Fiction and Thought-Experiments
/A lecture by ICE Fellow Tasneem Zehra Husain
In the rich mental worlds they inhabit, and the elaborate thought structures they create, theoretical physicists and fiction writers have much in common. Each, in their own way, contemplate questions that cannot be settled physically, in situations that are wildly impractical—or downright impossible—to manifest. What would the world look like if I rode a beam of light? wondered Albert Einstein. What might unfold if a prince and a pauper, the very image of each other, traded places? asked Mark Twain. In this talk, we examine the striking similarities between novels and thought-experiments and the crucial role of consciousness in animating both. We explore the tangible outcomes of these imaginary constructs, and discuss how (and why) truth can be excavated from mental models and made-up stories.
Recorded at Dartmouth College on October 9, 2018
A two-day virtual conference bringing together scientists and humanists to discuss our collective future from different perspectives, moderated by ICE@Dartmouth Director Marcelo Gleiser
Watch the video and discuss →