The Importance of Pursuing a Theory of Everything

5min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The pursuit of a theory of everything becomes like a drug to the human ego that's right so it is a huge motivating factor I don't deny that but there are better ways to motivate people then this way okay. Even if in that framework a new theory could lead to an explanation of some some new explanation of some phenomena it would still be incomplete in a sense because it wouldn't be mathematical rigorous you see what I meanbecause the whole framework is not yet on on a firm foundation, he says.

Edward Frenkel is a mathematician at UC Berkeley working on the interface of mathematics and quantum physics. He is the author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– House of Macadamias: https://houseofmacadamias.com/lex and use code LEX to get 20% off your first order
– Shopify: https://shopify.com/lex to get free trial
– ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod to get 3 months free

EPISODE LINKS:
Edward’s Website: https://edwardfrenkel.com
Edward’s Book – Love and Math: https://amzn.to/40Bgxh0
Edward’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/edfrenkel
Edward’s YouTube: https://youtube.com/edfrenkel
Edward’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/edfrenkel

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman
YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips

SUPPORT & CONNECT:
– Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast
– Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman
– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman

OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(05:54) – Mathematics in the Soviet Union
(16:05) – Nature of reality
(27:23) – Scientific discoveries
(40:45) – Observing reality
(56:57) – Complex numbers
(1:05:42) – Imagination
(1:13:33) – Pythagoreanism
(1:21:28) – AI and love
(1:34:07) – Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems
(1:54:32) – Beauty in mathematics
(1:59:02) – Eric Weinstein
(2:20:57) – Langlands Program
(2:27:36) – Edward Witten
(2:30:41) – String theory
(2:36:10) – Theory of everything
(2:45:03) – Mathematics in academia
(2:50:30) – How to think
(2:56:16) – Fermat’s Last Theorem
(3:11:07) – Eric Weinstein and Harvard
(3:18:32) – Antisemitism
(3:38:45) – Mortality
(3:46:42) – Love