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Fake Science

In the summer semester, the Lübeck universities will jointly debate “Deception – Lying – Falsification” at the St. Petri University Church

This series kicked-off on the evening of 15 April with “I see something you don’t see.” The task force presents the programme at 2 pm on 25 March in the St. Petri Church.

Everyone’s talking about fake news. One can no longer be sure of what’s true and what’s false. Is the flood of data from the inexhaustible world of media simply manipulating us? We know that politics, businesses and our culture mislead, lie and falsify things – but that doesn’t really happen in science? Well, that’s what we expect. Not in research – where everything should be verified, proven and well-thought through. Not in teaching either – where trusted academics convey sound findings to the next generation. But what if this expectation is also a delusion?

Opportunities and limits of knowledge

Fake science is the theme of a three-part inter-academic round of lectures starting on Monday, 15 April 2019 in the St. Petri University Church. You are invited by our Universität zu Lübeck, Technical University of Lübeck, Lübeck Academy of Music and the St. Petri Board of Trustees.

Lecturers and students at three universities are doing a joint study of whether science always recognises and states facts, or whether it also misleads, lies and falsifies. The focus here is not simply on deceit arising from minor motives, plagiarism, or manipulation of findings because of conceit or economic interests. The rea issue here is that perception itself does not always lead to facts, because we can be deceived by our own subjectivity, sense and desires. Hence, one must heed the fact that human communication is so complex that a sender and recipient will never fully understand each other.

"Fake Science. Deception – Lying – Falsification.” Is this simply an academic exercise to now convict even the last truthful bastion of cheating? Certainly not. This round of inter-academic lectures chooses the untruth as the issue to be researched, considers the opportunities and limits of knowledge, and enlightens one about dreams and disappointments in science. For the sake of truth.

I see something you don’t see

The first evening of the round of Fake Science lectures, on Monday, at 7:00 pm on 15 April, will tackle the aspects and facets of perception: “I see something you don’t see.” This is much more than a children’s game.

Do we see and hear things that don’t even exist? Don’t we see and hear what actually exists? Is there something that we actually see and hear – but only in our mind?

The physicist Dr Bartosz Zurowski, the acoustician Prof. Jürgen Tchorz, the composer Prof. Sascha Lino Lemke and students from the universities will delve into these questions from their own unique, scientific viewpoints. They will have the opportunity to sit down and discuss or present their findings. Students from the academy of music will comment and shape the topic from a music perspective. Moderators for the evening will be Prof. Dr Cornelius Borck and Pastor Dr Bernd Schwarze. Everyone is welcome; entry is free.