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‘Are you conscious right now?’

‘I need a volunteer who pretends to be a bat,’ visiting professor of the University of Plymouth (UK) Susan Blackmore exclaims. One brave soul enters the stage in the Waaier and proceeds to flap his arms and stand upside down. The lecture ‘The illusions of consciousness’, part of the Week of Inspiration, has officially started.

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Pessimistische Terlouw opent Week van Inspiratie

Jan Terlouw opende maandagmiddag met een vrij pessimistische blik op de wereld de Week van Inspiratie. De schrijver, oud-politicus en wetenschapper stak zijn mening over het klimaat, onze maatschappij en de politiek niet onder stoelen of banken in Waaier 1. ‘De politiek is vergeten dat het macht heeft.’

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Jan Terlouw op Week van Inspiratie

De Week van Inspiratie begint op maandag 20 november met een lezing van Jan Terlouw over ethiek in de politiek. ‘De fundamenten van ons bestaan’ vormen dit jaar het centrale thema. Nieuw zijn de interactieve workshops, gegeven door UT-docenten.

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‘Don’t ask people, do a brain scan’

Reading people’s minds is possible. Using brain scanners, we can now see what others are thinking, dreaming and even what they are going to do. ‘Your brain decides what to do and your intentions and actions follow. Brain scans and brainreading are therefore a much better representation of people’s opinions and intentions,’ says Prof. Victor Lamme. ‘So don’t ask people what they want, do a brain scan.’

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EU’s broken convergence machine

‘There have been two main political projects. The first was the welfare state, which should have freed us of need and want. The second was the European integration, aimed to free us from fear of another war. The question is: Is there an inevitable clash between these two projects?’ asks Frank Vandenbroucke, who presented the first lecture of this year’s Week of Inspiration.

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Can robots tell right from wrong?

Symposium on autonomous robots and artificial intelligence was held on the 26th of November 2015 at the University of Twente. Many experts took the stage to discuss different aspects of robotics, from the way robots learn and move to how they can influence our lives. 'Even we don´t always know what´s right and wrong, so how can a robot know?' asked Aimee van Wynsberghe, who presented a lecture on Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

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What is CERN all about

CERN, The European Organization for Nuclear Research, operates probably the most famous laboratory in the world. This Geneva-based research center is the place for 'big science', both in the researched topics and the size of local experiments. CERN scientists try to find the building blocks of the universe by using the 27 kilometers long Large Hadron Collider. It´s not an easy process and Stan Bentvelsen, the director of NIKHEF and an employee of CERN, spoke at the University of Twente yesterday to bring some insight into it.

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‘Tentamen zegt niets over iemands carrière’

Wat Eric Mazur betreft mag het tentamen op de helling. ‘Een tentamen heeft nog nooit uitgewezen wie in zijn latere carrière succesvol zal zijn.’ En daarom is deze manier van kennis testen een heroverweging waard, zo liet de onderwijsexpert en hoogleraar fysica aan de Harvard University vanmiddag weten.

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‘Nieuws laat zien hoe de wereld niet werkt’

Negen van de tien mensen volgen dagelijks bijna een uur lang het nieuws. Maar daarmee krijgen ze volgens journalist, filosoof en De Correspondent-hoofdredacteur Rob Wijnberg vooral te zien hoe de wereld niet werkt. ‘Ik zou dan ook willen zeggen: houd ermee op.’

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Arctic is melting: Why should I care?

Ice in the Arctic is melting. You have probably heard about that before, but do you know what are the effects of these changes? And why should you even be bothered by loss of ice somewhere far north? Yesterday´s lecture, titled 'Arctic is melting: Why should I care?', was held to shed light on this issue.

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The colonization of Mars

Lecture titled ´The colonization of Mars´ was held today at the University of Twente, given by UT alumni Bas Lansdorp, who is the CEO and a co-founder of Mars One. Lansdorp talked about Mars One organization and its planned space mission that should establish the first human settlement on Mars.

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Rosetta: Landing on a comet

Less than two weeks ago, on the 12th of November 2014, the first ever landing on a comet took place. This historic moment was a part of Rosetta mission, managed by the European Space Agency. Gerhard Schwehm, the former Mission Manager of Rosetta, talked about this groundbreaking event during his lecture held on the 24th of November 2014.