
Into the Impossible With Brian Keating
602 episodes — Page 11 of 13

S2 Ep 117How to BEAT failure, CRUSH obstacles, and THRIVE with NASA Spacewalker Scott Parazynski! (#117)
Scott Parazynski is an American physician and a former NASA astronaut. A veteran of five Space Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks, Parazynski's phenomenal book, THE SKY BELOW, tells the gripping first-person account of life at the Universe's extremes. Join me in the live chat with Scott Scott is also the founder of https://fluidity.tech/ Fluidity Tech is a Houston-based technology company focused on redefining movement through 3-dimensional space. Founded by former NASA astronaut, pilot and physician, Scott Parazynski, the company’s mission is to simplify and improve motion. In Fall 2018, Fluidity Tech introduced the FT Aviator, its first patented drone controller designed to dramatically increase the precision of drone flight, while tremendously simplifying it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S2 Ep 116Laurence Tribe: The Physics of IMPEACHMENT & The Curvature of Constitutional Space (#116)
Laurence Tribe Is an American legal scholar who is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at the Harvard Law School of Harvard University. We are discussing the impeachment of Donald Trump and unique aspects of the constitution that have a mathematical connection. Tribe is a constitutional law scholar and co-founder of the American Constitution Society. He is the author of To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment. The influence of Euclid on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution was profound. The founding fathers were versed in the mathematical principles of the Elements, and used geometric proofs in the drafting of many provisions of the Constitution, as well as on money and measurements. It’s no surprise that you’d look up Euclid in relation to the U.S. Constitution. Thankfully, there’s an easy way for you to see the connection and read about it in this fantastic blog post from this piece in Nautilus. You can find a copy of Larry’s fascinating paper, helped out by a young research assistant named ‘Barack Obama’, here.The Curvature of Constitutional Space_What Lawyers Can Learn From Modern Physics_103 Harv. L. Rev. 1 (1989): https://blog.bkeating.ucsd.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/64/2021/02/The-Curvature-of-Constitutional-Space_What-Lawyers-Can-Learn-From-Modern-Physics_103-Harv.-L.-Rev.-1-1989.pdf Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating And please join my mailing list to get resources and enter giveaways to win a FREE copy of my book (and more) http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 📝 Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating And please join my mailing list to get resources and enter giveaways to win a FREE copy of my book (and more) http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 📝 A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S2 Ep 115Max Tegmark: Life 3.0 (#115)
Also on Youtube Max Tegmark is a physicist, cosmologist, and artificial intelligence - machine learning researcher. He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the scientific director of the Foundational Questions Institute. He has been my mentor and friend for a LONG time :-) Professor Tegmark’s research is focused on precision cosmology, e.g., combining theoretical work with new measurements to place sharp constraints on cosmological models and their parameters. Early on, this challenge has lead him to work mainly on cosmology and quantum information. Although he’s continuing his cosmology work with the HERA collaboration, the main focus of his current research is on the physics of intelligence: using physics-based techniques to better understand biological and artificial intelligence (AI). Ultimately, this could culminate in what he calls an "AI Physicist" https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/11/01/1895/an-ai-physicist-can-derive-the-natural-laws-of-imagined-universes/ A native of Stockholm, Tegmark left Sweden in 1990 after receiving his B.Sc. in Physics from the Royal Institute of Technology (& a B.A. in Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics). His first academic venture beyond Scandinavia brought him to California, where he studied physics at the University of California, Berkeley, earning his PhD. in 1994. Tegmark is an author on more than 200 technical papers, and has been featured in dozens of science documentaries. He has received numerous awards for his research, including a Packard Fellowship (2001-06), Cottrell Scholar Award, an NSF Career grant. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. His work with the SDSS collaboration on galaxy clustering shared the first prize in Science magazine’s “Breakthrough of the Year: 2003.” His book "LIFE 3.0" was an instant New York Times Best Seller and one of Mark Cuban and Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017. Life 3.0 asks the question: "How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human?" The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology—and there’s nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark. How can we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking income or purpose? What career advice should we give today’s kids? How can we make future AI systems more robust, so that they do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans on the job market and perhaps altogether? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us more power than we can handle? Read Life 3.0 https://amzn.to/2YTDg9L 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:09 Disagreement with Noam Chomsky and the challenge of the Imitation Game 00:04:16 Will AI exceed human intelligence? 00:07:04 Should we fear AI? Are we being to passive? 00:09:02 Should we trust AI? What we should worry about. 00:11:21 Were you born tooearly to make good use of AI? Could AI avert war? 00:12:45 AI may have a democratizing impact. 00:17:55 The "Improve The News" experiment 00:26:19 What do you think about exponential change? Will tech solve humanity's problems? 00:30:31 What is your ethical will? 🏄♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 📖 Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA 🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 📧Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 🎙️Listen on all other platforms: https://wavve.link/into A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S2 Ep 114Jayant Narlikar - Giant of Cosmology! (#114)
Besides scientific papers and books and popular science literature, Narlikar has written science fiction, novels, and short stories in English, Hindi, and Marathi: Facts and Speculations in Cosmology, with G. Burbidge, Current Issues in Cosmology, 2006 A Different Approach to Cosmology: From a Static Universe through the Big Bang towards Reality, 2005 Fred Hoyle's Universe, 2003 Scientific Edge: The Indian Scientist from Vedic to Modern Times, 2003 An Introduction to Cosmology, 2002 A Different Approach to Cosmology, with G. Burbidge and Fred Hoyle Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei: An Introduction, 1999 From Black Clouds to Black Holes, 1996 From Black Clouds to Black Holes (Third Edition), 2012 Seven Wonders of the Cosmos, 1995 Philosophy of Science: Perspectives from Natural and Social Sciences, 1992 The extragalactic universe: an alternative view, with Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe, Nature 346:807–812, 30 August 1990 Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating And please join my mailing list to get resources and enter giveaways to win a FREE copy of my book (and more) http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 📝 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S2 Ep 113Harvard’s Avi Loeb- Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth (#113)
In late 2017, scientists at a Hawaiian observatory glimpsed an object soaring through our inner solar system, moving so quickly that it could only have come from another star. Avi Loeb, Harvard’s top astronomer, showed it was not an asteroid; it was moving too fast along a strange orbit, and left no trail of gas or debris in its wake. There was only one conceivable explanation: the object was a piece of advanced technology created by a distant alien civilization. In Extraterrestrial, Loeb takes readers inside the thrilling story of the first interstellar visitor to be spotted in our solar system. He outlines his controversial theory and its profound implications: for science, for religion, and for the future of our species and our planet. A mind-bending journey through the furthest reaches of science, space-time, and the human imagination, Extraterrestrial challenges readers to aim for the stars—and to think critically about what’s out there, no matter how strange it seems. https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep 112Leonard Mlodinow – My Friend, Stephen Hawking (#112)
Stephen Hawking: A Memoir of Friendship and Physics Leonard Mlodinow was Stephen’s closest colleague in his final years. Who better to put us in the room as Hawking indulges his passion for wine and curry; shares his feelings on love, death, and disability; and grapples with deep questions of philosophy and physics. Whether depicting Hawking’s devotion to his work or demonstrating how he would make spur of the moment choices, such as punting on the River Cam (despite the risk the jaunt posed), or spinning tales of Hawking defiantly urinating in the hedges outside a restaurant that doesn’t have a wheelchair-accessible toilet, Mlodinow captures his indomitable spirit. This deeply affecting account of a friendship teaches us not just about the nature and practice of physics but also about life and the human capacity to overcome daunting obstacles. my previous conversation with Len, Deepak Chopra and Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/E-8mF4HWDnE?sub_confirmation=1 Get the book here https://amzn.to/3gWgS7U Len received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of California, Berkeley, was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institute and was on the faculty of the California Institute of Technology. His previous books include the bestsellers The Grand Design and A Briefer History of Time (coauthored with Stephen Hawking), Subliminal (winner of the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award), and War of the Worldviews (with Deepak Chopra), as well as Elastic, Euclid’s Window, Feynman’s Rainbow, and The Upright Thinkers. 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:39 The story of the book cover 00:08:05 Stephen Hawking Inc. 00:12:51 Living with ALS 00:15:55 Hawking Radiation 00:16:28 The origin of the book 00:18:51 How do you rebuke Stephen Hawking!? 00:20:45 Even Stephen Hawking got writer’s block 00:28:27 Our book is NOT an argument against God. 00:29:49 More thoughts on God how Hawking was “Israeli”! 00:30:54 Do singularities exist? Can we ever know? 00:33:50 What was Stephen Hawking’s philosophy of science? 00:38:45 Have you ever “seen” a triangle? An example of realism. 00:42:42 What could the role of God be in the universe? 00:56:04 Which was the more jarring event: completing your last collaboration with Professor Hawking or his death? 00:59:28 How did Leonard balance his life while collaborating with Prof. Hawking? 01:00:37 What would you tell Stephen now if you could? 01:01:27 Thrilling 3 Final Questions 01:01:56 What is in your “Ethical Will”? 01:04:27 What would you put on your monolith? 01:09:25 What advice would you give to your younger self? Watch my most popular videos: Jim Simons, the World’s Smartest Billionaire Bill Perkins: DIE WITH ZERO: Patrick Bet-David YOUR NEXT FIVE MOVES Sheldon Glashow Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek Jill Tarter Eric Weinst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 2: John Preskill – Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Encountering Richard Feynman (#111)
