Bach, The Universe and Everything: Choose your own Adventure

Our science and music series looks at free will and the ability to make autonomous choices.

The cantata text opens with ‘Walk on your own path…’ but the lyrics unfold into a dialogue between Jesus and the Soul and concludes with a duet, reminding us to reject earthly folly and to follow Jesus. 

In this talk we reflect on our personal ambitions and ask ‘how can I be sure that tomorrow's decisions will satisfy today's objectives?’ Using predictive models and statistical analysis, Dr Sam Cohen challenges the notion of free will and control to see if we really can ‘choose our own adventure’.