![CAHSS Intellectual Conversations](../../../../assets/md5images/63104d02da691a33e2f5e037cf385144.png)
Academic Year 2015-2016
Event Title
Truth and the Improbability of Being
Location
Room 4009, Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center
Start Date
12-11-2015 12:00 PM
End Date
12-11-2015 1:00 PM
Disciplines
Astrophysics and Astronomy | Genealogy | Metaphysics | Philosophy | Philosophy of Science | Physics | Statistics and Probability
Description
To concoct life as we know it there must be a crucible and just the right ingredients. The physical universe, itself engendered from apparently nothing, is therefore the sine qua non for all life. It has evolved from a violent, metaphorical birth, and we deduce with fair accuracy its lifetime so far to be 13.8 billion years. The processes that have led to humans are manifold and complex. So when any present, complex event is viewed in light of this history, it appears entirely improbable yet simultaneously unremarkable. We consider what light physics can shed on this dichotomy.
![](http://nsuworks.nova.edu/far_fls_headshots/1021/preview.jpg)
Truth and the Improbability of Being
Room 4009, Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center
To concoct life as we know it there must be a crucible and just the right ingredients. The physical universe, itself engendered from apparently nothing, is therefore the sine qua non for all life. It has evolved from a violent, metaphorical birth, and we deduce with fair accuracy its lifetime so far to be 13.8 billion years. The processes that have led to humans are manifold and complex. So when any present, complex event is viewed in light of this history, it appears entirely improbable yet simultaneously unremarkable. We consider what light physics can shed on this dichotomy.