After such a creative and learning experience in St Ives, where to go for more?

This weekend there’s a festival in London called, HowTheLightGetsIn, named after the Leonard Cohen lyric, “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” A titillating description of the event reads as follows: Discover ground breaking ideas from the world’s leading thinkers and fresh ideas from those yet to make their mark. Be transported by soloists and the most exciting new bands, dance until your feet ache. Contribute yourself and your thoughts, and magic is sure to come your way.

Tents to explore

Beginning to See the Light

On my last visit to London weeks ago, I felt isolated…invisible. Today, I am invigorated and present. What a difference a day makes. Timing. The festival is held on the grounds of Kensington House, a heritage site located on the edge of the open public space, Hampstead Heath. People slowly stream in from the park’s trails; an array of large white tents and waving colored flags offer us welcome. A multitude of lectures, panels, debates, music and more are happening simultaneously. Schedule in hand, I am reminded of New Orleans’ Jazzfest and having to make difficult choices between excellent acts. In the Ring tent, Julian Baggini is lecturing on “Thinking Across the World”, saying that we must understand the context of a culture to understand their ideas. I’m familiar with the concept so leave early to catch an ongoing panel discussion entitled, “Big Bang Creation Myths”. Scientists are in agreement of the existence of the Big Bang but the question here is: Was it an occurrence or progression? Was it a flow of ions or an incident? If an incident, what preceded it? Eminent mathematician Roger Penrose, believes it to be a continuum. (The lectures I attended involving quantum physics all end their talks with the same conclusion, “We just don’t know.”)

Ideas and Music

A debate involving “Truth and the Universe”, Peter Atkins, an award winning chemist, stresses his belief in facts and evidence. He recommends,”Don’t ask WHY, ask HOW for more accurate results.” The mediator submits, “But we all ask, ‘Why is there death?’ ” Atkins replies, “That’s dealing in sentimentality. That’s what we as humans do, we ask why. I’d rather have an MRI done on the person lying on their deathbed. How does the brain react? What does the imaging reveal as I weep?” The philosopher on the panel proposes that there are other concepts beyond evidence, ones that we don’t know or can’t measure.
In another debate entitled, “The Limits of Language”, Stanley Fish, literary critic and legal scholar and Hilary Lawson, the founder of the Institute of Art and Ideas (IAI) and this festival, lead the audience on a language adventure with pithy gemstones such as, “A sentence is a world with a beginning, middle, and end.” “Poetry is a way to slow down.” Lawson elucidates on the ‘meaning of language to explain meaning’ when Fish pronounces, “I have no use for the philosophy of language.” Following audience laughter and after the program, I catch up with Mr. Fish on his way to a signing in the bookshop tent and question, “With abbreviated word usage in texting and social media, do you think language is at risk?” He pauses then says, “Language evolves. I don’t think its at risk. But I’m an optimist.”

Steven Pinker in Conversion

I attempt another discussion on quantum physics entitled, “The Laws of the Universe”, because I want too hear Helen BeeBee talk about determinism and free will. Upon seeing the name Newton in the description, I should have known I was in for trouble and disorientation. They’re talking laws of the universe. “But there are no laws,” whispers John, the physicist sitting next to me. “The Universe just is. Man makes the laws.” Oh yeah, the astronomer in Bristol told me that, too.

Migrating to an event entitled, “Out of Control”, James Williams, Oxford researcher and former Google employee, is spreading the message that we are letting Google and Amazon be superior powers. There needs to be more transparency. He invites us to seek alternative search engines and to try not ordering from Amazon if we don’t have to — that’s feeding the machine. It’s out of control.

It’s the end of the weekend, the sun is setting, and my brain is spinning. Before I go, it’s time to laugh and dance…

Bourgeois and Maurice  VIDEOS: Africquoi

When she closed her eyes
She saw her planet explode
When she closed her eyes
She saw her head explode

Then she saw that her planet
And her head were one
She saw everything
When she closed her eyes. — King Missile