Do we have free will? Is everything we do caused by our genes, memes and environment? If free will is an illusion, what happens to responsibility?

You aren't coming to this special event of your own free will. That's at least what Susan Blackmore will be arguing after flying from the UK to Copenhagen for this special session of Science & Cocktails. You are coming to this event because of the state of your brain, your genes, your history and the environment around you. Although our intuition tells us that we are a persisting, inner entity that is conscious and can act freely, this is an illusion.

Susan Blackmore will give plenty of evidence from neuroscience that suggests that the brain needs no magical interference from a mythical "self" and so throws free will into doubt. So if our intuitions are not to be trusted, how should we live our lives? Most people who reject the traditional idea of free will still say they must live "as if" they have free will. Blackmore disagrees and will discuss how it is possible to live happily and morally without free will.

After a Q&A at the bar with Blackmore, the performance of two amazing electronic musicians - Karsten Pflum and Sofus Forsberg - follows. Karsten Pflum is releasing a new album soon and playing some of its tracks while Sofus Forsberg will give you a blast of modular synthesizers and drum machines. These gentlemen are two of the most creative electronic music composers in Denmark who, besides designing sounds that seem to come from another planet, can give an energetic and lively concert.

Organised in cooperation with the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.