life, the universe and nothing – part two

Life, the universe and nothing

City Bible Forum paid to bring both Lawrence Krauss and William Lane Craig from their respective universities for a three-part series of conversations called “Life, the Universe and Nothing”. The series is a little hard for the average person to attend – the first session was in Brisbane, the second in Sydney, and the third will be in Melbourne.

Having read a summary of the first session, I had fairly low hopes of a meeting of the minds taking place before me.

Here are a few of the tweets and other items from the night:

The event was more civil than I was fearing, but Krauss still spent a little too long playing the man, rather than engaging with the arguments. There was a palpable calming down over time, and by the end they seemed to be talking to each other rather than over each other. Kudos to the moderator: though she had problems keeping her questions on track, and I would have liked to see her pose more questions from the floor, she tried to give each speaker the floor in an appropriate way.

I found it much more productive talking with a skeptical friend afterward than listening to much of the debate, though I’m interested to read further on the topic of consciousness (and of the soul using the brain as an instrument to control the body), and of quantum gravity, where physics is trying to reach right back to the big bang and explain what happened.

I’m not sure I am any closer to understanding the topic at hand after attending the debate, but it was a good way to start a discussion going, and the two speakers were lively and thought-provoking.

Thanks to CBF for organising the event.

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