecting the transit. This been demonstrated how experiences of ubiq- ubiquitous way of manifesting social changes uitous notions of time in different cultures and creates a new manner to do politics, based persons are auto-generated. Precisely, when on digital supports and in the multiple indi- introducing Karl Heinz Kohl’s talk “Concepts vidualities or multividual identities. Another of time across the cultures: an anthropologi- example mentioned to compare the enor- cal view presentation”, Canevacci mentioned mous distance between the notion of time in that ethnography is not an exclusive tool for industrialization and the ubiquitimes was the anthropology anymore and emphasized that excellent movie series “Black Mirror”, the nowadays it belongs to the humanities as a contents of which predict the near future of whole field of human concerns, which in- techno-virtual society, anticipating in many cludes art and science of course. things the scientific analysis of prospective Through a cross-language performance social and global scenarios. between English, Portuguese and Italian, he In the same direction, Bottega digitale (with showed the deployment of the force that mul- Science as academic no direct translation to English), a kind of dig- ticulturalism has to offer for the challenge of mythology: Metaphors ital source where it is possible to experience conceiving an intercontinental approach of art that bridges time and art, exemplified the richness of connecting art and science – as Jacopo de Barbari’s painting temporalities with science, taking a renascent concept of a “Portrait of Luca Pacioli”, Nele Azevedo’s by Gonzalo Iparraguirre creative solid environment to comprehend temporary art “Minimum Monument”, Györ- digital and virtual cultures. Also, concerning gy Ligeti’s “Poem Symphony” or the Bororo’s http://ica.usp.br/docs/science-mythology the mutation in space ideas, he compared video of self-representation remind us.  “utopia”, which means no place, with “ubiqui- São Paulo, April, 28, 2015 ty”, which means all places. Taking the works of architect Zaha Hadid, who materializes Science and myth are two words ubiquity through design and style of her archi- that have emerged several tecture, an innovative way to spatially express the symptoms of societiesit was shown to us. times during the first week of The Italian anthropologist proposes to work at the ICA in São Paulo. think about the social mutations that globali- Fifteen talks with different senior zation is making to emerge in every nook of researchers, from different the globe. He showed us an ethnographic ex- ample of his fieldwork with Bororo people Universities and countries, have in the Amazonas – the same village where spread out a huge range of fields Lévi-Strauss stayed in 1935 - who are creating of knowledge and gave the initial their own films with digital video cameras and use Facebook as any other society with Inter- stimulus to the discussion sessions net connection. In another opportunity, sur- of the thirteen participants.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 16 15/02/2016 22:28:33 16 If we look at the theory of the Big Bang, for instance, it consummates the basic ele- ments of a myth. This cosmological theory has mythical images like the “bang”, an initial explosion or ignition that begins everything, the idea of a beginning of the Universe or a world, marked in a distant non-human place (the theory assigns this moment to 14.3 mil- lion years ago). These are typical elements of the origin of the universe in several mytholo- gies. Cosmology conceived as a discourse, as a narrative, is constructed based on creation metaphors. The digital and animated graphs, usually used to explain this theory, are for scientist like sacred symbols that summarize the whole theory, as ancient civilizations had for explaining their cosmogonies (cylinders in Sumer, papyrus in Egypt, statues in Rome, mandalas in India, pyramids in Maya socie- ties, body tattoos and textile design in aborig- From the first talk, Matt Kleban’s Cosmic inal societies, just to mention a few). History and Time’s Arrow, we have learned Eliezer Rabinovici’s talk, Constructing how astrophysics has conceived the cosmo- Time In Physics- Attempts, has shown us how logical history of the universe based on dif- physicists have been attempting to understand ferent theories of the Big Bang, discussing the experience of a time and its flow, compar- where the “beginning” of time was and the ar- ing studies of large and small time scales. In row’s model implications with graphs. These his presentation, he showed biblical texts and images have reminded how metaphors are so mythical images, like the Goya’s painting of important in mythology as in science. From the Greek myth of Chrono eating his son. Cos- anthropology, the “cosmology” of any culture mogonic metaphors are usually used in phys- is based on their world views, the ideas and ics to deal with the cosmological problems. imaginaries that define their notion of exist- A well-known metaphor, “God doesn’t play ence and sense in life. Talks about origin and dices with the world”, was used by Einstein to destiny are, punctually, structural aspects of respond the question whether reality is deter- cosmogony myths. Myths talk about origins ministic or stochastic. Scientific and mythically and destinies, birth and death, past and pres- rooted metaphors allow us to understand bi- ent. So why does science have a unique field nary contradictions and go beyond a dichot- of research called “cosmology” that is respon- omous rationality. Scientific theories coming sible to address this kind of topic? And why from different fields incorporate external and is cosmology supposed to be “the truth” and intangible characters in their models like if the ultimate word about the beginning and they were heroes or gods, a central element the destiny of our society? Is it possible to in the architecture of myths all around the conceive scientific cosmology as a contempo- world. The “gravity”, the “light”, the “space” rary academic mythology? and of course the “time”, are treated as Tlaloc,

ogni_ingles copy.indd 17 15/02/2016 22:28:33 17 Viracocha, Thot, Baitogogo or other mythical posed that “birth” is in direct connection with Reflections on Time – 13 heroes that sometimes represent these cosmic the conscience of the self, and exemplified Young Researchers take on a forces and sometimes are the vehicles of them. that the memory is happening now, not in the multidisciplinary approach Laymert Garcia Dos Santos’s talk about past. The passage from the myth (atemporal) and prepare for the future Myth and Technoscience in Transcultural to the birth is a beginning, a start of conscience By Victoria Rodner Amazonas has presented another interest- of self. Looking forward how we apprehend ing example to think mythology and science, time, Nosek read some literature examples http://ica.usp.br/docs/reflections-on-time of Thomas Mann, who invocates the passage connecting shamanism to techno-scientific from atemporality to the awareness of time; a São Paulo, April, 29, 2015 culture. In this experiment, called the Opera process that could be understood as the pas- Amazonas: Music Theatre in Three Parts, sage from a myth-logic to science-logic. The theme at this year’s Dos Santos has made an artistic bridge be- The Intercontinental Academia invites us Intercontinental Academia (ICA) tween two worlds, the magic one and the dig- to reflect on our scientific praxis, to rethink ital one. Dos Santos explained two ideas of our deep conventions, and to contemplate has centred round the issue of virtuality, the visions and hallucinations of the that metaphors, symbols and myths are ba- Time. From astrophysics to shamans in trance (internal, non-material and sic elements in the construction of identities chronobiology, from philosophy intangible embodiment), and the visions of the and paradigms. Academic metaphors of time to anthropology, guest speakers producers of the Opera, who have created an create the bridge among different scientific artistic performance of the inaccessible world temporalities. With a specific language and have expanded on this issue in of shamans (external, material and tangible based on its certainties, contemporary sci- their varied disciplines exploring embodiment). ence provides protection to the mystery of how time plays a pivotal role in the existence and time, as mythology did and Dos Santos has told that shamans got an- shaping the world around us, gry when they saw a projection in the forest, some cultures still continue to do.  because the filmed rituals have been edited and consequently shaping our by the producers to fit in a conventional mov- understanding of it. Cyclical ie format (they filmed for more than 10 hours or linear, measurable or and showed them just one). For the produc- ers, formed in the scientific-hegemonic tem- incalculable, vast or microscopic, porality, it is clearly natural to edit moments eternal or finite, relativist or to create a narrative. This notion is rooted absolute, time as a concept (or a in the idea of accumulation of processes, se- reality) affects us all. quential and linearity events. On the contra- ry, for the originary temporality of yanomami people – as many other non-hegemonic tem- Scholars from every field, be it the poralities –, events of life cannot be edited. humanities or applied sciences, inadvertently The selective representation is not a logical approach the concept of time in their possibility, it mutilates reality, so only pres- own research. What we witness at a entation (present attention) and complete multidisciplinary event such as ICA, thanks events make sense to them. to the broadness of the chosen theme, is Another excellent exposition was given by that every talk brought an interesting new Leopold Nosek, who talked aboutTime and perspective to the table, which allowed subjectivy,connecting the myth with birth. fellow academics to participate in a free and Based on Freud’s psychology, Nosek pro- welcoming dialogue on the issue of time. Despite the increased specialisation (if not

ogni_ingles copy.indd 18 15/02/2016 22:28:33 18 narrowing) of academia today, ICA proves that there can be events when multiple dis- ciplines come together in a healthy and stim- ulating scholarly amalgam. Breaking out of each of our research moulds, tightly catego- rised and highly specific, ICA provides a plat- form of interdisciplinary study where each talk can spark new conceptualisations and even shed some light on our own approach to the issue of time. Alongside the presentations by professors from across the globe, thirteen early career academics were invited to attend the event and during the second week of the confer- ence reflect more carefully on the issues that

ogni_ingles copy.indd 19 15/02/2016 22:28:33 19 had been covered. As their field of interest until March 2016 - will be an interactive on- revolves round the issue of time, these young line guide for students and researchers who researchers could couple their own research wish to develop or extend an interest in the with the work presented by the senior aca- concept of time. On this platform, the young demics, thereby broadening their field of researchers will present lecture-like films inquiry and approach to the subject. The covering a wide variety of topics that they outcome of these reflections was presented have carefully devised on the issue of time. at the end of ICA in the Closing Report and However, they want this platform to be as in- will be revisited in full at the next edition of teractive as possible, so that viewers can post Intercontinental Academia hosted at Nagoya their questions, their comments or feedback, University (Japan) in 2016. upload their own research onto the site, and In their closing report, the young scholars naturally download papers and interesting presented a very cohesive, informative and material as a way of expanding the on-going ambitious proposal of what we can expect dialogue on time. Geared at a wide audience, to see at next year’s event in Japan. They this online portal will be very multidiscipli- kick off the talk with a very warm and sin- nary and will surely have something for any- cere thank you to ICA’s organisers. They are one interested in the concept of time. In or- grateful for the hospitality of USP’s Institute der to make their video lectures more visually of Advanced Studies (IEA) and for the tire- stimulating, the young researchers propose to less efforts of the IEA team throughout the use an animated video programme (such as 2-week period, for the inspiring presentations the RSA Animate series, for instance), which from the invited guest speakers, and for the will allow them to design and illustrate their kind invitation from Nagoya University del- ideas as they speak, thereby helping them get egates to next year’s event. They also offer a their message across in a clear and innovative special thank you to Professor Martin Gross- manner to the digital viewer. mann and Professor Regina Markus for their Given the enormity of the subject mat- time and dedication to make this event pos- ter, the young researchers have envisioned sible. Overall, the young delegates enjoyed 4 foundation themes that should encapsu- the incredibly enriching sociable nature of late all the areas to be covered on this online the event itself. The immersive quality of platform. They present these themes under this year’s edition of ICA has allowed these the headings of: What is time? How is time young researchers to bond with one anoth- perceived? How is time conceptualised? and er beyond any of their expectations. Placed lastly How is time used? Within these broad under the same roof and exposed to such questions, they have also developed 13 key an invigorating programme has encouraged categories that will be presented by individ- these young delegates to share their scholarly ual members on the online platform and interests with one another but also develop at next year’s event, including: how time is strong friendships that will be sure to outlast measured; whether or not time is relative; the this (and even next) year’s event. traces that time leaves behind; what symbolic The purpose of this closing report is to representations of time mean to us; whether present an outline of what the young scholars non-humans also have a sense of individual hope to achieve for the next ICA in Japan. time; how time is valued; can the future be The main outcome of their collaborative predicted and is time ‘running out’; does time work - that will continue over the next year have a history and why the present is so spe-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 20 15/02/2016 22:28:33 20 how these gatherings will directly affect each researcher’s own Institute of Advanced Stud- ies back home. For now, the participants pack their bags and prepare themselves for next year’s event where young and senior re- searchers will share once again their thoughts on the issue of time. Japan in springtime is simply the ‘cherry on top’ that they are all looking forward to already.  cial to us; the temporal illusions of time; the covered, they would ideally like to hear more relationship between time and causality; how on the issue of time from economists, philos- rhythms interact; and lastly how our concep- ophers, historians, ecologists, art historians, tualisation of time may change in the future. and/or linguists so as to cover an even wider It is clear that careful thought has been in- range of fields that they felt were missing at vested in developing these themes over the this year’s gathering. To wrap up this clos- last few days of the event. After a week-long ing report and ICA 2015, we are presented conference packed with enriching talks on with a warm welcome video from Professor the issue of time, the young researchers have Nori Shinohara, Director of the Institute of made excellent use of their own ‘free time’ Advanced Research at Nagoya University, in- to discuss their project and bring it to life in viting the young and senior researchers to the just a few short days. Working across a vari- 2016 edition of ICA. ety of disciplines has its obvious challenges, So this brings us to the end of ICA’s 2015 where ontological standpoints, methodologi- event hosted by the University of São Paulo’s cal approaches, technical language and even IEA. All participants are both physically ex- research outcomes differ immensely across hausted and mentally drained. However, they scholarly fields. Overcoming these challeng- are in equal measure academically stimulated es is what cross-disciplinary research is all and driven to do more. They leave the bus- about and it is clear from this final presenta- tling city of São Paulo motivated to expand tion that these young researchers have made their research into brand new territories and a point to cross over into one another’s field feel emotionally fulfilled by the success (both of study and expand their own understanding social and scholarly) of the event itself. This of the concept of time. Extending this multi- two-week gathering gave participants not disciplinary dialogue to a wider audience is merely a taste of Brazil, but more important- the purpose of the online platform and the ly a taste for better and more exciting things goal of the young researchers over the com- to come in the field of cross-disciplinary re- ing months. search. Presented as a platform for exploring To conclude their presentation, the young the issue of time, participants leave ICA with scholars present us with a ‘wish list’ of possi- much more than some interesting notes on ble professors that could be invited to speak their laptops and natty business cards in their at next year’s event. Although the young re- wallets. They leave with a sense of purpose searchers thoroughly enjoyed listening to and a vision of the future. Time will tell if the research by the senior academics that this cross-disciplinary enthusiasm will spread presented at this year’s event, and appreci- to even more fields of study and institutes ate the range of disciplines that together they of advanced research across the globe, and

ogni_ingles copy.indd 21 15/02/2016 22:28:33 21 Quantify & Select: A Critical The participants, in turn, comprised sev- seem like goals and are, therefore, unques- and Panoramic Report eral groups: first, the lecturers, most of whom tionable. That is to say, the lectures – many on the Intercontinental were over 40, held doctorates and had a long of them profoundly valuable – revealed a per- Academia Seminar history of research; second, the young scholars, ceptible interest in passing on knowledge by by Julia Buenaventura a group of thirtyish university professors with means of numbers, to which today’s academy ongoing doctorates and study projects; third, seems unwaveringly dedicated. http://ica.usp.br/docs/quantify-select a group of four reporters in charge of drafting So I will also use this very same tool to ex- critical essays about the event (I among them); pose some aspects of the group of scholars finally, a group of four visual reporters. that discussed time, the young researchers. As In this first of two modules, Overall, as I saw it, the lectures – some I noted, these were thirteen professors from the Intercontinental Academia more, some less – adhered to a common de- leading universities, who age hovered around was in fact a 13-day seminar nominator: the quantification of the world, or 30, having been born between 1974 and 1984. that comprised two collective of the objects of study, and the use of statistics Four of them were from Brazil, three from as a key tool in various disciplines. Thus, the Germany, two from Japan, one from England, conferences, seventeen history of the universe itself became a matter one from the United States, one from China individual conferences and one of measurements, of knowing its age in years, and, finally, one from Finland. roundtable, in addition to six of quantifying galaxies. Physicists, chemists and The branches of knowledge, in turn, were biologists exposed their knowledge through somewhat particular, with seven researchers open discussion encounters. numbers, or more specifically through means associated with biology, neurology or the be- The conferences dealt with two and averages: how many hours one sleeps, how havioral sciences (that systematically observe major themes: on one hand, many mice displayed such behavior, and so on. the behavior of people or animals), four ded- time, which was the main axis of Similarly, those who spoke about education or icated to the history of art or literature, one the university as an institution also resorted to historian and one mathematician. Finally, it is the seminar and was addressed numbers, in the form of ratios and compari- worth noting that the group consisted of elev- from the viewpoints of physics, sons, to present an overview of the various aca- en men and two women. biology and anthropology, demic bodies and of the society with which they I’d like to make two observations with regard interact – e.g., how many illiterates, how many to this state of affairs. Firstly, the group was a among other areas; on the other, graduates, how many papers etc. heterogeneous assemblage that enabled conver- the university as an institution. “How many” was a major component in sations and discussions from dissimilar points the lectures of the guest professors, confirm- of view: we learned how a historian, a biologist ing a current trend towards knowledge that can or a mathematician understands the passage of be conveyed through numbers – which always time, or what temporality might mean for some-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 22 15/02/2016 22:28:33 22 extreme, specialization has blocked the pos- planetary time, or time as territory. Further- sibility of non-reductive knowledge, of knowl- more, the ratio of women was alarmingly low, edge capable of embracing the whole world. as pointed out by one of the participants in the This no longer implies a union of scholars, but opening session. rather that each one, seeing things from their Arguably, the exclusion of the excluded perspective, attempts to understand the whole. presumed a vacuum of political discussion, ev- Or as Tolstoy said, it is by describing your vil- ident in the questions of investigators, whose lage that you will describe the world. The In- inquires ended up being overly broad – “What tercontinental Academia was a clear attempt to is time?”, “How is it perceived?”, “How is it redeem the basic project of a university that, conceptualized?” and “How is it used?” –, although divided, is capable of containing the making it impossible to work on these issues one who works with aesthetic objects or with bi- universe in each of its branches and, above all, from one’s own position or field of expertise. ological bodies. In short, the seminar was open in the dialogue between them. More specifically, those questions skipped to many possibilities. And, indeed, there were Second comment. The configuration of this over the ultimate, fundamental discussion, of some interesting discussions, specifically one particular group of scholars serves as a roadm- whether or not time exists. That is, the ques- about whether time is way of learning about the ap to establish two points. On one hand, see- tions took for granted that time exists, even tangible world or a property of the world itself ing where the congress was organized, it was though this is a problematic issue; I have seen – leading inevitably to the old and fascinating clear that most of the participants would come things that move in time and that grown old dispute over the existence of time. from Brazil, Japan and Germany; on the in their course, but I have never held a single This opportunity to establish an interdisci- other, the remaining participants came from particle of time in my hands. In brief, from my plinary discussion was fantastic, and truly ur- countries with very strong economies: Europe- point of view, Tolstoy’s recommendation was gent in an increasingly specialized academic an Union, United States and China. In short, laid aside, and the world was described before world, where specialization has almost upend- it is meaningful that there were no Hispanics anyone described the village. Admittedly, the ed the project of “university” itself – a word or Arabs or Africans etc. In other words, the second part of this story is still on hold, so let’s that shares its etymology with “universe” and excluded did not attend the congress, which see what happens when the thirteen young re- “universal”, i.e., that which although being is a real pity when discussing time, or working searchers meet again in Nagoya, Japan, to con- many still remains one. In sum, taken to the time, or historical time, or physical time, or tinue this dispute. 

