Wonderful World 2027 to be held June 2-5th, 2027

The next round of Wonderful World - Den nordiske festivalen  for filosofi & vitenskap (Wonderful World - the Nordic festival for philosophy and science) will take place in Stavanger June 2-5th. This will be the fifth time the festival is arranged. I am a member of the festival´s program council.

Participating in two events during Wonderful World 2026

I have agreed to take part in two events during this year´s Wonderful World – den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap, which is to take place in Stavanger May 27-30th.

Wednesday May 27th: Chairing the event "Når butikken trumfer etikken" at Scene 2, 17:00–18:00. Features Mathea Slåttholm Sagdahl, Espen Gamlund and Peder Skjelbred.

Thursday May 27th: Taking part in the event «Returning to  animal – the true human condition» at Scene 2, 15.30-16.30, featuring Melanie Challenger (I am not mentioned online yet).

Program council now featured on Wonderful World festival´s homepage

The program council for Wonderful World - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap is now featured on the festival´s homepage.

Wonderful World program committee meeting attended

Today I have attended a meeting in the program committee for Wonderful World - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap, at the campus of University of Stavanger.

Mentioned in two UIS news story articles on the Wonderful World festival

I am mentioned among the University of Stavanger´s participants on stage at the Wonderful World festival, a science and philosophy festval that is held for the third time this week, May 28th to 31st (Wednesday to Saturday). On the university´s open webpage the news story/event page is titled "Wonderful World", on the university intranet it is titled "Rabatt på dagspass for UiS-ansatte på Wonderful World". The article is written by Karen Anne Okstad.

I am in the program council for the festival, and will take part on stage in four events this week.

Update on Wonderful world festival: 4th event scheduled with John Ellis; Mars event update

On Wednesday May 28th I have been scheduled to comment on a lecture by John Ellis on "The theory of everything - the holy grail of physics?" (Teorien om alt fysikkens hellige gral?) at the Wonderful world festival, which is held in Stavannger May 28-31st.

The Mars event on May 30th now has a new poster, featuring a certain Elon Musk.

Scheduled for research talk after screening of "Life and other problems" April 23rd

I have been scheduled to take part in a research talk after screening of the Danish documentary "Life and Other Problems" at Odeon cinema in Stavanger on Wednesday April 23rd, which is organised in collaboration with Kåkå - Kverulantkatedralen in the run-up to the Wonderful World philosophy and science festival which is held in the end of May. I will be talking with Tomas Drønen (professor at VID) and chaired by Jørg Arne Jørgensen (Kåkå).

Scheduled for panel discussion at Wonderful World on ecocentric democracy

I´ve been scheduled to take part in another Wonderful world event on May 31st, a panel called "Kan Norge bli et økosentrisk demokrati?" (Can Norway become an ecocentric democracy?), drawing on the theme of Andrew P. Kroglund´s recent book Økotopia - på sporet av en ny naturforståelse.

To take part in event "Mars and the earthlings" May 31st at Wonderful World festival

The Wonderful World festival has released parts of its programme for this year´s festival, which is to be held May 28-31st in Stavanger, Norway. I am scheduled to take part in the event "Mars og jordboerne" (Mars and the earthlings), with Brage W. Johansen, on Saturday May 31st.

Wonderful Tour: Panelist in "Drømmen om verdensrommet" event March 5th

On Wednesday March 5th at 7-8 p.m. I will take part in the panel "Drømmen om verdensrommet" (The dream about space) at Vitenfabrikken, Sandnes, as part of the Wonderful Tour 2025 which pre-empts the Wonderful World 2025 festival in Stavanger. I will be joined by Brage W. Johansen and Runa Norheim (chair).

More info (in Norwegian): Wonderful Tour: Drømmen om verdensrommet (LinTicket)

Joined program council of Wonderful world philosophy and science festival; first meeting

Yesterday, Monday February 10th, I attended my first meeting in the program council of Wonderful World - den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap, which I have now joined. The festival is organized by Kverulantkatedralen (Kåkå) in collaboration with University of Stavanger and Tou Scene. For the two last years I was a member of the editorial board of the festival, but I have now changed role. As a program council member I am more actively involved in developing the festival program.

CRISTIN registrations for 2024: 39 posts; overview

I have just completed registrations in the Current Research Information System in Norway (CRISTIN) for 2024 (cf. my profile in CRISTIN). I registered 39 posts; all-time I have now registered 395 posts (since 2012, i.e. over 13 years, which means on average 30-31 posts per year). This is quite many posts though not quite as many as in 2019, when I registered 44 posts.

The activities I registered included 9 scientific publications, 7 of which should give "publication points" in the Norwegian system. This includes 2 book chapters I wrote by myself, 3 co-written book chapters in the book Mars and the Earthlings, and 2 full-length journal articles, one of which I wrote by myself and 1 I co-authored, as well as a short communication and a co-authored editorial for a special issue I was one of the guest editors of. 

