Welcome to the world of thought experiments!
When scientists want to investigate something, they do experiments with substances, plants and test subjects. But what if you want to investigate something using only your brain? Then there are thought experiments! By doing a thought experiment, you examine your assumptions about reality. And believe it or not, you sometimes come across very unexpected things in your own brain. Give it a try, too?
The pizza thought experiment
What makes your choice free?
Do we have free will? And what makes a choice free? In the pizza thought experiment, you explore what you actually understand by a "free choice. What does it take to be able to choose freely? Curious? Step into the pizzeria, and challenge yourself!
Teleportation thought experiment
What makes you you?
Imagine this: you are stranded on Mars, and your spaceship is broken. Your only chance to get back home is a teleportation machine. When you press the red button in this machine, an exact scan is taken of you. Then your body is destroyed. The scan is sent to Earth, where a machine builds up a copy of you atom by atom. This copy has the same thoughts, memories and dreams as you. And voilà: you step out of the machine unharmed and are back home. But: who is back home? Is it you? Or did you die on Mars and a newborn person is now walking around with your body and memories? What makes you you?
The Trolley Problem
Does the end justify the means?
Suppose you are standing on a railroad bridge and a train is coming. Below you on the railroad are five people. The train is threatening to run them over. But you can do something! Next to you is a man on the bridge. If you push him off the bridge, he will land on the railroad and stop the train. Will you push the man off the bridge to save the five people on the tracks? When can you do something bad to prevent worse?
The thought experiments are on the first floor of the Latin School. To be reached by stairs.
Radboud University @Latin School
With Radboud University moving into the Latin School, this oldest school building in Nijmegen is regaining its original function. For example, Radboud Reflects organizes courses and other small-scale activities for a wide audience there. There are also some thought experiments that will make you think further.
Oldest school in Nijmegen
The Latin School has a rich history and has been part of the Nijmegen street scene for almost 500 years. It has long been a building full of education, but in recent years that role had disappeared. To make knowledge accessible to Nijmegen citizens again, in 2023 the municipality gave the Latin School as a gift to Radboud University on the occasion of their 100th anniversary.
History
Since 1544, the Latin School - designed by Nijmegen city mason Herman van Herengrave, who ten years later also designed Nijmegen's Town Hall - has fulfilled several roles. The building was long nicknamed the Apostolic School, before it was converted into the Nijmegen Municipal Gymnasium in 1842. The building is located on the Sint-Stevenskerkhof, a small square at the foot of the Stevenskerk
Learn more:
Latin School
Infinite. Science Festival on and around the Stevens' Skywalk
This program is part of Infinity, Radboud University's science festival on, in and around the Stevenskerk in the center of Nijmegen on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 September 2025. Join us to a great height and be surprised.