ogni_ingles copy.indd 23 15/02/2016 22:28:33 23 Cosmology constant with units of 1/time. With this law, it became possible to calculate when the entire With regard to cosmology, he first defined content of the universe was bundled together, Matthew Kleban Discusses what this science is: “The branch of astrophys- so to speak: 14 billion years ago. the Arrow of Time and the ics that studies the structure of the universe in Kleban then reversed the arrow of time, as Evolution of the Universe the largest accessible scale; this includes the if the history of the universe moved backward, study of birth, death (or future) and evolution from when galaxies were just gas, through the www.iea.usp.br/en/news/arrow-time of the Universe over time.” increased warming, the opacity, the nucleosyn- April 21, 2015 However, because the universe is 14 billion thesis of protons and neutrons of helium and years, we can only see a portion of it, although lithium, the inflation (when the volume of the The first conference of the Intercontinental quite vast, corresponding to the distance trav- universe spiked dramatically in a tiny fraction Academia on the subject “Time”, on April 21, eled by light in these 14 billion years, he said. of a second), until reaching what is known as addressed what is known about the history and “Looking at the past, we see that the universe the singularity, “where even mere speculation the possible future of the universe, as well as the was hotter and opaque 14 billion years ago, so collapses.” concept of “arrow of time,” which posits only we cannot see (at least directly) its birth.” He pointed out that each of these phases of one direction for the flow of time, and consid- Continuing with his presentation, Kleban the universe produced enormous entropy and ers that past and future are different, a notion addressed the current contents of the universe. that, even today, entropy is increasing. “Life closely related to cosmology. He said there are about 100 billion galaxies, can be seen as a process that accelerates the The lecturer was theoretical physicist Mat- each with hundreds of billions of stars. The production of entropy, as stars and black holes thew Kleban, from New York University, who Milky Way has nearly 300 billion stars and a do even more so.” dedicates himself to the study of string theory colossal black hole exists in the center of the Hubble’s observations about the expansion and the early history of the universe. galaxy, called Sagittarius A*, with mass equiva- of the universe created a profoundly strange He noted that, contrary to what is assumed lent to 4 million Suns, but with radius (at least idea, namely, the notion of the Earth as the by the arrow of time, there are physical laws in theory) only 17 times the size of the Sun. The center from which everything moves away, a that posit dual direction, i.e., symmetry between solar system also orbits the galactic center, but kind of resumption of Ptolemy’s geocentrism. past and future, although he stressed that this the orbit lasts 200 million years. idea is still very confusing to physicists. Relativity Hubble’s Law Entropy Kleban explained that in 1916, ten years The panel on galaxies was used by Kleban before Hubble’s observations, Albert Einstein According to Kleban, if this idea is correct, to introduce his comments about the expan- (1879-1955) developed the General Theory of then the difference between past and future sion of the universe. The central figure here Relativity, a sequence to the Special Theory must be related “to an ‘environmental’ aspect, was American astronomer Edwin Hubble of Relativity (1905), which had unified space to an accident of history, such as the difference (1989-1953), whose telescope in the 1920s and time (and energy and momentum). “In between North and South Americas, albeit uni- was able to observe approximately 50 galax- Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, time is relative, versal, applicable anywhere and anytime.” ies (the Hubble Telescope, orbiting the Earth elapsing slower for an object moving at high When entropy (“disorder”) is low, it tends to for 25 years, allows us to observe 10,000 gal- speed or immersed in a gravitational field. increase and the direction of its increase defines axies when aimed at each 10/1,000,000 slit of Even in relativity, however, time does not flow the future, said Kleban. Thus, entropy, which the heavens). in reverse.” was very slight in the early universe, is the “en- Kleban explained that Edwin Hubble no- According Kleban, general relativity is a the- vironmental” factor that distinguishes the past ticed something odd in the galaxies: the far- ory of gravity and also a radical reformulation from the future. “However, nothing prevents the ther away they were, the faster they moved of the nature of space and time that establishes arrow of time from having a reverse movement away from Earth. This observation led to the their intimate and dynamic connection. Thus, due to some other ‘environmental’ aspect.” so-called Hubble’s Law: v = Hd, where H is a the apparent force of gravity ceases to be a

ogni_ingles copy.indd 24 15/02/2016 22:28:33 24 The Attempts of Physics to Build Time www.iea.usp.br/en/news/physics-build-time April 20, 2015

The largest measured span of time is the 13.7 common force and becomes something like a Multiverse billion years since the Big Bang. The smallest is “pseudoforce” or “fictitious force.” 10-18 second: one millionth of a millionth of a And how about the beginning of everything, After detailing some implications of this sce- millionth of a second, measured in atomic excita- the Big Bang? Kleban said, “some well-inten- nario, including the curvature of space-time, tion. From this time spectrum, physicists try to tioned additions to the laws of physics can dra- Kleban explained why Hubble’s Law works: “It understand the experience and the flow of time. matically affect the nature of the Big Bang and is because the universe is expanding, and this In his lecture, Building Time in Physics – remove the singularity without altering any ex- has implications for the past and for the future.” Attempts, on April 20 at the Intercontinental periment carried out on Earth.” With regard to the future, some believe Academia, physicist Eliezer Rabinovici, from One of his main interests is the so-called that the expansion will continue infinitely; the the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), ad- “multiverse” of string theory. “In string theory, speed of expansion will decrease gradually, but dressed some concepts that were discovered and the Big Bang was not a singularity or the begin- will never cease. According to this hypothesis, developed to study the large and small scales of ning of time. It was the birth of a ‘bubble’ of a Kleban explained, stars will eventually consume time, especially those used to explain the consti- new ‘phase’.” The multiverse could harbor the all their fuel and the universe will become cold tution of matter in unified theories and in string emergence of numerous such bubbles. and dead, even though this would probably not theory. String theory allows us to understand what be the end, which would occur later. An expert on particle physics, Rabinovici has existed before the Big Bang and what exists Other researchers think the expansion will been director of HUJI’s Institute for Advanced “beyond the universe” (or rather, what exists reach a maximum level and the universe will Study and creator of the proposal that resulted in outside the visible bubble where the observable then begin to contract. After a finite span of the Intercontinental Academia. time, density will be infinite, a singularity that is part of the universe is inserted), according to called “Big Crunch” (major collapse). Kleban. However, he cautioned that the theo- Unifi ed theory There are also those who consider that a ry does not work with regard to “big crunches” threshold situation is possible between these (due to the arrow of time, actually) that the the- “Although most of us measure from 1 to two scenarios. ory itself envisages. “Likewise, the theory does 2 meters, we boldly presume to explain the However, Kleban explained, these hypothe- not work in low entropy situations.” entire universe, from the smallest to the larg- ses hold two surprises: the first is that over the In conclusion, Kleban said that, for him, est aspects. We want to explain and reduce last billion years the expansion of the universe the most attractive idea is an overall timeless everything to what is simplest. We believe we has accelerated because of dark energy. The universe, where almost all of time in a state can put in one page all the equations that de- second is that the speed of the expansion seems of balance with near maximum entropy – only scribe matter in the universe. That’s quite a to be very close to the threshold speed. This rare fluctuations of reduced entropy, which feat.” Rabinovici’s comment seems to indicate would mean that the universe will continue to would produce a local arrow of time. Howev- that, at the very least, he sees with some reser- expand forever and will never reach zero de- er, “this idea does not seem to work, but rather vation the possibility that physics will arrive at a gree or undergo an actual “hot death.” predicts miracles.”  unified theory combining all the forces that af- fect matter (electromagnetism, gravity, the weak interaction and strong interaction). He said that in the 1920s scientists knew two interactions of matter, electromagnetism and gravity, which at low energies occur in four di-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 25 15/02/2016 22:28:33 25 mensions – three spatial ones, the fourth being relative, to become a theory about what time. “When energy was increased in particle every observer can agree on. “Time has accelerators, it was found that there is one basic relative aspects, but it is part of something interaction, gravity, and five dimensions. This that is not relative. Cause and effect rela- was a great leap in our understanding of matter.” tionships are not relative. The decay time According to Rabinovici, to evade the notion of a particle (neutrons decay in 14 min- that an omnipotent equation may unify all the utes) is not relative.” forces affecting matter (electromagnetism, grav- ity, strong interaction and weak interaction) and Symmetry fully explain the constitution of matter, all we He said that laws of physics are roughly have to do is give it an infinite number of solu- the same in both directions of the flow of tions. “In string theory, where strings (the com- time, but there is a small “breach of time” ponents of matter) move in ten dimensions, this that can be measured in reverse symmetry. is what happens: we have an equation with, as Even if the laws of physics are symmetric, The Relationship between far as we know, infinite solutions.” why isn’t their manifestation symmetric? Time and Astronomy in the Theory of Relativity Dualities Why something destroyed cannot return to its previous state? To this question, Rabino- www.iea.usp.br/en/news/time-astronomy Rabinovici mentioned that the current work vici said that that is not how things happen, of physicists is impregnated with many myste- because over a long course of time (“zillions April 21, 2015 rious things that seem dualities. “Initially, all of times the age of the Universe”) reconstitu- known mathematical principles become ambig- tion might occur and that something could Time in Astronomy was the subject of the uous or seem to have the same theory. One of become quite similar to what it was. conference given by Hideyo Kunieda, deputy these concepts concerns the number of existing dean of research and students at Nagoya Uni- dimensions. The theory of five dimensions pro- Space-time versity (Japan), at the Intercontinental Academ- vides the same description as the theory of ten ia (ICA) on April 21. Rabinovici said that everyone learns dimensions. And one of the dualities is the Big Kunieda, who is also a professor of the uni- at school or in popular readings that time Crunch [the collapse of the universe due to con- versity’s Department of Physics, addressed in merges with the space and only space-time traction caused by gravity], which would be a ter- particular the advances in the observation of exists, being impossible to think of each of rible event for some and magnificent to others, active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with the help of them separately. “Time and space do in- with each explanation being as good as another.” X-ray telescopes, his area of expertise. deed merge, but some things are invariant,” According to him, this area of research has Relativity according to the physicist. “Space-time contributed substantially to the understanding and gravity are closely linked and time and of astronomical phenomena predicted by the Everyone now says everything is relative. space are average quantities; however, they Theory of Relativity, such as black holes, the This is not true, according to Rabinovici. “One are not fundamental because they emerge bending of light, and the deformation of space- of the worst representations of a theory is the from something else.” time in the presence of supermassive objects. fact that the Theory of Relativity is called Theo- Because humans are subject to extreme- Echoes from the past ry of Relativity. Einstein knew that the word was ly weak gravity (compared to other places in “The light of heavenly bodies we see today not appropriate. When asked five years later the universe, such as black holes), we have was emitted long ago. Looking into space is like whether it might be better to change the name, a relatively stable perception of time: “Be- looking into the past,” Kunieda said, noting that he answered, ‘It’s too late’.” cause the universe expands, it has a radius. this is due to the huge scale of the universe: According to Rabinovici, the Theory of We can say where we are in terms of the “The propagation of light in space is measured Relativity is an attempt to isolate what is not size of that radius. That is our clock.”  in years,” he added.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 26 15/02/2016 22:28:33 26 curvature of the light under the effect of gravity, For the professor, one of the positive aspects Black hole of light’s “delay” is to make it possible to study as predicted by the Theory of Relativity. the evolution of the universe over time, from Predicted by the Theory of Relativity, a The professor’s observations involve accre- the Big Bang to the present day. redshift also occurs in the presence of a strong tion disks in the center of host galaxies. He said According to the Big Bang theory, domi- gravitational field. Kunieda’s research on active images obtained by him and other researchers nant among scientists, the universe came about galactic nuclei (AGNs) is based on observations point to the existence of supermassive objects – 13.7 billion years ago, from a huge explosion. of this phenomenon through images captured in this case, black holes –, as determined by the Planets, stars and galaxies were like splinters by X-ray telescopes. Theory of Relativity. that progressively moved away from the center AGNs are supermassive (with mass up to 1 of detonation, causing the universe to expand billion times that of our Sun) and very bright The Milky Way continuously. (up to 100 billion times brighter than the Sun) In Kunieda’s assessment, certain images of “The universe was fairly uniform after the Big celestial bodies. the Milky Way provide evidence that black Bang. But then the fragments grew and the stars According to the professor, astronomical holes exist. Obtained through infrared radia- and galaxies came about. We currently can ob- observations using different techniques sug- tion or x-rays, these images show at first a com- serve a broad variety of objects,” said Kunieda. gest that AGNs harbor black holes – regions in mon galaxy, with no central bright object, and According to him, to observe faint, lighted space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not therefore devoid of an active nucleus. objects in space, with little glare, is like observ- even light, can escape. Formed from the gravi- However, stressed Kunieda, one cloud of ing the early stages of the Big Bang, when the tational collapse of a star, known as supernova, particles at one end of the galaxy displays an un- fragments began to take shape. “To look at dis- black holes are the result of the curvature of usual light pattern, as if it was lit from below and tant galaxies is to see how these galaxies were in space-time, the system of coordinate that un- reflected the light emitted by an object in the the early universe.” derlies the Theory of Relativity. vicinity. According to him, this is what astrono- The idea of a moving and expanding universe, “Near a black hole, space-time is more mers refer to as “reflection nebula.” a notion that underlies the Big Bang theory, was curved. Because of this, time seems slowed “By measuring the distance between the re- strongly influenced by Hubble’s Law, according down and the light emanating from that region flection and the light source, one can calculate to which there is a relationship between a galaxy’s seems redder,” Kunieda said, referring to the how long ago the light was emitted. The center distance from Earth and the speed with which it gravitational redshift. of the galaxy was 10 million times brighter 350 is moving away: the farther, the faster. He explained that the brightness of AGNs years ago,” he said, noting that the reflection The law was formulated by observing a phe- does not derive from the black holes them- nebula provides evidence that the center of the nomenon known as “redshift,” or changes in selves, which are invisible, but from the radia- Milky Way was once an AGN. the frequency of the waves that make up the tion produced by the accretion disk – the ag- “It’s a kind of astronomical archeology. It spectrum of light caused by the relative velocity glomeration of particles and gases surrounding allows us to look at past activities in the center between the observer and the source of emis- supermassive objects. Because they have a very of the galaxy,” he compared. “In this case, the sion. If the object moves away from the observ- powerful gravitational field, black holes suck in time axis is converted in a two-dimensional er at high speed, low frequency waves become all surrounding matter. And when sucked in, distribution.” more visible and their color is shifted toward matter does not fall into the hole in a straight path, but rather in spirals, like a whirlwind, giv- red; and if the object is approaching, the high Supernovae frequency waves become sharper and the color ing rise to a disk that gradually adds mass to the is shifted to violet. central object. According to Kunieda, observations of su- Thus, it was ascertained that most galaxies According to Kunieda, the heat produced pernovae (explosions that herald the beginning display a redshift and that the greater the devi- by matter moving toward the gravitational body of the death of stars) have also contributed to ation, the greater the distance between said gal- radiates in the disk’s surface, which is visible. our understanding of the history of the universe. axies and the Earth. “By Hubble’s law, the time The redshift occurs under the action of gravity, The professor explained that stars, like our axis is converted into depth in space,” summed which causes an increase in the length of the Sun, are bright because of the nuclear fusion of up Kunieda. light waves. He said this phenomenon is the

ogni_ingles copy.indd 27 15/02/2016 22:28:33 27 The Interaction between The biological clock, which receives infor- the Biological Clock and mation about light and dark directly from the Physiological Processes retina, is located in the hypothalamus, near the www.iea.usp.br/en/news/biological-clock suprachiasmatic nucleus, the primary center for regulating circadian rhythms. April 21, 2015 According to Buijs, it is now possible to re- move the biological clock of the brain of a guin- The biological clock works in close inter- ea pig and keep it functioning in vitro, maintain- action with various physiological processes to ing electrical activity in a cycle of approximately send commands to the various body organs, 24 hours, autonomously, without having to do and to receive feedback on the body’s needs. anything else. hydrogen into helium, a process that results in According to neuroscientist Ruud Buijs, from the National Autonomous University of Mexi- loss of mass and the formation of an increasing- Accuracy ly dense core. co, time is a key factor for regulating tempera- When the fuel runs out, the core of the star ture, reproduction, metabolism, circulation and To illustrate the accuracy of this mechanism, shrinks and becomes a compact object, with an the immune system. he said that forensic medicine can determine extremely strong gravitational field. The star In a conference at the Intercontinental Aca- with great precision the time that someone was then begins to attract all matter to its center, up demia on April 21, Buijs discussed this interac- murdered by analyzing the expression of the bi- to a point where the high density becomes un- tion, illustrating his exposition with numerous ological clock in their organs, especially if the sustainable and the supermassive body collaps- examples from studies of animals and humans. victim is found within 48 hours of death. es, expanding matter in a great explosion – the He initially gave a schematic overview of the The moment when someone comes into the supernova. What remains of this collapse gives workings of the hypothalamus, a part of the world is likewise determined by the biological rise to black holes. brain highly connected to primitive parts of that clock. He showed a graph showing that the Kunieda stressed that “the records of these organ and, via the autonomic nerves of the spi- birth of the first child of pregnant residents of explosions are very useful to understand the nal cortex, to other parts of the body, sending Amsterdam peaks at around 8:00 am. (In the evolution of supernova remnants that we see to- them commands from the brain. “In addition Netherlands, babies are generally born with the day.” The remnants are nebulae formed from to being essential for us to move our hand and help of a midwife.) Another chart showed that material ejected during the gravitational col- other actions, the spinal cortex is also indispen- the peak time was between 4:00 and 5:00 am lapse, which speed away from the core. “In this sable for the proper functioning of physiological for the second or subsequent children, some- case, the time axis is converted in a two-dimen- processes. To achieve this type of physiological thing that Buijs attributes to the fact that women sional intensity distribution,” he said.  control we need the hypothalamus.” become more savvy regarding labor. A third

