What if quantum mechanics is not fundamental? What if time itself is an illusion? In this new episode, physicist Julian Barbour returns to share his most radical ideas yet. He proposes that the universe is built purely from ratios, that time is not fundamental, and that quantum mechanics might be replaced entirely without the need for wave functions or Planck’s constant. This may be the simplest vision of reality ever proposed.
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Videos Mentioned:
Julian’s previous appearance on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bprxrGaf0Os
Neil Turok on TOE (Big Bang): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUp9x44N3uE
Neil Turok on TOE (Black Holes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZCa1pVE20
Debunking “All Possible Paths”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcY3ZtgYis0
John Vervaeke on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVj1KYGyesI
Jacob Barandes & Scott Aaronson on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rbC3XZr9-c
The Dark History of Anti-Gravity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBA3RUxkZdc
Peter Woit on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTSeqsCgxj8
Books Mentioned:
The Monadology – G.W. Leibniz: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546527664
The Janus Point – Julian Barbour: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0465095461
Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat – Carnot: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1514873974
Lucretius: On the Nature of Things: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0393341364
Heisenberg and the Interpretation of QM: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1107403510
Quantum Mechanics for Cosmologists: https://books.google.ca/books?id=qou0iiLPjyoC&pg=PA99
Faraday, Maxwell, and the EM Field: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1616149426
The Feeling of Life Itself – Christof Koch: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08BTCX4BM
Articles Mentioned:
Time’s Arrow and Simultaneity (Barbour): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2211.14179
On the Moving Force of Heat (Clausius): https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/2559_Therm_Stat_Mech/docs/Clausius%20Moving%20Force%20heat%201851.pdf
On the Motions and Collisions of Elastic Spheres (Maxwell): http://www.alternativaverde.it/stel/documenti/Maxwell/1860/Maxwell%20%281860%29%20-%20Illustrations%20of%20the%20dynamical%20theory%20of%20gases.pdf
Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell–Boltzmann_distribution
Identification of a Gravitational Arrow of Time: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1409.0917
The Nature of Time: https://arxiv.org/pdf/0903.3489
The Solution to the Problem of Time in Shape Dynamics: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1302.6264
CPT-Symmetric Universe: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1803.08928
Mach’s Principle and Dynamical Theories (JSTOR): https://www.jstor.org/stable/2397395
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:35 Consciousness and the Nature of Reality
3:23 The Nature of Time and Change
7:01 The Role of Variety in Existence
9:23 Understanding Entropy and Temperature
36:10 Revisiting the Second Law of Thermodynamics
41:33 The Illusion of Entropy in the Universe
46:11 Rethinking the Past Hypothesis
55:03 Complexity, Order, and Newton's Influence
1:02:33 Evidence Beyond Quantum Mechanics
1:16:04 Age and Structure of the Universe
1:18:53 Open Universe and Ratios
1:20:15 Fundamental Particles and Ratios
1:24:20 Emergence of Structure in Age
1:27:11 Shapes and Their Explanations
1:32:54 Life and Variety in the Universe
1:44:27 Consciousness and Perception of Structure
1:57:22 Geometry, Experience, and Forces
2:09:27 The Role of Consciousness in Shape Dynamics
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