Debates

Name: Debates
Start: 2026-09-19T09:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-09-20T19:00:00+01:00
Location: HowTheLightGetsIn Festival

Debates are at the heart of HowTheLightGetsIn - where ideas collide and new thinking takes shape.

Explore the first debates at HowTheLightGetsIn London 2026 below.

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New

Cosmic Inflation and Cosmic Fantasy

Roger Penrose, Priya Natarajan, Neil Turok
New

In Search of Immortality

Bryan Johnson, John Gray, Sarah Wilson, Aubrey de Grey
New

Winning and Losing on the Global Stage

Nicola Sturgeon, John Bolton, Malcolm Rifkind
New

The Central Dogma of Economics

Jeremy Hunt, Gillian Tett, Steve Keen, Martin Wolf
New

The Ego vs The Epic

Emily Wilson, Rebecca Goldstein, Patricia Lockwood
New

Lost in the Quantum World

Sabine Hossenfelder, Antony Valentini, Philip Ball
New

Feminism vs the Manosphere

Jordan Stephens, Catherine Liu, Tommy Curry, Farha Khalidi
New

The Mental Health Industrial Complex

Joanna Moncrieff, Sarah Wilson, Mark Solms, Edward Bullmore
New

Too Beautiful to Be True

Babette Babich, Dasha Nekrasova, Heather Widdows
New

The Self and Its Shadows

Galen Strawson, Hilary Lawson, Victoria Trumbull
New

The Codes for Good and Evil

Thangam Debbonaire, Norman Finkelstein, Tommy Curry
New

The Nation State vs Big Tech

Michael Gove, Silkie Carlo, Leo Varadkar, Sebastian Mallaby
New

Superpowers and Their Limits

Kwasi Kwarteng, Leo Varadkar, Kishore Mahbubani
New

The Hype and Limits of AI

Sabrina Pasterski, Michael Wooldridge, Hilary Lawson, Audrey Borowski
Reality in the Age of Perspective

Jimmy Wales, Sally Haslanger, Steve Fuller
New

Darwin’s Physics and the Evolving Universe

Thomas Hertog, Daniel Whiteson, Ivette Fuentes
The Architecture of Desire

Dasha Nekrasova, Farha Khalidi, Agnieszka Piotrowska
The $84 Trillion Lottery

Kwasi Kwarteng, Mariana Mazzucato, Rachel Millward
New

Life, the Self, and the Infinite Scroll

Jordan Stephens, Patricia Lockwood, Tony D. Sampson
The Sacred and the Supernatural

David Aaronovitch, Laila Cunningham, Alister McGrath
New

The Reality Algorithm

Ivette Fuentes, Adam Frank, Melvin Vopson, Daniel Whiteson
The Rise and Fall of the Educated Elite

Michael Gove, Thangam Debbonaire, Daniel Susskind
New

The Scaffolding of the World

Hilary Lawson, Divya Dwivedi, Sebastian Rodl
Democracy and Its Discontents

Yaron Brook, David Aaronovitch, Sally Haslanger, Wang Hui
New

In Search of the Grown Up

Frank Furedi, Laurie Penny, Jemima Kelly
Hollywood, Hegel and the Myth of the Good

Tariq Ali, Wang Hui, Deirdre McCloskey
New

Playing God With the Planet

Adam Frank, Laurie Laybourn, Janos Pasztor
The Monster In The Machine

Catherine Liu, Frank Furedi
New

Danger and Risk in an Anxious World

Rachel Millward, David Spiegelhalter, Frank Furedi
New

In the Name of Freedom

Tommy Curry, Yaron Brook, Divya Dwivedi

Debates

Debates are at the heart of HowTheLightGetsIn - where ideas collide and new thinking takes shape.

Cosmic Inflation and Cosmic Fantasy

Roger Penrose, Priya Natarajan, Neil Turok

In Search of Immortality

Bryan Johnson, John Gray, Sarah Wilson, Aubrey de Grey

Winning and Losing on the Global Stage

Nicola Sturgeon, John Bolton, Malcolm Rifkind

The Central Dogma of Economics

Jeremy Hunt, Gillian Tett, Steve Keen, Martin Wolf

The Ego vs The Epic

Emily Wilson, Rebecca Goldstein, Patricia Lockwood

Lost in the Quantum World

Sabine Hossenfelder, Antony Valentini, Philip Ball

Feminism vs the Manosphere

Jordan Stephens, Catherine Liu, Tommy Curry, Farha Khalidi

The Mental Health Industrial Complex

Joanna Moncrieff, Sarah Wilson, Mark Solms, Edward Bullmore

Too Beautiful to Be True

Babette Babich, Dasha Nekrasova, Heather Widdows

The Self and Its Shadows

Galen Strawson, Hilary Lawson, Victoria Trumbull

The Codes for Good and Evil

Thangam Debbonaire, Norman Finkelstein, Tommy Curry

The Nation State vs Big Tech

Michael Gove, Silkie Carlo, Leo Varadkar, Sebastian Mallaby

Superpowers and Their Limits

Kwasi Kwarteng, Leo Varadkar, Kishore Mahbubani

The Hype and Limits of AI

Sabrina Pasterski, Michael Wooldridge, Hilary Lawson, Audrey Borowski

Reality in the Age of Perspective

Jimmy Wales, Sally Haslanger, Steve Fuller

Darwin’s Physics and the Evolving Universe

Thomas Hertog, Daniel Whiteson, Ivette Fuentes

The Architecture of Desire

Dasha Nekrasova, Farha Khalidi, Agnieszka Piotrowska

The $84 Trillion Lottery

Kwasi Kwarteng, Mariana Mazzucato, Rachel Millward

Life, the Self, and the Infinite Scroll

Jordan Stephens, Patricia Lockwood, Tony D. Sampson

The Sacred and the Supernatural

David Aaronovitch, Laila Cunningham, Alister McGrath

The Reality Algorithm

Ivette Fuentes, Adam Frank, Melvin Vopson, Daniel Whiteson

The Rise and Fall of the Educated Elite

Michael Gove, Thangam Debbonaire, Daniel Susskind

The Scaffolding of the World

Hilary Lawson, Divya Dwivedi, Sebastian Rodl

Democracy and Its Discontents

Yaron Brook, David Aaronovitch, Sally Haslanger, Wang Hui

In Search of the Grown Up

Frank Furedi, Laurie Penny, Jemima Kelly

Hollywood, Hegel and the Myth of the Good

Tariq Ali, Wang Hui, Deirdre McCloskey

Playing God With the Planet

Adam Frank, Laurie Laybourn, Janos Pasztor

The Monster In The Machine

Catherine Liu, Frank Furedi

Danger and Risk in an Anxious World

Rachel Millward, David Spiegelhalter, Frank Furedi

In the Name of Freedom

Tommy Curry, Yaron Brook, Divya Dwivedi