Space in Religion and Science
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of thought about space, and examines whether cyberspace has introduced a new concept of space in our world or if its roots are in Einsteinian physics. It would have seemed extraordinary to Dante or Newton, from their different perspectives, that at the end of the 20th century there would be learned scholars who would find no place for religion in the great schemes of thought and belief. In the 20th century our notions of physical space have been revolutionised. Einstein said that space was not a separate entity; we’ve probed and explored the outer reaches of our physical space with space flight, powerful telescopes and theoretical physics. But in the last 20 years, with the birth of the Internet, a virtual form of space has been introduced to us - cyberspace - where people can meet and communicate ideas; you sit at home, punch the keys and you can rove all over the world - the keyboard becomes a magic carpet. But does cyberspace introduce a new concept of space in our world? Or does it really have its roots in Einsteinian physics and even in Medieval theologyAccording to the science writer Margaret Wertheim, cyberspace - life on the surfing internet - gives us not only virtual reality, but a soul. Dr John Polkinghorne, the distinguished physicist and ordained priest in the C of E, is not happy with this news, but he does believe that religion is not destroyed by the new technology, and that latest theories in physics reinforce it. With The Reverend Dr John Polkinghorne, Fellow of Queen’s College, Cambridge and Canon Theologian of Liverpool; Margaret Wertheim, science writer and author of The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet.
Guests
-
The Reverend Dr John Polkinghorne No other episodes
Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge and Canon Theologian of Liverpool - Margaret Wertheim
2 episodes
science writer and author of The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet
Related episodes
-
The Vacuum of Space
30 Apr, 2009 530 Physics -
Relativity
6 Jun, 2013 530 Physics -
Grand Unified Theory
24 Feb, 2000 530 Physics -
Time
30 Dec, 1999 110 Metaphysics -
Heaven
22 Dec, 2005 230 Christianity -
The Physics of Time
18 Dec, 2008 530 Physics -
The Physics of Reality
2 May, 2002 530 Physics -
The Universe’s Origins
20 May, 1999 520 Astronomy -
Paul Dirac
5 Mar, 2020 530 Physics -
Science in the 20th century
5 Nov, 1998 500 Science -
Science and Religion
25 Jan, 2001 200 Religion -
Albert Einstein
14 Sep, 2023 500 Science -
Mathematics’ Unintended Consequences
11 Feb, 2010 510 Mathematics -
Nuclear Physics
10 Jan, 2002 530 Physics -
Mathematics
6 May, 1999 510 Mathematics -
Theories of Everything
25 Mar, 2004 530 Physics -
Maxwell
2 Oct, 2003 530 Physics -
Kant’s Copernican Revolution
3 Jun, 2021 100 Philosophy -
Calculus
24 Sep, 2009 510 Mathematics -
Quantum Gravity
22 Feb, 2001 530 Physics
Programme ID: p00545d1
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00545d1
Auto-category: 500 (Natural Sciences)