Bremen 2017 – scientific programme

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 8: Alternative Ansätze II

AGPhil 8.4: Talk

Wednesday, March 15, 2017, 15:30–16:00, GW2 B2900

Ingredients for a worldview in which space-time is emerging out of something else — •Ewoud Halewijn — TU Delft, Netherlands

The development of new scientific models has been a critical enabler for changing worldviews, but never the only one. Stories have been instrumental too, telling society how these models relate to non-scientific observations and to existing fundamental convictions. This talk will provide an overview of three worldview changes, aimed at identifying ingredients for a worldview in which space-time is emerging out of something else, as is suggested in recent quantum gravity research. An overview will be given of ingredients used in three worldview changes: from flat to spherical earth, geocentric to heliocentric universe and from static to Big Bang based universe. Based thereon, suggestions will be given for ingredients of a worldview in which quantum gravity looks "normal". These include the use of Zeno's paradox to describe the uncertainty principle, Democritus void to describe non-locality and Parmenides "way of opinion" to describe the emergence of space-time. It will be shown that these ingredients, under some assumptions about the quantum gravity model, can be combined to a worldview that might be acceptable for a larger audience.