Learn about the exciting promise of quantum computing and how it may solve problems in fundamental physics. Join my mailing list to get slides from this conversation: briankeating.com. We went deep…discussing Artificial Intelligence, the simulation hypothesis, lessons from Richard Feynman and more! You don’t want to miss his answers to my patented Thrilling Three final questions! John Preskill is the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology, where he is also the Director of the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter. He is one of the most prolific and influential scientists of our time. Preskill is a leading scientist in the field of quantum information science and quantum computation, and he is known for coining the term “quantum supremacy.” Preskill studied magnetic monopoles in Grand Unified Theories. This work pointed out serious flaws in the then-current cosmological models, a problem which was later addressed by Alan Guth and others by proposing the idea of cosmic inflation. He’s the Director of the Institute for Quantum Information at Caltech. He is known for coining the term “Quantum Supremacy” in a 2012 paper. Preskill has achieved some notoriety in the popular press as a party to a number of bets involving fellow theoretical physicists Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne. Preskill was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2014. Watch my most popular videos: Jim Simons, the World’s Smartest Billionaire Bill Perkins: DIE WITH ZERO: Patrick Bet-David YOUR NEXT FIVE MOVES Sheldon Glashow Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek Jill Tarter Eric Weinstein Sir Roger Penrose Juan Maldacena’s First Podcast Interview Sara Seager Venus Life Noam Chomsky Sabine Hossenfelder Sarah Scoles Stephen Wolfram ♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Preskill – Part 1 – Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Encountering Richard Feynman (#111)
Part 1 of 2 Learn about the exciting promise of quantum computing and how it may solve problems in fundamental physics. Join my mailing list to get slides from this conversation: briankeating.com. We went deep…discussing Artificial Intelligence, the simulation hypothesis, lessons from Richard Feynman and more! You don’t want to miss his answers to my patented Thrilling Three final questions! John Preskill is the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology, where he is also the Director of the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter. He is one of the most prolific and influential scientists of our time. Preskill is a leading scientist in the field of quantum information science and quantum computation, and he is known for coining the term “quantum supremacy.” Preskill studied magnetic monopoles in Grand Unified Theories. This work pointed out serious flaws in the then-current cosmological models, a problem which was later addressed by Alan Guth and others by proposing the idea of cosmic inflation. He’s the Director of the Institute for Quantum Information at Caltech. He is known for coining the term “Quantum Supremacy” in a 2012 paper. Preskill has achieved some notoriety in the popular press as a party to a number of bets involving fellow theoretical physicists Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne. Preskill was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2014. Watch my most popular videos: Jim Simons, the World’s Smartest Billionaire Bill Perkins: DIE WITH ZERO: Patrick Bet-David YOUR NEXT FIVE MOVES Sheldon Glashow Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek Jill Tarter Eric Weinstein Sir Roger Penrose Juan Maldacena’s First Podcast Interview Sara Seager Venus Life Noam Chomsky Sabine Hossenfelder Sarah Scoles Stephen Wolfram ♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Saylor – The Physics of Bitcoin (#110)
Michael J. Saylor is an American entrepreneur and business executive, who co-founded & leads MicroStrategy, a company that provides business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based services. Saylor, an MIT trained engineer, authored the 2012 book The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything. He is also the sole trustee of Saylor Academy ( www.saylor.org ), a provider of free online education. As of 2016, Saylor has been granted 31 patents and has 9 additional applications under review. We covered a ton of content in this interview including ‘the physics of money’, the purpose of wealth, and Michael’s philosophy of life. You won’t want to miss his philosophy of life. To get them, please join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php On MicroStrategy’s quarterly earnings conference call in July 2020, Saylor announced his intention for MicroStrategy to explore purchasing Bitcoin, gold, or other alternative assets instead of holding cash. The following month, MicroStrategy used $250 million from its cash stockpile to purchase 21,454 Bitcoin. MicroStrategy added $175 million of Bitcoin to its holdings in September 2020 and another $50 million in early December 2020. On December 11, 2020, MicroStrategy announced that it had sold $650 million in convertible senior notes, taking on debt to increase its Bitcoin holdings to over $1 billion worth. On December 21, 2020 MicroStrategy announced their total holdings include 70,470 bitcoins purchased for $1.125 billion at an average price of $15,964 per bitcoin. Saylor, who controls 70% of MicroStrategy’s shares, dismissed concerns by observers that the move is turning MicroStrategy into a Bitcoin investment firm or exchange-traded fund (ETF). In 1999, Saylor established The Saylor Foundation (later named Saylor Academy), of which he is the sole trustee. To support his goal of making free education available to all students, Saylor.org was launched in 2008 as the free education initiative of The Saylor Foundation. The site now offers roughly 100 college courses that are supported by free content from universities including MIT and Carnegie Mellon University, that students can access without having to pass through an admissions process 00:00:00 Introduction 00:04:00 The story of the book cover 00:07:35 What’s the next (6th?) technology wave? 00:10:55 The next megatrend: Virtualization 00:18:17 Why are there ridges on coins? 00:19:36 Where gold comes from, and can virtual currencies replace real ones? 00:22:22 Why gold as a currency standar? And what sets the price of oil? 00:36:20 Why is blockchain is so great now? 00:40:27 The Pandemic as a catalyst. 00:40:57 Risk management in science and all things. Join My Mailing List (briankeating.com) to hear his answers to the Thrilling Three Questions What is in his ethical will? What would he put on your billion-year monument? What advice would he give to himself as a 20-year-old to have the courage to go ‘Into the Impossible’? Watch my most popular videos: Jim Simons, the World’s Smartest Billionaire Bill Perkins: DIE WITH ZERO: Patr Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nobel Prize Winner Frank Wilczek: Fundamentals — What Are The 10 Keys To Reality? (#109)
Frank Wilczek is a theoretical physicist, author, and intellectual adventurer. He has received many prizes for his work, including a Nobel Prize in Physics. Win a FREE copy of his newest book Fundamentals: enter this giveaway – https://kingsumo.com/g/n7xeaa/win-a-copy-of-frank-wilczeks-fundamentals-10-keys-to-reality Wilczek has made seminal contributions to fundamental particle physics, cosmology, and the physics of materials. His current research focus includes Axions, Anyons, and Time Crystals, concepts in physics which he invented –each of which has become a major focus of worldwide research. In recent years Frank has become fascinated with prospects for expanding perception through technology. He is developing hardware and software tools for this. He has authored several well-known books and writes a monthly “Wilczek’s Universe” feature for the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, “Fundamentals”, was released in January 2021. Buy it here: https://amzn.to/3q9HNAr Wilczek received a B.S. at the University of Chicago in 1970, and a Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University in 1974. Currently he is the Herman Feshbach professor of physics at MIT; Founding Director of the T. D. Lee Institute and Chief Scientist at Wilczek Quantum Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University; and Professor at Stockholm University. https://www.frankawilczek.com/ 00:04:43 What’s a day in your life like? 00:05:25 Having a grandchild 0 0:08:12 How Frank got interested in machine learning and AI. 00:11:07 What are your current thoughts are AI? 00:21:20 What are the fundamentals? 00:24:05 What motivates to begin a new project? 00:27:25 About axions. 00:30:47 Breaking symmetry or an expanded definition of it? 00:37:54 What’s fundamental about the scales of the universe? 00:40:16 Thoughts about a future envisioned in science fiction. 00:42:58 What do you think is the most beautiful experiment? 00:57;04 What is the case for the existence of God? 00:24:05 Is complexity fundamental? 01:17:09 Will we find that axions explain Dark Matter? 01:20:10 Detecting quantum gravitational waves. 01:31:56 Are there hints about a core theory of everything? Watch my most popular videos: Sheldon Glashow: https://youtu.be/a0_iaWgxQtA?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuqyAvX7Wo?sub_confirmation=1 Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Jill Tarter https://youtu.be/O9K9OBd3vHk?sub_confirmation=1 Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose https://youtu.be/H8G5onAqlVo?sub_confirmation=1 Juan Maldacena’s First Podcast Interview: https://youtu.be/uIzTliTHn7s?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Sara Seager Venus LIfe: https://youtu.be/QPsEDoOTU6k?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM ♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fundamentally Closer to Truth? A conversation with Deepak Chopra, Leonard Mlodinow, & Frank Wilczek (#108)
Does your mind create matter? What happens when an irresistible force meets an unmovable object? What is the nature of free will? Find out, in this special episode of the Into the Impossible Podcast in collaboration with Deepak Chopra’s “Chopra Well”. Fundamentals: Closer to Truth: A Look at the work of Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek and physicists Leonard Mlodinow and Brian Keating. In this riveting conversation, co-hosted with Deepak Chopra, physicists Frank Wilczek, author of Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality, Leonard Mlodinow co- author with Stephen Hawking of two books, The Grand Design and A Briefer History of Time, and me discuss what we know about the physical world, questions that fundamental science cannot address, and more. Frank Wilczek is world-renowned both as a theoretical physicist and as a writer and speaker on science. He has received many honors for his work, notably including the Nobel Prize. Watch my first video with Frank here: https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0 Find Frank here: frankawilczek.com Massachusetts Institute of Technology | T.D. Lee Institute & Wilczek Quantum Center Shanghai Jiao Tong University | Arizona State University | Stockholm University. Frank has literary and inventive projects in the works. Frank has an insatiable appetite for puzzles and games. He is also an avid, though mediocre, musician. And he is proud of his family. Wilczek has made seminal contributions to fundamental particle physics, cosmology and the physics of materials. His current research focus includes Axions, Anyons, and Time Crystals. These are concepts in physics which he named and pioneered. Each has become a major focus of world-wide research. In recent years Frank has become fascinated with prospects for expanding perception through technology. He is developing hardware and software tools for this. He has authored several well-known books, and writes a monthly “Wilczek’s Universe” feature for the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality will be released on January 12, 2021. LEONARD MLODINOW received his PhD in theoretical physics from the University of California, Berkeley, was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institute, and was on the faculty of the California Institute of Technology. His previous books include the best sellers The Grand Design and A Briefer History of Time (both with Stephen Hawking), Subliminal (winner of the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award), and War of the Worldviews (with Deepak Chopra), as well as Elastic, Euclid’s Window, Feynman’s Rainbow, and The Upright Thinkers. His latest book, “Stephen Hawking: A Memoir of Friendship and Physics” released on November 8, 2020. https://leonardmlodinow.com/ Watch my most popular videos: Sheldon Glashow: https://youtu.be/a0_iaWgxQtA?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuqyAvX7Wo?sub_confirmation=1 Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Jill Tarter https://youtu.be/O9K9OBd3vHk?sub_confirmation=1 Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose https://youtu.be/H8G5onAqlVo?sub_confirmation=1 Juan Maldacena’s First Podcast Interview: https://youtu.be/uIzTliTHn7s?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Sara Seager Venus LIfe: https://youtu.be/QPsEDoOTU6k?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lord Martin Rees On The Future (#107)