ogni_ingles copy.indd 28 15/02/2016 22:28:34 28 chart, however, shows a peak around noon and The biological clock imposes a temporal pattern refers to births with obstetricians, when “babies to them all. “These connections are strong and are born in the doctor’s time, who induces la- there is no escaping the biological clock.” bor or performs a cesarean section.” Buijs said that the areas of the hypothalamus In some cases, the moment of an individu- linked to food intake exert a type of influence al’s death can also be determined by the bio- similar to that of the biological clock, and work logical clock, as shown by the fact that the peak in harmony with it. He cited as an example the of heart attacks occurs in the early part of the role of temporal and metabolic factors in mod- morning, with greater incidence on Mondays ulating body temperature. In animals with noc- (perhaps due to the deregulation of schedules turnal habits, the temperature is higher at night, over the weekend, ventured Buijs). then lowers and finally rises again, anticipating the active period. Hormones The metabolism influences temperatures, so that, during the daytime period (of repose), In Buijs’ view, the biological clock resorts to they are low. If the biological clock is injured, several mechanisms to enforce rhythms upon the rhythm of temperature variation disappears the body, using in many cases the hormone cor- and remains unaffected even by the metabolic ticosterone. “In experiments with mice, corti- factor, confirming the relationship between me- costerone peak occurs soon after the night peri- tabolism and biological clock. od (we know that mice are active at night), while To produce corticosterone, the paraven- the peak of the hormone melatonin occurs at tricular nucleus of the hypothalamus produces night, indicating it induces activity in animals.” a hormone that leads to the production, in an- In humans, melatonin also peaks at night, but other part of the hypothalamus, of the adren- unlike what happens to mice, melatonin pro- ocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which stim- motes sleep in humans. ulates the production of corticosterone in the To study this process in an animal antitheti- adrenal glands. Therefore, it was to be expected cal to the mouse, one with diurnal habits, Buijs that upon examining the daytime and nighttime used the Arvicanthis ansorgei, a wild African levels of corticosterone in an animal, we would rodent. These animals are active in early and find a relationship with the levels of ACTH. late daytime. “We say that the biological clock But that is not what happens. prepares our body for the onset of the active To investigate this, Buijs inserted a virus period. When measuring corticosterone in the similar to that of rabies in the adrenal glands animal, it was found that the peak occurs just of mice. Because this virus has the property of before active periods, so there are two corti- being absorbed by nerve terminals, reproduc- costerone peaks in 24 hours. This means that, ing itself in the body of the cell and migrating to somehow, the biological clock adapts to the ani- other cells via the nerve terminals, it is possible mal’s life style and adopts two peaks of activity.” to follow the chain of command from the brain The hypothalamus contains specific areas that to the glands. control temperature, heart rate and food intake. Thus, it was possible to establish that neu- rons in the spinal cortex communicate with the adrenals. It was also possible to follow the impulses of the biological clock, proving that it uses not only hormones to send commands to the organs, but also autonomic pathways.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 29 15/02/2016 22:28:34 29 This is advantageous, because something in- Buijs showed images of two areas in the Type 2 diabetes and obesity troduced into the bloodstream will take a cer- brain of a mouse with vasoconstrictive in- tain amount of time to reach the organs. With nervation, one that is influenced by gonadal Two other examples of disordered physio- a direct connection to the organs, the biologi- hormones and another sensitive to the bio- logical processes possibly caused by a desyn- cal clock prepares them for what is coming in logical clock. When the mouse is neutered, chronization between the biological clock and the blood and also for the arrival of hormones. vasoconstriction in the first area disappears, the physiological mechanisms themselves are, If the biological clock uses these means to but remains in the area that is sensitive to the according to Buijs, the onset of type 2 diabetes communicate with the body, what means do biological clock. This would indicate the pos- and the development of obesity. the organs use to respond to biological clock? sibility of an eventual loss of vasoconstrictive In the case of type 2 diabetes, this might have “Many scientists still think the biological clock innervation for physiological or functional rea- to do with the fact that the brain needs more is an autonomous timepiece that requires no sons. According to Buijs, this possibly occurs glucose for the active period of the individual’s feedback. Of course, this is not true. We have through the reduction of gonadal hormones, daily cycle. The amount of sugar (glucose) con- evidence that it needs feedback. The biological e.g., during preparation for winter, when the sumed by the brain in 24 hours is 100 g and the clock is in constant interaction with the body.” animal hibernates. quantity available for the rest of the body is 5 In mammals and many other animals, this The size of the testicles and the testoster- g. “The selfish brain competes with the rest of response is regulated by melatonin, which leads one levels of the European hamster (an animal the body for energy. ‘Compete,’ however, is not the body to bypass the biological clock cycle. that hibernates) are much greater in summer a good verb, because the brain is the boss and Buijs displayed graphs showing the increased than in winter. Both the size and the level orders that the sugar be given to it.” production of melatonin in a reindeer in Fin- decrease abruptly between late July and late An experiment was carried out with people land in the autumn, when the duration of night August, apparently preparing the animal to suffering from type 2 diabetes and had twice increases from less than one hour at the end of survive the coming winter. “The hamster goes the glucose levels of people without the dis- July to more than 11 hours in mid-September. into hibernation for four or five days, wakes ease. Although the level of glucose is already Also in Finland, where the temperatures of cer- up for 24 hours and eats, drinks and urinates quite high in patients, it begins to rise even fur- tain periods of the year make the night flight of a little, then goes back into hibernation, in a ther around 5:00 am, preparing the body for mosquitoes impossible, bats begin making di- very well-organized process in temporal terms. the active period of the day. urnal flights to hunt for food. “Each organism If testosterone is given to the animal during makes manifold efforts to get in balance with the this period, it will not hibernate, will attempt environment, where the length of the day/night live in open spaces and will die.” cycle will determine the standard daily rhythm Images of certain area of the hamster’s and the pace that the animal will adopt.” brain (the same one observed in the mouse According to Buijs, different areas of the of the previous example) are completely dif- brain produce the same neurotransmitter. The ferent in the summer and in winter, indicating biological clock is one of the areas that produce how the animal’s rhythm influences the cen- vasopressin, an antidiuretic hormone with va- tral nervous system. The decrease of gonadal soconstrictive effects that also acts as a neuro- hormones prepares the animal for winter. The transmitter in the brain. The biological clock loss of vasoconstriction in the septum allows it produces vasopressin for an area that is also to adapt its physiology and plummets its tem- influenced by gonadal hormones. perature to 5 °C.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 30 15/02/2016 22:28:34 30 The explanation for this, according to Buijs, the parasympathetic), by means of which the commands the fatty tissues) there is a pair of is that the brain becomes more active and re- brain sends commands for the fatty tissues different nerves to command the fat of each quires more energy in the beginning of the pe- to grow. By injecting a virus similar to that compartment. The differentiation of nerves riod of greater activity. To meet the demands of rabies in retroperitoneal fat (the back of may be followed up to the hypothalamus, of the brain, the biological clock prepares the the abdominal cavity) of mice, it is possible to where the differentiation can actually be seen body to make more glucose available. identify the area of the brain that controls the in one of the structures that receive informa- When the body provides more glucose, it parasympathetic system – which is, in gener- tion from the biological clock. Thus, we find peaks in the bloodstream quite rapidly, but al, the system for repose. “When cutting the that the biological clock has nerves that com- then the level drops in a short time. By ob- innervation of the system, the uptake of glu- municate only with some part of the body and serving this phenomenon throughout the day, cose decreases, indicating that a command not with another. it was found that peaks in blood glucose levels from the brain is required for the fatty tissue The conclusion of these experiments is that decrease until the onset of the active period. to absorb it.” different controls for different tissues is what Interestingly, if you compare both phe- By analyzing the abdominal fat of two enables the centralized control of fat distribu- nomena, you’ll see that the glucose peak in 14-year-old boys, one non-diabetic and the tion. According to Buijs, this can be seen in the blood corresponds to lowest glucose peak other diabetic, the clinical finding was that the the fact that individuals who accumulate ab- in the muscles. “This means that the biolog- accumulation of fatty tissue in the gastrointes- dominal fat suffer an imbalance in the body’s ical clock is doing two things at once: on the tinal compartment is associated with the dis- fat compartments, suggesting that some cases one hand, it is stimulating the production of ease. According to Buijs, understanding that of diabetes and hypertension may involve this glucose; on the other, it is making the brain the parasympathetic system is important for type of imbalance in the commands of the absorb more glucose. A perfect preparation the accumulation of fat suggests that the sys- autonomic nervous system – not only in com- for the active period of the day.” tem’s commands for the gastrointestinal com- mands stemming from the hypothalamus, but What is the role of the biological clock in obe- partment may be stronger than the commands in those from the biological clock itself. sity? Buijs said one of the correlations has to do for the subcutaneous area. This might mean Buijs’ working hypothesis for future research with the period of sleep: the shorter the period, that both regions need other body signals; oth- is that disarray in the reciprocal relationship be- the greater the chances of developing obesity. erwise, the brain will not be able to distinguish tween the biological clock and the organs – at But there’s another correlation, related to factors between the compartments. any level and at any stage of life – can result that promote the growth of fatty tissue. To resolve this doubt, markers were in- in illness. “The disease can be induced, for in- Actually, the autonomic nervous system jected in abdominal tissue of mice and it was stance, by ingesting food at the wrong moments involves two systems (the sympathetic and found that in the autonomic center (which during the 24 hour cycle.” 

ogni_ingles copy.indd 31 15/02/2016 22:28:34 31 Designing Transformative first edition has brought together —so far up Models: the launching to the Sao Paulo encounter— 13 young talent- of the Intercontinental ed researchers from different nationalities and Academia in Sao Paulo, knowledge fields, and 40 scholars also from Brazil in April 2015 different countries and different knowledge backgrounds. The project is supported by Today, we all live in a common context the FRIAS, and the Brazilian phase had the that we have named Globalization. We know support of Sao Paulo Research Foundation how complex, paradoxical and challenging it (FAPESP) and National Council for Scientific is to live under such condition and specially and Technological Development (CNPq), and to understand it. One of the most intriguing the sponsorship of Itau Cultural. In its first im- potentialities of globalization is that it allows mersive encounter in Sao Paulo, during two the coexistence of multiple centralities; hubs intensive weeks and through different stimuli, that simultaneously and in equivalence affect the new academic platform was able to simul- its own grounds but also make a difference in taneously explore: a particular subject in an a common existence in the globe. Within this interdisciplinary mode: “Time”; the future of condition, in the “old continent”, Freiburg Uni- the universities or new models for academia; versity’s IAS - FRIAS came across a quite pe- the particularities that make each one of the culiar and interesting institutional phenomena, IASs and their respective Universities unique; a common factor that could organically unite the promotion of a collective and transdiscipli- some major universities worldwide: the pres- nary project that will make an impact world- ence of Institutes for Advanced Studies-IAS wide: a MOOC on time; and the fostering of within their academic, scientific and cultur- new leadership by bringing young talented al grounds. Since that discovery was made people together in interaction with diverse cul- (2010), they started an impressive endeavor for tural and academic environments. bringing together these distinguished IASs and The central output of this first Interconti- respective universities around the world, today nental Academia’s edition, after Sao Paulo & 36. This new and highly potential global net- Nagoya phases, will be a MOOC —Massive work has already organised four Conferences Open Online Course, that is going to be part (Freiburg/Jerusalem/Vancouver/Taipei). Each of the Coursera catalogue. It will be an inter- of them proved and reinforced the relevance continental, interdisciplinary and interinstitu- and potentiality of this young network, in par- tional MOOC on the subject “Time”. This ticular for interdisciplinary scientific encoun- result is also a novelty for everyone. What the ters and the promotion of uncommon debates immersive and metalinguistic intercontinental regarding the nature and aims of universities format is showing us is that it allows the explo- under Globalization. ration of the academic universe in its multidi- However, UBIAS first actual output (its mensional condition. first “network” child) as a Glocal (Global + Lo- To facilitate the understanding of this com- cal) University joint venture is the new inter- plex platform that is the Intercontinental Aca- continental format that was launched on April demia, in particular the Sao Paulo encounter, 17, 2015, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Designed and allow me to present an allegory. I suggest that organized by Nagoya University’s Institute for it should be experienced as an operetta, an op- Advanced Research and University of São eretta without one fix stage (an auditorium for Paulo’s Institute for Advanced Studies, this example) where we all are active actors. Mind

ogni_ingles copy.indd 32 15/02/2016 22:28:34 32 you that it is an operetta that brings important a complex landscape of concepts, theories, samba and jazz contributions! After all this analysis, on time —the central theme of the was the 2015 Pan American contribution to future MOOC, was thoroughly explored the Intercontinental Academia! Sorry Nagoya thanks to the invaluable contributions of all for not including an oriental influence yet, but invited speakers. However, with an important this is to say that we are really looking forward counterpoint: that of the debate on the future to Nagoya’s contribution to this first edition in of the university (as we know it) as a univer- March 2016, and already quite excited about sal and in some regards a homogeneous and its outcome and overall results! immutable apparatus —University Axis: The Going back to the allegory; a Pan American start up for this debate was the Master Class Operetta: of José Goldemberg, USP’s President in the Overture: staged in one of the most tradi- mid 80’s, Minister of Education in the early tional Schools of our University: the Medi- 90’s, today Fapesp’s President and the central cal School that is located in the geographical figure in the constitution of our IAS, back in center of USP’s presence in the city. Amidst 1986. Regarding the role that USP has in the other highly significant achievements, this shaping and promotion of public policies, two School is responsible for the biggest Hospital important facts happened before the open- in South America. Central figures that conduct ing of the Intercontinental Academia in Sao Brazilian public policies regarding Education, Paulo: two of the project’s scientific commit- Culture, Science and Technology were pres- tee members have become central figures in ent in that occasion. Representatives of some scientific and educational national levels: Her- of the UBIAS members, and specially our nan Chaimovich was appointed President of partners Nagoya & Freiburg Universities. the CNPq - National Council for Scientific Andante/Animato/Sostenuto: Contextual and Technological Development, and Renato Axis: during the weekend, April 18 and 19, we Janine Ribeiro the Minister of Education. explored USP’s relationship to this megacity Finale: from April 25 to 29, the final part that is Sao Paulo through the experience of of our operetta was organized with an open the flâneur! A phenomenological/ experiential score, mostly by fostering group dynamic ex- way to understand the city and to realize the periences. It was the time for the 13 young importance of this University in the modeling researchers to perform and assume a leading of Sao Paulo, even though the group was also role, having the development of a proposal faced with the shadows, difficulties, and flaws for the concept and structure of the MOOC of this ongoing urban process. It has been a on time as a final aim. In a plenary session on contextual, interdisciplinary and post-modern- March 29, the proposal was presented to be ist approach. In this case the city was our stage. developed in the next stage: Nagoya’s immer- Larghezza/Incalzando/Espressivo: from sive meeting (March 6-18, 2016). April 20 to 22 the group experienced a better In this publication texts produced by the known and familiar rhythm to us academics, critical rapporteurs and IEA’s communication since each perspective on time (coming from team gives us an idea of the Sao Paulo immer- Art, Humanities, Hard Sciences, Biological sive encounter. A flashback into a memorable Sciences and Social Sciences) was presented occasion! and shared in other two stages: the Univer- Martin Grossmann sity Board’s Room and IEA’s events room Director —Time Axis: At this part of the programme, Sao Paulo April 2015

ogni_ingles copy.indd 33 15/02/2016 22:28:34 33 “has become essential to the development of literary polyphony;” and ubiquity, a metaphor that expresses the ability to be anywhere at the same time made possible by the potential for global connection of the global digital networks.

Ubiquity

In Canevacci’s assessment, ubiquity is a key concept in digital culture, because it “charac- terizes human and non-human space-time relationships on the Internet.” He recalled that the traditional definition of the term has the idea of carpe diem – living intensely in the The Space-Time a theological undertone and relates to the idea moment – and the power to make decisions. Dimension in Digital of an omnipresent, invisible and inescapable According to Canevacci, the concept of Kairós Culture godhead that observes everything and every- “does not fit restricted definitions because it is one: “God knows everything and will judge www.iea.usp.br/en/news/space-time- situated between two concepts: action and time, you,” he summarized. dimension expertise and skill.” The metaphorical nature of the definition April 27, 2015 He said that the ubiquitime dimension in proposed by Canevacci expands the threshold Kairós refers to what he calls “methodological of ubiquity to the material world of everyday stupor” or “undisciplined methodological wan- According to anthropologist Massimo life, and extends “the presence of all human or dering” – an attitude of openness toward the Canevacci, digital culture challenges the clas- divine beings to everywhere.” unknown that enables “ethnographers to turn sic distinction between space and time by Ubiquitous individuals can move about be- and move, stride and walk with abandoned promoting syncretism between both dimen- tween different identities, spaces and times, slowness and attention to detail,” always willing sions and by breaking with hegemonic dual- giving rise to the multividual, according to Ca- to observe and grasp spontaneous and casual istic thinking. Canevacci, a visiting professor nevacci. The multividual emerges from the study objects. at the IEA, spoke on this subject at the last multiplication of subjectivities beyond fixed The second case mentioned by Canevacci conference of the Intercontinental Academ- identities: “Ubiquity defies identity, which be- was the post-Euclidean architecture of Zaha ia (ICA) on April 27. comes more flexible. The ubiquitous subject of Hadid. According to him, Hadid builds hy- His exposition focused on the notion of ethnographic experience is a multidividual.” “ubiquitime,” a neologism he created to de- brid forms that break with the classic rules of composition and representation of space-time. fine, from an ethnographic viewpoint, “the Empirical cases uncentered and non-linear experiences of “[Hadid] transforms non-normative geometry space-time” promoted by contemporary dig- Canevacci presented four empirical cases into mysterious, distorted and impure geomet- ital communication. that exemplify the experience of ubiquitime in ric shapes,” he said. In his view, the notion of ubiquitime com- various cultures, starting with the Greek mytho- The funeral rites of the Bororo, an indig- bines three central notions: simultaneity, “an logical deity Kairós, who symbolizes “a moment enous people studied by Canevacci, was the aesthetics made of fragments from metrop- in an indeterminate period in which something third empirical case presented at the confer- olises and technologies,” as advocated by special happens,” i.e., a propitious moment for ence. The rites are long and complex, and in- Futurism, the art movement; chronotope, decision or action. volve burying the body in a shallow ditch, wait- established by philosopher Mikhail Bahktin Unlike Chronos, the god of chronological ing for the decomposition of tissues, cleaning to denote the dialogic relationship between time, whose nature is quantitative, Kairós repre- the skull, and special ornamentation for the the spatial and the temporal horizons that sents unmeasurable temporality and refers us to final farewell ceremony.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 34 15/02/2016 22:28:34 34 Fossils

