The Universe is Alwys Right! Epistemic Immunization in New Age Communities

(orig. Das Universum hat immer Recht! Epistemische Immunisierung in New Age Gemeinschaften)

Why do some New Age communities become so resistant to external correction? This talk examines epistemic closure not as a simple failure of reasoning, but as something produced through particular social structures of knowledge. Drawing on the idea of the epistemic bunker, it explores how appeals to personal experience, alternative knowledge, and seemingly scientific explanations can shield beliefs from empirical challenge. I argue that these structures do not merely exclude external correction, but actively produce epistemic security for their members. Furthermore I ask what this means for epistemic responsibility, and whether such communities can be understood without simply dismissing their members as irrational.

Male Recentering: Authority, Moral Positioning, and Vulnerability in Feminist Discourse

(orig. Male Recentering: Autorität, moralische Positionierung und Vulnerabilität im feministischen Diskurs)

What happens when men enter feminist discourse not to oppose it, but to participate and support it? Sometimes the problem is not what they say, but what their participation does to the conversation. This talk examines three distinct phenomena: Mansplaining places the man in the position of epistemic authority; Ally theatre makes his own moral positioning part of the story, and Himpathy shifts attention toward his discomfort, vulnerability, or future. The three phenomena are neither identical nor exhaustive, yet they can be read as different forms of the same structural movement: the male subject returns to the centre of a discourse that is ostensibly not about him. The talk develops Male Recentering as an analytical framework for bringing these phenomena into relation and asks what distinguishes genuine participation from participation that quietly reorganises the discussion around the man himself.

Checkmate, God: Why God Has No Move Left. On the Structural Incoherence of the Classical Divine Attributes 

(orig. Gott, Schachmatt! Warum Gott keinen Zug mehr hat. Zur strukturellen Inkohärenz der klassischen Gottes Attribute) 

Classical theism rests on a conceptual backbone: God is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good. This talk takes that seriously – and argues that omnipotence and omniscience, each stable on their own, prove structurally incompatible when applied to the same being. Genuine power requires openness of action; genuine knowledge requires fixation of truth. The standard rescue attempts either quietly revise the classical concept of God or retreat into apophatics. Either way, classical theism has no consistent move left.

God and Cookies: Divine Attributes and Their Logical Incompatibilities

(orig. God and Cookies: Göttliche Attribute und ihre logischen Unverträglichkeiten) 

Imagine baking the perfect cookie dough. Every ingredient is optimal – and yet the dough doesn't rise. The problem isn't any single ingredient. It's the recipe. That, in essence, is the problem with God. Classical theism attributes three properties to God that each sound plausible on their own and together produce a disaster: omnipotence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence. Before asking whether these attributes are compatible, we need to ask whether they are even coherently formulated. The omnipotence paradox and the problem of divine foreknowledge and human freedom are two concrete fault lines. The incoherence argument (distinguished from the problem of evil, which asks an entirely different question) is the third. 

Cosmic Roulette: Why We Risk Everything by Sending a Message into Space

(orig. Kosmisches Roulette: Warum wir mit einer Nachricht ins All alles riskieren) 

For a long time, the search for extraterrestrial life was a passive affair – that changed in the late 20th century, when humanity decided not just to listen but to speak. From the Pioneer to the Arecibo message to the Golden Records on the Voyager probes, we began leaving traces for unknown finders beyond our planet. This talk takes METI (Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence) out of the realm of science fiction and asks what it actually means to send a signal that cannot be recalled. A message into space is a decision made for all future generations: an irreversible gamble with our protective darkness. Whether that gamble is justified is one of the most consequential questions we are not taking seriously enough.

Tapped, F*cked, Blocked: What Grindr Does to the Other 

(orig. Tapped, F*cked, Blocked: Was Grindr mit dem Anderen macht)

Grindr transforms encounter into profiles, bodies into categories, and proximity into meters. Drawing on Levinas, this talk examined whether the platform undermines the ethical demand of the face, reducing the Other to a manageable option. With a brief look at Hartmut Rosa, I also explored whether digital availability structurally impedes resonance and responsibility. The talk asked, on the basis of concrete app mechanics and empirical findings, whether Grindr produces forms of dehumanisation, and what it means when encounter becomes a function.

Content warning: sexualised objectification · psychological burden of rejection · discrimination & racism

The Silence in Space is No Coincidence: Why Silence is a Moral Principle

(orig. Die Stille im All ist kein Zufall: Warum Schweigen ein moralisches Prinzip ist)

Why is the universe so quiet? The Fermi Paradox forces the question; and the Dark Forest Hypothesis offers one of its most unsettling answers. If the cosmos is populated by civilisations that have learned to stay silent, then silence is not absence but strategy. The hypothesis is radical: we are unknowing wanderers in a dark forest, unable to see what moves between the trees. And if that is true, speaking up carries a moral weight that is difficult to overstate. Silence, on this view, is not timidity – it is a principle.

Infinite Silence – Knowledge, Risk, and the Dark Forest of the Universe 

(orig. Unendliche Stille – Wissen, Risiko und der dunkle Wald des Universums)

Despite countless potentially habitable planets, we have made no contact with extraterrestrial life. This talk explored what lies behind that silence. Diving into the Fermi Paradox, the Dark Forest Hypothesis, and the ethical risks that come with the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Who speaks for humanity, and what are we willing to risk by reaching out?