Lord Martin Rees has played a huge role in my career and is an inspiration to me and millions of scientists around the world. There is literally nothing beyond his purview and our conversation bore this out — we covered everything from A to Z: artificial intelligence to zoology! Nothing was off-limits — we even shared our mutual and controversial distaste for alchemy and astrology! Lord Rees of Ludlow, the Astronomer Royal, is the Co-founder of Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and an Emeritus Professor of Cosmology & Astrophysics, at Cambridge University. He is the 38th Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the author of ‘On the Future’ and 10 other books and the 60th President of the Royal Society. Find Lord Rees on https://www.martinrees.uk/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LordMartinRees Buy ON THE FUTURE here: https://amzn.to/2Lg9MPT 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:36 ON THE FUTURE book cover 00:03:00 Reading the Queen’s Horoscope! 00:03:41 What is your view of Karls Popper’s demarcation philosophy? Refuting Copernicus! 00:08:11 Do physicists envy mathematicians? 00:11:24Why is Einstein so often a target of criticism? 00:12:13 Why are theorists so popular and not experimentalists? 00:15:45 Theories don’t get retracted, but experiments often do! What’s going on? 00:16:04 The steady-state of the universe debate and cosmology’s earlier days. 00:22:47 Martin’s prediction that the CMB could be polarized 00:24:47 How even incorrect theories can lead to important discoveries. 00:29:13 Theories of Everything. Do we need them? 00:37:45 Complex vs.Complicated 00:40:57 Are you a pessimist or optimist? 00:57:52 There may be some benefits to the pandemic! 00:59:00 What do you think about blockchain and bitcoin? 01:07:46 How coins got their ridges. 01:17:46 What is your ethical will? 01:26:24 What advice would you give your younger self? Watch my most popular videos: Sheldon Glashow: https://youtu.be/a0_iaWgxQtA?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuqyAvX7Wo?sub_confirmation=1 Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Jill Tarter https://youtu.be/O9K9OBd3vHk?sub_confirmation=1 Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose https://youtu.be/H8G5onAqlVo?sub_confirmation=1 Juan Maldacena’s First Podcast Interview: https://youtu.be/uIzTliTHn7s?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Sara Seager Venus LIfe: https://youtu.be/QPsEDoOTU6k?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM ♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(part 2): Max Tegmark & Eric Weinstein in Conversation (#106)
Max Tegmark and Eric Weinstein chat on the last day of 2020! Let’s say ‘good riddance’ with good friends and great conversation! We’ll talk a bit about Artificial Intelligence, Theories of Everything & the seemingly impossible challenge of building a positive future for humanity. Max thinks that, by improving the news we receive with the aid of machine learning, we can achieve a brighter future. Check out his new center at MIT: https://iaifi.org Find him on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/mtegmark Watch Max’s appearance on The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast in 2020 discussing Theories of Everything: https://youtu.be/3MX8EpvLwao Eric Weinstein, host of the Portal will share insights from Geometric Unity and thoughts on the meaning of it all! Find Eric at https://www.youtube.com/c/EricWeinsteinPhD/ Watch Eric’s previous debate with Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/OI0AZ4Y4Ip4 Watch my most popular videos: Sheldon Glashow Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek Jill Tarter Eric Weinstein Sir Roger Penrose Juan Maldacena’s First Podcast Interview Jim Simons Sara Seager Venus Life Noam Chomsky Sabine Hossenfelder Sarah Scoles Stephen Wolfram ♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize ️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(part 1): Max Tegmark & Eric Weinstein in Conversation (#106)
Max Tegmark and Eric Weinstein chat on the last day of 2020! Let’s say ‘good riddance’ with good friends and great conversation! We’ll talk a bit about Artificial Intelligence, Theories of Everything & the seemingly impossible challenge of building a positive future for humanity. Max thinks that, by improving the news we receive with the aid of machine learning, we can achieve a brighter future. Check out his new center at MIT: https://iaifi.org Find him on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/mtegmark Watch Max’s appearance on The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast in 2020 discussing Theories of Everything: https://youtu.be/3MX8EpvLwao Eric Weinstein, host of the Portal will share insights from Geometric Unity and thoughts on the meaning of it all! Find Eric at https://www.youtube.com/c/EricWeinsteinPhD/ Watch Eric’s previous debate with Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/OI0AZ4Y4Ip4 Watch my most popular videos: Sheldon Glashow Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek Jill Tarter Eric Weinstein Sir Roger Penrose Juan Maldacena’s First Podcast Interview Jim Simons Sara Seager Venus Life Noam Chomsky Sabine Hossenfelder Sarah Scoles Stephen Wolfram ♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize ️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nobel Prize Winner Rainer Weiss: Feeling Spacetime Shudder: Black Holes, Gravitational Waves and Nobel Prizes! (#105)
MIT Physics Professor Emeritus Rainer Weiss won a 1/2 share of The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 For his contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves. He was born in Berlin, where his father was a doctor and psychoanalyst and his mother an actress. His father was of Jewish descent, and the family fled Nazism to the United States. After schooling in New York, Weiss studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his doctor’s degree in 1962. After a couple of years at Tufts University and Princeton University, he returned to MIT, which he has been associated with ever since. Rainer Weiss is married and has a daughter and a son. Professor Weiss’ Nobel winning work come out of one consequence of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the existence of gravitational waves. These are like ripples in a four-dimensional spacetime that occur when objects with mass accelerate. The effects are very small. Beginning in the 1970s the LIGO detector was developed. In this detector laser technology is used to measure small changes in length caused by gravitational waves. Rainer Weiss has made crucial contributions to the development of the detector. In 2015 gravitational waves were detected for the first time. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:08:00 Concerns about Getting The Nobel Prize 00:12:55 Imposter Syndrome? You too!? 00:18:46 Theorists V Experimentalists pros and cons 00:23:22 Thoughts on STEM Pedagogy 00:27:21 Essential Skills: using your hands and the role of electronics surplus and music. 00:33:39 Dropping Out And Finding MIT and Atomic Clocks 00:35:52 Philosophy of Experimental Science 00:39:44 Thinkng about Einstein-What’s his most cited paper and why? 00:40:54 How do you know when to quit an experiment? 00:42:26 On LIGO and the art and science of detecting weak signals. 00:48:02 Did you have doubts about detecting gravitational waves? Thoughts on Eisntein’s original work on general relativity. 01:00:00 The nature of scientific collaborations (and rivalries). 01:21:00 The circular logic of singularity theory. 01:22:38 What if there was no big bang? 01:26:56 Why did your MIT Dean draw a huge zero? 01:28:10 Staying at MIT 01:30:34 What’s it like to work on “fringe” projects? 01:33:39 Can experiments get too big? 01:40:00 What would you do with your own billion year time capsule? 01:41:00 What advice would you give your younger self? Watch my most popular videos: Sheldon Glashow: https://youtu.be/a0_iaWgxQtA?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuqyAvX7Wo?sub_confirmation=1 Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose https://youtu.be/H8G5onAqlVo?sub_confirmation=1 Juan Maldacena’s First Podcast Interview: https://youtu.be/uIzTliTHn7s?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Sara Seager Venus LIfe: https://youtu.be/QPsEDoOTU6k?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM ♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cumrun Vafa: Puzzles to Unlock The Universe! (#104)
Join me in welcoming Prof. Cumrun Vafa (Harvard) in his first major podcast interview! We discussed a wide range of topics including what message he’d put into a billion-year time capsule. Plus, we discuss his delightful new book. Beneath all of the complex and formidable mathematical structures that formulate physical laws rest simple but deep nuggets of truth. It is these simple truths, and not the complicated technical details, that scientists strive for when uncovering the laws of nature. Fortunately, these core ideas can often be illustrated with simple mathematical puzzles. These puzzles are so simplified that one can tackle them and appreciate their meaning without using any complicated math. His book, Puzzles To Unravel The Universe, includes over a hundred puzzles and their solutions, along with a discussion about how they relate to deep ideas in physics and math. Examples are drawn from classical physics, such as Newton’s laws and Einstein’s theory of relativity, as well as from modern physics, including black holes and string theory. This book is designed for the general public, and it does not require an extensive background in mathematics or physics–just a sense of curiosity! For more information about the author see his website: https://www.cumrunvafa.org/ . Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3mSFGA1 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:39 The story behind the title and book cover 00:03:55 What is a puzzle versus a mystery? 00:05:48 What puzzles are you most fascinated by? 00:06:26 Black hole entropy 00:07:56 Albert Michelson 00:08:31 Godel’s Theorem: Are some puzzles not solvable? 00:10:39 Aristarchos of Samos 00:11:21 Galileo and the Dialogo 00:12:24 Why string theory? 00:17:25 Dimensional Analysis 00:21:35 Singularities 00:28:51 ADS and 5 Dimensions 00:31:08 string theory 00:35:09 Supersymmetry 00:40:42 On Religion 00:53:05 A scorecard for Physics 00:57:30 What would your “ethical will” be? 00:58:30 What would you put on monoliths that would last a billion years? 01:03:10 What have you accomplished that once seemed impossible? Professor Vafa is world-renowned for his groundbreaking work in string theory and the mathematical technology needed to explore this field. He is one of the founders of the duality revolution in string theory which has reshaped our understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe. He has uncovered mysteries of black holes using topological aspects of string theory and is the founder of `F-theory’ which is one of the most promising directions in connecting string theory solutions known as the `string landscape’ to particle physics. His ideas related to apparently consistent, but ultimately inconsistent, theories of quantum gravity which he initiated in the `swampland’ project has helped narrow down the vast string landscape and is currently an active area of research with an impact on cosmology, as well as particle phenomenology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jill Tarter – Proxima Centauri, the Drake Equation, and SETI in 2021! (#103)