Quental devoted most of the conference to the other “time machine,” the fossil record. He said that the fossil record, although incomplete, is our best resource for understanding biodi- versity over a large time spectrum: “Fossils are Fossils as a Tool to Analyze excellent for some groups, like dogs, and very the Dynamics of Biodiversity meager for others.” Hence the importance of www.iea.usp.br/en/news/dynamics-biodiversity simultaneously using DNA, which allows us to- day to sequence almost all living lineages. April 22, 2015 The environmentalist said that of the 4 bil- lion species that evolved on Earth over the last Understanding the dynamics of biodiver- Canevacci explained that in the final stage, 3.5 billion years, about 99% have disappeared. sity requires a very broad time frame. That which lasts three days, time is suspended. “It “If we didn’t have the fossil record, we would was the central argument of environmental- is a period when there is no time, only the have no clue of the magnitude of extinction.” ist Tiago Quental, from USP’s Biosciences celebration of the ritual that reaffirms that Fossils, however, don’t inform only about Institute, at the conference The Dynamics no distance exists between life and death, extinctions; they also contain data on ecology and Inductors of Biodiversity in Geological between space and time.” and morphology (e.g., extinct animals were Time, presented at the Intercontinental Aca- The last example, also related to the much bigger than today). Bororo, was the “multividual subjectivity” demia on April 22. of Kléber Meritororeu, a Bororo native. For According to Quental, there are two types The dynamics of diversity Canevacci, Meritororeu embodies the idea of data that act as “time machines” in our un- of the multividual because he traverses from derstanding of biodiversity: the genome and Quental said that the history of biodiversity one identity to another: he is at the same the fossil record. In the case of the genome, is characterized by a continuous replacement of time a native who lives his culture on a daily our job is to use it in a historical way: “We species and strains. “The dynamics of diversity basis and a teacher at the Indigenous State have sequenced the DNA of different species is different for each lineage, whereby expan- School “Sacred Heart of Jesus” in Meruri and reconstructed a diagram of what we call sion is followed by decline. To understand this village, in the city of General Carneiro, state phylogenetic tree, which basically shows the dynamics,” he said, “one must know how the of Mato Grosso. relationships between different species.” rates of emergence and extinction of species in “He has two identities: he is a Bororo Another important feature of the genome a lineage change over the geological time scale.” and a teacher,” Canevacci said, stressing that is the fact that it accumulates mutations over To illustrate the possibilities of research Meritororeu faces the challenge not only of time. “We can use this kind of molecular with fossils in the context of biodiversity, connecting these two identities, but also of clock for an eventual calibration and instead Quental presented two studies he carried out self-representing himself with the aid of dig- of determining distances between similar and with other scholars. The first dealt with the ital technologies – all this without letting go dissimilar DNA, we can relate them to an ab- dynamics of diversity of branches of terrestrial of the traditions of his people – to combine solute time,” Quental said. This allows us to mammals that became completely extinct or digital culture and Bororo culture. build very sophisticated statistical methods, underwent a decline in diversity during the Ce- “The use of technology by the natives helps because the DNA’s clock does not have reg- nozoic (65 million years ago). This work was the development of a decentralized network ular beat. “For instance, it is possible to estab- conducted with Charles Marshall, from the that cannot be compared with any analog lish that the common ancestor of two species University of California. network,” he explained. “The dichotomous may have existed 7 million years before either The researchers worked with 19 families of relationship between technology and culture, of them, or to estimate when a lineage of dogs terrestrial mammals (half of them already ex- science and arts is obsolete,” he added.  invaded South America.” tinct). It was observed, for instance, that these

ogni_ingles copy.indd 35 15/02/2016 22:28:34 35 families had similar ecologies and that the di- and what, under the conditions of modern life, versity of the horse family is decreasing today. Conference Discusses the our body wants us to do,” noted Roenneberg. According to Quental, what they wanted to Social Jet Lag Syndrome Some people compensate this discrepancy know was whether the longevity of a family is www.iea.usp.br/en/news/social-jet-lag between biological and social rhythms by ex- merely the consequence of an episode of “gam- tending their period of activity and reducing April 21, 2015 bler’s ruin,” that is, if it is due to random fluctua- their period of repose. According to Roen- tions of intrinsically constant rates of emergence neberg, those who suffer from social jet lag The modern lifestyle has led many individu- and extinction of species. The conclusion was are generally early risers who remain active als to develop what chronobiologist Till Roen- that this is not so and that, in fact, there is a de- until late at night to cope with their daily com- neberg, professor and vice-president of the Med- terministic component in the process, related mitments. In the end, however, things don’t ical Psychology Institute at Ludwig-Maximilians to the inability to maintain the pace of diversi- add up for them: they sleep less than eight University (Germany), defined as “social jet lag” fication in face of environmental deterioration. hours a day and are therefore chronically syndrome – the physical and mental impairment Furthermore, failure in originating new species sleep-deprived. caused by a mismatch between the biological appears to be as important as changes in the ex- One can measure this “negative sleep bal- clock that regulates an organism’s physiological tinction rate in terms of inducing the decline of ance” by comparing the pattern of their circa- activities and the social clock that determines diversity during periods with no environmental dian behavior during weekdays, governed by one’s daily personal and work commitments. abnormalities. the social clock, and during their free days, Roenneberg spoke of the causes and effects governed by their biological clock. “If we of this syndrome at the conference Circadian Replacement of families measure the difference between both patterns, Behavior and Sleep in the Real World, held on we will obtain a quantifiable measure of what The second study that Quental presented April 21 as part of the program of the Interconti- we call ‘social jet lag’,” said the professor. dealt with mechanisms of sequential replace- nental Academia (ICA) on the issue of “Time.”’ ment in various subspecies of dogs in North According to the professor, social jet lag The afflictions of modernity America. The work was carried out in partner- can be defined as a discrepancy between inter- ship with Daniele Silvestro and Alexandre An- nal body rhythms and external environmen- The negative sleep balance is at the root of tonelli, both from the University of Gothenburg tal rhythms. It is very similar to what happens many afflictions of modern society, especial- (Sweden), and Nicolas Salamin, from the Uni- when a traveler crosses several time zones in ly those related to metabolic problems. “The versity of Lausanne (Switzerland). succession: the sudden changes lead the body greater the social jet lag, the greater the likeli- The family of dogs (Canidae) split into three clock (which is adjusted to the time of the place hood of becoming obese, developing diabe- major subfamilies soon after its emergence 40 of departure) to conflict with the local clock. tes, using drugs, smoking to relieve stress, and million years ago. The three subfamilies existed Unlike ordinary jet lag, however, the effects drinking alcohol to slumber off when one is not simultaneously for a long time. Two of them of which are transient, social jet lag is chronic, yet ready to sleep,” warned Roenneberg. (Hesperocyoninae and Borophaginae) became forcing individuals to fight systematically against The implications of social jet lag also ex- extinct, but Caninae, with 36 species, continues their own biological clock in order to cope with tend to the realm of behaviors. According to strong, including all dogs currently alive, as well the demands of everyday life – and this include the chronobiologist, one of the first qualities as foxes and wolves. ever-longer working hours and greater difficul- that disappear when someone sleeps too little The study found that the two subfamilies ties to reconcile professional and personal life. is social competence: “You become a true psy- became extinct because they failed in the spe- “Everything in our body is controlled and or- chopath if you don’t sleep enough.” ciation process and because of an increase in ganized by the circadian system. The circadian For him, the social jet lag syndrome is asso- their extinction rate. Another finding was that system, in turn, is not organized by the social ciated with the idea that sleep keeps us from be- competition between subfamilies is an impor- clock, but rather by the clock of the Sun, by the coming more productive: “People tend to sleep tant evolutionary force and can affect, separate- clock of light & dark. So there will always be a one hour less in order to remain active for one ly, the rates of speciation and extinction.  discrepancy between what society wants us to do hour more. Yet, sleeping does not mean ceas-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 36 15/02/2016 22:28:34 36 ing to be active, but rather preparing the body According to him, throughout the course Discerning the Biological and the mind for activity.” of evolution, our biological clock was synchro- Clock of Single-Celled He explained that simple math underlies nized with a light/dark cycle regulated by expo- Organisms this statement: “If someone sleeps one hour sure to sunlight: “The environment in which we less, depriving themselves of 1/8 of their sleep were synchronized during the last thousands of www.iea.usp.br/en/news/single-celled-organisms period, they only gains 1/16 in terms of activity. years was one of much light during the day and April 22, 2015 On the other hand, their efficiency is reduced no light at all at night. The morning and evening by about 1/20.” chronotypes existed, but the distance between The biological processes of most living be- The result, he said, is a vicious cycle – one them was not significant.” ings are governed by the so-called circadian that has become endemic in the United States. However, the dissemination of electric light- clock, a kind of natural timepiece that adjusts “You lose efficiency, so you have to work more ing and the habits of modern life have imposed internal vital rhythms to external environmental and more; to work more, you have to sleep less; different levels of exposure to solar and artifi- rhythms, regulating cellular metabolic activity and by sleeping less, you lose efficiency.” cial light. Indeed, the luminous signals that help according to cycles of light and dark. Synchro- In his assessment, the widespread use of synchronize internal body rhythms and external nized with a 24-hour time period, this clock is alarm clocks is evidence that overall people environment rhythms are being minimized. what causes a person to feel sleepy at night, re- sleep less than they should. “What is the fun- Roenneberg used the ICA’s own dynamics main awake during the day or feel jet lag when damental issue underlying the use of an alarm as an example: in daytime, when people should traveling across time zones. clock? That we have not completed our biolog- normally be exposed to the Sun, participants Although the workings of the circadian clock ical sleep period! Otherwise, we would need no were confined indoors, with little natural light; in complex, multicellular organisms has been help to wake up,” he warned. “We must change at night, on the other hand, when the body the object of research for a long time, studies our attitude toward sleep,” he added. should be in the dark, they were exposed to on the biological rhythms of microorganisms a prolonged period of artificial light. “We are are rather recent. In a conference at the In- Chronotypes darkening the day and illuminating the night. tercontinental Academia (ICA) addressing the And this light is increasingly turning us into main theme “Time,” on April 22, Takao Kon- In addition to propelling social jet lag, evening people,” he said. do spoke about the progress he has achieved the modern lifestyle also contributes to an According to him, exposure to artificial light in this field with experiments involving prokary- extreme expression of the so-called chrono- at night would hardly make a farmer become otes – unicellular organisms lacking some orga- types – the classification of individuals ac- an evening person, because, when working out- nelles and a nuclear membrane. cording to the preferences of their body re- doors, under the Sun, he would signal to the bi- Kondo is a professor of Biological Sciences garding the time they perform daily activities ological clock that sunlight, stronger and natural, at the University of Nagoya (Japan) and mem- such as sleeping, waking up, working out and was the real light. “It is the contrast between light ber of the Scientific Committee of the Institute exercising the mind. and dark that synchronizes our biological clock, for Advanced Research (IAR) at the ICA. He There are two main chronotypes: the making us sleep from 10 pm to 6 am,” he said. is known for having been the first scientist to “morning people,” who sleep and rise early, In Roenneberg’s view, unlike what is com- reconstitute a circadian clock in vitro, laying the and reserve the night period to sleep; and the monly thought, being an evening person does foundation for numerous discoveries on the “evening people,” who prefer to sleep and not imply any type of pathology. “There is no molecular basis of biological rhythms. wake up late, even if that means dedicating innate timing of the circadian clock,” he ex- At the conference, Kondo presented the part of the day to sleep. plained, pondering that sleeping and waking up results of experiments that he carried out to Roenneberg said that, in terms of their circa- later is “a natural reaction to the environment demonstrate the occurrence of circadian clocks dian behavior, these two chronotypes are grow- where one lives, a normal way for the circadian in the Synechococcus elongatus cyanobacteri- ing farther and farther apart because of how the clock to synchronize a body that is not being um – a unicellular photosynthetic bacterium, patterns of exposure to natural light are chang- sufficiently exposed to light.” similar to blue-green algae, which is at the base ing in the modern age. of the food chain in marine environments. Ac-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 37 15/02/2016 22:28:34 37 Climate Time Scales and Climate Change www.iea.usp.br/en/news/climate-time-scales April 22, 2015

After humans began to recognize cycles and patterns in nature, the uncertainties of cording to Kondo, “cyanobacteria are the sim- The experiment showed that the processes the future became less distressing, at least with plest organisms that display circadian rhythms.” of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of regard to matters such as obtaining food and the three Kai proteins are interconnected and seeking shelter from inclement weather. But A question of genetics generate a threaded cycle of protein activation how should we react when the very future of and inactivation. Kondo noted that the oscilla- life on our planet is at risk because one of the Kondo’s great headway was to identify a group tion of the gene expression of these proteins environmental variables has reached an unan- of genes – known as kaiABC – that controls the acts as the time stamp of the Synechococcus’ ticipated level? Synechococcus’ circadian clock. He explained circadian clock and that “the state of phospho- According to astrogeophysicist Luiz Gylvan that the phosphorylation and dephosphorylation rylation of KaiC is the central component of Meira Filho, former visiting professor and cur- cycles of the protein encoded by the trio of Kai this system.” rently member of the IEA’s Environment and genes – KaiA, KaiB and KaiC – act as regulators According to Kondo, the circadian rhythms Society research group, humanity is entering a of the biochemical mechanism that times the dai- generated by the oscillation of KaiC act as a mo- period when it is difficult to predict what might ly rhythms of cyanobacteria. lecular timer that regulates the entire metabo- happen, “because in the last 800,000 years the Phosphorylation is the metabolic process lism of cyanobacteria. concentration of atmospheric CO2 never ex- of adding a phosphate group, donated by an ceeded 280 parts per million (ppm), and we ATP (a molecule that stores energy), to a pro- Mechanical clock have now reached 400 ppm.” tein. Dephosphorylation, in turn, is the remov- Meira Filho, who is one of Brazil’s leading al of a phosphate group. Kondo compared the circadian cycles of experts on climate change and international cli- The dynamic addition and removal of phos- the Synechococcus to a mechanical timekeep- mate negotiations, talked about the time scales phate, catalyzed by the kinase and phosphatase ing system: “The Kai protein clock is designed of climate and of climate change in his confer- enzymes, inhibits or activates the expression of much as a grandfather clock.” ence at the Intercontinental Academia on April a gene, i.e., its encoding in a protein. That is He said that the oscillation between the phos- 22. For him, climate change should be seen in why it is one of the main mechanisms for regu- phorylation cycle of KaiC and the gene expres- the context of time and treated as an urgent is- lating proteins. sion of KaiA and KaiB resembles the mech- sue, “but not in the sense that something cata- The discovery of the role of the Kai genes in anism of the pendulum: as the escapement strophic may happen tomorrow or next week.” the metabolism of Synechococcus cleared the transmits timekeeping to the clock’s hands, During his exposition, he presented sev- way for the in vitroreconstitution of the circa- the pulses generated by Kai proteins transmit eral graphs extracted from the 2014 Climate dian clock of cyanobacteria. Toward this end, temporal signals to the cell, performing the fine Change Synthesis Report prepared by the Unit- Kondo mixed the trio of Kai proteins with an adjustment of vital processes that depend on ed Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Cli- ATP molecule in a test tube. synchronization with external factors. mate Change (IPCC). The incubation confirmed the hypothesis He also drew attention to the accuracy of the that, in the presence of these four elements, the biological rhythms of cyanobacteria. “Nature 24-hour cycles of cyanobacteria occur autono- imitates art. The circadian clock of the Kai pro- mously, even in the absence of external “time tein seems to have been designed by a master cues,” such as the alternation of light and dark. watchmaker,” he concluded. 

ogni_ingles copy.indd 38 15/02/2016 22:28:34 38 CO2 Concentration The greenhouse effect mass, energy (first law of thermodynamics) and momentum (Newton’s law). They are written in According to Meira Filho, the “proxy data” He explained how the greenhouse effect the form of differential equations with respect (data collected by paleoclimatologists from derives from excess CO2 in the atmosphere: to time; we take a numerical quantity at a cer- natural records of climate variations, e.g., sto- “Our planet receives energy from the Sun and tain point in time, integrate the variants numeri- mata, phytoplankton and paleosoils) allow us radiates part of it back into space in the form cally and find the value in the future.” to analyze the history of climate over a very of infrared radiation, which acts as a cooling “These models have been significantly im- long time. “In the very distant past, there have mechanism to maintain the thermal balance of proved, to the point of being able to estimate been concentrations of CO2 higher than the the Earth’s surface. There has to be an equilib- rather accurately how climate evolved over the current 400 ppm. Three and half million years rium, otherwise the planet will heat up or cool last 100 years vis-à-vis how it actually developed. ago, it was 200 ppm and between that time and down. CO2 absorbs infrared radiation, unbal- Once this is simulated in a computer, we can 800,000 years ago, CO2 concentration often ancing the system and causing the greenhouse easily change the procedures to take into ac- reached 400 ppm.” effect, which warms the surface of the Earth.” count increased atmospheric concentration of However, when we observe a shorter peri- According to him, climate is determined greenhouse gases and see what happens.” od of time, up to 800,000 years ago, and also by the absorption of electromagnetic energy consider three astronomical variables that af- from the Sun in the visible spectrum. “This Future scenarios fect climate (orbital obliquity, orbital eccentric- does not occur uniformly, because tropical re- The result is the realization that we must ity and the precession of Earth’s axis), “we find gions receive more energy than the polar ones. reduce the emission of greenhouse gases to that we are in a period when the concentration This difference in energy deposition causes the control the rise in temperature. He showed of atmospheric CO2 should reach a maxi- movements of the atmosphere and the transfer graphs with four possible scenarios for 2100: 1) mum of 280 ppm; it never reached 300 ppm of energy. The oceans are also involved in the increase of 3.5 °C in the average temperature of in the last 800,000 years.” process. This is how climate models and their the planet’s surface as early as 2100 and a trend It turns out that very recent history, as veri- dynamics came about.” of sharp increases in the following centuries if fied by measurements at the top of the Mauna From the point of view of science, the greatest the emission of greenhouse gases continues to Loa volcano in Hawaii, shows that CO2 con- dilemma has been the fact that climate change as grow at the current rate; 2) increase of 0.5 °C if centration was 320 ppm in 1970 and reached reported in the newspapers cannot be observed: all emissions cease now; 3) increase of up to 2 380 ppm in 2005. According to Meira Fil- “In geophysics and astrophysics, we usually can’t °C (agreed at the UN Conference on Climate ho, measurements at Mauna Loa began in apply the scientific method of laboratory exper- Change in December 2009 in Copenhagen), 1958 and, at that time, already exceeded the iments; things have to be done piecemeal. The provided all countries concur to lower their 280 ppm typical of the pre-industrial period. beginning of this story has been solved with the emissions accordingly at the conference that the “Nowadays, we don’t need to read scientific finding that the increase of atmospheric CO2 is United Nations will hold in December in Par- journals; the daily newspapers tell us that lev- due to emissions caused by man. The result, i.e., is; 4) increase of up to 3 °C if decisions adhere els have reached 400 ppm.” the impact on the climate, is harder to explain.” only to what was defined in Copenhagen. “This increase was caused by man. It is rela- According to Meira Filho, the climate system tively simple to measure and apply the scientific Numerical models has essentially two memories: the first one has method to find that CO2 concentration is in- What scientists have been doing for years is to do with the fact that greenhouse gases remain creasing. And, by analyzing several hypotheses, “to improve the numerical models so as to pre- in the atmosphere for different periods (ten we can conclude that this is due to the burning dict weather a posteriori, that is, to predict today years for methane and more than 100 years for of fossil fuels.” For Meira Filho, this conclusion how climate evolved over the last century.” This nitrous oxide; in the case of CO2, the decrease is supported by the fact that there are no natural job requires increasingly powerful supercom- is related to the level of biological activity on the processes that burn fossil carbon in significant puters. However, according to Meira Filho, the planet); the second memory concerns the slow amounts. Even volcanic activity releases rela- physics behind it is very simple and uses “well- warming movement of the oceans, governed by tively small quantities of CO2. known and very stable laws of conservation of maritime currents, which are relatively slow.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 39 15/02/2016 22:28:34 39 The permanence of gases

