A Landscape of Universes?

Montag, 5. März, 14:15 Uhr, KIP Gr. HS

The discovery of a non-vanishing vacuum energy density in the universe has lead to an unprecedent showdown between the followers of the anthropic principle and the positivistic physicists. In the wake of the anthropic principle, ”intelligent design” and other non-scientific conceptions entangle destructively with the rationality of the scientific method. The contribution will review the important steps that lead to the idea of the string theory landscape, and show possible ways out of the debate.

Karl Mannheim
Lehrstuhl für Astronomie, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg