

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating
Big Bang Productions Inc.
Think like a physicist. Wonder like a human. Into the Impossible is where Cosmic Conversations happen — uniting Nobel Prize winners, iconoclasts, authors, and technologists to explore reality’s deepest questions. From AI to aliens, from biophysics to the brain, from the cosmos to the multiverse, Brian Keating, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego covers it all.If you’ve ever asked What’s out there? or What’s next?, this is where curiosity meets clarity.Learn to think like this. 🎙 Full episodes, notes & more: briankeating.com/podcast
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 26, 2021 • 52min
Sarah Rugheimer: Searching for Extraterrestrial Life (#191)
Dr. Sarah Rugheimer is a Glasstone Research Fellow and a Hugh Price Fellow at Jesus College Oxford. Her research interests are modeling the atmosphere and climate of extrasolar planets with a particular focus on atmospheric biosignatures in Earth-like planets as well as modeling early Earth conditions. She is interested in anything related to the field of Astrobiology: the study of origin of life on Earth and the pursuit of detecting life on other planets/moons in the Universe.The questions of our origins and the distribution of life in the Universe are the main driving inspiration for her day-to-day work.Her Audible Exclusive book Searching for Extraterrestrial Life reveals what we know about detecting life on other planets. Over 10 eye-opening lectures, she will uncover the strides we’ve made in our search for finding habitable Earth-like planets. You’ll gain first-hand insights into how scientists search for signs of life and our latest attempts to find potential life on Mars, Venus, Europa, Titan, and other moons and planets in our solar system. As she recaps how life started on Earth, you’ll see how our evolution informs our search for detecting life on exoplanets. And, you’ll examine the current search for extraterrestrial intelligence, looking at potential responses to the Drake Equation and the Fermi Paradox.https://www.audible.com/pd/Searching-for-Extraterrestrial-Life-Audiobook/B08N5CHQF8http://www.sarahrugheimer.com/LinkedIn Jobs is the best platform for finding the right candidate to join your business this fall. It’s the largest marketplace for job seekers in the world, and it has great search features so that you can find candidates with any hard or soft skills that you need. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit linkedin.com/impossible to post a job for free. Audible is hands-down my favorite platform for consuming podcasts, fiction and nonfiction books! With an Audible membership, you can download titles and listen offline, anytime, anywhere. The Audible app is free and can be installed on all smartphones and tablets. You can listen across devices without losing your spot. Audible members don’t have to worry about using their credits right away. You can keep your credits for up to a year—and use them to binge on a whole series if you’d like! And if you’re not loving your selection, you can simply swap it for another.Start your free 30-day trial today: Audible.com/impossible or text “impossible” to 500-500Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to learn more about sponsoring Into the Impossible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 snips
Oct 21, 2021 • 1h 6min
Ryan Holiday | Courage Is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave! @Daily Stoic (#190)
Ryan Holiday, bestselling author renowned for popularizing Stoicism, discusses his latest work, 'Courage Is Calling.' He highlights how courage transcends fear and is essential for personal growth. The conversation delves into historical figures who exemplified bravery, including Helvidius Priscus, and examines the moral dilemmas of courage in today's society. Holiday also tackles the challenges of social media on authenticity, stressing the need for self-discipline and staying true to personal values amidst societal pressures.