The combination of these two memories leads the maximum effect on climate change of methane to take place 20 years after the emis- sion, and of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, 40 to 50 years. “This means that if we want to stabilize temperature in 2100, we have to stabi- lize emissions by 2050 and this depends on the industries and the infrastructure that are being planned today. Hence the urgency of dealing with the problem.” The Importance of On April 25, Vera Lúcia gave the confer- Meira Filho concluded with a warning based Biodiversity for the ence Biodiversity and Global Policies, in which on another scientific methodology: “If we look Future of Life she addressed the impact of human actions on at this scenario using the concept of phase the environment, highlighting the growing loss www.iea.usp.br/en/news/biodiversity- space and if we place in the coordinates of a of biodiversity and the negotiations that could future-of-life multidimensional space one of the important lead to the protection of ecosystems and to mit- variables that describe the climate system over April 25, 2015 igating the effects of climate change on them. time, the conclusion we reach is that we have al- Vera Lúcia adheres to the proposal that ready entered a phase space that we have never It is significant that the Intercontinental classifies our planet’s history from the onset of occupied in the last 800,000 years. This is scary, Academia commenced in 2015 and tack- the Industrial Revolution, in the 19th centu- to say the least. We are in uncharted territory led “time” as its central theme, because this ry, as a new epoch, the Anthropocene, which and this brings risks to the continuity of life.”  is surely a critical year when humanity must follows the Holocene that began 11,500 years make urgent decisions about its future. ago, at the end of the last glaciation. The in- On three occasions this year, world tense, human-induced transformations of the leaders are deciding about forthcoming environment would be the defining feature of decades. In July, the heads of state gath- the Anthropocene. ered to discuss how to finance develop- Vera Lúcia also stated that several important ment. In September, the United Nations’ indicators related to global change began to grow Sustainable Development Goals were exponentially in the mid-20th century, including adopted. In December, UN member total world population, use of previously virgin countries will negotiate the new Global land, world Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Climate Agreement. river drainage, fertilizer consumption, water use, To discuss the difficulties imposed paper consumption, international tourism, use upon life on our planet in the recent past, of motor vehicles and urban population. One global transformations and the prospects consequence of this situation is that an enormous for biodiversity in the coming decades, portion of the Earth’s surface is now occupied by the Intercontinental Academia invited urban areas, agriculture and livestock. biologist Vera Lúcia Imperatriz-Fonse- According to her, we should take notice of ca, from the Biosciences Institute of the the huge amounts of carbon emissions that are University of São Paulo and coordinator “transferred” from country to country by the in- of Ecosystems Services research group of ternational trade of goods. The same applies to the Institute for Advanced Studies of the the use of water in the production of industrial University of São Paulo - IEA-USP. and agricultural goods. She said that, in these

ogni_ingles copy.indd 40 15/02/2016 22:28:35 40 with the goals of poverty reduction, namely, the need to provide more food, more water and more energy to those in need. The proposal asked several questions, including whether 9 billion peo- ple can be fed equitably, sustainably and healthily, how to deal with the future demand for water, how to provide sufficient energy, how to mitigate the effects of climate change – and if all this could be done while preserving biodiversity at an acceptable level. “Preservation is essential because biodiversity takes a long time to come about; furthermore, the morphology, anatomy and appearance of animals are very important aspects of genetic biodiversity – and we will need them if we hope to face the manifold upcoming transformations, especially those terms, China is a major importer of water, “although it is also adopting resulting from climate change. Molecular tools provide examples of how various measures to restore the environment for future generations.” to identify populations, and how to assess if they are suited for thermal She said that in 1700 the world population was 650 million and that regulation or have the ability to live in harsh environmental conditions.” less than 2% of terrestrial ecosystems had been altered, whereas the Vera Lúcia recalled that the UN would adopt a new agenda in Septem- forecast for 2025 is that population will reach 8.2 billion and that more ber, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), developed by research- than half of the ecosystems will have undergone change. ers. “In this new paradigm, we have the economy at the center, the society Vera Lúcia reported that awareness of the environmental and sus- around it and the system supports life on Earth surrounding both.” tainability issues has grown since the 1972 Brundtland Report of the This unified panorama comprises a set of six goals derived from com- World Commission on Environment and Development and subse- bining the Millennium Development Goals with the conditions necessary quent forums on biodiversity and climate negotiation, such as Rio 92, to ensure the stability of the Earth’s systems. Rio +20 and others. The six goals are: better living conditions and livelihoods, sustainable She also mentioned the hurdles we face to adopt international poli- food security, sustainable water security, universal clean energy, productive cies for the benefit of the environment, such as the Millennium Ecosys- and healthy ecosystems, and governance for sustainable societies. tem Assessment (MA) initiative. In the final part of the conference, Vera Lúcia spoke of a project in In 2000, the then UN General Secretary, Kofi Annan, asked 1,360 which she is directly involved: the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodi- experts to expound the importance of preserving nature. This survey versity and Ecosystem Services (EPBES), launched in April 2012. The resulted in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which assessed the platform was created by the international community as an independent consequences for human well-being of changes in ecosystems, as well intergovernmental body open to all UN members. as the scientific bases for actions needed to improve ecosystem conser- The initiative aims to provide politically relevant knowledge of biodi- vation and sustainability. versity and ecosystem services to support decision-making, and currently However, Vera Lúcia stated, when the effort was presented to includes 124 member countries, as well as several United Nations partner UN-member states, they did not embrace it, because they deemed it agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Educational, was an initiative of the UN Secretariat and not something negotiated Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Environment Pro- and approved by the signatory countries of the organization. gram (UNEP) and the Development Program (UNDP).  According to Vera Lúcia, after governments rejected the MA, a group of countries, with the active participation of then French presi- dent Jacques Chirac, began to wonder if there might be new possibili- ties for dealing with biodiversity and they “eventually organized a panel similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).” “Chirac believed that much was already known about climate change, and that similar work had to be carried out with regard to biodiversity.” In the UK, there was talk of a “perfect storm,” characterized by pop- ulation growth, sprawling urbanization and climate change, comingled

ogni_ingles copy.indd 41 15/02/2016 22:28:35 41 Course structure The question that defines the fourth cen- tral theme is “How is time used?” The issues The young researchers have in mind a to be discussed approach time as something Participants of the MOOC with four central themes chosen after a relevant to subjects such as astronomy, biol- Intercontinental Academia group evaluation on the key subdivisions of the ogy, chemistry and medicine as well as how present results of the event concept of time. narratives use it creating linearity, circularity All content will be studied from 14 topics, www.iea.usp.br/en/news/closing-report or even its fractionation. The importance of 13 of them related to at least one of the four time in social interaction (time management, April 29, 2015 core subjects and involving various disciplines, punctuality, working and leisure hours), his- both the sciences and the humanities. The tory, traditions and other aspects also deserve The detailed thematic structure of a MOOC completion of the course will have an addi- attention. (Massive Open Online Course) on time and tional topic which will focus on the future of the prospect of several scientific papers result- the concept of time. Topics of study ing from partnerships between the young re- searchers that have participated in the Intercon- Core subjects The 14 topics of the course have been es- tinental Academia were the main outcomes of tablished through specific questions which are the first immersion period of the project, held Is time essential or a cognitive phenome- broken down into sub-questions: at the IEA-USP from April 17 to April 29. non? Does it require change? What exists in • How is time measured? David Gange (University of Birmingham), time? Is time an independent entity as suggest- • What traces does time leave? Nikki Moore (Rice University) and Helder Na- ed by physics and philosophy? Is it absolute • Is there a relationship between time and kaya (USP), three of the participants, presented or relative? These questions will try to answer causality? the Closing Report to the members of the pro- the question of the first central theme: “What • Is time relative? ject’s Senior Committee during the last session is time?”. • What are temporal illusions and what of the encounter. “How is time perceived?” is the question can we learn from them? that defines the second central theme. It raises • Does time have a history? Goals of the MOOC a number of issues to be studied, including the • Why is the present special? following: • Can we predict the future? According to them, the MOOC to be pro- • Can we perceive time? • How do different rhythms interact? duced will be a kind of interactive online guide • Is it possible to make reliable judgments • What does symbolic representation do for students and researchers who want to de- about temporal properties? for human understanding of time? velop or expand their interest in the concept of • Can one perceive time without change? • Do non-humans have individual time? time. For now, there are three name options for • What is the relationship between expe- • Is time running out? the course: “On Time”, “Thinking with Time” rienced time and neural time? • How do we value time? and “What Time Is It?”. • How is it possible to experience events • What is the future of the time concept? The expectation is that the users of the that last in time (movement, change, MOOC acquire skills to synthesize arguments succession, melodies) as something ex- Means from large areas of knowledge, learn to analyze tended in time? evidence in order to form their own ideas on The functional concept, the mutant concept Each topic will be covered in a class which the raised issues, develop the ability to deal with and the standardization of time, the mental time will feature videotaped speeches, animations, conceptual materials and think transversely to travel (chronesthesia), the opposition between questions and 5-8 films of 7-15 minutes each. the disciplines involved. linear time and cyclical time, and (in anthro- There will be a discussion forum in which Students should collaborate in the construc- pology) between deictic time and sequential the students will be encouraged to provide an- tion of scientific knowledge at the same time as time will be analyzed in the third central theme: swers on questions raised by the course and they develop their framework of knowledge “How is time conceptualised?” other students.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 42 15/02/2016 22:28:35 42 There are also plans for a multimedia read- Interdisciplinarity and ing list, a kind of database with links and relevant cooperation content separated by levels of complexity. The idea is that students can write short comments The results presented during the Closing Re- on the presented material’s support itself. port have shown that the first immersion period of the Intercontinental Academia (the second Target audience one will be held in Nagoya in March, 2016) was Higher Education Should extremely productive, consolidating an initiative Strive to Sharpen Minds, The MOOC will be designed at a level of of the IEA-USP and the Institute for Advanced According to Minister of scientific complexity that should be “suitable Research of the Nagoya University which began Education for intellectually ambitious graduates.” How- to be conceived in March, 2012, during a meet- www.iea.usp.br/en/news/ministry-education ever, it will not be necessary that the students ing of the UBIAS network’s Steering Commit- have previous specific qualifications as this tee at the Institute for Advanced Studies Jawa- April 24, 2015 would not match the diverse academic profile harlal Nehru, in India. of those responsible for the initiative, who do Nikki Moore and David Gange highlighted In the assessment of Renato Janine not have an area of common knowledge to the atmosphere of everyone’s disciplinary “lack Ribeiro, Minister of Education, the uni- everyone. It would also be incoherent with the of knowledge”, which enabled an intense inter- versity of the future should be conceived general spirit of this type of course. action between experts from various fields. in terms not only of training for specific The introduction of complex ideas will be They said that even the logistics of the meet- careers, but also of comprehensive cultur- made from the basic concepts domain, since ing, with meals in common, lodging at the same al development to broaden and diversify each student is a beginner in at least some of hotel and social activities together, was an im- people’s worldview. He spoke on this is- the subjects comprised in the MOOC. portant factor for establishing links between sue at a workshop with the participants of the participants. Gange said it has been the aca- the Intercontinental Academia (ICA) held Additional results demic gathering of most sociability he has ever in the morning of April 24. participated in and that he has laughed a lot Biologist Helder Nakaya presented the thanks to the good mood of everyone involved. potential additional results that the Intercon- The fact is that the friendly and cooperative tinental Academia can provide besides the atmosphere played a key role for the high pro- MOOC. ductivity of the meeting, which involved more The first one is to send a “letter to the edi- than two dozen conferences and seminars with tor” of some interdisciplinary journal of world senior researchers, and numerous work meet- prestige. This contribution will address the ings with the 13 young researchers of the pro- importance, the key features and the project’s ject. results. Even the contact of the young researchers On the way to Nagoya throughout the project should result in inter- disciplinary scientific articles, which might also After the presentation, a video with a greet- be possible from the processing of the data to ing from the director of the Nagoya Universi- be collected through questionnaires answered ty’s IAR, Hisanori Shinohara, was shown to all by the students of the MOOC. members of the Intercontinental Academia, The production of a video with various congratulating them on their work during the multimedia features on all the work being de- two weeks in São Paulo and wishing them a veloped in the Intercontinental Academia will good stay in Nagoya in March, 2016, for the be considered. project’s second period of immersion. 

ogni_ingles copy.indd 43 15/02/2016 22:28:35 43 Janine, who is also member of the IEA’s sci- will lose their old justifications, a world that will cited some data to support his point of view: entific committee for the ICA and coordinator see significant advances in the rights of those in 1968, when he became a Philosophy under- of the institute’s research group The Future In- who were formerly excluded from it. graduate, Brazilian universities had approxi- quires Us, stressed that his exposition was not “Looking at the past 250 years, one can see mately 100,000 students. In 2003, the number an official speech as minister, but a utopian ex- that equality has indeed increased in terms of was already slightly more than 3 million, and ercise aimed at reflecting on what the university social justice, freedom and diversity, with great- today it exceeds 7 million, or 20% of the popu- might become in the next forty or fifty years. er inclusion of women and other groups histor- lation in the 20-29 age bracket. “When a coun- For him, the main issue to consider when ically discriminated against,” he said. try reaches the 15% tier, it ceases to be elitist in imagining the university of the future is the Social mobility in Brazil over the past decade terms of access to higher education. Thus, we need to go beyond professionalization: “We would be example of this. Janine recalled the are currently no longer an elitist nation. We still must think of a higher education system more well-known images of the social pyramid and have a long way to go, to be sure, but we have concerned with sharpening minds to help them lozenge: in 2005, Brazilian society could be rep- progressed,” he said. understand reality better.” resented by a pyramid: a base made up of 100 The professional life of many graduates from million people in conditions of great poverty and Longevity some of the most popular university courses in misery, the so-called D and E classes; the mid- The second transformation mentioned by Brazil attest the need for change. According to range, corresponding to the C class, had 50 mil- Janine refers to the exponential increase in the Janine, nearly 20% of medical school graduates lion people; and at the top were the 40 million population’s life expectancy. According to the do not go on to become doctors. “This should set that constituted the privileged A and B classes. minister, we are moving toward a time when to off an alarm signal, because students devote six By 2010, the pyramid had given way to a di- live 100 years will no longer be an exceptional years to a very difficult and very specific course amond-shaped lozenge: the base was reduced feat and will become commonplace. “In this and then leave everything aside,” he noted. to 50 million people; the mid-range doubled new world, the choices you make when you’re The situation is more worrisome in law in size to encompass 100 million people; and 20 cannot determine the results you will obtain schools. The minister said that although data the top richest gained momentum, rising to 50 when you’re 60,” he warned. are not accurate, most graduates do not pass million. “In five years, 25% of the population For Janine, increased longevity brings up OAB’s bar exam and, therefore, do not prac- in extreme poverty joined the C class, acquiring the question of openness to changes, which tice law. The same pattern is repeated in man- lower middle class status.” are likely to become more frequent as age ad- agement courses and many others. “We are If society is becoming more egalitarian, Ja- vances. That’s because people that live longer convinced that we have to change our curricula nine reckoned, one can assume that access to remain in the labor market for a longer period to offer broader university courses.” The first university will tend to become a universal right. and will have more time to change their profes- step toward this, he pondered, is to revamp the “If we hope get close to providing higher ed- sional career. agendas of the universities and prepare them ucation to everyone that wishes, the university “Currently, we deem it more important that for changes that are already underway, two of will have to be different: it cannot continue to you remain true to the profession you studied which he underlined: diminishing social ine- focus on professional training, but must provide than faithful to your partner. But we live in a quality and increased longevity. an overall cultural education that gives meaning world where changes happen and are normal. to people’s lives,” he concluded. The university People will change their identity several times Equality will become part of the life of every citizen and throughout their life, and this includes changes an expression of the education required for a Recalling ideas of French thinker Alexis de in occupation and jobs,” he said. person achieve personal and professional fulfill- Tocqueville, “a shrewd observer of the 19th The new scenario on the horizon imposes ment in life. century political scene,” Janine said we are a more flexible university system, the minister In his view, Brazil is already moving toward moving into an increasingly egalitarian world, in explained, capable of preparing students to broad access to higher education, although it which social inequalities will not disappear but shift from one area to another, without this be- is still far from reaching the ultimate goal. He

ogni_ingles copy.indd 44 15/02/2016 22:28:35 44 A Theory of the Relationship between the Sleep Hormone and the Body’s Defense is the Subject of Regina Markus’s Conference www.iea.usp.br/en/news/sleep-hormone April 26, 2015

Biologist Regina Markus spoke to the partic- ipants of the Intercontinental Academia (ICA) about the relationship between melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep, and the activation ing seen as a sign of failure or immaturity. He The second semester would offer disci- of the immune system, during the conference questioned the current mindset that sees the plines centered in anthropology and antiquity, Stop, Stop, Stop… A Necessary Pause in the withdrawal from a university course as a per- and would establish a counterpoint to mo- Flow of Time, held on April 26. sonal failure. “Why? Life goes on. You have dernity. The third would include disciplines Markus, who is member of the IEA’s scien- to accept the idea of change. A college degree enabled to discuss post-modernity, focusing tific committee for the ICA, focused on the tem- cannot dictate one’s future life and need not be on contemporary thought and on critiques to poral organization of biological cycles influenced a definitive professional milestone.” modern thinkers. by variations of light, and particularly on the According to Janine, the course was designed Theory of Immune-Pineal Axis, developed by Thinking a new model to offer students different views on the same her research group at the Chronopharmacology subject. Sociology, for instance, is concerned To explain the model of the university of Laboratory of the Institute of Biosciences of the with studying the flaws of modernity. Anthro- the future he has in mind, Janine used as an University of São Paulo, which she heads. pology is averse to modernity, and does not be- example the project of an experimental inter- According to this theory, when attacked by a lieve in progress and in a hierarchy of cultures. disciplinary humanities course that he devel- pathological agent – e.g., a virus, fungus or bac- And Political Science tends to believe that the oped for the University of São Paulo, but was teria – and has to defend itself quickly, the body world can be better if it becomes more rational, never implemented. forces a temporary halt of its circadian clock, which is what modern thinkers assume. The course was divided in four semesters, which is responsible for synchronizing internal “The courses would not be mere expositions the first of which would have “Modernity” as rhythms and the external environment. During of content, but different lenses through which its central theme: the disciplines would revolve this pause, the regulation of diurnal and noctur- to see social phenomena. Students would learn around the emergence of the modern age and nal biological functions becomes secondary and to analyze events from the most appropriate would discuss above all rationalism, relying on gives way to an innate immune response. perspective. There is no single universal lens.” authors like Descartes, Durkheim and Max Markus presented a series of experiments He said that, much like the university of Weber. The perspective of the visual arts and conducted in vitro (in the controlled environ- the future, the course would broaden people’s literature would also be included, with analy- ment of the laboratory) and in vivo (in tissues worldview. “We must become cultural and ses of novels centered on problematic heroes, from living organisms) in her laboratory, which scientific polyglots; we must know the differ- such as Don Quixote and Madame Bovary, show that the temporary halt of the circadian ent areas and disciplines and how to integrate which represent “the shadow, the dark side of clock is possible thanks to the two-way commu- them,” he said.  Modernity,” he said. nication that exists between the immune system and the pineal gland, located in the central re-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 45 15/02/2016 22:28:35 45 gion of the brain and responsible for synchronizing body rhythms and the so-called light/dark cycles. Intercontinental Academia Under normal conditions and if the body is not under threat, when Conference Proposes night falls darkness stimulates the pineal gland to produce melatonin. The Philosophical Reflection on hormone, known as “hormone of darkness” or “sleep hormone,” enters Time and Eternity the bloodstream and tells every cell that it is night, paving the way for a state www.iea.usp.br/en/news/time-eternity of drowsiness. In contrast, at dawn, the increasing intensity of light inhibits April 20, 2015 the gland and the production of melatonin ceases, allowing the body to awaken and become active for the day. In a videoconference for the Intercontinen- This hormonal mediation between body and mind regulates the bio- tal Academia (ICA) held on April 20, Sami Pi- logical clock, enabling the organism to make the necessary adjustments to hlström, a professor of Philosophy of Religion maintain the 24-hour life cycles. at the University of Helsinki, addressed the no- tions of time and eternity from a philosophical A pause in time perspective. However, in the presence of an external threat, the melatonin produc- Pihlström, who is also director of the Helsin- tion is altered and the fine tuning between biological rhythms and ambient ki Collegium for Advanced Studies, dedicated light is interrupted. his exposition more to raising topics for reflec- To reach this conclusion, Markus hypothesized that the functions of the tion by the ICA participants than to providing “hormone of darkness” go beyond regulating sleep and extend to defend- answers. He began his lecture by raising two ing the organism – or, more specifically, to acting as a blood-brain barrier central philosophical problems about the met- (the chemical mechanism that filters what can reach the brain). aphysics of time and of temporality: “What is The barrier acts as a gate; when closed, it prevents leukocytes (the time? Is time fundamentally real or is it just a body’s defense cells) in the bloodstream from migrating to healthy tissues way for man to categorize reality?” and generating an undue immune response, which Markus calls “spurious According to him, these questions lead inflammation.” to two major concepts of time: that of Real- Markus explained that melatonin is a key element in the functioning of ism, which sees time as “a basic feature of the this barrier: the hormone inhibits the permeability of the cell layer of blood space-time universe,” endowed with objective vessels, preventing leukocytes from unnecessarily traversing to tissues. truth; and that Transcendental Idealism (de- However, if pineal receptors receive information that an infectious veloped by German philosopher Immanuel agent has entered the body, the gland blocks the synthesis of melatonin. Kant), according to which time is a subjective In the absence of the hormone, the blood-brain barrier opens and allows construction of human cognitive faculties, de- the immune cells to pass from the bloodstream to the injured tissue. This rived from intuition. creates the necessary conditions for the body to react quickly to the threat These concepts, in turn, bring up the clash of a pathogen, and is the first phase of the innate immune response. Realism vs. Anti-Realism regarding the exist- On the other hand, if melatonin levels in the blood are reduced, then ence of “objective and independent truth values the regulation of the light/dark cycles is compromised and the body cannot of the mind” underlying historical statements. synchronize internal rhythms with daytime and nighttime. In Pihlström’s assessment, these two philosoph- According to Markus, that is why the biological clock becomes misad- ic currents take opposite positions: while the justed when we are sick. “During the first stage of the immune response, former states that the past is objectively deter- the body needs to stop in time to recover. This is what happens when we mined, the latter denies the existence of objec- have a cold and cannot sleep at night, but are sleepy during the day.”  tive reality in any temporal dimension.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 46 15/02/2016 22:28:35 46 The Relationship between Consciousness of Self and Perception of Time www.iea.usp.br/en/news/consciousness-self

