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IAI Live February: The Enigma of Energy

Bernard Carr, Priyamvada Natarajan, Avshalom Elitzur, Curt Jaimungal, Sarah Demers, Güneş Taylor

Embark on an Electrifying Journey! Join us on February 5th for an unmissable night featuring riveting debates, solo talks, interviews, and sensational music. Delve into the cosmic enigma of energy, where the world's foremost experts in their field unravel one of the universe's greatest mysteries.

From the power grid to the fundamental essence of matter, the concept of energy is essential to physics' description of reality. Einstein's famous equation identified all matter as energy, and as a result energy is seen by many as the ultimate consitutent of the universe.  But there is danger, as Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman, one of leading scientists of the last fifty years, has pointed out, that "we have no knowledge of what energy is".  And some now argue that with no independent confirmation or explanation for phenomena like dark energy, the whole of physics rests on a mystical notion.

Should we conclude that the concept of energy, though enormously useful in physics, is ultimately a mystical idea? Should we abandon the idea that energy describes the physical character of reality? Or is this all a mistake, and we should double down on the idea that energy is built into the fabric of the universe?