Lectures

This section contains posts featuring interesting lectures available online. The views expressed in these lectures, as well as the credit and copyright, in each case belongs exclusively to the filmmaker(s) and/or producer(s).

A Universe from Nothing (Lecture by Lawrence Krauss)

March 1, 2012
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In this lecture “A Universe from Nothing”, Lawrence Krauss, a good friend of Richard Dawkins and  author of many best-selling books on physics and cosmology, discusses the question of “How the universe could have formed from nothing.” Krauss explains the latest scientific knowledge about the origins and future of our universe in a manner that anyone can understand, and he provides powerful answers to the questions theists usually raise in cosmological discussions.   

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The Earth is Full (TED lecture by Paul Gilding)

March 1, 2012
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This TED lecture by Paul Gilding should be translated into just about every language in the world and made available to the widest possible audience. It’s a frank discussion that needs to be had about our unsustainable economy and the inevitable crisis that human civilization faces.  It also cuts to the core of what this blog, The Examined Life, is all about. The message that Gilding presents is indeed dark, but he’s not a pessimist. In fact he thinks that the human species is remarkably creative and capable of adapting to life on an overcrowded planet. Like Al Gore in one…

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Video: Speech by Chomsky on academic freedom and the corporatization of universities

October 31, 2011
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On April 6, 2011 Chomsky gave a speech at the University of Toronto mainly focusing on the decline of academic freedom going and the coporatization of universities. In his speech he connects the issue with the larger picture of corporate reality. The recorded Q&A session after his speech is especially worth watching. Quote: There’s, furthermore, no way to measure the human and social costs of converting schools and universities into facilities that produce commodities for the job market, abandoning the traditional ideal of the universities: fostering creative and independent thought and inquiry, challenging perceived beliefs, exploring new horizons and forgetting…

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