Last week the Guardian and Scientific American announced that Breakthrough Listen astronomers using the Parkes radio telescope in Australia saw a weird radio signal coming from Proxima Centauri, the star system closest to Earth. The signal behaves strangely, only using a narrow 982MHz band typically not used by human-made spacecraft. It also does not correspond to known natural processes. The frequency moves around too…not what you’d expect from a planet. As soon as I heard about it, I knew I had to talk to my friend, Jill Tarter! Check out the biography of Jill (Making Contact) here: https://amzn.to/2M22Bv5 Please consider donating to the SETI Institute: https://www.seti.org Watch Jill’s TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EszGIvRdgTE Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.phpJoin my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize ️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Weinstein – Ask Me Anything Live (#102)
Eric Weinstein is the managing director of Thiel Capital, Peter Thiel‘s investment firm, a position he has held since 2015. Though not an academic physicist, he proposed a unified theory of physics in 2013. He and his brother Bret Weinstein coined the term Intellectual Dark Web to refer to an informal group of pundits. Weinstein received his Ph.D. in mathematical physics from the Mathematics Department at Harvard University in 1992 under the supervision of Raoul Bott Find Eric’s Portal Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR85PW_B_7_Aisx5vNS7Gjw Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.phpJoin my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize ️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nobel Prizewinner Frank Wilczek: Beautiful Questions, God, Nobels, Imposters & the Power of Beauty (#101)
Does the universe embody beautiful ideas? Join me on a cosmic journey with Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek. We will embark on a voyage of related discoveries, from Plato and Pythagoras up to the present. Wilczek’s groundbreaking work in quantum physics was inspired by his intuition to look for a deeper order of beauty in nature. This is the deep logic of the universe—and it is no accident that it is also at the heart of what we find aesthetically pleasing and inspiring. Wilczek is hardly alone among great scientists in charting his course using beauty as his compass. As he reveals in A Beautiful Question, this has been the heart of scientific pursuit from Pythagoras and the ancient belief in the music of the spheres to Galileo, Newton, Maxwell, Einstein, and into the deep waters of twentieth-century physics. Wilczek brings us right to the edge of knowledge today, where the core insights of even the craziest quantum ideas apply principles we all understand. The equations for atoms and light are almost the same ones that govern musical instruments and sound; the subatomic particles that are responsible for most of our mass are determined by simple geometric symmetries. Gorgeously illustrated, A Beautiful Question is a mind-shifting book that braids the age-old quest for beauty and the age-old quest for truth into a thrilling synthesis. It is a dazzling and important work from one of our best thinkers, whose humor and infectious sense of wonder animate every page. Yes: The world is a work of art, and its deepest truths are ones we already feel, as if they were somehow written in our souls. Praise for A Beautiful Question: “An expertly curated tour across 2,500 years of philosophy and physics . . . [Frank Wilczek] has accomplished a rare feat: Writing a book of profound humanity based on questions aimed directly at the eternal.” —The Wall Street Journal “Both a brilliant exploration of largely uncharted territories and a refreshingly idiosyncratic guide to developments in particle physics.” —Nature Get it here: https://amzn.to/3oh48uZ COMING SOON!!! Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality by Frank Wilczek 1/12/21 One of our great contemporary scientists reveals the ten profound insights that illuminate what everyone should know about the physical world. In Fundamentals, Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek offers the reader a simple yet profound exploration of reality based on the deep revelations of modern science. With clarity and an infectious sense of joy, he guides us through the essential concepts that form our understanding of what the world is and how it works. Through these pages, we come to see our reality in a new way–bigger, fuller, and stranger than it looked before. BUY IT HERE: https://amzn.to/37v5jAg Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S2 Ep 100Barry Barish – Black Holes, Nobel Prizes & The Imposter Syndrome (#100)
Barry Barish is an emeritus professor at Caltech, where he has worked since 1963. He became director of the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) project in 1997, which led to his Nobel Prize in 2017. He has many other awards and is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and American Physical Society, of which he was also president. Barry joins our Nobel Minds playlist on the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE podcast. He shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics with Rai Weiss and Kip Thorne “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.” We discuss Barry’s long and remarkable career that covers many disciplines within physics. It’s not the standard model, but he has a confidence about himself, and his contributions that make it seem perfectly natural to have been part of such varied, noteworthy projects during his career. Despite that, Barry also admits to feeling like an imposter at times, especially when singing the same Nobel register as Einstein. What a moment! 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:55 Starting out at Cal Tech with long time collaborator Kip Thorne. 00:11:47 Changing from particle physics to gravity astronomy. Change or stagnate! 00:17:13 Was the sad demise of the US supercollider really fortuitous? 00:20:00 How did the discovery of the Higgs Boson by CERN make you feel? 00:22:07 What detector technology enabled the discovery of the Higgs Boson? 00:23:00 What fascinates Barry the most about gravity astronomy? 00:27:50 The feedback cycle between theory and experiment 00:28:45 Does there need to be a unified theory of everything? 00:29:54 Can/will LIGO detect primordial gravitational waves? 00:37:40 What is your philosophy of experimental science? When do you stop an experiment? Why peer review is too conservative. 00:41:00 What skill sets can be applied from one branch of science to another? Lessons from the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, and Managing big projects. Change Management. 00:57:45 How Barry began in particle physics at Berkley. How students learn today. 01:03:45 What is your vision for the future of LIGO? 01:10:10 What would most like to leave as an ethical will for future generations? 01:13:45 About curiosity 01:14:50 What have you accomplished that you once thought was impossible? Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sheldon Glashow: The Power of Useless Ideas! (#099)
Sheldon Glashow is a theoretical physicist and emeritus professor at Harvard, where he also earned his Ph.D. He was the first to propose a grand unified theory and also worked as a visiting scientist at CERN. Glashow shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics with Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg. He is a member of the Board of Sponsors for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. It was an honor to have Sheldon Glashow on the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE podcast. He joins our Nobel Minds playlist, having won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, for his “contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral current.” Shelly recounts a remarkable life as the son of a plumber who went to the acclaimed Bronx Science high school and then worked his way through some of the most notable laboratories in the world, meeting colleagues and forming collaborations along the way. Having won science’s top prize over 40 years ago didn’t slow him down, as he only recently retired from research and teaching. Shelly’s 1988 book, “Interactions: A Journey Through the Mind of a Particle Physicist and the Matter of this World,” holds up decades later as one that asks important questions about physics and guides future generations of scientists. I recommend that everyone curious about the field read it. His writing style is enviously humorous and accessible. I was interested to hear about how his love of science fiction encouraged his career as a physicist. Considering many of the topics we cover would have been considered science fiction even in the time that Shelly has been alive, he is properly impressed and optimistic about the benefits technology can have on scientific discovery. It was also encouraging to see how interested and engaged he still is in the pursuit of knowledge. Though he does express some pessimism about the future of humanity. Perhaps it’s hard not to during the pandemic, combined with the grim news about climate change and other threats. Hopefully, the fields he and I know and love – “useless fields” as he calls them – can continue that Nobel legacy of bettering humankind. You will enjoy this Full course: Quantum Field Theory by Sidney Coleman (1975) [Havard Physics 253 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhsb6tmzSpiwrZuDMyweABm7FShZu3YUv Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE N Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill Perkins: Winners DIE WITH ZERO! (#098)
We all have limited time on Earth, so how should we spend it? Financial advisors urge us to be more like the ant than the grasshopper: work hard to maximize our earnings, save early and often, and, in retirement, reap the fruits of our labors and the rewards of compound interest. “What a monumental waste of human life,” says multi- millionaire Bill Perkins. If you spend a lifetime working and die with lots of money left over, you’ve squandered a huge amount of life energy, bypassing the opportunity to enjoy your money — or to give it away — during your lifetime. Our lives are only as fulfilling as the sum of our experiences, Perkins argues, so the more time and money we invest in experiences during our lifetime, the richer our lives become. “Bill Perkins’ Die With Zero opens up a completely different avenue of thinking to realize that your life can be maximized through memorable experiences. Why wait? Being present is a priority. This book provides an amazing blueprint to living your life while using your resources correctly!” —Kevin Hart, Award-Winning Comedian, and Actor Follow Bill on social media: https://www.diewithzerobook.com https://twitter.com/bp22 https://www.instagram.com/billperkins https://www.instagram.com/diewithzero/ https://www.twitch.tv/thirstlounge Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Weinstein: Imposter Syndrome, Donald Trump, & the Future of Theoretical Physics (#097)
