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?