Culture

Festival review: HowTheLightGetsIn Part 2

Drugs, sex and stoicism—the second weekend of the world's biggest philosophy and music festival had it all

June 04, 2014
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Prospect returned to a slightly sunnier Hay-on-Wye for a second weekend of brain-bending ideas and toe-tapping beats at HowTheLightGetsIn. After a leisurely start, the philosophical pace picked up at a lunch chaired by our Managing Editor Jonathan Derbyshire. The broad theme was to question what we know about the world, but the topics for debate ranged far and wide from the nature of knowledge and evidence to the possibility that we might be brains in a vat and the purpose of philosophy itself. “I was fielding so many interesting questions I barely had time to eat,” said a still hungry but intellectually-sated Derbyshire.

Then it was time to tuck into meatier fare with a discussion entitled “Theories, Mysteries and Mistakes” which featured the festival founder and post post-modernist, Hilary Lawson, the philosopher of mind Jennifer Hornsby and Carlo Ravello, the founder of Loop Quantum Gravity (a theory that attempts to describe the quantum properties of gravity, no less). Shaping the debate was the idea that despite the assumption that mankind is gradually unravelling the mysteries of the world, the reality that scientific and critical theories describe is often contradictory. Should we then conclude that the world is essentially unintelligible? The panel’s opinions differed wildly, as expected, and while anyone without a philosophy degree may have struggled to decode the essence of their exchanges—the session was not without its playful moments. At one point Lawson, branded a “realist” by Ravello, sprawled Mick Jagger-esque across a table in order to highlight his point that it was indeed a table, or at least what society would recognise as such. The underlying argument, and one which provided a backdrop to the many of the festival’s finest sessions, was the question of whether science today is too much like a religion?

After agonising over whether to see Rowan Pelling revealing the secrets of the “Orgamastron” in a look at the use of la petite mort as pain relief, or hear the former Chief Drug Advisor David Nutt make the case for an evidence-based approach to drug policy, we opted for the latter and were not disappointed. Nutt held court in the Bedouin-style International tent, explaining how he came to be sacked in 2009 from his post of chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs for stating that ecstasy was less harmful than horse riding. An impassioned speaker, Nutt used slides to back up his argument that certain banned substances could be used in medical treatment. His other imperative was to highlight the dangers of alcohol. At one stage he asked the audience what they thought killed the tragic songstress Amy Winehouse—almost 50 per cent said it was a booze and drugs overdose, when in fact it was alcohol poisoning alone. For Nutt, this is further proof of the common misperceptions of the harmfulness of drugs. Despite the fact he is clearly still slightly bitter over his firing, and wastes time telling us things we already know about the evils of booze, Nutt is one of the few voices of reason on drug policy in this country and deserves to be heard.

That evening’s entertainment had the feel of a grand finale, with a note of wild abandon in the air. Coco and the Butterfields brought their unique fusion of folk, pop and hip hop to the intimate Stage tent. A welcome change from the acoustic warblers who had graced it earlier in the day, their colourful live act energised the crowd. Later, the Lower Gallery reverberated to the deep tech house sounds of Bristolian/Ibizan DJ duo Deepgroove. At one point they were even accompanied by a live saxophonist. Spotted throwing shapes on the dancefloor were Hilary Lawson and several headline speakers who shall remain nameless.

By the time Sunday dawned, with gloriously blue skies a relaxed mood had settled on the festival site. There was a distinct sense of mission almost accomplished, which after the challenging conditions of the previous weekend was much deserved. We started the day with a revitalising breakfast session entitled “What the Stoics Got Right.” Hosted by the writer Mark Vernon, it was an engaging look at what the self-help generation have to learn from the ancients such as Marcus Aurelius, linking their work to modern day therapies including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Mindfulness.

Prospect’s Managing Editor Jonathan Derbyshire had a busy afternoon, chairing two philosophical discussions. First, he took to the stage in the Globe Hall to oversee a debate on the possibility of free will. This pitted the neuroscientist Patrick Haggard, who argued that modern neuroscience shows conclusively that free will, as philosophers have traditionally understood it, is a fiction. Strenuously resisting that somewhat alarming conclusion were the philosopher Jennifer Hornsby and the veteran cosmologist George Ellis.

From there, in a rather dizzying shift of intellectual of gears, Derbyshire made for the International Tent to chair a debate on the "mystery" of music. The highlight was the splendidly theatrical performance of the philosopher Lydia Goehr, who insisted that there's nothing mysterious about music and the sooner her colleagues in the philosophy profession stopped indicating there is the better.

The rest of the day was spent sipping cocktails in the sunshine, while a raft of celebrity-based rumours swirled around the festival site. Apparently, Benedict Cumberbatch was spotted wandering around HowTheLightGetsIn after his headline appearance at Hay Festival, while Prince Harry’s ex girlfriend Cressida Bonas made her acting debut in a well-received play. With such A-list credentials adding to an already world class line-up of talks, debates and gigs—HowTheLightGetsIn’s status as Hay’s sexy younger sibling seems confirmed.