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There WAS Lightning

H. Peter Steeves performed The Energy Show to a packed house on Friday night in the Claudia Cassidy Theater. Over 250 people came to watch as Steeves combined an engaging lecture with live music, dance and a demonstration of high-energy electrical equipment. The performance was organized into three acts:

Act One: Energy and Civilization
In Act One the lecture began with an analysis of the current ethical problems raised by our energy consumption, arguing that the solution can only be found by means of a radical overhaul in our general way of thinking about ourselves, our tools, and our relationship to both time and work.

Act Two: Energy and the Origin of Life
In Act Two the investigation turned to the role that is played by energy in the establishment of life itself. Here, various astrobiology questions wereraised, especially focusing on the way in which the second law of thermodynamics—the law that says, in general, things naturally move from order to chaos and never vice versa—seems to outlaw the creation of life from lifelessness yet might, in fact, be the key to explaining the meaning of life itself.

Act Three: Energy, Mass, and the Magic of Being
Finally, in Act Three, Steeves questioned what it means to say that one sort of energy can be converted into another. Theoretically, what is the nature of an equals sign in a scientific statement of a natural law; and pragmatically, what does it mean to say that energy is mass? Do we, inevitably, reach a point at which magic becomes reality, dark becomes light, and science becomes art?

The lecture was punctuated by surprising performance interludes including: a rendition of the Radiohead’s “Creep” sung by DePaul A Capella, an Indian Classical dance piece performed by Danielle Maryse Meijer, James Brown’s “Sex Machine” played by the Chicago funk band Kong Fuzi, a illusion act involving a disappearing woman, and ACTUAL lightning produced on stage by a Tesla coil.

This program was presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Science Chicago.