LIVE

A monthly event featuring debates, talks, interviews, music and film. LIVE.

more
IAI Live July - The Shock of The Future

Monday 11th July - 05:00 PM BST

IAI Live July - The Shock of The Future

From quantum mechanics to the laws of physics - is the future in flux?

Enter the event here

Today at 5pm BST! Join Lee Smolin, Stephen Wolfram, Francesca Vidotto, Bjørn Ekeberg, and John Vervaeke for an evening exploring the philosophy behind an ever-changing world.

We think the future will resemble the past, and that we can reasonably make predictions about tomorrow. But from the stock market crash to quantum physics, the future often appears impossible to predict.

Is there any certainty in this world? Or is the apparent familiarity of things a trick of the human mind to help us cope with the mystery of existence?

Some physicists now argue even the laws of nature themselves are in flux.

July's IAI Live event explores whether the future is possible to predict or if we should always expect the unexpected. Join the world's leading thinkers in an evening of debate, interviews, talks, groundbreaking films, and music.

5.00pm
Documentary Screening - DOKBOX Cinema

5.15pm
Big Sofa Interview - The Lounge
Simple Laws, Complex Universe
Stephen Wolfram

6.00pm
Headline Debate - The Arena
The Shock of The Future
Lee Smolin, Fancesca Vidotto, and John Vervaeke
Would we be better off abandoning the idea that the future is predictable and instead expect novelty around every corner?


7.00pm
Meet The Speakers - The Lounge

7.00pm
Documentary Screening - DOKBOX Cinema

7.15pm
Talk - The Arena
The Crisis of Cosmology
Bjørn Ekeberg

7.30pm
Music - The Stage

Tickets for IAI Live July are just £4.99 and include access to all the evening’s events, screenings and performances. Book here.

IAI Live and Premium Live subscribers can join all IAI Live events for free, no need to book.

5.00pm
Documentary Screening - DOKBOX Cinema

5.15pm
Big Sofa Interview - The Lounge
Simple Laws, Complex Universe

6.00pm
Headline Debate - The Arena
The Shock of The Future

7.00pm
Meet The Speakers - The Lounge

7.00pm
Documentary Screening - DOKBOX Cinema

7.15pm
Talk - The Arena
The Crisis of Cosmology

7.30pm
Music - The Stage

Join all IAI Live events with a Premium Live subscription

Subscribe

Or pick up a ticket

Book Ticket

Bjørn Ekeberg

"It looks rather like cosmology... has become path-dependent: overdetermined by the implications of its past inventions."

With extensive education and outstanding international scholarship in the fields of journalism, media & communication theory, cybernetics, science and technology studies, political science, economics, philosophy, and history of thought, Bjorn Ekeberg is an unorthodox thinker who likes to challenge the unquestionable.

Bjørn's enduring focus of interest is on the limits of scientific knowledge and his published work is on cosmology and our understanding of the universe.

"...a lucid exploration of modern scientific history... a unique synthesis" - Graham Harman on Metaphysical Experiments

Lee Smolin

Theoretical physicist known for proposing a reconciliation between loop quantum gravity and string theory. He is author of The Trouble With Physics and Time Reborn.

Emily Thomas

Emily Thomas is a philosopher based at Durham University. Her thought addresses a tapestry of issues from the nature of time to the relationship between philosophy and travel. One of Emily’s main areas of research is how our concept of time has changed in history and her most recent book Absolute Time, explores the development of absolute time or the idea that time is, in fact, a thing. 

John Vervaeke

"For thousands of years, philosophers and theologians have talked about the meaning of life, yet we currently face a crisis of life’s apparent meaninglessness"

John Vervake is an award winning professor at the University of Toronto in the departments of psychology, cognitive science, and Buddhist psychology. He is the director of the Cognitive Science programme and he is the director of the Wisdom Studies Laborotary, a group designed to find meaning in a meaningless world.

He is the creator of the widely viewed, 50-part lecture series on Youtube, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis, which covers everything from science and spirituality, as well as his long standing After Socrates series.

He is also the author of Zombies in Western Culture and Awakening from the meaning crisis that both seek to uncover the hidden causes of popular discontent.

"With enormous erudition and expertise, here was someone talking about the roots of our current crises. - " What is Emerging

Francesca Vidotto

Francesca Vidotto is an eminent theoretical physicist, philosopher and co-author with Carlo Rovelli of An Elementary Introduction to Quantum Gravity and Spinfoam Theory. 

Stephen Wolfram

Stephen Wolfram is a grondbreaking computer scientist, physicist, and founder of the Wolfram Physics Project. He is best known for his work in computer science, mathematics and theoretical physics.