Oct 19, 2021 • 1h 51min
Jeremy England: Life is on FIRE🔥 🧬🔥 (#189)
A preeminent physicist unveils a field-defining theory of the origins and purpose of life. Why are we alive? Most things in the universe aren't. And everything that is alive traces back to things that, puzzlingly, weren't. For centuries, the scientific question of life's origins has confounded us. But in Every Life Is on Fire, physicist Jeremy England argues that the answer has been under our noses the whole time, deep within the laws of thermodynamics.England explains how, counterintuitively, the very same forces that tend to tear things apart assembled the first living systems. But how life began isn't just a scientific question. We ask it because we want to know what it really means to be alive. So England, an ordained rabbi, uses his theory to examine how, if at all, science helps us find purpose in a vast and mysterious universe.Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/Every-Life-Fire-Thermodynamics-Explains/dp/1541699017 LinkedIn Jobs is the best platform for finding the right candidate to join your business this fall. It’s the largest marketplace for job seekers in the world, and it has great search features so that you can find candidates with any hard or soft skills that you need. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit linkedin.com/impossible to post a job for free. Audible is hands-down my favorite platform for consuming podcasts, fiction and nonfiction books! With an Audible membership, you can download titles and listen offline, anytime, anywhere. The Audible app is free and can be installed on all smartphones and tablets. You can listen across devices without losing your spot. Audible members don’t have to worry about using their credits right away. You can keep your credits for up to a year—and use them to binge on a whole series if you’d like! And if you’re not loving your selection, you can simply swap it for another.Start your free 30-day trial today: Audible.com/impossible or text “impossible” to 500-500
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:31 The story of the title and cover
00:05:47 How do you reconcile the major differences in the interpretation of a creator between Judaism and Christianity?
00:12:11 Why are there so many Jewish and Atheist Nobel Prize winners?
00:22:13 What is life?
00:25:52 What was your impression of Schrodinger's monograph; What is Life?
00:31:08 Why is theremodynamics so relevant to the question of life?
00:36:58 Are there new dissipative adaptation "probes"/experiments that should be done?
00:47:45 Is there a Darwinian principle involved in the thermodynamics of microsystems?
00:56:14 What are the new trends in Biophysics research?
01:17:09 On the implausibility of random biogenesis and evolution.
01:04:54 Why does the dissipation of heat produce structure and order?
01:06:37 Talk about your Jewish Journey.
01:16:16 Is the existence of God an important presence in your life?
01:37:45 What is consciousness?
📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺A New Contender is Here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6A6myur--cFrank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1Weinstein and Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1Sheldon Glashow: https://youtu.be/a0_iaWgxQtA?sub_confirmation=1Michael Saylor The Physics of Bitcoin https://youtu.be/CaN_CDKqXOg?sub_confirmation=1Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuqyAvX7Wo?sub_confirmation=1Jill Tarter https://youtu.be/O9K9OBd3vHk?sub_confirmation=1Sara Seager Venus LIfe: https://youtu.be/QPsEDoOTU6k?sub_confirmation=1🏄♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php🎙️Listen on audio only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast.phpPlease contact sales@advertisecast.com to advertise.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

Oct 13, 2021 • 60min
Astronaut Nicole Stott: BACK TO EARTH (#188)
Inspired by insights gained in spaceflight, a NASA astronaut offers key lessons to empower Earthbound readers to fight climate changeWhen Nicole Stott first saw Earth from space, she realized how interconnected we are and knew she had to help protect our planetary home.In Back to Earth, Stott imparts essential lessons in problem-solving, survival, and crisis response that each of us can practice to make change. She knows we can overcome differences to address global issues, because she saw this every day on the International Space Station. Stott shares stories from her spaceflight and insights from scientists, activists, and changemakers working to solve our greatest environmental challenges. She learns about the complexities of Earth’s biodiversity from NASA engineers working to enable life in space and from scientists protecting life on Earth for future generations. Ultimately, Stott reveals how we each have the power to respect our planetary home and one another by living our lives like crewmates, not passengers, on an inspiring shared mission.Get BACK TO EARTH here https://amzn.to/3mzwtNWLinkedIn Jobs is the best platform for finding the right candidate to join your business this fall. It’s the largest marketplace for job seekers in the world, and it has great search features so that you can find candidates with any hard or soft skills that you need. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit linkedin.com/impossible to post a job for free. Audible is hands-down my favorite platform for consuming podcasts, fiction and nonfiction books! With an Audible membership, you can download titles and listen offline, anytime, anywhere.The Audible app is free and can be installed on all smartphones and tablets. You can listen across devices without losing your spot. Audible members don’t have to worry about using their credits right away. You can keep your credits for up to a year—and use them to binge on a whole series if you’d like! And if you’re not loving your selection, you can simply swap it for another. Start your free 30-day trial today: Audible.com/impossible or text “impossible” to 500-500Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to learn more about sponsoring Into the Impossible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 12, 2021 • 57min