Eric Weinstein joins me live to take your questions about the past, present and future of physics. We’ll discuss my recent chats with Lenny Susskind, Shelly Glashow, and Barry Barish and Eric’s recent podcasts with Lex Fridman too. Eric and Stephen Wolfram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1 Join us in the chat room to ask questions! Previously featured: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Podcast mentioned: The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJUskAl8mzw?sub_confirmation=1 Subscribe for new interviews with Sheldon Glashow, Barry Barish, Cumran Vafa and more! Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize ️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paul Sutter – How To Die In Space (#096)
Paul M. Sutter is a research professor in astrophysics at the Institute for Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University and a guest researcher at the Flatiron Institute in New York City. Paul earned his PhD in physics in 2011 as a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow at the University of Illinois. He then spent three years at the Paris Institute for Astrophysics followed by two years as a research fellow at the Trieste Observatory in Italy. Prior to his current appointment, he served as the chief scientist at the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio while maintaining a cosmological researcher position at the Ohio State University. Paul’s areas of research include studying the largest empty regions in the universe, mapping the leftover light from the big bang, and developing new techniques for finding the first stars to appear in the cosmos. He has authored over 60 academic papers and given over 100 seminars, colloquia, and conference talks at institutions around the world. A prolific and globally known science communicator, Paul is the author of two books, Your Place in the Universe: Understanding Our Big, Messy Existence and How to Die in Space: A Journey through Dangerous Astrophysical Phenomena. He writes for Space.com, Universe Today, LiveScience, and more, with his articles syndicating to news outlets worldwide. Paul hosts a variety of science shows across all platforms, including as a contributor to How the Universe Works on Science Channel and host of Space Out on Discovery. He also writes and hosts his own shows, including his hit Ask a Spaceman podcast, which is one of the top podcasts across all subjects globally, and his weekly live show Space Radio. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Evan Carmichael: What Is Your One Word? (#095)
Evan Carmichael believes in entrepreneurs. At 19, he built then sold a biotech software company. At 22, he was a venture capitalist helping to raise $500,000 to $15 million. He now runs EvanCarmichael.com, a popular website for entrepreneurs. He breathes and bleeds entrepreneurship. He’s obsessed, aiming to help one billion entrepreneurs and change the world. He has set two world records, uses a stand-up desk, rides a Vespa, raises funds for Kiva, wears five-toe shoes and created Entrepreneur trading cards. He speaks globally, but Toronto (#EntCity) is home. He loves being married, his son, salsa dancing, DJing, League of Legends and the Toronto Blue Jays. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize ️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Lenny Susskind: Black Hole War My BATTLE w Stephen Hawking Made the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics (#094)
The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics is a 2008 popular science book by American theoretical physicist Leonard Susskind. The book covers the black hole information paradox, and the related scientific dispute between Stephen Hawking and Susskind. Susskind is known for his work on string theory and wrote a previous popular science book, The Cosmic Landscape, in 2005. 00:00 Introduction 05:00 What has been lost due to COVID: congeniality and v 07:00 Imposter syndrome 10:00 HOW DID IT FEEL TO DISCOVER STRING THEORY? 15:00 SUSPICIOUS OF BIG BANG SINGULARITY 20:00 LENNY ON GOD! 25:00 Can you test Bell Inequalities near a Black Hole’s stretched horizon? 30:00 ENTROPY 2ND LAW…why it’s sacred to Lenny 35:00 What would be his advice to young Lenny? 40:00 What does he think about all the competing TOEs? 45:00 Three things would push him to believe the Multiverse 50:00 Does the String Landscape of vacua imply different physical laws in each ‘pocket universe?’ 55:00 What would he put in his ethical will? 60:00 What would he put on a billion year time capsule? 70:00 Who would Lenny have for coffee? 75:00 His favorite quote Hawking proposed that information is lost in black holes, and not preserved in Hawking radiation.[2] Susskind disagreed, arguing that Hawking’s conclusions violated one of the most basic scientific laws of the universe, the conservation of information. As Susskind depicts in his book, The Black Hole War was a “genuine scientific controversy” between scientists favoring an emphasis on the principles of relativity against those in favor of quantum mechanics. The debate led to the holographic principle, proposed by Gerard ‘t Hooft and refined by Susskind, which suggested that the information is in fact preserved, stored on the boundary of a system. Leonard Susskind (born 16 June 1940) is an American physicist, who is a professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, and founding director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. His research interests include string theory, quantum field theory, quantum statistical mechanics and quantum cosmology. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences,[and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an associate member of the faculty of Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and a distinguished professor of the Korea Institute for Advanced Study. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Janna Levin: How to Survive A Black Hole Encounter! (#093)
Janna is back to discuss her wonderful new book, BLACK HOLE SURVIVAL GUIDE https://amzn.to/2IlbpKS Keep your distance and enjoy the ride! Please subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 & watch my previous conversation with Janna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEtGYQ7A0B4?sub_confirmation=1 Leave a comment in the comment section or join the livechat…we all want to engage with Janna! Several Topics are on the menu on our voyage, including: 1. Black Hole basics 2. Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose 3. Are singularities real? 4. What is your favorite BH? 5. Black Hole Batteries! Janna Levin is the Claire Tow Professor of Physics & Astronomy at Barnard College. She earned a PhD in theoretical physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993, and a Bachelor of Science in astronomy and physics with a concentration in philosophy at Barnard College in 1988, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Much of her work deals with looking for evidence to support the proposal that our universe might be finite in size due to its having a nontrivial topology. Other work includes black holes and chaos theory. She joined the faculty at Barnard College in January 2004 and is currently the recipient Tow Professor grant. She is also the Chair and Director of Sciences, Pioneer Works! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clifford Will and Nicolas Yunes: Is Einstein Still Right? (#092)
Albert Einstein is often viewed as the icon of #genius, and his theories are admired for their beauty and correctness. Yet the final judge of any theory is the rigorous test of experiment, not the fame of its inventor or the allure of its mathematics. For decades, general relativity has passed test after test with flying colors, including some remarkable new tests using the recently detected gravitational waves. Still, there are reasons for doubt. Einstein’s theory of gravity, as beautiful as it is, seems to be in direct contradiction with another theory he helped create: quantum mechanics. Until recently, this was considered to be a purely academic affair. But as more and more data pour in from the most distant corners of the universe, hinting at bizarre stuff called “dark energy” and “dark matter,” some scientists have begun to explore the possibility that Einstein’s theory may not provide a complete picture of the cosmos. This book chronicles the latest adventures of scientists as they put Einstein’s theory to the test in ever more precise and astonishing ways, and in ever more extreme situations, when gravity is unfathomably intense and rapidly churning. From the explosions of neutron stars and the collisions of black holes to the modern scientific process as a means to seek truth and understanding in the cosmos, this book takes the reader on a journey of learning and discovery that has been 100 years in the making. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Astronomy’s Great Debate – The Nature of the Universe and the Future of Astronomy! (#091)
Host of Into The Impossible Professor Brian Keating, David Spergel, Janna Levin, Sara Seager, Wendy Freedman, & Nobel Prize winner Adam Riess debate the hottest topics in modern astronomy while celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope’s 30th birthday! An all-star (get it??) party featuring observations of Hubble’s ‘greatest hits’, courtesy of Wyoming Stargazing Association! Plus we debated the greatest mysteries in the Universe including: What is the nature of Dark Matter? How did the Universe begin? How will it end? Is there life beyond earth? What is the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy? What is causing the Hubble Tension and how will it be resolved? Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize ️Please subscribe, rate, and review the Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sir Roger Penrose: Conformal Cyclic Cosmology, Black Holes Nobel Prize w/ Eric Weinstein Janna Levin (#090)
Join me for a very special discussion with Sir Roger Penrose, co-winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics. We will discuss Conformal Cyclic Cosmology, Black Holes, and of course, Nobel Prizes! GET OUR SLIDES: https://kingsumo.com/g/vn03wc/sir-roger-penrose-on-the-into-the-impossible-podcast-slides Sir Roger Penrose is co-winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics. We discuss Conformal Cyclic Cosmology, Black Holes, and of course, Nobel Prizes! Roger is a mensch. He always makes time for me and provided one of the first and most enthusiastic “blurbs” for my book, Losing the Nobel Prize. He has always been so generous with his time, even after winning the Nobel Prize when demands for his attention are relentless. You may also enjoy this video recorded at UC San Diego in late- 2018 “Hawking Points in the CMB Sky“, based loosely on his precursor book, “Cycles of Time: Conformal Cyclic Cosmology, Hawking Points in the CMB Sky“. Get Cycles of Time: https://amzn.to/2JCdKl7 Sir Roger Penrose and I will discuss his latest research including this article: Apparent evidence for Hawking points in the CMB Sky https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/495/3/3403/5838759?guestAccessKey=4dc2bb6c-c7f3-455a-b7ee-843d084f601f He will also share insights into the thinking of a modern day theoretical physicist. Is the Universe destined to collapse, ending in a big crunch or to expand indefinitely until it homogenizes in a heat death? Roger will explain a third alternative, the cosmological conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC) scheme—where the Universe evolves through eons, each ending in the decay of mass and beginning again with new Big Bang. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_c Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marwa El-Diwiny: Using Soft Robotics to Solve Hard Problems (#089)
