13th April: "Critical Mass - the Physics of Society"

Do people, en masse, behave like mindless particles?

How do our actions, as individuals, affect what others "choose" to do? The concept was first discussed by philosopher Thomas Hobbes in the seventeenth century, using Galileo's laws of mechanics to derive a new theory of society. It was then that the idea of free will was first undermined - are we predictable after all?

Award-winning science writer Philip Ball is one of Britain's top science communicators. He has updated Hobbes' ideas for the modern world, where everything we do depends on others, yet we apparently have more 'choice' than ever before.

At the April Cafe, Ball looks at how we can predict and model the behaviour of societies, and how the decisions we take as individuals can impact on those societies. Come to listen, challenge and discuss.

Books by Philip Ball:

• H2O: The Biography of Water
• Made to Measure
• Bright Earth
• Stories of the Invisible - A Guided Tour of the Molecules
• Molecules - an OUP mini-paperback
• The Elements
• Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads To Another