Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal Roger Penrose: Why The Big Bang Was Not The Beginning
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Nov 3, 2025 In this engaging discussion, Nobel laureate Roger Penrose, a pioneer in mathematical physics and cosmology, challenges traditional views on the Big Bang, suggesting it wasn't the beginning at all. He explores conformal cyclic cosmology and the implications of gravitational wave function collapse for consciousness. Penrose critiques modern AI, arguing it lacks true understanding. He delves into Gödel's incompleteness and how it relates to human cognition, leaving listeners with profound questions about the nature of reality and consciousness.
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Big Bang As Conformal Continuation
- Roger Penrose proposes the Big Bang was not the beginning but a conformal continuation of a prior eon's remote future.
- Mass becomes irrelevant at both ends, allowing a conformal mapping from future to a new Big Bang.
Conformal Geometry Explains Smooth Big Bang
- Penrose explains conformal geometry: without mass there's no scale so angles and light cones matter.
- This explains why the Big Bang appears smooth while black hole singularities are chaotic.
Collapse As A Real Physical Gap
- Penrose treats wave-function collapse as a real, physical phenomenon rather than mere interpretation.
- He sees collapse as a crucial gap where new physics may appear, relevant to consciousness.