Eternity Timelessness April 25, 2015

The second part of Pihlström exposition On the other hand, stressed Pihlström, What is the relationship between discerning was devoted to reflecting on the scientific and the concept of eternity can be interpreted not the consciousness of self – in the sense of an in- philosophical relevance and coherence of the as immortal existence in infinite time, but as dividual’s apprehension of his own existence – concept of eternity. “Is there or can there be timelessness. In his view, “life itself can be and the perception of time? Psychoanalyst Leo- something that is eternal?”, he asked. seen as a subspecies of eternity, even if one pold Nosek devoted his conference on April 25 He observed that ancient philosophers like does not believe in any kind of infinite exten- at the Intercontinental Academia to an analysis Plato and Aristotle held that the natural world sion of temporal existence.” of this matter. has an eternal existence; Judeo-Christian mon- He argued that, in this case, eternal life He said that, given the fact that conscious- otheism, on the other hand, believes that the would amount to living the present moment, ness of self includes temporality and that hu- world as we know it has a beginning (the time of as proposed by the Austrian philosopher Lud- manization presupposes perception of time, creation) and an end (the time of apocalypse). wig Wittgenstein in his Tractatus Logico-Phil- one cannot but wonder how time presents itself However, although believing in the finitude osophicus. Unfortunately, this idea can be eas- to, and is perceived by, human beings. of the world, Pihlström said, Judaism, Christi- ily trivialized in self-help literature and popular In his reasoning, Nosek made use of analo- anity and other religions also believe in eternal culture,” he added. gies with works by “two writers who addressed life, seen “as an endless continuation of corpo- Referring to the philosophy of religion the relativity of time from within the rationalist real or incorporeal existence, probably in very inspired by Wittgenstein’s ideas, of which tradition:” The Magic Mountain (1924) and different form than that of earthly existence.” British philosopher Dewi Zephaniah Phil- Doctor Faustus (1947), both by German-born For him, the idea of eternal life refers us to lips is the leading exponent, Pihlström said Thomas Mann (1875-1955); and The Leopard what English philosopher Bernard Williams religious, and particularly Christian, concern (1958), by Italian author Tomasi di Lampedusa called the “tedium of immortality” – a state of with the question of immortality/eternity be- (1896-1957). profound dejection when faced with the infin- gins with a radical affirmation of one’s fini- In the passage from The Magic Mountain ity of time. This is because immortal beings, tude and of human immortality. “Only by quoted by Nosek, Hans Castorp, the main unencumbered by time constraints, could do waiving the quest for the infinite continuity character, has just reached the conclusion that, anything at any time, which would lead them to of life can one adopt the perspective of eter- for the mind, time does not flow uniformly; the postpone any action indefinitely. “There would nity that a proper ethics for life requires,” he mind only assumes it does so to maintain the be no motivation for anything,” he emphasized. concluded.  proper order of things. Therefore, all measure- ments of time are no more than conventions. According to Nosek, time and conscious- ness of self are contemporary themes. He men- tioned Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) as one of the landmarks, from the view- point of perception, for most texts that discuss Modernity.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 47 15/02/2016 22:28:35 47 He said that in this work by Freud one can ‘proper place,’ and the image of time defined see the loss of our naïve trust in the conscious by frustration and limitation.” mind and the inexorable breach between the In Doctor Faustus, the main character, the conscious and the unconscious. For Nosek, musician Adrian Leverkühn, makes a pact with we could speak of Modernity as the awareness the devil, Mephistopheles, giving his soul in ex- of disruption. change for 24 years of genius as a composer. Addressing the emergence of this disrup- Nosek noted how Mephistopheles warns the tion, Nosek said we must remember how brief musician to pay attention to the hourglass. the Renaissance actually was, “with its glorious For Nosek, Mephistopheles’ warning means view of the individual as part of circumstances Leverkühn should remain aware of life. As a over which he had control.” However, it did not result of the pact, Lerverkühn becomes part of take long for Mannerism to come about, “with Modernity, “through atonal spaces, the spatial its distorted figures, its suffering subjectivity.” expansion of musical contradiction, accompa- He said that art historian Arnold Hauser nied by scientific inquiries and by the theory of (1992-1978) saw Mannerism as the onset of the uncertainty and chance.” perception of modern man, “the perception of He finished his presentation with some a shattered unity, of a broken harmony.” propositions by psychoanalyst Donald Meltzer As for The Leopard, Nosek noted that the (1922-2004) in his book Explorations in Autism novel is set in the mid-19th century, the time (1975), where he organizes the space of life in a of Italy’s reunification and modernization. The “geography of fantasy” that moves along in time. University Presidents main character, Don Fabrizio, prince of Salina, According to Meltzer, experienced time Discuss Changes and New after a dance, realizes that he, unlike others, can be a cloister where events are not avail- Accountabilities captures the passage of time, which is accompa- able to memory and to thought (as happens www.iea.usp.br/en/news/future-universities nied by “progress, destruction of old structures, in autism); it can be circular, undeveloping, creation of new wealth and new desolations.” where there is no death; or it can be oscillat- April 24, 2015 According to Nosek, “the prince of Salina, ing, moving from within to outside the object in a sudden glimmer of his own skin, grasps and vice-versa, a continuous operation of om- Universities of the future will vary in their his circumstances, his historical destiny and his nipotence that makes the differentiation of self focus: some will dedicate themselves more to subjective self; his own place is revealed to him. from object reversible, and also makes the di- teaching, others to research. Interdisciplinar- What more could he obtain?” rection of time itself reversible. ity will become the teaching & research para- For Nosek, grappling one’s circumstances According to Nosek, remaining unidirec- digm. Instructors will no longer be conveyors and one’s time blends in with the apprehen- tional and linear, from birth to death, requires of knowledge, but rather tutors who guide stu- sion of the limits and the space of human a painful process, never completed, of re- dents in learning. Information and communica- existence: “We continue, therefore, within nouncing the fusion between the self and the tion technologies will be intensely used. There our theme: the interconnection between the object, of struggling against narcissism, of as- will be greater commitment to the numerous consciousness of self, the awareness of one’s suaging omnipotence.  problems faced by society. This prospective overview summarizes the debate The Future of Universities, held on April 24 as part of the “University” program of the Intercontinental Academia. The expositors were John Heath, pro-vice-chancellor for estates and infrastruc- ture at the University of Birmingham (UK), Naomar de Almeida Filho, president of South-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 48 15/02/2016 22:28:35 48 ern Bahia Federal University (UFSB), Luiz is being cast forward into future. “One feels For him, “the university, in its current mod- Bevilacqua, former president of ABC Federal one is living in a ‘liquid time-space’ [referring el, is finished and is unlikely to flourish. And University (UFABC), Klaus Capelle, president to sociologist Zygmunt Baumann’s concept of there is not much time left to make the appro- of UFABC, Carlos Vogt, president of the Vir- “liquid life,” precarious and fraught with un- priate decisions.” tual University of the State of São Paulo (UNI- certainty], with enormous diversity, which also Bevilacqua also does not believe in a single VESP), and Marco Antonio Zago, president of causes friction.” model, but rather in certain guiding principles the University of São Paulo (USP). That is why the thought of philosopher Edgar of transformation: the university should be, The panelists of the event were Helena Morin is so relevant today. For Morin, “educa- above all, a place where learning prevails over Nader, president of the Brazilian Society for tion is the ‘force of the future,’ because it is one teaching; where research advances knowl- the Advancement of Science (SBPC), and of the most powerful tools for effecting change.” edge instead of enlivening the résumé of the Marcelo Knobel, from the Institute of Physics Like the trivium and the quadrivium, the researchers (reversing the current model that of the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). sets of disciplines that defined education in the emphasizes quantity over quality); and where The event was moderated by journalist Sabine Middle Ages, Almeida Filho lists five character- interdisciplinarity is seen not as a cause, but as a Righetti, specialized in science and technology istics he deems fundamental to contemporary result of the convergence of disciplines. policy, and in science journalism. education: communication (skill in using lingua Klaus Capelle preferred to speak about francae); connectivity; proficiency in interpreta- the future from the perspective of the history Expositions tion; teaching/learning; and listening. of universities, listing the duties that were con- He said it is essential that the university be ferred upon them over time. For John Heath, digital technologies, now decolonized and recreated as an effective vector He recalled that the roots of the university available to a considerable segment of the capable of transforming its environs. lay in the academies of the philosophers of an- world’s population, will increasingly impact the For him, inequality in Brazil is fueled by a cient Greece, and also in institutions controlled modes of learning, enabling a 24/7 approach perverted kind of education. “Given the re- by the Church in the Middle Ages. These in- to education and significantly affecting how re- gressive taxation of our tax system, the State is stitutions were devoted exclusively to teaching. search is carried out. financed by those who enjoy the least benefits. “The significant change took place a little over Heath said Birmingham already offers on- Thus, the primary and secondary education 200 years ago, when Alexander Von Hum- line classes, whereby students in the United of a privileged minority is subsidized, leading boldt, in Germany, proposed a model of auton- Kingdom, United States, Hong Kong and them to enter the best public [and free] institu- omous university that incorporated research.” Canada can interact, an experience they deem tions of higher education.” Capelle identified the 1970s as the time “transformative.” As for the less privileged, “if they ever man- when the maintenance of public universities The internationalization of education, in his age to overcome their difficulties and begin became so taxing that their members began view, will not lead to some kind of educational their higher education, they have to pay.” He finding it difficult to “justify their existence to colonialism. On the contrary, he believes that acknowledges that there are several mecha- the public ‘merely’ with the benefits of teaching globalization will actually reinforce the impor- nisms to facilitate access to university of the and research.” Thus, the tripod of university ac- tance of diversity and buoy up the culture of poorest youth – e.g., PROUNI, FIES, quotas tion – teaching, research and extension – was each place. –, “but these do not change the structure of the strengthened approximately 10 years ago. For Naomar de Almeida Filho, we should system.” “However, at present, society demands from consider various possible futures for universi- Like Almeida Filho, Luiz Bevilacqua the university not only dedication to teaching, ties, because he does not believe there will be a stressed the complexity of the transformations research and extension, but also a series of oth- single model. In his view, today’s political, eco- society is undergoing. He called our current er purposes, such as social inclusion, technolog- nomic and social milieu makes it necessary for period “a time of culture shock” and made an ical innovation, entrepreneurship, internation- us to elect knowledge as society’s central and analogy with surfing: “A wave on the beach is, alization, distance education and sustainability.” main asset. technically, a shock wave and one should not at- For Capelle, too much is demanded from For him, contemporaneity implies cer- tempt to swim it; one must have an instrument the university and there is too little time to tain epistemological keynotes, now that time (the surfboard) to ride it.” achieve all that is demanded. But he believes

ogni_ingles copy.indd 49 15/02/2016 22:28:35 49 the university will maintain its resilience in the For Zago, the missions of the university de- face of the new demands, thanks to technologi- fined by Spanish philosopher Ortega Y Gasset cal development and to changes in how knowl- (1885-1955) and the German thinker Karl Jas- edge is organized. pers (1983-1969) remain valid. In the future, he predicts some changes that He quoted an observation by Ortega y Gas- were unanimous in the debate: the massive use set in his 1929 essay “Misión de la Universidad” of information and communication technol- on the aims of this institution: “Transmission ogies; interdisciplinarity as a solid paradigm of culture, education for the liberal professions, (“without eliminating disciplinarity”); and the scientific research and the development of new specialization of institutions, because not every men of science.” university can do everything. He also cited the words of Jaspers: “The uni- Carlos Vogt said that society has gone from versity is a school – but of a very special sort. It a classical culture of “formation” to one of “in- is intended not merely as a place for instruction; formation” and constant “transformation.” “Al- rather, the student is to participate actively in though we may not yet be aware, the university research and from this experience he is to ac- is already living the future, the process of per- quire the intellectual discipline and education manent transformation.” This process is based, that will remain with him throughout his life. he said, on the “surfboard” (mentioned earlier Ideally, the student thinks independently, lis- by Bevilacqua) of information and communica- tens critically and is responsible to himself. He tion technologies. has the freedom to learn.” He mentioned UNIVESP’s main charac- Zago recalled the aims of the University of teristics as an example of the use of new tech- São Paulo, as stated in Decree No. 6283, of nologies, allowing 3,500 incoming students 1934, which established the new institution: every year to attend one of two engineering a) To promote, through research, the pro- courses (production and computation) or one gress of science; of four courses leading to high-school teach- b) To convey, through teaching, knowl- ing degrees (mathematics, physics, chemistry edge that enriches or develops the spirit or is and biology). useful to life; After two years, UNIVESP’s students receive c) To train specialists in all branches of a certificate of higher education. If they want an culture, and technicians and professional per- engineer’s degree, they must complete three sonnel in all professions that require a scientific more years; a teaching degree, two more years. or artistic background; As an example of using technology to edu- d) To accomplish the social work of pop- cate students, Vogt mentioned the dedicated ularizing science, literature and the arts through television channel UNIVESP TV and the uni- synthetic courses, conferences, lectures, radio versity’s YouTube channel, which has already broadcasting, scientific films and the like. had 30 million hits. For him, these goals already contained the Following up on a comment by Capelle about embryo of what the university is today, when a the history of universities, Marco Antonio Zago new one has been added: the relationship be- said that universities were previously no more tween the university and society. than a depository of knowledge, but the period In his view, this new mission includes for- between wars in the 20th century saw the con- mulating proposals to solve the great problems solidation of the model proposed by Humbolt, of society, strengthening the relationship with incorporating teaching and research. other institutions, and concern about several

ogni_ingles copy.indd 50 15/02/2016 22:28:35 50 other issues, e.g., the environment, population Ages; the modern role of a university professor Capelle, answering the question about man- growth and changes, food production and the is not to be an authority, but rather a moderator agement, said that presidents of federal univer- portability of information services. [To demon- or coach.” sities in Brazil are in a unique position: they are strate this, Zago used his cell phone to quote With regard to management, Naomar de legitimized by their election, but are subject to Ortega Y Gasset, Jaspers and the decree that Almeida Filho said one of the dilemmas of the internal and external constraints that prevent created the University of São Paulo). university is how to submit its governance to so- them from fully exercising the governance of Zago believes one specific issue deserves an ciety’s scrutiny. He also stated that autonomy the institution. intense debate, namely, how to deal creatively has been often used to maintain the status quo. With regard to undergraduate education, he with the conflict between academic quality and He believes that we can move forward on believes it is wrong to think of it in isolation. universal access to higher education. this, as exemplified by an UFSB proposal es- “The solution thought out at UFABC is to forgo tablishing two councils: a university council, the tripod of teaching, research and extension, The Debate concerned with academic matters; and a stra- and accept the entanglement of activities, with tegic-social council, with representatives from graduate students teaching extension courses or Helena Nader, one of the panelists, asked the surrounding society: social movements, in- taking part in research, for example.” the expositors about the governance of Bra- digenous communities, trade unions and other Luiz Bevilacqua said the governance of Bra- zilian universities, which “is distinct from that organized bodies of the population. zilian universities is still a cultural issue and each exercised in every other country represented at For Vogt, the challenge is to find the bal- institution has a proposal to improve it. the Intercontinental Academia.” She also said ance between generality and specialization. With regard to undergraduate education, that the autonomy of Brazilian universities “is “This cannot be done through the dissection he said the problem is that Brazil has a culture established on paper, but doesn’t exist in fact.” of fields, but rather by aggregating them.” For of diplomas, not of competence. “The mod- Regarding the diversity of universities advo- him, aggregation also involves the question el of colleges and technological institutions is cated by the expositors, Nader asked whether of university governance, “because we have a very important and does not stanch student a university that does not conduct research framework that was compatible with the 1960s, creativity.” should be called a university. but today we know that the departments have He also reinforced the view of other ex- Another aspect she highlighted is how Bra- not kept up with the dynamics of groups and positors on the need for another model of zilian universities will deal with globalization, of academic life.” student/teacher relationship, whereby learning “when many models arrive here from abroad He said that in the 1990s he tried to deal occurs not because instructors teach students, and impose themselves, including through eco- with this problem at UNICAMP, but the cor- but rather because they provide the means to nomic pressure.” poratist reaction did not allow the discussion to learn: “You have to make students advance on Marcelo Knobel, the other panelist, ques- go forward. their own.” tioned the lecturers about the importance given This challenge is associated with another Zago answered two questions from the pan- to undergraduate education, which, in his view, one, he warned: “We must avoid the unioni- elists. First, regarding the profile of universities, “is undervalued vis-à-vis research.” Secondly, zation of knowledge.” Vogt said the rationale of he said it is not true that all universities should he wondered what recommendation they might trade unions is important, but it cannot override do research: “There is not enough money or have to the young researchers participating in the rationale of knowledge. resources; and this need not be so.” He said re- the Intercontinental Academia. On the other hand, he said that what makes search universities in the United States number Responding to the panelists, John Heath universities permanent and longstanding is their no more than 100, several from the first and said that higher education in Europe is a free conservatism, much like what happens with re- second echelons, but many of inferior quality. market, with variations: “In Switzerland, it is ligious institutions: “We want change, but not to With regard to the University of São Paulo, free of charge; in the UK, it is very expensive.” the point of a final vertigo.” he said its gigantism prevents it from growing As for undergraduate education, Heath On the importance of undergraduate educa- even more or from making individualized pro- chose to highlight what should be the instruc- tion, he said it is key, because “you cannot pre- posals to its students. As for undergraduate ed- tors’ role: “They are no longer the owners of pare good researchers without preparing good ucation, he said that it is very important, but has knowledge, as the monks were in the Middle undergraduate students in every field.” not been given its proper value at USP.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 51 15/02/2016 22:28:35 51 René Nome talks about Molecular Dynamics in Short-Lived Phenomena www.iea.usp.br/en/news/molecular-dynamics April 20, 2015

