Monday 7th April - 05:20 PM BST
In Search of Nothing
Learn more about April's online event here
Is the idea of "nothing" impossible?
At first sight the idea of 'nothing' appears straight-forward, being simply the absence of any thing. Yet for centuries philosophers and scientists have grappled with this unexpectedly perplexing idea. Nothing is an absence so absolute that even defining it is problematic. We might imagine it as the void, the empty vacuum of space. But to be true nothingness it would need to lack time, space, matter, energy, and relation to the rest of the universe. In addition, in contemporary physics 'nothing' is nowhere to be found. In quantum mechanics, even the vacuum of space is teeming with quantum fluctuations. While in general relativity, empty space still retains energy. Meanwhile philosophers from Hegel to Sartre have placed nothing at the centre of their philosophical accounts of the world but at the same time by making it unfathomable.
Should we conclude that nothing is impossible, and if so something is inevitable? Can the paradoxes surrounding nothing be written off as a logical mistake as Russell maintained? Or can we solve the nature of nothing and with it perhaps the origin of the universe as well?
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David Deutsch
Founding Father of Quantum Computing
David Deutsch is a pioneering theoretical physicist best known as the founding father of quantum computation and as a key figure and advocate for the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Deutsch is a Visiting Professor of physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation and the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University. He is also the inventor of constructor theory, a new approach to formulating fundamental laws in physics.
Deutsch’s books, The Fabric of Reality and The Beginning of Infinity, explore the deep connections between physics, epistemology, and progress, arguing that knowledge creation is limitless. Deutsch’s work continues to influence fields from theoretical physics to artificial intelligence and philosophy of science.
Amanda Gefter
Celebrated Science Writer
Amanda Gefter is a renowned science writer specializing in fundamental physics, cosmology, cognitive science and philosophy. Her book Trespassing on Einstein's Lawn, the story of her quest with her father to figure out the nature of ultimate reality, was met with high praise from established publications including Scientific American. Amanda's writing has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Nautilus, Nature, Scientific American, Sierra, Quanta, Undark, Edge.org, NOVA Next, Sky and Telescope, Technology Review, Astronomy, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and New Scientist magazine, where she previously served as Books & Arts editor.
Lee Smolin
Pioneering Theoretical Physicist
Lee Smolin is a renowned theoretical physicist known for his work on loop quantum gravity, cosmological natural selection, and, more broadly, in the philosophy of physics. He is a senior faculty member at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Smolin challenges mainstream ideas in physics, arguing that time is real and fundamental, rather than an illusion, and advocating for cosmological natural selection — a mechanism whereby the laws of physics are changing and evolving over time. He is also a vocal critic of string theory, advocating for alternative approaches to unifying physics.
Smolin has written several influential books, including The Trouble with Physics and Time Reborn, where he explores conceptions and theories that account for the deep structure of reality.
Renowned physicist and pioneer of loop quantum gravity Lee Smolin, Oxford physicist David Deutsch and author of 'Trespassing on Einstein's Lawn: A Father, a Daughter, the Meaning of Nothing, and the Beginning of Everything' go head to head on the nature of nothing.