Other activities included 4 festival appearances (on Wonderful world and Kåkånomics, both in Stavanger),  2 radio interviews, 3 interviews in Khrono, 5 scientific conference presentations (3 of which online, 2 in-person), 3 guest lectures (2 in Italy, 1 in Slovenia), and 1 co-authored consultative statement written for Norway´s Council for animal ethics.

Kåkånomics panel on economics attended

Yesterday I took part in the Kåkånomics festival panel event "Har økonomer for stor makt over økonomifeltet?" (Do economists have too much power over the field of economics?) which took place at the ship M/S Sandnes at bay in Vågen, Stavanger. The panel was hosted by Karl-Fredrik Tangen and also featured Celine Brøndmo, Eirik Magnus Fuglestad and UIS colleague Torfinn Harding. The event was well attended, and I really enjoyed the discussion.

Updated event info for Kåkonomics 2024 panel event "Har økonomer for stor makt over økonomifeltet?"

There are now five people involved in the panel discussion I will take part in on Wednesday October 23rd as part of the economics festival Kåkånomics 2024. More info about the event here. 

To take part in panel on economics during Kåkånomics 2024

I have been scheduled to take part in a panel discussion on the topic "Har økonomer for stor makt over økonomifeltet?" (Do economists have too much power in the area of economics?) during the festival Kåkånomics 2024, which is held October 23-26th 2024 in Stavanger, Norway. The panel is scheduled for Wednesday October 23rd at 9.30-10.30 p.m., and also involves Karl-Fredrik Tangen, social geographer at Høyskolen i Kristiania.

Participation in three Wonderful World events

Over the last two days I have taken part in three events at the philosophy and science festival "Wonderful World" 2024 which is currently being held in Stavanger, Norway:

• On Thursday 6.30 p.m. I served as a commentator following Einar Duenger Bøhn´s talk "Jaktens etikk og filosofi" (The ethics and philosophy of hunting). Some 20-30 people attended. Kamilla Østerberg was moderator.
• On Thursday 8.30 p.m.  I served as a commentator following Rupert Sheldrake´s talk "Is the universe conscious?", along with David Ploog. Some 130 people attended. Karen Aalen was moderator.
• Earlier today (Friday), at noon, I took part in the discussion panel "Panpsykisme - brobygger mellom materie og bevissthet?" (Panpsychism - building bridges between matter and consciousness?" along with Hedda Hassel Mørch and Einar Duenger Bøhn (Vegard Møller was moderator). Some 60 people attended.

I think it all went well, in terms of engaging content.

Participating in three events during "Wonderful world" 2024 philosophy and science festival

This week the philosophy and science festival "Wonderful World" 2024 is held in Stavanger, Norway. I take part in three events:

• On Thursday 7 p.m. I serve as commentator following Einar Duenger Bøhn´s talk "Jaktens etikk og filosofi" (The ethics and philosophy of hunting) 
• On Thursday 8.30 p.m.  serve as commentator following Rupert Sheldrake´s talk "Is the universe conscious?"
• On Friday at noon I take part in the discussion panel "Panpsykisme - brobygger mellom materie og bevissthet?" (Panpsychism - building bridges between matter and consciousness?" along with Hedda Hassel Mørch and Einar Duenger Bøhn (Vegard Møller is moderator)

"Wonderful world" editorial board meeting attended

Today I have attended the first meeting - held digitally - of the editorial board for the Norwegian philosophy and science festival "Wonderful world", which will be held for the second time, in Stavanger, May 30 - June 2nd.

Wonderful world festival: Contributions during 2 events, on future humanity and free will in animals

"Wonderful world - den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap" (Wonderful world - the Nordic festival for philosophy and science) has been held, for the first time, at and around Tou in Stavanger over the 4 last days (June 1st to 4th). I have been part of the editorial board (redaksjonsråd) of the festival, as the only one representing the University of Stavanger there. 

I contributed to two events over the last few days:

* On Thursday June 1st I took part in panel discussion following Anders Sandberg´s introduction to the topic "Fremtidsmennesket?" (future man?). The panel also featured Leonora Onarheim Bergsjø and Einar Duenger Bøhn. Alexandra Esdaile chaired. Some 80 people attended.

* On Saturday June 3rd I took part in a panel discussion on the topic "Har dyr fri vilje? Og derfor rettigheter?" (Do animals have free will? And therefore rights?), and also introduced the topic. The panel also featured Norun Haugen and Lars Risan (chair). Some 40 people attended.

Text on the free will of animals published in "Wonderful world" festival newspaper

A text by me titled "Har dyr fri vilje?" (Do animals have free will?) has been published in the festival newspaper of Wonderful world - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi & vitenskap (half page, on p. 21), which is to be held in Stavanger June 1-4th. The text plays up to an event that will take place on June 3rd as part of the festival.