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‘We’re not so much abandoning the idea of the gods, we’re just trying to pull them all the way into the Universe.’
From the possibility of infinite universes to the prospect of panpsychism, puzzles have arisen in physics that can take science to some very counterintuitive places. According to Mary-Jane Rubenstein, assistant professor of religion and feminist, gender and sexuality studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, new theories and breakthroughs at the forefront of cosmology need not – and moreover, should not – elbow out theology from the conversation about our place in the cosmos. Instead, as she argues in this wide-ranging interview recorded at the HowTheLightGetsIn Festival from the Institute of Arts and Ideas in 2019, science should encourage us to build more durable myths and theologies to suit our times.
Video by The Institute of Arts and Ideas
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Earth science and climate
A biologist on the sorrows of documenting the Great Salt Lake’s collapse
6 minutes
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Design and fashion
Household items are reborn in a ‘visual symphony of everyday objects’
11 minutes
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Music
As a pianist strikes a chord, visualisations of his notes appear in real time
5 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
Jeremy Bentham was consumed by creating a perfect prison. Here’s the result
4 minutes
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Quantum theory
Why aren’t our everyday lives as ‘spooky’ as the quantum world?
7 minutes
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Space exploration
Burning ice, metal clouds, gemstone rain – tour the strangest known exoplanets
31 minutes
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Logic and probability
Chew over the prisoner’s dilemma and see if you can find the rational path out
6 minutes
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Architecture
The radically impractical 18th-century architect whose ideas on beauty endure
19 minutes
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Biology
The idea that life on Earth originated elsewhere is not as far out as it seems
6 minutes