Beyond University Walls (Nigthlife + Ideas): A Post-Growth Society?

✍️ **Quote of the Day:**​
“Infinite growth on a finite planet is the logic of collapse.”
— Herman Daly

🔍 Event Overview: This isn't a lecture, it’s nightlife with ideas

Science & Cocktails brings leading researchers into vibrant spaces, mixing science, music, and a touch of spectacle to spark conversations that matter. In these events, world-class scientists (from Nobel laureates to rising stars) share ideas on stage, while you sip on a smoky dry-ice cocktail, surrounded by live music, art, and an audience buzzing with curiosity.

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🧠 What Is This Specific Session About?

This edition dives into one of the most pressing challenges of our time: what does a “growth society” mean when the planet’s limits are real?

Post-growth has become an umbrella term for approaches that promote well-being within planetary boundaries—beyond growth-based metrics.

With humor, stories, and cutting-edge research, Prof. Derk Loorbach will unpack the patterns of economic growth, the cracks appearing in the old model, and what a future beyond endless expansion might look like. How do cities, businesses, and communities navigate the shift toward resilience, equity, and well-being without defaulting to “more is better”?

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🤔 Why Is This an Uncommon Experience?

Science & Cocktails transforms how we experience science by blending it with nightlife. The initiative was founded by Jácome (Jay) Armas in 2018, who has since won awards for science communication, including the Genius Prize and the European Physical Society Outreach Prize. Unlike traditional lectures, Science & Cocktails creates a social space that includes:

• Talks by brilliant communicators who make complex ideas accessible.
• Cocktails designed with playful science-inspired flair (like the famous Black Hole cocktail).
• Music & Art Performances that expand the science into culture, sound, and atmosphere.

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📅 Schedule

• 18:45 → Arrival, welcome at the door
• 19:00 → Doors open, cocktails start flowing
• 19:30 → Live music performance
• 20:30 → Talk: The Emergence of a Growth Society
  21:30+ → Stick around— some of the best insights come up after the official part, in side conversations

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✅ Practical Details
📍 Location: Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam
🎟️ Price: €14 (Students/CJP €6,50)
🎫 Tickets: Get your ticket here: https://tickets.paradiso.nl/17bc581af2914446beb4f959a4ff5484
⚠️ Note: Event in English, semi-seated.

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👩‍🔬 About the Speaker

Derk Loorbach is Director of DRIFT and Professor of Socio-economic Transitions at Erasmus University Rotterdam, widely regarded as one of Europe’s leading thinkers on sustainability transitions. As academic figurehead of the Dutch Climate Research Initiative (KIN), his work bridges science and practice to explore how societies can move toward more sustainable, just, and resilient futures.

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❓ Did You Know? Concept Clarification: Post-Growth vs Degrowth vs Agrowth

The distinction between degrowth and post-growth is often unclear, with many authors using post-growth as a catch-all term to avoid the strong connotations associated with degrowth. It encompasses frameworks like Doughnut Economics, Wellbeing or Happiness Economics, Degrowth, and Steady-State models. Scholars describe it as comprising two main categories:

• Degrowth: Advocates for a deliberate, equitable reduction in material and economic activity—emphasizing sufficiency, ecological boundaries, and collective wellbeing.
• A-growth: A neutral standpoint—neither for nor against economic growth. It emphasizes policy effectiveness (e.g., internalizing external costs), without treating GDP as either a goal or an enemy.