As a recommendation to the young re- Answering Caio Dantas’ inquiry, Almeida The scientific and technological advances searchers of the Intercontinental Academia Filho said that one of the agents of transforma- that have enabled us to observe molecular and their task of producing a Massive Open tion are the public policies for social inclusion dynamics in real-time were discussed by René Online Course (MOOC) about time, Zago that give voice to the population, even if part of Nome in the conference Playing with Time in suggested they question why they should be it has a conservative mindset: “The university Chemistry, held on April 20 in the first round doing this, and for whom they are doing it cannot be remiss; it has a civilizing role to play.” of expositions on the theme “Time” at the (without forsaking how their work ought to For him, given today’s massive relativism, Intercontinental Academia (ICA). be carried out), so that every interested party some values have been lost and the bond be- Nome, a professor at the Chemistry Insti- can benefit from the teachings about time con- tween university and society is faltering. “For tute of the State University of Campinas (UNI- tained in the course. a university to isolate itself is gruesome. It CAMP), conducts research with ultrafast spec- Opening the debate to other participants, should incorporate into the cultural milieu troscopy in the field of femtochemistry, focused biologist Eduardo Almeida, one of the young those who have been first, and most recently, on the study of physicochemical phenomena researchers of the Intercontinental Academia, included in the economy.” that take place in very short time intervals, on asked the expositors how young professors He also commented on university autono- the order of femtoseconds (a unit of measure- might make a difference in the university of my: “You must think differently about it. The ment corresponding to 10-15 second – or a mil- the future. concept of university autonomy thrived in the lionth of a billionth of a second). Marcos Nogueira Martins, professor at the late 18th century, after the French Revolution, Institute of Physics, asked how one should ele- and in the early 19th century, at a time when vate to higher scientific levels the students who the university had lost its social accountability.” arrive at university with meager scientific culture. As for the trade union activism of faculty Caio Dantas, former dean of undergradu- and staff, he said that “the rupture of the dia- ate courses at USP and currently a researcher logue between university and society opened at the IEA, asked Naomar de Almeida Fil- spaces for union activism.” ho how it might be possible to reshape the Carlos Vogt added that trade unionism in university in very conservative regions. To universities is one of the key issues, “but it is Carlos Vogt, he asked how it is possible to not a matter of preventing unionization, but deal with the labor union aspect of academic rather of strengthening the academic rationale, institutions. of having clear academic projects.” Luiz Bevilacqua said there is no problem in Klaus Capelle closed the debate by answer- extending the length of stay at the university of ing two questions: regarding young instructors, students with scant scientific culture. He add- he ascribes them a key role in universities that ed, regarding the necessary changes, that uni- are in the process of consolidation; and re- versities must learn to dialogue with members garding less prepared students, he emphasized of Congress, because the military dictatorship that they don’t always lack talent and many go accustomed every official to address only the on to become success stories: “We must help executive branch of government. those whom we want in the university.” 

ogni_ingles copy.indd 52 15/02/2016 22:28:36 52 In his presentation, he talked about the transition states of chemical reactions by means Developments challenges of investigating the behavior of of femtosecond spectroscopy. The study for molecules during chemical reactions as they which he was given the Nobel Prize was highly In the wake of the forerunners of femtochem- involve very small structures and very fast pro- innovative and used ultrashort laser pulses to istry and nanoscopy, Nome has been conducting cesses. He explained that, when studying this capture images of what happens when chemical studies in the field of ultrafast spectroscopy to type of phenomenon, “seeing is believing” and, bonds break down and new ones are created. understand the role of the environment in highly therefore, one must use special optical instru- That was the birth of the world’s fastest camera, unpredictable physicochemical processes. ments, based on ultrashort laser pulses, lasting capable of photographing atoms and molecules He spoke in depth about one study in par- 1 femtosecond. These instruments work like in motion over the course of a chemical reac- ticular, which observed at the molecular level photographic cameras with very high temporal tion as if in slow motion. the mechanisms and the transfer of energy dur- resolution, and are able to capture images of ex- Fifteen years later, Betzig, Moerner and ing photosynthesis, considered one of the fastest tremely fleeting events, such as transition states Heel were awarded for the development of processes ever recorded by man. and molecular vibration and rotation. high-resolution fluorescence microscopy, which The project aims to understand how solar enhanced microscopy’s capacity of observation energy migrates from the “antenna complex” to Forerunners to the nano scale. Previously, it was believed the reaction centers where photochemistry takes that maximum optical resolution was limited to place, that is, how a molecule absorbs sunlight Nome emphasized that research with ultra- half the wavelength of light. The technique de- and transfers the energy as quickly as possible to fast spectroscopy only reached its current stage veloped by these researchers broke that barrier another, distant molecule. To this end, Nome thanks to the contributions of scientists who laid and made it possible to visualize, in real time, uses ultrashort laser pulses, whose main advan- down the foundation for today’s techniques and chemical processes within living cells and at the tage is its monochromatic character, indicative of technologies, especially Ahmed Zewail, Nobel molecular level, giving rise to nanoscopy. a high degree of temporal coherence. In other Prize in Chemistry in 1999, and Eric Betzig, The trio’s findings were the starting point words, the phases of the light waves are synchro- William Moerner and Stefan Hell, Nobel Priz- for numerous studies and paved the way for nized, so that photons travel together in time, in es in Chemistry in 2014. us to observe the creation of synapses in nerve the same frequency. Zewail, considered the father of femtochem- cells, for instance, or investigate proteins in- According to Nome, the data obtained so far istry, was honored for his pioneering research volved in diseases such as Parkinson’s and help explain the absorption efficiency of photo- studies that made it possible to observe the Alzheimer’s. synthetic light and its transduction into energy. 

ogni_ingles copy.indd 53 15/02/2016 22:28:36 53 Carolina Escobar Highlights that the reaction of prehistoric men to a sunset process also triggers metabolic syndrome, in- the Importance of Regular was panic. Escobar said that biological evo- ducing people to gain weight. Biological Rhythms to lution endowed living beings with an internal Escobar said there are indications that even Health clock that allows them to anticipate situations: the phases of the Moon – and, thus, the var- “When the sun goes down, animals are pre- iation of night light –, affect some rhythms of www.iea.usp.br/en/news/biological-rhythms pared for it and know how to behave, including the body, such as the menstrual cycle in wom- April 21, 2015 how to protect themselves from predators.” en, which according to some evidence tends to According to Escobar, observing the pas- synchronize with the 28-day Moon cycle. For physiologist Carolina Escobar, from sage of time does not explain life, because the Escobar believes that some of the main the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mex- body changes constantly during the arrow of causes of the de-synchronization of biological ico (UNAM), time is ingrained in humans. It time (time’s progression toward the future), rhythms in human beings are our excessive is intrinsic to life. and is subject to change over the course of its nocturnal activity and the fact that we are in- Early on in her conference at the Intercon- daily cycles – e.g., the phases of the Moon, creasingly less exposed to nature. The con- tinental Academia on April 21 she disputed a Earth’s translation around the Sun, the dif- sequences, she explained, are gastrointestinal remark made by physicist Eliezer Rabinovici ferences between daytime and nighttime, var- diseases, mental disorders, cancer, stress, lack during his conference on the previous day, iations in temperature, humidity and winds, of concentration, obesity, anxiety and depres- among other variables. sion. A pernicious loop is thus established: She exemplified this with the adjustments “Diseases change the biological rhythms and changes plants and animals undergo each sea- the altered rhythms lead to disease.” How reg- son, mentioning how weight changes in birds ularly the eyes perceive the alternation of light depending on migratory needs, the availability of and dark, of day and night, is important for food, reproduction etc. “If animals did not have the proper functioning of the brain and other time within themselves, they would not survive.” organs. Escobar said that in many older peo- According to her, inhabitants of higher lat- ple, who rarely leave home and are therefore itudes (temperate zones and polar regions), exposed to artificial light during the day and who are susceptible to significant alterations part of the night, there are significant chang- between seasons, have a higher rate of “win- es in the activation of the cycles of sleep and ter depression” than those living in the tropics. wakefulness. According to her, when exposed “Humans do not migrate and they pay a price to additional lighting during the day, these sen- for it.” She stated that experiments exposing iors begin to sleep better and become more these people to more light show that this helps active. to abate depression. The importance of living in consonance Escobar also explained that the hormone with the light/dark cycle of days and nights melatonin (produced by the body only at for our organism’s proper development was night) regulates sleep and plays a key role in demonstrated by an experiment that Escobar’s brain biochemistry, including the availability team carried out in the neonatal intensive care of serotonin, the neurotransmitter responsible unit of a Mexican hospital. Part of the prema- for wakefulness. ture babies had their heads partially covered As nights in higher latitudes are longer in with a dome during the night, so that their wintertime, there is an increased production eyes received less light, since the ICU is fully of melatonin, which reduces biochemical ac- lighted 24/7. Babies who slept under the dome tivity associated with alertness and eventually gained weight faster and left the ICU earlier leads to anxiety and depression. The same that those who did not. 

ogni_ingles copy.indd 54 15/02/2016 22:28:36 54 Goldemberg Talks about USP’s Contributions to Society www.iea.usp.br/en/news/goldemberg-talk April 20, 2015

Conception of time in in a certain position. People like the Australian Physicist José Goldemberg, former president different societies aborigines, the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, of the University of São Paulo and former min- as well as Polynesian and American Indians ister of Education, was the first speaker at the In- www.iea.usp.br/en/news/conception-time would be classified in the last stage of this line, tercontinental Academia (ICA) on the morning April 22, 2015 while the French and the Anglo-Saxons would of April 20. He talked about the history of the be at the top. In this concept, the more time university, its role in international education and What people understand by time is pres- goes on, the more species prosper and reach research, and the challenges thrust upon it. ent in all languages, and how they experience their goal of perfection and happiness - some- The conference was part of the ICA’s com- time is linked to this concept. Based on this thing quite connected to the capitalist economy. plementary program to discuss the future of reasoning, Professor Karl-Heinz Kohl, Di- Kohl cited the different conceptions of time universities. rector of the Frobenius Institute, gave his of several people, such as Egyptians, Greeks, Goldemberg recalled that universities came conference at the Intercontinental Academia Babylonians and several African tribes. He late in Brazil, partly because of restrictions im- (ICA) on April 22. also related the time in some religions, such as posed by the Portuguese Crown in the colonial According to him, the way how different Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. period. He added that, unlike other centenary societies interpret time strongly depends on Another example of how time has affect- universities that have developed naturally, the their mode of production and on the envi- ed the life of societies, according to Kohl, was University of São Paulo was built according ronment in which they live. “People from ir- brought by the expansion of the railway in the to a plan, at a time when industrialization was rigation and hunting cultures had a different United States in the last two decades of the nine- thriving and there was a need to restructure the conception of time than industrial societies, teenth century. At that time, each American city educational system and to expand the supply of as demonstrated in the film ‘Modern Times’, had its own time according to the passage of the skilled labor. which is almost a hundred years old. The sun. But because of the arrival of trains, it has According to him, the creation of USP in slaves of time in industrial society are con- been necessary to adopt the time zones and 1934 benefited from the fact that numerous nected to modernity,” he said. thus to standardize the measurement of time in European intellectuals were dissatisfied with For the professor, one can find similarities all cities. The professor explained that people the political direction their continent was tak- between conceptions of time for people living born during the transition to the fully industrial- ing. “They were persuaded to come and take away from each other and that have never met ized mode of production became obsessed with part in establishing the university, which began before, while people living nearby may have dif- the concept of time and progress - the begin- with the existing schools of Law, Medicine and ferent notions of time. ning of the “clock empire”, as pointed by Kohl. Engineering, and grew with the addition of oth- According to Kohl, the concept of time for One of the rites of passage to adulthood in this er colleges.” anthropology is connected to Charles Darwin’s period was to give a pocket watch to young peo- For Goldemberg, two facts were particular- theory of evolution. Anthropologists have creat- ple, an object that has become a synonymous of ly relevant to the success of the initiative: the ed a kind of progress line and put each society industrialization and prosperity.  adoption of a full-time professorship regime and the total funding of the university by the state government.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 55 15/02/2016 22:28:36 55 80 years professors, which have become reference in many trials and legal opin- ions, and played a decisive role in drafting proposals that turned into laws, In 2014, Goldemberg chaired the committee in charge of the cele- such as the Consumer Protection Code (Law No. 8078/90). brations of USP’s 80th anniversary. One of his tasks was to organize a Another outstanding feature of the University of São Paulo, in his book on the occasion and, toward this end, a questionnaire was sent to 52 view, is the role of numerous professors in political, institutional and so- directors of education and research units, specialized institutes, and mu- cial activities, such as the creation of political parties, work in the first seums. One of the questions inquired what the unit had done throughout echelon of federal, state and municipal governments (even as head of the its history as a contribution to society. Executive branch), and special initiatives, such as the Truth Commission Goldemberg said some of these officers didn’t know how to answer that aims to elucidate crimes committed by the military dictatorship. the question. To him, this shows how much the role of the university At the end of his exposition, Goldemberg made an analogy between remains undefined for a large number of scholars. the ICA’s interdisciplinary and interactive academic proposal, and the He said the University of São Paulo consumes 5% of state taxes, equiva- role of the IEA, created during his tenure as USP’s president: “The IEA lent to approximately US$ 2 billion, and that the average student costs US$ was created to stimulate interaction between the various groups of the 2,000 per month. “Even if there are many excellent courses and others not university, in all scientific areas.” so good, regardless of the resources invested,” he considers that a wholly State-funded university might be a good template for developing countries. Debate With regard to international comparisons, Goldemberg relied on the Times Higher Education ranking, where USP appears among the 201- During the ensuing debate, biologist Eduardo Almeida, one of the 225 best-rated institutions. He agreed that this position is not extraordi- young participant scholars, asked Goldemberg if by taking part in projects nary, but “considering the number of countries with higher ranking uni- such as the ICA (which are interdisciplinary and difficult to assess by versities than USP, we find that there are 150 countries in the world that the usual evaluation procedures) young scholars might not be swimming do not have a similar university, and this says a lot.” against the current and producing less than they might in their area of For him, USP’s ranking shows that the university has the ability to ed- research. Goldemberg’s answer was succinct and to the point: “I don’t ucate well-informed individuals about the world and which technologies agree. Being in contact with scholars from other fields leads to greater are being tested or need to be developed. creativity in one’s own area.” Goldemberg exemplified this with the pursuits of certain schools, such Asked by physiologist Carolina Escobar which strategy could be adopt- as ethanol research headed by Luiz de Queiroz Agricultural College (ES- ed to encourage low-production professors to produce more, Goldem- ALQ), in Piracicaba, “which made it possible for half the gasoline Brazil berg said that usually administrative statutes do not allow their dismissal needs today to be replaced by sugarcane ethanol.” and that, therefore, it is up to department heads to be more active in During his exposition, Goldemberg displayed graphs of Brazil’s and demanding productivity. USP’s scientific production, and concluded that the number of papers To a question from statistician Caio Dantas, former dean of Under- published abroad has increased. “This could be an excellent growth in- graduate Studies at USP and currently a researcher at the IEA, on how to dicator of our output; however, the impact of the articles is still low, a evaluate scholars who don’t have a significant production paper but are very little over 0.6 for Brazil and 0.7 for USP if we take ‘1’ as an international active in stimulating the work of research groups and the development of average” [being the number of citations an article receives]. students, Goldemberg said that one of the ways might be the institution of He recalled that in addition to the contributions to applied natural awards, as occurs in other areas of knowledge, such as the arts. sciences and engineering, one must also highlight a number of other Martin Grossmann, director of the IEA, asked what Goldemberg relevant contributions to society that are not properly computed in the would recommend to young researchers participating in the ICA. The ratings. He mentioned as an example the contributions of Law School answer came in one word: “Aggressiveness”. 

ogni_ingles copy.indd 56 15/02/2016 22:28:36 56 Conference Addresses Cross-Cultural Artistic Experience between Brazilians, Yanomamis and Germans www.iea.usp.br/en/news/cross-cultural April 20, 2015

