Werner Herzog and Cormac McCarthy Talk Science and Culture

Herzog-McCarthy

Photo of Werner Herzog ©RobinHolland/robinholland.com

To kick off this wonderful episode of Science Friday (listen here or below), physicist Lawrence M. Krauss suggests that science and art ask the same fundamental question: Who are we, and what is our place in the universe?

Over the next hour, Krauss is joined in his exploration of this question by the great filmmaker Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World) and 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner Cormack McCarthy (The Crossing, The Road, No Country For Old Men). Much of their discussion revolves around Herzog’s latest film, the 3-D documentary The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, but they also address bottleneck theorycomplexity science, the history of painting, and the upcoming rise of the machines.

High point: Herzog reads a passage from McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses (38:00).

Low point: Herzog asserts that Star Trek lied — human beings will never learn to instantly transport from planet to planet. Krauss confirms, and Trekkie hearts all over the world break into tiny unbeamable pieces (17:00).

Related Content:

Lawrence Krauss: Every Atom in Your Body Comes From a Star

An Evening with Werner Herzog

via Metafilter

Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco-based arts and culture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Weekly, Mother Jones, and many other publications. You can follow her on twitter at @sheerly.


by | Permalink | Comments (6) |

Support Open Culture

We’re hoping to rely on our loyal readers rather than erratic ads. To support Open Culture’s educational mission, please consider making a donation. We accept PayPal, Venmo (@openculture), Patreon and Crypto! Please find all options here. We thank you!


Comments (6)
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Quantcast
Open Culture was founded by Dan Colman.