Marwa A.ElDiwiny, an early stage researcher PhD, working on modelling and simulating self-healing soft materials for industrail applications at VUB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seth Godin: How Creatives use The Practice to make great art, overcome fear & thrive on constraints! (#088)
Seth Godin is a prolific writer, thinker, and self-declared “non-guru” guru to millions around the world. He invented email marketing. He started the AltMBA program. He has written 20 books, including the Practice. He thinks deeply about the way ideas spread whether these be née notions in quantum physics, science fiction, entrepreneurship, leadership, and–most of all- marketing. He’s worked with Nobel Prize winners, industry titans and even Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Seth’s past books include Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip, Purple Cow, and What to do When it’s Your Turn (And it’s Always Your Turn). Buy The Practice: Shipping Creative Work: https://amzn.to/3k2BNpY Seth has founded several companies, including Yoyodyne and Squidoo. His blog is one of the most popular in the world. In 2013, Godin was inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame. He is the host of AKIMBO podcast: https://www.akimbo.link and has his world famous blog at https://seths.blog Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize ️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes A production of Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unni Turrettini: Betraying the Nobel: Secrets, Corruption, and the World’s Most Prestigious Prize (#087)
Betraying the Nobel: Secrets, Corruption, and the World’s Most Prestigious Prize! This was a fascinating interview for me to conduct, with a ‘sister-in-arms” who is rallying the world to restore Alfred Nobel’s lofty vision for the Peace Prize. Unni wrote The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer and comes back with a powerful shot across the bow of the Nobel Peace Prize: BETRAYING THE NOBEL! I was honored to write a blurb for the book, saying “The Nobel Peace Prize is perhaps the most closely held monopoly of its kind, charged by Alfred to be the ‘conscience of the world.’ Yet Turrettini’s impeccably researched, masterfully argued case against the prize is airtight: the prize teems with invidious corruption, politicization, secrecy, opacity, and unaccountability. Hope endures that the award may someday live up to Nobel’s alturistic aspirations—but only if the Peace Prize Committee hearkens to Turrettini’s clarion call for reform.” In our interview you’ll learn: Why Alfred Nobel might not object to Donald Trump winning the Peace Prize The worst Nobel Peace Prize winner in history… What can be done to restore Alfred’s noble vision? 00:00 INTRODUCTION 03:03 DONALD TRUMP? 15:15 WHY SWEDEN? 30:30 WHO WAS THE WORST CHOICE FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE? 40:00 HOW CAN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE BE REFORMED? Unni and I are in complete resonance when it comes to the tarnish on the Nobel. The peace prize is as distorted from Alfred’s original intentions as are the science prizes. It’s mesmerizing to watch Unni mix an attorney’s keen analytical mentality with a journalist’s powerful observation skill to illuminate the flaws with the Peace Prize. All along she mixes in humor and even Alfred’s love-life, which had been more mysterious to me than why the committee keeps nominations sealed for a half-century… Visit her website: https://unniturrettini.com Watch Unni’s TED talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13h9zB2ja5U and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SFmuci6TJ0 Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gentry Patrick: Race & Diversity in Science (#086)
Race and diversity issues in STEM can no longer be ignored. Professor Gentry Patrick is a neurobiologist and the Director of Mentorship and Diversity at UC San Diego. As a kid from Compton, he didn’t have an easy road, but he is committed to making sure future generations have it easier than he did. We discussed the importance of diversity in science and academia and the unfair burden placed on people of color in those spaces. We also talk about failures, storytelling, and what Gentry looks for in a graduate student. Subscribe to my mailing list to receive show notes for this episode: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 00:00:00 Introduction. 00:06:27 The importance of mentorship on Gentry’s trajectory. 00:12:22 Increasing diversity in academia. 00:21:07 Gentry’s childhood as a geeky kid in Compton. 00:32:27 Showcasing science as a part of society and culture. 00:41:25 What Gentry looks for in a graduate student. 00:48:16 Gentry explains his neurobiology research and why it fascinates him. 00:56:31 The PATHS scholars program supports diverse students. Gentry Patrick is a professor of neurobiology at UC San Diego researching the central nervous system. He has a PhD from Harvard and was a postdoctoral fellow at CalTech. Gentry is the Director of Mentorship and Diversity at UC San Diego and established the PATHways to STEM program to remove barriers for underrepresented students. Learn more about the PATHS Scholars Program https://paths.ucsd.edu Watch Gentry’s convocation speech at UC San Diego in 2019 here: https://youtu.be/yeboCHowDFM Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Big is the Universe? It’s Debatable… An Essay By Brian Keating (#085)
The GREATEST Debate: How two astronomers changed the way humanity debates By April 1920, the Spanish flu had claimed 50,000,000 lives. The first World War ended only 17 months earlier. A polarizing presidential election was underway. On April 26, 1920, in Washington DC, two contestants took the stage in a debate that would alter the cosmos forever. Was this contest the 1920 presidential debate? No, this battle was literally for universal domination, not a mere skirmish between presidential contenders Warren Harding and James Cox. Only the wonkiest history buffs recall who won 1920’s presidential debates. But every astronomer knows the two scientists sparring on that April evening at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, taking sides in astronomy’s “Great Debate”: Heber Curtis, director of the Allegheny Observatory, versus Mt. Wilson Observatory astronomer Harlow Shapley. The Debate’s outcome could not have been more consequential; the span of the entire universe was at stake. This epic contest concerned the nature of the so-called “spiral nebulae” that had vexed astronomers since Lord Rosse first pointed his 54-foot long telescope, appropriately nicknamed ’the Leviathan’, toward the heavens in 1845. Seventy-five years later, Shapley claimed these diaphanous swirls of light were our neighbors within the Milky Way, a mere hundred or so light years away. Curtis contended that some of these smudges were galaxies in their own right, assemblies of hundreds of billions of stars. If Curtis was right, these ’nebulae’ resided at truly astronomical distances from Earth. Curtis and Shapley decorously dealt philosophical punches. No mute buttons were needed. But lacking physical evidence, the Great Debate ended in a draw. The runoff would put the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election, and its ‘hanging chads’, to shame. It took over three years until Edwin Hubble discovered a curious cosmic beacon on the outskirts of the “Great Spiral Nebula” in Andromeda. This luminary, a class of star known as a Cepheid variable, periodically waxed and waned in brightness about twice per week. Years earlier, the brilliant astronomer Henrietta Leavitt showed that the rate at which Cepheid stars pulsated could be used as a sort of “cosmic ruler”, surveying distances far beyond Earth. Applying Leavitt’s Law (as we now call it), Hubble determined the Andromeda “nebula” was incomprehensibly distant—2,540,000 light-years to be exact. The Milky Way was large, but its diameter was known to be less than 10 percent of that vast span. Andromeda was not in our galaxy, it was a galaxy, hosting 100 billion or more suns of its own. The Great Debate was settled. Shapley lost, but was humble in defeat, encouraging Hubble to widely publicize his findings. It wasn’t only the distance to the Andromeda galaxy that had grown, humanity’s perspective was forever broadened, tempered with newfound humility amidst the vastness of intergalactic space. Today, instruments like the Hubble Space Telescope, celebrating its 30th anniversary, have magnified the Great Debate’s significance, revealing that the Milky Way and Andromeda are two of as many as two trillion galaxies. What future debates will be waged in astronomy’s next century, using instruments (costing a mere fraction of modern presidential campaigns), such as the Simons Observatory, the Vera Rubin Observatory, the Xenon Dark Matter Project, and more? Will we learn that dark matter is a mysterious new particle or the effect of an unknown new force? Will we spot life on exoplanets, or discover that we truly are alone in the cosmos? Perhaps we will even find evidence that ours is not the only universe—just some of modern astronomy’s “Great Debates.” One of the most refreshing aspects of astronomy is that it is inherently apolitical. There are no Democratic comets, no Republican asteroids. Pe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean Carroll: Is the Universe Twisted? Limits on Lorentz Violation & other Screwy Ideas! (#084)
In 1990, Sean Carroll’s, George Field and Roman Jackiw wrote an epochal paper that had a tremendous impact on physics, and in particular, on me and my career as a young graduate student in the 1990’s. Recently, evidence for the parity violating effect from Cosmic Microwave Background observations by Planck was announced in Physical Review Letters: https://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/b0070Yf9I0214c6835b00d89342658c8255c84496 Sean will discuss the background physics behind this effect and the implications for physics if the PRL is confirmed by upcoming polarimeters or otherwise convincing evidence is found. I will discuss some of the experimental challenges to making such a measurement and prospects for upcoming experiments such as CLASS, BICEP Array, SPT3G, Simons Array, ACT, LiteBIRD, Simons Observatory, and CMB Stage 4 to make a definitive, high confidence level claim. While you’re waiting for the livestream to start here is some homework 1) Subscribe to Sean’s Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRhV1rWIpm_pU19bBm_2RXw?sub_confirmation=1 2) Enjoy this video from the SETI institute on cosmic birefringence, including a 1997 claim that Sean refuted, that I presented 4 years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QywRTlcocBE 3) Read the original paper by Carroll, Field, and Jackiw: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13277928_Limits_on_a_Lorentz-_and_parity-violating_modification_of_electrodynamics 4) And, read the abstract of the current paper, accepted for publication in PRL: https://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/b0070Yf9I0214c6835b00d89342658c8255c84496 5) Watch my review of Sean’s book, The Big Picture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg4t_snAPwY?sub_confirmation=1 6) Watch my interview with Sean about his latest book, Something Deeply Hidden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKEXbSe0hV0?sub_confirmation=1 Sean Michael Carroll (born October 5, 1966) is a theoretical physicist specializing in quantum mechanics, gravity, and cosmology. He is a research professor in the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics in the California Institute of Technology Department of Physics.[1] He has been a contributor to the physics blog Cosmic Variance, and has published in scientific journals such as Nature as well as other publications, including The New York Times, Sky & Telescope, and New Scientist. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emily Levesque: Will Today’s Astronomers Be The Last Stargazers? (#083)
