A Passion for Science and Reason

Yesterday, I attended a second event at Het Denkgelag in Antwerpen, about the passion for science and reason. I saw physicist Lawrence Krauss for a second time, but what really brought me back was the presence of the world's most famous atheist and science popularizer, biologist Richard Dawkins. As the two have a great friendship, this night would be less of a debate, and more of a discussion of plenty of topics.

These included philosophy, morality, education, religion, rational tolerance, intellectual honesty, cosmology, politics, speculations and a few more. Krauss is the more sarcastic and faster speaker of the two, while Dawkins speaks more elegant and British. After having finished the documentary
The Unbelievers(2013), the two continue to travel towards world locations in order to have an open conversation about life's bigger topics.

The main theme of the evening was that science and reason can really be delightful, and is in the end much more beautiful to experience once the wheels so to speak click, rather than ideologies, myths and world views that stagnate ridicule, honesty and progress. Once the scientific method of research combined with experiments and results is held together with logical deductions, the universe which we see around us becomes much more interesting.

Belief was used as comedy references, a topic that both gentlemen have debated to death and beyond, but the secular agnostic atheist is growing on Earth. The times are changing. Technological advancements are accelerating Moore's law through the past decades and the present, and have changed so much in such a short time, that we must continue to challenge all of the established institutions, norms and values, cultures and so on in order for humanity as a whole to have better living conditions.

Thought experiments and moral dilemma's were briefly discussed, as well as the returning topic of philosophy being useful with science, and that continues to be the case as far as Krauss thought, but only after new discoveries and new consequences are being made within all fields such as
chemistry, quantum mechanics, biology and so on.

A Passion for Science and Reason happened inside a large theater in Belgium where 2.000 people were seated for this event, which was quite crazy, especially as I noticed how high the attendants could sit, even much higher than me, as I was just merely sitting on the first balcony. I had a very good time, and once again, I can't wait to see it all back once the professional edited video is online.