This semester, as a guiding topic, we will have an expression from Carl Sagan:

Absence of Evidence Is Not Evidence of Absence

Carl Sagan had a TV show on space and the universe. He had his hands full with answering questions about whether there are other planets with life on them. In his time, we did not even have evidence that there are other planets circling their star somewhere out there. His defense was “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”.

Today we have still the same situation; “no evidence I can accept then why should I adapt?” The topics of discussions haves changed; the discussions are just as fierce.

This Sagan saying creates problems. How much evidence would one need to convince the critical doubters? And can we use it for any situation/question/statement?

In this first colloquium, we will view three public talks on our topic. The take-home messages from these talks will highlight what every researcher encounters daily.

The colloquium will be presented by Rudi Strickler. We will meet for a virtual Coffee&Cookie meeting where we chit-chat as usual at 3:45 to 4:00, and the presentation will start at 4:00 PM.

Click here to join the meeting, via Microsoft Teams.