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer BY WALT WHITMAN When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars. Watch Emily’s TEDx https://youtu.be/DGfBzkCay5M To be an astronomer is to journey to some of the most inaccessible parts of the globe, braving mountain passes, sub-zero temperatures, and hostile flora and fauna. Not to mention the stress of handling equipment worth millions. It is a life of unique delights and absurdities … and one that may be drawing to a close. Since Galileo first pointed his telescope at the heavens, astronomy has stood as a fount of human creativity and discovery, but soon it will be the robots gazing at the sky while we are left to sift through the data. In The Last Stargazers, Emily Levesque reveals the hidden world of the professional astronomer. She celebrates an era of ingenuity and curiosity, and asks us to think twice before we cast aside our sense of wonder at the universe. Emily Levesque is an astronomy professor at the University of Washington. She has won the American Astronomical Society’s Annie Jump Cannon Prize and been named an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Physics. She is the author of two academic works on astrophysics and has written for Physics Today. She lives in Seattle. Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/emsque REVIEWS of the Last Stargazers ‘The Last Stargazers is perfect for anyone who has ever wondered what it’s like to actually be an astronomer, or who has dreamt of staring up at the stars. Amidst the stories of mishaps and mistakes is a surprisingly romantic view of the glory of exploration, taken one dark night at a time.’ – Dr Chris Lintott, BBC Sky At Night ‘Through captivating stories, Levesque gives us both a vivid and accessible inside look at the enigmatic mountain-top astronomers. A unique and engaging read.’ – Dr. Sara Seager, professor of astronomy at MIT ‘Emily’s book is a compulsive read. It demonstrates what being an observational astronomer is really like—the highs, the lows, and the unscheduled things that can happen at telescopes around the world! Give this book to every young person (especially the girls!) that you know who likes math and science.’ – Jocelyn Bell Burnell, astrophysicist at Oxford University ‘Astronomy is dangerous. Wild (sometimes venomous) animals, thin air, heavy equipment, hazardous chemicals . . . Dr. Levesque captures all this with amusement and personal experience, making this a delightful read for everyone.’ – Phil Plait, astronomer and author of Bad Astronomy ‘This will particularly appeal to young women interested in science, but any stargazer would enjoy this joyous adventure through modern astronomy.’ – Publishers Weekly ‘It’s like catching a glimpse of the magic behind the curtain galaxies away, and leaves you hanging on every spectacular word. A must read for anyone who has looked up at the sky and felt a sense of wonder, as well as those considering the world of astrophysics and astronomy.’ – Tamara Robertson, host of Mythbusters: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gad Saad: The Parasitic Mind – the cure for mental pathogens! (#082)
Why are politics and society becoming more polarized? How does misinformation, disinformation, bigotry, and hatred spread? How are decisions really made? Dr. Gad Saad has answers and we get to many of them in this fast-moving discussion. We also discuss his personal philosophy, religion, and his roles as both an accomplished academic and a renowned public communicator. Dr. Gad Saad is Professor of Marketing at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada), and former holder of the Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption (2008-2018). He has held Visiting Associate Professorships at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and the University of California–Irvine. Dr. Saad received the Faculty of Commerce’s Distinguished Teaching Award in June 2000, and was listed as one of the ‘hot’ professors of Concordia University in both the 2001 and 2002 Maclean’s reports on Canadian universities. Saad was appointed Newsmaker of the Week of Concordia University in five consecutive years (2011-2015), and is the co-recipient of the 2015 President’s Media Outreach Award-Research Communicator of the Year (International), which goes to the professor at Concordia University whose research receives the greatest amount of global media coverage. Subscribe to his YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/GadSaad/ and follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GadSaad. Professor Saad has pioneered the use of evolutionary psychology in marketing and consumer behavior. His works include The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal About Human Nature (translated into Korean and Turkish); The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption; Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences, along with 75+ scientific papers, many at the intersection of evolutionary psychology and a broad range of disciplines including consumer behavior, marketing, advertising, psychology, medicine, and economics (Google Scholar). His Psychology Today blog (Homo Consumericus) and YouTube channel (THE SAAD TRUTH) have garnered 6.4+ million and 19.7+ million total views respectively. He recently started a podcast titled The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad, which is available on all leading podcast platforms. In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Saad is a leading public intellectual who often writes and speaks about idea pathogens that are destroying logic, science, reason, and common sense. His fourth book The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense was released on October 6, 2020. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Carl Hagen: Spontaneous Symmetries, the Higgs Mechanism and the Nobel Prize (#080)
I delighted in this remarkable opportunity to chat with Carl Hagen , a man who, as much as anyone alive was responsible for discovering the so-called Higgs Mechanism”. I found Carl fascinating and very similar to his lifelong friend and colleague, my former quantum mechanics Professor at Brown University, Gerry Guralnik. The so called “GHK Paper” co-authored by Gerry, Carl and Tom Kibble is regarded as perhaps the most important and accurate description of the mechanism by which massive particles like the electron ‘acquire’ their masses. Carl and I agree — the Nobel Prize is not the real reward — doing the science is. But nevertheless, the process by which the history of science is recorded often is by reference to those who win Nobel Prizes. This, in my opinion at least, is the most pernicious and sometimes cruel aspect of the Nobel Prizes…Let me know what you think is the best and worst aspect of the Nobel Prizes in the comments. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Paul Halpern Synchronicity: Wolfgang Pauli & Carl Jung (#079)
Paul Halpern’s latest book is “Synchronicity: The Epic Quest to Understand the Quantum Nature of Cause and Effect.” Paul joins me to discuss the book as well as big topics like quantum entanglement and the meaning of life. Hear about how he balances his physics research, writing projects, and love for the outdoors. He also wrote a book about the science of “The Simpsons” as well as fifteen other popular science books. Find Paul Halpern on the web: http://phalpern.com. Subscribe to my mailing list to receive show notes for this episode: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 00:00 Introduction 05:56 Carl Jung and Wolfgang Pauli’s transformative relationship. 13:13 Balancing science and history to appeal to the masses. 18:40 How do physicists think about time? 25:29 Finding the meaning of life through physics. 32:10 Is it time to stop quantum entanglement experiments? 40:32 Quantum physics risks being seen as a pseudoscience. 47:35 What ethical will does Paul Halpern plan to leave behind? 51:15 What object or knowledge would Paul put on his monolith? 53:42 What did Paul think was impossible until he did it? Paul Halpern is a professor of physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. He is also a prolific science writer. Paul has received both a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship. Buy Paul’s books here: https://amzn.to/333HLle Find Paul Halpern on Twitter: https://twitter.com/phalpern Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rabbi David Wolpe: Atheism, The Simulation Hypothesis, & Judaism’s view of the Multiverse! (#078)
A discussion with Rabbi Wolpe, Max Webb Senior Rabbi, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles. Subscribe to Sinai Temple’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmwpoCGsU7wIgcF0E6licEg Subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 Find Rabbi Wolpe on Facebook: www.facebook.com/rabbiwolpe And on the web: https://sinaitemple.org Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Juan Maldacena: On Theories of Everything, Blackholes, Wormholes, Inflation, & God vs the Multiverse (#077)
Juan Maldacena joined me to discuss his fascinating new paper on human traversable wormholes and other topics in fundamental physics. Join in the chat to participate! We discussed the Multiverse, Black Holes, Wormholes, SETI, Life on Einstein Lane, Interstellar the Movie, and even God! We chatted about his recent paper “HUMANLY TRAVERSABLE WORMHOLES” https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.06618 which is based, in part, on this earlier paper: “Traversable wormholes in four dimensions” https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.04726 When you sign up for my newsletter, I’ll send you links to download two explanatory talks on these papers. Please join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php We also discussed an interesting economic analog to the Higgs Mechanism first elaborated by Dr. Pia Malaney and Dr. Eric Weinstein, explaining gauge theory and electromagnetism. See Juan’s paper “The symmetry and simplicity of the laws of physics and the Higgs boson” here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1410.6753.pdf . You will also enjoy his video lecture based on that paper here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQF7kkWjVWM 0:00 INTRODUCTION 04:00 Black Holes and Hawking Radiation 08:00 EPR states and Black Holes 13:00 Is faster than light travel possible using Wormholes? 20:30 What happens if you fall into a Solar Mass black hole? 25:30 Is studying wormholes a waste of money and time? 30:00 Why are there so many theories of everything like Weinstein, Wolfram, Lisi? 37:00 Cosmic Microwave Background non-Gaussianties and inflation and the Multiverse 44:00 Why are lower limits in physics so important? 52:00 What experiment or theory would Juan pursue if money was no object? 59:00 What is a gauge theory and how can currency trading in economics explain electromagnetism 1:09:10 What’s a day in the life of a Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study? 1:13:40 Juan’s Ethical Will 1:15:00 Juan on God, the Multiverse, aliens and more! 1:18:00 What would Juan put on his monolith? Juan Martín Maldacena (September 10, 1968 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a theoretical physicist and the Carl P. Feinberg Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study. He has made significant contributions to the foundations of string theory and quantum gravity. His most famous discovery is the AdS/CFT correspondence, a realization of the holographic principle in string theory. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did Scientists Discover Life on Venus? MIT Professor Sara Seager and The Verge’s Loren Grush (#075)
