100 WVIA Way
Pittston, PA 18640

Phone: 570-826-6144
Fax: 570-655-1180

Copyright © 2025 WVIA, all rights reserved. WVIA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science

The Big & The Small

Season 1 Episode 102 | 56m 45s

“The Big & The Small” dramatizes the fact that humans are almost exactly the same distance—in terms of powers of ten—between an atom and a star. But where do we fit in the moral universe? Alan Lightman speaks with an advanced android and then a rabbi, a bio-ethicist, and the Dalai Lama about whether such a being could achieve consciousness and whether we could unplug her without asking permission.

Aired: 01/06/23 | Expires: 01/06/27
Distributed nationally by American Public Television
Extras
Watch • 56:45
Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science
Homo Techno
How advances in science and technology are causing us to evolve into a new species.
Episode: S1 E103 | 56:45
Watch • 56:44
Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science
The Stars & The Osprey
Alan reconciles transcendent experiences with the material world of atoms and molecules.
Episode: S1 E101 | 56:44
Latest Episodes
Watch • 56:45
Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science
Homo Techno
How advances in science and technology are causing us to evolve into a new species.
Episode: S1 E103 | 56:45
Watch • 56:44
Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science
The Stars & The Osprey
Alan reconciles transcendent experiences with the material world of atoms and molecules.
Episode: S1 E101 | 56:44