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Discussion series "Please Irritate Me!"

An insight starts with curiosity, but it often ends with irritation. Knowledge that suspends our perception and judgment routines can irritate us. At the same time, it motivates us to question the familiar. Along with the audience, we want to be irritated by unusual research questions, original approaches, and the latest findings that challenge existing theoretical frameworks. And the project partners Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft and Die Junge Akademie are interested in topics that have either been neglected or have never been researched, including outlying, unapparent, and surprising subjects.

Portrait of Bernhard Pörksen looking into the camera. He is wearing a white shirt, a dark gray jacket, and glasses.

Please Irritate Me #5 - Between outrage and insight (with Bernhard Pörksen)

Thursday, 25.09.2025, 19:00–20:30 Uhr

Studio14 - Die rbb Dachlounge, Masurenallee 20, 14057 Berlin

The event will be held in german.

How can we have an open, respectful dialog in times of polarization and disinformation? What do we need to usher in a new culture of constructive debate? Media studies professor Bernhard Pörksen will be talking to Peter-André Alt about the role of the media in an uneasy world, about the responsibility of science and journalism, and about the importance of true listening.

Bernhard Pörksen is one of the best-known media studies professors and intellectuals in the German-speaking world. He lectures at the University of Tübingen and is known as an author, speaker, and interviewee for his incisive analysis and passionate pleas for a culture of open, constructive debate. He explains how outrage became a currency, how social media accelerates and polarizes debates – and how this shifts the conditions for science communication. In a “scandal-driven society”, Pörksen believes that people often confuse attention with relevance – with far-reaching consequences for science and research. For Pörksen, listening, particularly at a time when public discourse is dominated by polarization and noise, is a form of attention that helps us understand otherness, handle complexity, and rethink communication.

In the Please irritate me! discussion series, Pörksen will be talking to Peter-André Alt about the power of language, media responsibility, and how we can make space for genuine discourse.

Please register on the webseite of the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft.

This event is also held in cooperation with the SILBER-SALZ Science & Media Festival. It is free to attend and is aimed at anyone interested in lively debates and new perspectives.

The event will be held in German.

Please Irritate Me #5 - Female ambition (with Helen Ahner, 06.05.2025)

Please Irritate Me #4 - Order and irritation (with Benedikt Hartl, 25.03.2025)

Please Irritate Me #3 - Modeling our world (with Viola Priesemann, 05.11.2024)

Please Irritate Me #2 - Fake News and meat consumption in antiquity (with Christopher Degelmann,01.10.2024)

Please Irritate Me #1 - Money from nothing (with Andrea Binder, 24.04.2024)

participating Members

- Helen Ahner
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Historical and Cultural Anthropology
  
  institution
  
  Universität Wien
  
  Phone
  
  +43-1-4277-44007
  
  E-mail
  
  helen.ahner@univie.ac.at
- Andrea Binder
  
  person_research_subject
  
  International Political Economy
  
  institution
  
  Freie Universität Berlin
  
  E-mail
  
  andrea.binder@fu-berlin.de
- Christopher Degelmann
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Ancient History
  
  institution
  
  Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
  
  Phone
  
  +49 30 2093-70511
  
  E-mail
  
  christopher.degelmann@hu-berlin.de
- Benedikt Hartl
  
  person_research_subject
  
  (activist) architecture
  
  institution
  
  Opposite Office
  
  Phone
  
  +49 176 56592902‬
  
  E-mail
  
  info@oppositeoffice.com
- Viola Priesemann
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Physics
  
  institution
  
  Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation
  
  Phone
  
  +49 551 5176-405
  
  E-mail
  
  viola.priesemann@ds.mpg.de

Activities

- Please Irritate me: Between outrage and insight
  
  Peter-André Alt in conversation with media studies professor Bernhard Pörksen about disinformation and the culture of debate.
  
  Topics:
  Starts on
  
  25.09.25
  
  Ends on
  
  25.09.25
  
  Event access: Public
  
  Studio14 - Die rbb Dachlounge
  Masurenallee 20, 14057 Berlin
  
  19:00 — 20:30
- Please Irritate Me: Female ambition
  
  Peter-André Alt in conversation with cultural scientist Helen Ahner about the scientific examination of social participation and ambition in everyday life.
  
  Topics:
  Starts on
  
  06.05.25
  
  Ends on
  
  06.05.25
  
  Event access: Public
  
  BRICKS Club Berlin
  Mohrenstr. 30
  10117 Berlin
  
  19:00 — 20:30
- Please Irritate Me: Order and irritation
  
  How can breaking the rules foster innovation and why do we need a radical rethink in construction and urban planning?
  
  Peter-André Alt talks to architect Benedikt Hartl about how breaking the rules can foster innovation and why we need a radical rethink in construction and urban planning.
  
  Topics:
  - Event
  - science communication
  Starts on
  
  25.03.25
  
  Ends on
  
  25.03.25
  
  Event access: Public
  
  Deutsches Architektur Zentrum DAZ
  Wilhelmine-Gemberg-Weg 6, 2. Hof / Eingang H1
  10179 Berlin
  
  19:00 — 20:30
- Please Irritate Me: Modeling our world
  
  Peter-André Alt in conversation with physicist Viola Priesemann, talking about parallels between neural and social networks, the informative value of models, and the philosophical and social implications of her research.
  
  Topics:
  - Event
  - science communication
  Starts on
  
  05.11.24
  
  Ends on
  
  05.11.24
  
  Event access: Public
  
  BRICKS Club Berlin
  Mohrenstr. 30
  10117 Berlin
  Link
  
  18:30 — 20:00
- Please Irritate Me: Fake news and meat consumption in antiquity
  
  Covering the fresh perspective of a young ancient historian, new methods in ancient history, and the ability to be amazed. Peter-André Alt in conversation with Christopher Degelmann.
  
  Topics:
  - Event
  - society
  - Europe
  Starts on
  
  01.10.24
  
  Event access: Public
  
  BRICKS Club Berlin
  Mohrenstr. 30
  10117 Berlin
  Link
  
  19:00 — 21:00
- Please Irritate Me: Money from nothing
  
  Public discussion series by Die Junge Akademie and the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft: Peter-André Alt talks with guests about new perspectives in science and research. Series of events kicks off with Andrea Binder.
  
  Tax havens are not only used to hide financial assets, but also to increase them. Political scientist Andrea Binder investigates how this works and why this practice is so precarious. Global banks headquartered in Germany and elsewhere use offshore financial centers such as the Cayman Islands to hand out cheap loans in US dollars to other banks, corporations, and companies around the world. With every loan that is disbursed in US dollars, the offshore banks increase US dollar supply, they ‘create foreign currency’. This process is subject neither to financial supervision nor to political control, undermines rules that would apply to banks in their home markets, and contributes to increasing inequality.
  
  Topics:
  - Event
  - society
  - Europe
  Starts on
  
  24.04.24
  
  Event access: Public
  
  Berliner Sparkasse
  Alexanderplatz 2
  10178 Berlin
  Link
  
  19:00