Reposted from the Cardus After Hours blog (RIP).

The title is a kind of literary Rorschach test. The intent is to gauge your level of interest in questions that attend to the origins of the universe. There is no bait and switch here. If such terms have led you this far, then you’ll be excited that a very high calibre physicist and mathematician is going to be talking about such things at McMaster University on November 26. No need to say anything about those who haven’t read this far—trees falling in the forest, people hearing them, and all that.

What better way to enjoy the end of a late-November week than to enlist some hearty compatriots and lead them in song as you walk to the Great Hall University Club (Alumni Memorial Building) at McMaster University and listen to Dr. Robert Mann (Professor of Physics and Applied Mathematics—U of Waterloo) talk about “Grand Designs: If we understand everything do we need God?”

The event will run from 4:15-6:00 p.m. and I’ve heard rumours that he may be performing quantum conjouring feats involving cats, wormholes and strings. Regardless, consideration of how theology intersects with Hawking’s conceptions of spontaneous creation will be worth listening to. After you’ve pondered such things for an hour or two, filling out corporate tax forms, doing extreme sudoku and analyzing foreign currency markets will seem like child’s play.

Come for the conjouring. Stay for the conversation.

Here’s a snap of the invitation with more details and less impertinent banter:

For more information:

Dr. Donald McNally, CSCA Executive Director
905.570.3006
info@csca.ca