Rory Devine Fine Art is pleased to present a talk by the science writer Bobby Azarian about his book The Romance of Reality in conjunction with the closing reception for Brian Cooper’s exhibition “Things Thinking “in Los Angeles at 3209 W. Washington Blvd. on Saturday August 26th, 2023 from 4-7pm. A musical performance from the great Dustin Wong will follow Azarian’s talk.
According to the prevailing scientific paradigm, the universe tends toward randomness; it functions according to laws without purpose, and the emergence of life is an accident devoid of meaning. Consciousness— what it is and how it came about—is largely beyond our power to explain, or does not require an explanation at all because it is an “illusion.”
But this bleak interpretation of nature is currently being challenged by cutting-edge findings at the intersection of physics, biology, neuroscience, and information theory—generally referred to as “complexity science.” Due to a new understanding of evolution in terms of energy and information flows, a new cosmic narrative is emerging. Nature’s simplest “parts” come together to form ever-greater “wholes” in a recursive process that has no end in sight.
In The Romance of Reality, cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian explains the science behind this new view of reality and explores what it means for all of us. The great cosmologist and science communicator Carl Sagan once said of humanity that “We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” The Romance of Reality shows that this poetic statement in fact rests on a scientific foundation, and gives us a new way to know the cosmos, along with a riveting vision of life that imbues existence with meaning—nothing supernatural required.
“What is the origin of life and consciousness? Theists answer with God. Atheists say it is all a cosmic accident. But what if, as Bobby Azarian argues in this magisterial account of cosmic evolution, the universe has built into its laws of nature principles of emergence that generate complex adaptive systems that include life and consciousness? What if our cosmic purpose is to create our own cosmic purpose? This book will blow your mind.”
—MICHAEL SHERMER, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, Presidential Fellow Chapman University, author of Why Darwin Matters and The Moral Arc
Bobby Azarian is a science journalist and a cognitive neuroscientist with a PhD from the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University. He has written for publications including The Atlantic, The New York Times, BBC Future, Scientific American, Slate, The Huffington Post, and Aeon, and his research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Human Brain Mapping, Cognition & Emotion, and Acta Psychologica. His blog “Mind in the Machine,” hosted by Psychology Today, has received over 8 million views. Azarian worked on Season 2 of the YouTube Premium psychology-based series Mind Field (as a consultant and researcher), which won the show its first Emmy nomination. He is based in Arlington, Virginia.
Dustin Wong is an American guitarist formerly active in the art-rock band Ponytail and a former member of the experimental guitar duo, Ecstatic Sunshine (along with Matthew Papich).
