Life, the Universe and Everything

In less than a lifetime, the first half of the twentieth century brought a series of life changing inventions: electricity, phones, cars, planes, radio, tv, the first computers. In combination with the all encompassing new stories of physics, science, once a branch of philosophy, became the philosophical belief of our time. Some, like Hawking and deGrasse Tyson, claimed philosophy was over.

Yet in the last half century, technology though has become more contentious. While grand theory has seemingly stalled, as cosmology and the Standard Model get more puzzling and less clear cut. Might philosophy once again find itself centre stage at a time when knowledge and progress are in question? Or is science still the only credible way to improve our circumstances and make sense of the world?

Co-founder and editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine, chemist Peter Atkins, Crick Institute Researcher Güneş Taylor and consciousness philosopher Philip Goff argue over life, the universe and everything.