Chris Hadfield: The Apollo MURDERS! (#187)
In 1973: a final, top-secret mission was planned to go to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny spaceship, a quarter-million miles from home. A quarter-million miles from help.NASA is about to launch Apollo 18. While the mission has been billed as a scientific one, flight controller Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis knows there is a darker objective. Intelligence has discovered a secret Soviet space station spying on America, and Apollo 18 may be the only chance to stop itBut even as Kaz races to keep the NASA crew one step ahead of their Russian rivals, a deadly accident reveals that not everyone involved is quite who they were thought to be. With political stakes stretched to the breaking point, the White House and the Kremlin can only watch as their astronauts collide on the lunar surface, far beyond the reach of law or rescue.The Apollo Murders is a high-stakes thriller unlike any other. Chris Hadfield captures the fierce G-forces of launch, the frozen loneliness of space, and the fear of holding on to the outside of a spacecraft orbiting the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour as only someone who has experienced all of these things in real life can.We also discussed touring with David Bowie's band, the time he met Sir Arthur C. Clarke, his dream aviation 'hangar', and even aliens! I found him incredibly vulnerable, authentic, and honest. His thoughts on how best to lead life… and grapple with death plus his one regret in life.
"An exceptional debut thriller and “exciting journey” into the dark heart of the Cold War and the space race from New York Times bestselling author and astronaut Chris Hadfield" (Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary), past guest: https://youtu.be/JuoDANMASLc
“Nail-biting . . . I couldn’t put it down.” —James Cameron, writer and director of Avatar and Titanic
“Not to be missed.” —Frederick Forsyth, author of The Day of the Jackal
“An explosive thriller by a writer who has actually been to space . . . Strap in for the ride!” —Gregg Hurwitz, author of Orphan X
Get the Apollo Murders here: https://amzn.to/3aCJLn7LinkedIn Jobs is the best platform for finding the right candidate to join your business this fall. It’s the largest marketplace for job seekers in the world, and it has great search features so that you can find candidates with any hard or soft skills that you need. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit linkedin.com/impossible to post a job for free. Audible is hands-down my favorite platform for consuming podcasts, fiction and nonfiction books! With an Audible membership, you can download titles and listen offline, anytime, anywhere. The Audible app is free and can be installed on all smartphones and tablets. You can listen across devices without losing your spot. Audible members don’t have to worry about using their credits right away. You can keep your credits for up to a year—and use them to binge on a whole series if you’d like! And if you’re not loving your selection, you can simply swap it for another.Start your free 30-day trial today: Audible.com/impossible or text “impossible” to 500-500📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺A New Contender is Here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6A6myur--cFrank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1Michael Saylor The Physics of Bitcoin https://youtu.be/CaN_CDKqXOg?sub_confirmation=1Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuqyAvX7Wo?sub_confirmation=1Jill Tarter https://youtu.be/O9K9OBd3vHk?sub_confirmation=1🏄♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php🎙️Listen on audio only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast.phpPlease contact sales@advertisecast.com to advertise.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

5 snips
Oct 5, 2021 • 1h 49min
Heather Heying & Bret Weinstein: A Hunter Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century. Frogs, Family, Freedom (#186)
Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein, evolutionary biologists with PhDs from the University of Michigan, discuss the tensions between our ancient instincts and modern life challenges. They explore the ethical implications of societal changes on children, emphasizing the balance of traditional wisdom with contemporary issues. The duo reflects on the flaws in higher education and encourages deeper engagement in learning. They also share insights on health, dietary evolution, and even speculate on extraterrestrial life, providing a thought-provoking view of adaptation across time and space.