A conversation with MIT Professor Sara Seager and The Verge Journalist Loren Grush, with Prof. Brian Keating. Loren Grush writes: “Deep within the acidic clouds of Venus, astronomers have detected a tantalizing gas never found on the planet before — a gas that, remarkably, could be a sign of life on the hellish world. The gas’s presence isn’t enough to say for sure that Venus hosts life forms, but the fact that it exists in the planet’s clouds indicates that something is going on there that we don’t fully understand.” Read the press release: https://news.mit.edu/2020/life-venus-phosphine-0914 Watch the press release from MIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCXF8FUux74 Read Loren’s coverage of the announcement: https://www.theverge.com/21428796/venus-gas-life-sign-discovery-phosphine-biosignature Project Website: https://venuscloudlife.com “The gas in question is a nasty one called phosphine, a toxic and explosive molecule with a lingering odor of garlic and dead fish. Astronomers discovered the putrid gas lurking within a layer of clouds on Venus, where temperatures are pretty close to those on our planet. They didn’t find much — just small traces in the swirling mix of sulfuric acid clouds that surround the planet. “It’s equivalent to a few tablespoons in an Olympic sized swimming pool,” David Clements, an astrophysicist at the Imperial College of London and part of the team that made the discovery, tells The Verge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Heyne: Youtube’s #1 Monk! (#074)
Alexander Heyne is the creator of Modern Health Monk, a popular YouTube channel devoted to helping people learn healthy habits and manifest a happy life. Alex is also the author of “Master the Day: Eat, Move and Live Better With The Power of Daily Habits.” He joins me to talk about the book, growing his audience, and how journaling can help us all get and stay healthy. Subscribe to my mailing list to receive show notes for this episode: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 00:00 Introduction 06:50 Preparing for the wedding instead of the marriage. 11:15 How to form habits for long-term happiness. 16:05 Improving yourself by 1% each day goes a long way. 22:59 Alex’s experience with Chinese healing. 27:07 How does technology fit into Chinese medicine? 32:16 What did Alex think was impossible until he did it? 33:40 What object or knowledge would Alex put on his monolith? Alexander Heyne has a doctorate in Classical Chinese Medicine. He is dedicated to helping people identify and manifest their goals for a better life. His YouTube channel Modern Health Monk has over 315,000 subscribers. Buy “Master the Day” here: https://amzn.to/3h9ioC8 Sign up for Alex’s mailing lists for access to free weight loss tips https://modernhealthmonk.com And how to live to be 100 http://alexheyne.com/free/ Find Alex on the web: http://alexheyne.com and YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ModernHealthMonk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Astrophysicist Moiya McTier, Folklorist of the Cosmos (#073)
Moiya McTier is in the final year of her PhD in astrophysics at Columbia, but she is already a science communication star. With a background in folklore, she is an accomplished storyteller working to bring more science into science fiction. Moiya joins me on the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE podcast to discuss her research on the Milky Way, her upcoming popular science book, and how her background influences her career choices. Subscribe to my mailing list to receive show notes for this episode: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 00:00 Introduction 06:42 Combining science and folklore into science fiction. 14:10 Moiya explains her research on the Milky Way. 19:51 How a unique childhood encouraged creativity. 26:20 Can anyone be an effective science communicator? 33:14 World building is “the art of playing God.” 39:11 Equity and diversity in science and science fiction. 45:38 What ethical will does Moiya plan to leave behind? 47:49 What object or knowledge would Moiya put on her monolith? Moiya McTier is in her fifth year of a PhD program in astronomy at Columbia University. She studied astrophysics and folklore at Harvard. Her podcast, Exolore, fosters world building – bringing science into science fiction. She is an accomplished science communicator and public speaker. Listen to the Exolore podcast here: https://www.exolorepod.com/episodes Find Moiya on the web: https://www.moiyamctier.com and Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoAstroMo Question to pin in the comments: What is your favorite science fiction universe? Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Futurist, Author, Pundit: David Brin — Where Are We Headed? (#072)
Watch my previous conversation with David from April 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HXf22FVVXk?sub_confirmation=1 Watch David’s recent talk at Google: https://youtu.be/eBqeIKx93A8 Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeati Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Altucher: Seinfeld Unfriended Me! A Special Livestream Edition (#071)
A conversation with @James Altucher about the explosive controversy surrounding his LinkedIn piece “NYC is DEAD”, the repercussions of which are still resonating around the globe! We begin by chatting about Jerry Seinfeld who inveighed against James in a shallow, but widely read Op-Ed in the NY Times. Judge for yourself — whose argument is more convincing and less full of ad hominem attacks? James harangued online by NYC Mayor DeBlasio: (https://twitter.com/jaltucher/status/1298079402983673857?s=20) https://youtu.be/0wpalJRusz8?t=1344 Seinfeld’s criticism: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/24/opinion/jerry-seinfeld-new-york-coronavirus.html or James’s piece — that drew Jerry’s ire: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/nyc-dead-forever-heres-why-james-altucher/ James’s response to Jerry Seinfeld https://nypost.com/2020/08/24/sorry-seinfeld-your-love-of-nyc-wont-change-the-facts-about-its-crisis/ We also discussed James’s phenomenal piece in LinkedIn about the persuasive power of Eminem: Eminem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7UQHgZZAfU https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/12-secrets-persuasion-i-learned-from-eminem-james-altucher/ Here’s my appearance on THE JAMES ALTUCHER SHOW https://youtu.be/HeRWBR_fFOw?sub_confirmation=1 and James’s appearances on my show: https://youtu.be/K-1tB0X85ZE?sub_confirmation=1 Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Auschwitz Survivor Rose Schindler: Never Give Up Hope! (#070)
Rose Schindler survived Auschwitz and has shared her remarkable story with thousands of people over the course of 50 years. Her memories of the Holocaust have remained clear over the decades, but so has her mantra to never give up hope. Rose joins me on this special episode of the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE podcast to talk about the book “Two Who Survived: Keeping Hope Alive While Surviving the Holocaust.” This memoir includes both her and her husband’s story. Subscribe to my mailing list to receive show notes for this episode: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 06:34 The world changed in 1938. 12:16 Being a tomboy saved Rose’s life. 17:00 “If you give up hope, you’re lost.” 23:03 Lessons from the Holocaust need to be remembered. 27:06 A school project prompted Rose and Max to share their story. 34:16 Building a life in America. 42:35 Rose is still working on projects at age 90. Rose Schindler was born in Czechoslovakia in 1929 and survived Auschwitz. She met her husband Max shortly after the war and they were married in 1950. They moved to San Diego in 1956. Rose first told her story of survival to her son’s junior high class and hasn’t stopped speaking publicly about the horrors of the Holocaust since. She has received multiple awards as well as an honorary high school diploma and MBA. Learn more about “Two Who Survived” and buy your copy here: https://twowhosurvived.com Watch Rose on the Jocko Podcast https://youtu.be/Th1t1UvnYP4 Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_c Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
YouTube’s #1 Astronomer Dr. Becky Smethurst: “Don’t Dumb It Down!” (#069)
Rebecca Smethurst is known as Dr. Becky on her popular YouTube channel. She is an astrophysicist and science communicator, answering questions about physics and astronomy in engaging videos. Dr. Becky is also the author of the new book “Space at the Speed of Light: The secrets of 14 billion years for people short on time.” She joins me on this episode of INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE to discuss her popularity and the importance of communicating science effectively. Subscribe to my mailing list to receive show notes for this episode: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 04:22 Science communication isn’t “dumbing down” science. 10:07 The value of citizen science to discovery. 16:44 Working towards gender equality in physics. 24:24 Balancing the work of being a minority in academia. 31:36 Dr. Becky explains galaxy quenching. 37:00 The art and title of Dr. Becky’s physics book. 42:22 What ethical will does Dr. Becky plan to leave? 46:03 What knowledge would Dr. Becky put on her monolith? 49:39 What did Dr. Becky think was impossible until she did it? Dr. Becky Smethurst is a Junior Research Fellow at University of Oxford, where she also earned her PhD. She studies galaxy quenching and supermassive black holes. Her YouTube channel Dr. Becky has over 150,000 subscribers. Buy “Space at the Speed of Light” here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1984858696/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_XaxsFbSQ9HCAZ Watch Dr. Becky’s “A day in the life of an astrophysicist in LOCKDOWN” video: https://youtu.be/qXkM0ItZ_X8 Find Dr. Becky on the web: https://rebeccasmethurst.co.uk and Twitter: https://twitter.com/drbecky_ Would you help with a citizen science project like the one Dr. Becky describes? Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jordan Harbinger: How Deep is Your Well? (#068)
Well, well, well…now you’re thirsty? Podcast host Jordan Harbinger brings his unique and trenchant expertise to this episode of INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE. He shares invaluable advice from a 16 year career in podcasting. He had me on his podcast (https://www.youtube.com/c/THEJORDANHARBINGERSHOW) recently and I’m thrilled to have the chance to return the favor. His tips for how to get interview subjects off-script, when is too early to advertise, and why you should treat your audience like family are priceless to podcasters everywhere. Subscribe to my mailing list to receive show notes for this episode: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 00:10:19 Being a Wall Street lawyer prepared Jordan for podcasting. 00:18:08 The art of interviewing controversial people. 00:29:43 How to elicit good storytelling. 00:40:53 Earning the trust of your audience. 00:48:35 “What I truly love is having the conversations.” 00:56:20 Self-promotion isn’t inherently selfish. 01:08:52 What ethical will does Jordan Harbinger plan to leave behind? 01:12:44 What object or knowledge would Jordan put in or on his monolith? 01:15:15 What did Jordan think was impossible until he did it? Jordan Harbinger’s long career in podcasting has earned him the nickname “The Larry King of Podcasting.” His previous career path included being a lawyer in New York, a tour guide in North Korea, a life coach, and a radio talk show host. He interviews diverse and interesting guests on his popular podcast “The Jordan Harbinger Show.” Listen to Brian Keating on The Jordan Harbinger Show here: https://www.jordanharbinger.com/brian-keating-losing-the-nobel-prize/ Find Jordan Harbinger on the web: https://www.jordanharbinger.com and Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordanharbinger Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ♂️ Twitter at Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices