Using the CMB as a Thermometer

In this unedited, on-site conversation with cosmologist Dr. Brian Keating, we examine what counts as evidence in modern physics by pressing on one of cosmology’s most trusted observations: the cosmic microwave background. The discussion centers on a core tension between measurement and interpretation—specifically whether a near-perfect black body spectrum can reasonably be attributed to an early-universe plasma. As assumptions about the Big Bang, black body radiation, and material physics are questioned, the exchange becomes increasingly uncomfortable, revealing how deeply theoretical commitments shape scientific judgment. What emerges is not a verdict, but a rare, unfiltered look at how evidence, authority, and first principles collide in contemporary physics.

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00:00 Go! An emotionally charged take on physics

00:06:00 Reexamining the Story We Tell About the Universe

00:11:00 The Three Pillars of the Big Bang

00:13:00 How the CMB Is Actually Measured

00:16:00 The Surface of Last Scattering Explained

00:18:00 Why the CMB Is Considered a Relic of a Hot Universe

00:20:22 Measuring Expansion Without Direct Distance

00:21:27 Atomic Simplicity and Early-Universe Conditions

00:23:04 Is Science a Narrative or an Empirical Model?

00:25:19 Historical Cosmology and Paradigm Shifts

00:28:22 Why the CMB Is the Most Perfect Black Body Ever Measured

00:33:30 What Produces Black Body Radiation in the Laboratory

00:35:09 Can Gaseous Plasma Produce a Perfect Thermal Spectrum?

00:36:58 When the Universe Became Transparent

00:38:51 Expansion Assumptions and Acoustic Evidence

00:39:34 Material Structure and Black Body Precision

00:43:02 Measurement vs Interpretation in Cosmology

00:44:11 Does the CMB Really Prove the Big Bang?

00:47:00 Would Emissivity Errors Change Cosmology?

00:50:02 Lab Black Bodies vs Cosmic Sources

00:53:09 Are We Applying Earth Physics Correctly?

00:56:26 Measuring Temperature vs Explaining Origins

00:58:12 Emotional Attachment to Cosmological Models

01:01:01 Gases Can't Radiate Planckian Spectra

01:04:19 What Actually Makes a Black Body?

01:05:56 How Cosmologists Use the CMB as a Thermometer

01:08:32 Authority, Gatekeeping, and Scientific Credibility

01:10:38 Would Alternative Models Change the Numbers?

01:12:55 Could the CMB Be Local Rather Than Cosmic?

01:16:11 Do Lattices Matter for Black Body Radiation?

01:18:45 Precision, Agreement, and Cross-Checks

01:20:22 A Philosophical Divide Over Evidence

01:22:16 Peer Review, Outsiders, and First Principles

01:24:07 Filtering Ideas and the Cost of Evaluation

01:26:13 Expertise, Frustration, and Misalignment

01:28:36 Who Bears the Burden of Proof?

01:30:02 Expertise vs Novel Ideas in Physics

01:31:25 Can Gases Ever Behave Like Black Bodies?

01:33:42 The Sun is on Trial Too?

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