Sep 28, 2021 • 32min
Brian Keating: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner! Why I wrote it (#185)
I’m so excited to share that my new book, Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, is now live in the Universe! I couldn’t be more excited. I wrote it for YOU!***This week only**** I have priced the ebook at 99 cents for this week only to make it easier for you to leave a “verified” review. Get it here: https://urlgeni.us/amzn/TLANPWGet the Audible audiobook edition of Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner for FREE when you start your free trial using this magic link https://audible.com/impossibleWould you be so kind as to leave a “Verified review”? These reviews validate that you’ve purchased the item you’re reviewing, which makes them appear more legitimate to readers!All you have to do is follow this link to my book and click on the ‘Write a customer review’ button down in the reviewer section of the Amazon page: https://urlgeni.us/amzn/TLANPWPS: Don't forget to visit this website for Bonus Content, a link to my new Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner Podcast, and more! https://briankeating.com/think_book.php📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺
A New Contender is Here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6A6myur--c
Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1
Weinstein and Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1
Sheldon Glashow: https://youtu.be/a0_iaWgxQtA?sub_confirmation=1
Michael Saylor The Physics of Bitcoin https://youtu.be/CaN_CDKqXOg?sub_confirmation=1
Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuqyAvX7Wo?sub_confirmation=1
Jill Tarter https://youtu.be/O9K9OBd3vHk?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
Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw
Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM
LinkedIn Jobs is the best platform for finding the right candidate to join your business this fall. It’s the largest marketplace for job seekers in the world, and it has great search features so that you can find candidates with any hard or soft skills that you need. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit linkedin.com/impossible to post a job for free. Audible is hands-down my favorite platform for consuming podcasts, fiction and nonfiction books! With an Audible membership, you can download titles and listen offline, anytime, anywhere. The Audible app is free and can be installed on all smartphones and tablets. You can listen across devices without losing your spot. Audible members don’t have to worry about using their credits right away. You can keep your credits for up to a year—and use them to binge on a whole series if you’d like! And if you’re not loving your selection, you can simply swap it for another.Start your free 30-day trial today: Audible.com/impossible or text “impossible” to 500-500🏄♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php🎙️Listen on audio only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast.phpPlease contact sales@advertisecast.com to learn more about sponsoring Into the Impossible.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

Sep 21, 2021 • 1h 28min
Anthony Aguirre: Cosmological Koans (#184)
Physicist Anthony Aguirre studies the formation, nature, and evolution of the universe, focusing primarily on the model of eternal inflation—the idea that inflation goes on forever in some regions of universe—and what it may mean for the ultimate beginning of the universe and time. He is the co-founder and associate scientific director of the Foundational Questions Institute, which supports research on questions at the foundations and new frontiers of physics and cosmology. Anthony is also a co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, an organization aiming to increase the probability that life has a future, and of Metaculus, an effort to optimally aggregate predictions about scientific discoveries, technological breakthroughs, and other interesting issues.Cosmological Koans: A Journey to the Heart of Physical Reality, physicist Anthony Aguirre explores deep questions about the nature of reality, using an approach inspired by Zen koans to take the reader on a thought-provoking tour of the cosmos and the core ideas of modern physics.The book covers a wide range of topics, woven together with a fictional storyline that recounts a journey from Italy to Japan. Multiple universes, the nature of time, the meaning of quantum theory, and entropy and information are among the subjects explored.
@AnthonyNAguirre
http://fqxi.org/
http://www.futureoflife.org/
https://www.amazon.com/Cosmological-Koans-Journey-Physical-Reality/dp/0393609219
00:00:00 Intro
00:06:22 Why did you right Cosmological Koans?
00:11:48 How do you reconcile the mysteries unanswered by physics?
00:17:08 Are you a Buddhist? Views on theology and the nature of reality.
00:22:18 Do we need a theory of everything?
00:31:56 Why did you set the book for when you did in the 1600s?
00:39:01 About the historic period in which the book is set.
00:41:23 What you have to say about cosmogenesis and big bang cosmology?
00:50:52 Thoughts on the multiverse theory. Could other universes have different constants?
01:11:56 How much of physics/cosmology is really sociology and our need to believe?