The process of the artistic creation of the multimedia opera Am- azonas: Music Theatre in Three Parts was expounded by Laymert Garcia dos Santos in the conference Myth and Technoscience in Cross-Cultural Amazonia, held on April 20 as part of the program of the Intercontinental Academia (ICA) The opera is the result of an international and cross-cultural co- operation effort involving Brazilian researchers, German artists and Yanomami Indians from the Watoriki settlement, on the border with Venezuela, and chronicles the future of the Amazon forest both from a Western, technoscientific perspective and from a shamanic, mytho- logical viewpoint. According to Santos, a professor at the Sociology Department of the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), the aim of this artistic experiment was to bring together two distinct visions of the future of the Amazon rainforest – one based on magical thinking, the other on rational thought – and find common ground on which produce the piece. The opera was produced from 2006 to 2010 in a partnership between the Goethe Institute, the Munich Biennale, the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, and the Hutukara Yanomami Associ- ation, and was presented in 2010 at the International Festival for New Music Theatre of the Munich Biennale and at SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, and in 2013 at the Out of Control Festival in Vienna (Austria). To achieve this synthesis between shamanic and technoscientific cosmologies, a cross-cultural dialogue was established between the In- dians and the “white man,” based on a symmetrical relationship and mutual respect. “It was necessary that the two visions converse and preserve their essence, without one submitting to the other. The idea was to integrate, not erase the differences between them,” he said. The speaker compared the process of creating the opera to that of establishing the ICA. According to him, both initiatives involve bring- ing together players from different cultures and integrating their cos- mologies, perspectives and worldviews towards a common goal. “It is not a matter of overcoming misunderstandings, but of turning them into productive misunderstandings,” he said, paraphrasing the French anthropologist Bruce Albert.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 57 15/02/2016 22:28:36 57 The choice of a multimedia and cross-cul- “The Sky Is About to Fall,” the second Scientific & Cultural Tour tural opera was a wager that emotions might part of the opera, deals with the future of the Reveals Aspects of São help raise society’s awareness of the problem forest from the mythical perspective of the Paulo’s Social Inequality of deforestation in the Amazon region. The Yanomami. Pervaded by indigenous chants and Interculturalism to ICA focus, Santos insisted, was to address the and natural sounds heard in the woods, the Participants issue through art, using the unconventional narrative depicts the triumph of Xawara www.iea.usp.br/en/news/tour-saopaulo1 strategy of appealing to reason by means of – the evil spirit that symbolizes the “white technoscientific information, generally re- man’s” greed – over the shamans. The out- April 19, 2015 stricted to data, numbers and graphs. “We come of the clash results in the apocalypse, wanted to reflect why, even though we know which Yanomami mythology refers to as The contrasts between the central region we must stop deforestation, we do not.” “the fall of heaven.” and the outskirts of the city of São Paulo were The last part, “Amazonas Conference,” made clear to the participants of the Interconti- The opera is divided into three scenes: 1) “Paradise,” nental Academia (ICA) who took the scientific which uses mathematical data and models to and cultural tour “Centralities ↔ peripheries” on Exhibiting excerpts from the opera, San- explore the biochemical processes that en- April 19. The tour also included an exposition tos explained each of its three parts. The sure the equilibrium of ecosystems and bio- on the relationship between migration flows first, “Tilt,” was inspired by the letter Wal- diversity at the molecular level; 2) “Confer- and interculturality in São Paulo. ter Raleigh wrote to Queen Elizabeth I, in ence,” where scientists, politicians, shamans The tour began downtown, at the Pateo do which the explorer recounts his expedition and economists discuss the future of the for- Collegio, São Paulo’s founding landmark, con- to the Orinoco River region, near the ter- est and reach the conclusion that it’s too late tinued at USP’s Law School in São Francisco ritory of the Yanomami in Venezuela, and to stop the devastation; and 3) “Entropy”, Square and the Sé Cathedral. In the second claims to have discovered the legendary which tells of the collapse of paradise, as an- part, participants visited some of the surround- place the Spanish called “El Dorado.” nounced by the Yanomami and by western- ing areas and learned a little about specific fea- With a soundtrack of urban noises, this in- ers, with the destruction of molecular chains tures of the Pacaembu and Canindé neighbor- troductory section refers us to the past, more essential to nature’s life cycles, and of the hoods, where they visited the Kantuta Square. specifically to the perspective of the first resulting destruction of the forest. The itinerary of the third part included the out- discoverers of America. But it takes place In Santos’ assessment, the opera reveals skirts – or “periphery” as it’s more common- in the future, at a time when the forest has that, although modeled on very different ly called – and, specifically, the Vila Medeiros been totally devastated and no longer exists. types of logic, shamanic cosmology and district, in the North Zone, with a lunch stop at According to Santos, “Tilt” shows that the technoscientific rationality are in agreement the Mocotó restaurant. Participants also visited future of the forest was sealed in the distant about the future of the forest: given the cur- USP Leste (the East Zone campus of the Uni- past, with the arrival of the Europeans. The rent rate of deforestation, the end is inevita- versity of São Paulo), in Jardim Matarazzo, and “white man,” embodied in Raleigh, would be ble. “This is a death foretold,” he noted.  the Nutritional Education and Recovery Center the spokesman for the coming destruction. (CREN) in Vila Jacuí.

ogni_ingles copy.indd 58 15/02/2016 22:28:36 58 The tour was hosted by Sylvia Dantas, co- sociation, which organizes the market, spoke housing, derived from São Paulo’s deep so- ordinator of IEA’s Intercultural Dialogues re- to the researchers about the importance of cioeconomic inequalities, pushes the poor to search group and professor at UNIFESP; Ana the weekly event to pass on Bolivian culture to ever more distant places, with inadequate ad- Lydia Sawaya, coordinator of IEA’s Nutrition newer generations, already born in Brazil, and equate transportation, health, sanitation and and Poverty research group and professor at to promote cultural exchanges with Brazilians educational infrastructure. UNIFESP as well; Fernando Aith, councilor and with other Latin American immigrants. In these remote areas, the people occupy for the UNESCO Chair on Education for land that belongs to others (private owners or Peace, Human Rights, Democracy and Toler- The lawful city vs. the State) and embark on “self-constructions” ance (based at the IEA) and professor at USP’s the unlawful city – houses made of cheap material and built Medical School; and Suzana Pasternak, profes- with the labor of friends and neighbors. Aith As they passed through the Pacaembu sor at USP’s School of Architecture and Urban- stressed that only when these illegal occupa- neighborhood, Martin Grossmann, IEA’s di- ism (FAU). tions are already at an advanced, irreversible rector, explained the architectural plan of the stage does the State take action to “legalize” region. Based on the “garden city” concept, Interculturality them by means of redevelopment projects. the project was inspired by British architecture Dantas explained that São Paulo was built of the Victorian era and sought to respect the The periphery with the help of immigrants from all over the natural topography, resulting in sinuous streets world, especially those of Japanese and Italian and houses with large lots and ample gardens. The transition between the lawful city and descent, who arrived in the first half of the 20th Grossmann noted that this type of urban the unlawful city was observed as the tour ad- century to meet the demand for agricultural development, in a neighborhood reserved for vanced towards the outskirts. In Vila Medei- and industrial labor, and who exerted great in- São Paulo’s elite, contrasts with the precarious ros, the ICA researchers found an example of fluence in the city’s cultural milieu. housing in the city center, where drug addicts an urbanized suburb, an entire neighborhood According to her, in recent decades the city and the homeless sleep on sidewalks or squat that had actually begun as an irregular occu- has been experiencing new immigration flows, empty buildings, resisting the movement to pation. In the vicinity of USP Leste, they saw particularly of Bolivians, who already number expel low-income residents from downtown. ramshackle houses built inside an ecological more than 300,000. Attracted by the growth of Aith stressed that the contrast is one of park, where construction is supposedly for- the Brazilian economy, these immigrants come the effects of São Paulo’s accelerated growth, bidden by environmental laws. to São Paulo in search of jobs and a better life. especially since the 1950s. Over this period, The group obtained a more detailed pic- Many of them are in the country illegally and the process of uncontrolled urbanization was ture of living conditions in the periphery from are submitted to degrading working conditions, intensified, with a chaotic occupation of urban Sawaya’s exposition on the work of the CREN low pay and exhausting work in clothing sweat- spaces splitting the city in two different worlds: in Vila Jacuí, a neighborhood that emerged shops in the Bom Retiro and Brás districts. a “lawful” city, benefitted with urban planning, from the illegal occupation of an area of foun- The ICA participants had the opportunity regular housing and public services such as to learn more about the universe of these im- transport, water mains, electricity, schools and migrants in Kantuta Square, where a Bolivian hospitals; and an “unlawful” city, always grow- street market attracts nearly 3,000 people every ing towards the periphery, in the midst of great Sunday to enjoy typical foods, crafts, folklore and poverty, giving rise to slums and to all kinds of dances from different regions of Bolivia. Rodri- substandard housing. go González, vice-president of the Padre Bento According to the councilor, in the lawful Bolivian Gastronomic, Cultural and Folklore As- city, the difficulty of having access to regular

ogni_ingles copy.indd 59 15/02/2016 22:28:36 59 Opening of the versity, Marco Antonio Zago, at the ceremony. Intercontinental Academia Krieger, who is chairman of IEA’s Scientific Highlights the Project’s Committee, said the project contributes to lev- Uniqueness and Relevance erage the most productive formats of scientific collaboration networks. He also drew attention www.iea.usp.br/en/news/opening-ica tainheads that is part of an ecological reserve. to the fact that the ICA is characterized by in- Although it has been “reurbanized,” Vila April 17, 2015 terdisciplinarity and the integration of young Jacuí still lacks public infrastructure and ser- researchers, “who will play an important role in vices, and is overwhelmed by drug trafficking. The opening session of the Intercontinen- the society of their home countries.” With one of the lowest Human Development tal Academia (ICA), which took place on the The director of the IEA, Martin Grossmann, Index (HDI) in São Paulo’s East Zone, the dis- evening of April 17 at USP’s Medical School, presented the history and characteristics of the trict’s CREN is one of the few instruments to was marked by the enthusiasm of all those pres- project, explaining that side by side with reflec- improve the population’s quality of life. ent for the uniqueness of the project and its im- tions on the concepts of time in various sciences, The CREN operates there since 1993, com- portance for scientific and cultural cooperation other activities and discussion topics were also bating and preventing both malnutrition and between scholars from different countries, insti- included, such as a discussion on the future of obesity in children and adolescents, offering tutions and fields of knowledge. the university and the development of a MOOC nutritional assessment programs, development The then Minister of Education, Renato Ja- (Massive Open Online Course), a free course and learning evaluation, treatment for infec- nine Ribeiro, who is a member of IEA’s Sci- about time to be offered via the Web. tions, education, and insertion into the world of entific Committee in the project, stressed the Carsten Dose, from the Institute of Advanced culture. To these ends, it has a day hospital that significance of this initiative to integrate peo- Studies of the University of Freiburg (Germany), treats nearly 100 children, offering them five ple with various cultural and academic back- general secretary of the project, congratulated balanced meals a day. grounds at a time when words like “knowledge” all participants on behalf of all the institutes for Besides contributing to the nutritional and and “wisdom” have acquires various meanings advanced study that comprise the UBIAS net- educational recovery of children and adoles- and when “there are so many doubts about work (University-Based Institutes for Advanced cents, the CREN is also a place for family gath- what to do with knowledge, and wisdom is no Study), ICA’s mother organization. He said the erings and the practice of different activities. longer a constant in science.” materialization of the proposal that emerged in Computers are available to the community, as The president of the National Council for 2012 is a clear demonstration of how UBIAS’ well as a fully equipped playroom and the in- Scientific and Technological Development member institutes can work together. Dose also frastructure for physical and cultural activities (CNPq), Hernan Chaimovich, who is also a paid tribute to the former director of the IEA, (music, theater, dance and sports). member of IEA’s Scientific Committee, said César Ades (1943-2012), who attended the meet- Sawaya, who is former coordinator and cur- that the ICA is an example of “non canonical” ing that established UBIAS in October 2010 and rent scientific director of the CREN, stressed activity that must play a greater role in the train- impressed everyone with his enthusiasm for the the importance of the project as an initiative to ing of scholars: “The choice of one subject to be new entity. develop youth participation and provide oppor- analyzed by people from different cultures and Dapeng Cai, from the Institute for Advanced tunities for children and young people to move backgrounds has an extremely rich intellectual Research (IAR) of Nagoya University (Japan), away from crime. According to her, of the peo- relevance; it is an example of how to overcome the partner of the IEA in the implementation of ple who attend the center, 60% have a family interdisciplinarity and achieve an academically the ICA, highlighted the efforts to bring about member in prison and 70% have a relative ad- competitive transculturality anywhere in the this project and the importance of the final dicted to drugs or alcohol. world.” Chaimovich also stressed the quality of product being a MOOC on time. In his view, She also pointed out that over its 23 years the scientific profile of the young scholars se- the creation of a MOOC shows that the ICA, of operation, the project has helped 3 million lected for the project. in addition to enabling the sharing of knowledge children and contributed to substantially reduce USP’s dean of Research, José Eduardo among all scholars involved, is also concerned the number of murders in the environs.  Krieger, represented the president of the uni- with sharing results with the public at large. 

ogni_ingles copy.indd 60 15/02/2016 22:28:36 60 Participants of the the Municipal Market; the city center, includ- tance of the Clinical Hospital for providing Intercontinental Academia ing São João and Ipiranga avenues, Republic health services to the city’s population. Saldiva Become Acquainted with Square, the former premises of Caetano de also mentioned the perils to health and life in São Paulo’s Cultural and Campos school, the Municipal Theater, the general in the daily life of a metropolis such as Scientific Multifariousness Copan building, the building of the School São Paulo – from the numerous motorcycle of Architecture and Urbanism in Maran- accidents to environmental hazards such as air www.iea.usp.br/en/news/usp-city hão street and the Maria Antonia University pollution and sanitation problems. April 18, 2015 Center; the building of USP’s Medical School; At the Museum of Contemporary Art, Paulista Avenue; and the seat of the Museum Hugo Segawa talked about the features and The relationship between the University of of Contemporary Art in Ibirapuera Park. role of the institution within the University São Paulo and the city of São Paulo, the build- Grossmann explained how much the city of São Paulo, the city’s cultural milieu, and ings and monuments that display the myriad was influenced, until the early decades of the the move three years ago to the building de- architectural influences in the state capital, and 20th century, by the architecture of 19th centu- signed by Oscar Niemeyer. On the terrace an overview of the city’s social, economic and ry European palaces (the Paulista Museum and on the eighth floor of the museum, the guests cultural history were presented to the partici- the Municipal Theater, for example), and how enjoyed a panoramic view of Ibirapuera Park pants of the Intercontinental Academia (ICA) it later moved on to incorporate modernist val- and of the southern and western regions of the on April 18, during the project’s first activity. ues with the projects of Oscar Niemeyer, Lina city, accompanied by explanations by Segawa, The activity comprised a 10-hour cultur- Bo Bardi, Paulo Mendes da Rocha and other whose scholarly pursuits at the School of Ar- al and scientific tour downtown and in some architects. The history of how the city was estab- chitecture and Urbanism (FAU) include the neighborhoods of São Paulo. The tour was lished and the collections of São Paulo’s major history of natural landscapes, public spaces organized and expounded by IEA’s director, museums (MASP, MAM, MAC and Pinacote- and public urban gardens. Martin Grossmann, together with the Insti- ca) were the object of detailed explanations by Also at MAC, participants listened to a per- tute’s deputy director, Paulo Saldiva, the di- Grossmann, who also spoke about the creation formance by NuSom group. This group, from rector of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the São Paulo Biennial in 1951. ECA’s Music Department, is dedicated to (MAC), Hugo Segawa, and professors Eduar- During the visit to the Maria Antonia Uni- researches in sonology [the multidisciplinary do Monteiro and Fernando Iazetta, from the versity Center, the participants were informed study of sound]. Two pieces with audiovisual Music Department of the School of Commu- of the importance of the site as the former seat interaction and electronic resources were pre- nication and Arts (ECA), both accompanied of USP’s School of Philosophy, Literature and sented, and the group’s coordinator explained by members of projects they coordinate. Human Sciences, and as a one of the nuclei how they integrate various artistic and techno- The participants were able to get a good feel of resistance to the military dictatorship. They logical fields. of the history of São Paulo and its people since had the opportunity to hear an exposition by On balance, the activity was extremely posi- the founding of the city, with special emphasis Eduardo Monteiro on the life and work São tive, enabling the first close contact between the on the growth and development brought about Paulo-born composer Alexandre Levy (1864- ICA participants. During lunch, at an Italian res- by the great age of coffee and the subsequent 1892). Monteiro heads the Piano Laboratory taurant (after the influence of Italian immigra- industrialization. The tour was based on the of ECA’s Music Department, where he over- tion in the city had been explained), one could Giro Cultural project, designed by the Dean’s sees a project to record all of Levy’s works. already sense the closeness and the exchange of Office for Culture and University Extension Monteiro’s talk was followed by the presenta- information: one young biologist, for instance, (PRCEU) and coordinated by Grossmann. tion of four of Levy’s pieces, performed by was soon discussing with a young mathemati- The itinerary included Independence Park, graduate and undergraduate students involved cian, his table neighbor, about an idea he had the Paulista Museum, the Monument to the in the project. had that involved biomathematics.  Independence and the Museum of Zoology, At the Medical School, Paul Saldiva ex- all in Ipiranga district; Dom Pedro II Park, plained the School’s role in the development including the Palace of the Industries and of medical research in Brazil and the impor-

ogni_ingles copy.indd 61 15/02/2016 22:28:36 61 This graphic object on the Intercontinental Academia is a sui generis publication, not identifiable with any of the printed material usually put out by academic institutions. It is the result of experimentation by artists who use paper as a platform for unconventional narratives and seeks to give different treatment to the content originally published in the IEA-USP’s website (www.iea.usp.br), and in this case in the Intercontinental Academia’s website (intercontinental-academia.ubias.net). Thus, a two-way street is established, where what’s digital and what’s not digital interact and complement each other. In addition to this one, two other unidentified graphic objects were launched by the IEA-USP between 2014 and 2016.

March 2012 The proposal to crea- September 2013 During the UBIAS network conference held at the Univer- te a worldwide and interdisciplinary aca- sity of British Columbia, in Vancouver, the project was presented and discussed by demic programme to foster the encoun- all the participants. A letter of intent was signed by the directors of the IAR and the ter of young talented researchers was one IEA, officially announcing the first edition of the Intercontinental Academia, planned of the main outcomes of the meeting of to take place in Sao Paulo in April 2015 and in Nagoya in March 2016. “Time” was the Steering Committee of the UBIAS chosen as the theme of the first edition. (University-Based Institutes for Advan- ced Studies) network, held at the Jawa- harlal Nehru University’s Institute of Ad- vanced Study ( JNIAS), in New Delhi. The September 2014 At the FRIAS, in Freiburg, 15 young University of Sao Paulo’s IEA and the researchers have been selected based on the analysis of their Nagoya University’s Institute for Advan- CVs and letters of intent, considering three main guidelines: ced Research (IAR), with the support of quality and singularity of individual research, interdisciplina- the University of Freiburg’s Institute for rity, and cultural and geographical variety. At this same occa- Advanced Studies (FRIAS), have decided sion, the Senior Committee decided that the final product of to lead the pilot project for this initiative, the Intercontinental Academia would be a Massive Open On- naming it Intercontinental Academia. line Course (MOOC) on the subject “Time” to be produced by the young researchers with the support of the UBIAS network.

April 2015 During 14 days, 13 young (2 could not join) and 40 senior researchers gathered at the IEA in Sao Paulo, taking part in the first phase of the project. They had the chance to discuss topics concerning the central theme through lectures, workshops and debates aiming the develop- ment of a MOOC. In this immersive and intensive programme, they have also shared experiences and participated in intercultural activities. As a final result of the encounter, the young researchers presented the structure and the strategy for the development of the MOOC.

March 2016 Following a similar structure of the immer- sive programme developed in Sao Paulo, the IAR is structuring the second phase of the project in Nagoya considering three main guidelines: the MOOC proposal, launched by the 13 young rese- archers in April 2015, the IAR’s own perspective on “Time”, and April to December 2016 contextual experiences related to science and culture in Japan. Production of the MOOC on “Time” by With the support of Waseda University, the group and the senior the 13 young researchers in association committee of the Intercontinental Academia will also visit Tokyo with Coursera and the assistance of the and participate in academic activities at this university. As a final IAS_Institutes of Advanced Studies, IT result of this meeting, the young researchers should present all and media structures of the Universities the scripts of the lectures to be produced for the MOOC. involved in this first edition.

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