01:21:42 What discovery gift of knowledge would you put into a time capsule for the ages?
LinkedIn Jobs is the best platform for finding the right candidate to join your business this fall. It’s the largest marketplace for job seekers in the world, and it has great search features so that you can find candidates with any hard or soft skills that you need. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit linkedin.com/impossible to post a job for free. Audible is hands-down my favorite platform for consuming podcasts, fiction and nonfiction books! With an Audible membership, you can download titles and listen offline, anytime, anywhere. The Audible app is free and can be installed on all smartphones and tablets. You can listen across devices without losing your spot. Audible members don’t have to worry about using their credits right away. You can keep your credits for up to a year—and use them to binge on a whole series if you’d like! Start your free 30-day trial today: Audible.com/impossible or text “impossible” to 500-500📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺
A New Contender is Here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6A6myur--c
Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1
Weinstein and Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1
🏄♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php🎙️Listen on audio only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast.php Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to learn more about sponsoring Into the Impossible.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

Sep 14, 2021 • 1h 2min
Ben Shapiro: The Science™ of Authoritarianism (#183)
I spoke with Ben Shapiro about his thoroughly discursive new book: The Authoritarian Moment. Ben is prolific to say the least: his second book in just about a year. Some of you aren't Big Ben fans, but I hope you'll provide to me, and to him, some forbearance in this, the Yom Kippur season. Speaking of Yom Kippur we discussed forgiveness and tolerance and even Ben's biggest regret.Topics:⚛️ Science vs. The Science™🚀 Private Space Flight📚 Another Free Speech Book??💉Vaccine Mandates🍷 Ben Shapiro Drinking Game✡️ Yom Kippur Repentance👽 Ben on AliensBen on BitcoinHow far are Americans willing to go to force each other to fall in line?According to the establishment media, the intelligentsia, and our political chattering class, the greatest threat to American freedom lies in right-wing authoritarianism. We’ve heard that some 75 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump represent the rise of American fascism; that conservatives have allowed authoritarianism to bloom in their midst, creating a grave danger for the republic.But what if the true authoritarian threat to America doesn’t come from the political right, but from the supposedly anti-fascist left?There are certainly totalitarians on the political right. But statistically, they represent a fringe movement with little institutional clout. The authoritarian left, meanwhile, is ascendant in nearly every area of American life. A small number of leftists—college-educated, coastal, and uncompromising—have not just taken over the Democratic Party but our corporations, our universities, our scientific establishment, our cultural institutions. And they have used their newfound power to silence their opposition.The authoritarian Left is aggressively insistent that everyone must conform to its values, demanding submission and conformity. The dogmatic Left is obsessed with putting people in categories and changing human nature. Everyone who opposes it must be destroyed.Ben Shapiro looks at everything from pop culture to the Frankfurt school, social media to the Founding Fathers, to explain the origins of our turn to tyranny, and why so many seem blind to it.More than a catalog of bad actors and intemperate acts, The Authoritarian Moment lays bare the intolerance and rigidity creeping into all American ideology – and prescribes the solution to ending the authoritarianism that threatens our future."If you're fasting for Yom Kippur, I wish you an easy and meaningful fast!📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺
A New Contender is Here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6A6myur--c
Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1
Weinstein and Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1
Michael Saylor The Physics of Bitcoin https://youtu.be/CaN_CDKqXOg?sub_confirmation=1
Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1
🏄♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php🎙️Listen on audio only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast.phpOrder my book, Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner https://amzn.to/2UPTxOI tA production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 13, 2021 • 1h 7min
Part 2 of 2: Eric Weinstein n- WTF Happened in 1971: An INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Birthday Extravaganza 🎉 ! (#182)
Eric Weinstein, an expert in economics and managing director of Thiel Capital, discusses optimism, ambition, and the importance of scientist autonomy. They explore string theory, kayfabe, and the urgency for global progress and innovation. The conversation covers experimental physics, fundamental questions, and reflections on life in science, emphasizing diversity and inclusion.


