Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Lee Smolin is a theoretical physicist who has been since 2001 a founding and senior faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. His main contributions have been so far to the quantum theory of gravity, to which he has been a co-inventor and major contributor to two major directions, loop quantum gravity and deformed special relativity. He also contributes to cosmology, through his proposal of cosmological natural selection: a falsifiable mechanism to explain the choice of the laws of physics. He has also contributed to quantum field theory, the foundations of quantum mechanics, theoretical biology, the philosophy of science and economics. He is the author of more than 150 scientific papers and numerous essays and writings for the public on science.Thanks to our sponsors!https://magbreakthrough.com/impossiblehttp://betterhelp.com/impossible Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill Pulte, a 30 something investor and entrepreneur coined the term “Twitter Philanthropy”. He has given away $800k+ via Cash App to those in need. Pulte’s grandfather (William Pulte) founded PulteGroup, one of America’s largest home construction and real estate development firms.Inspired by Bill, I'm giving away $100 to a science teacher to use to buy a piece of instructional equipment to inspire young people! Follow us on Twitter enter the competion. Tune in live at 11:30a Pacific Time | 2:30p ET on Friday 21 May 2021 when I'll choose the winner!https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating https://twitter.com/pulte Read more about Bill: https://thehustle.co/bill-pulte-q-and-a-trung-phan/Thanks to our sponsors! https://magbreakthrough.com/impossible http://betterhelp.com/impossible Please join my mailing list to learn life lessons from the World's Smartest Billionaire, Jim Simons; just click here 👉 http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 📝 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SAVE 25-40% on SKEPTIC Magazine Subscriptions 1 year/4 issues 25% off print subscriptions (now US $22.50. Reg. US $30) 40% off digital subscription (now US $8.99. Reg. US $14.99)Digital subscribers get the current issue instantly, and three more issues follow as they are released throughout the year. Digital subscription can be synchronized to your favorite handheld devices: https://www.skeptic.com/magazine/app/#sync-devices Subscribe to the digital editionhttps://pktmags.com/keatingSubscribe to the print editionhttps://shop.skeptic.com/subscribeThen enter coupon code at checkout: keating Thanks to our sponsors!https://magbreakthrough.com/impossiblehttp://betterhelp.com/impossibleShermer and Keating discuss: cosmology and Intelligent Design, the fine-tuning of the universe, the multiverse and theism: many worlds or one God? How does the Intelligent Designer or God as a disembodied mind interact with the physical universe? If the origin of the universe and its fine-tuned nature points to an intelligence or mind behind it, why don’t most cosmologists, physicists, and astronomers accept that conclusion? What are laws of nature? Can you explain the origin of the universe by laws and rules of things in the universe? What came before the Big Bang? What caused the bang that gave rise to our universe? Why there is something rather than nothing? inflationary cosmology, What is gravity? What is quantum gravity? How did the Big Bang theory win out over the Steady State theory? the difference between Popperian falsification, Kuhnian paradigm, and consensus science, Is string theory physics, metaphysics, or mathematics? What shape is the universe? Open, closed, or flat? What is dark energy and dark matter? What is time? What is infinity? cyclic universes and the multiverse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SAVE 25-40% on SKEPTIC Magazine Subscriptions 1 year/4 issues 25% off print subscriptions (now US $22.50. Reg. US $30) 40% off digital subscription (now US $8.99. Reg. US $14.99)Digital subscribers get the current issue instantly, and three more issues follow as they are released throughout the year. Digital subscription can be synchronized to your favorite handheld devices: https://www.skeptic.com/magazine/app/#sync-devices Subscribe to the digital editionhttps://pktmags.com/keatingSubscribe to the print editionhttps://shop.skeptic.com/subscribeThen enter coupon code at checkout: keating A Conversation with Michael Shermer and Brian Keating: How it All Began: Cosmic Inflation, the Multiverse, and the Nature of Scientific ProofThanks to our sponsors!https://magbreakthrough.com/impossiblehttp://betterhelp.com/impossibleIn this episode, Shermer and Keating discuss: cosmology and Intelligent Design, the fine-tuning of the universe, the multiverse and theism: many worlds or one God? How does the Intelligent Designer or God as a disembodied mind interact with the physical universe? If the origin of the universe and its fine-tuned nature points to an intelligence or mind behind it, why don’t most cosmologists, physicists, and astronomers accept that conclusion? What are laws of nature? Can you explain the origin of the universe by laws and rules of things in the universe? What came before the Big Bang? What caused the bang that gave rise to our universe? Why there is something rather than nothing? inflationary cosmology, What is gravity? What is quantum gravity? How did the Big Bang theory win out over the Steady State theory? the difference between Popperian falsification, Kuhnian paradigm, and consensus science, Is string theory physics, metaphysics, or mathematics? What shape is the universe? Open, closed, or flat? What is dark energy and dark matter? What is time? What is infinity? cyclic universes and the multiverse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Was 2020 really the "worst year ever," as some would have us believe? Or are things getting better? Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker has shown that poverty, pollution and other challenges are on the wane and we're doing better now in every one of a host of important metrics compared with 30 years ago. Yet progress isn't inevitable, and it doesn't mean everything gets better for all humans all the time, Pinker says. Instead, progress is problem-solving, and we should look at things like climate change, pandemics, and the threat of war as problems to be solved, not inevitable apocalypses in waiting. "We will never have a perfect world, and it would be dangerous to seek one," he says. "But there's no limit to the betterments we can attain if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing."Thanks to our sponsors! https://magbreakthrough.com/impossible http://betterhelp.com/impossible Topics Discussed: How his thinking on liberalism has changed in light of recent events Presumably it's still the antidote, but what nuances should we keep in mind For example, free speech is sacrosanct, but with today's technology, "lies get halfway around the world before the truth can tie its laces." The gatekeepers to the public square are increasingly concentrated. Technology/social media exacerbate this issue What should we do? Advice to young adults How to navigate these dynamics Career considerations His thoughts on capitalism, e.g., Coca Cola, MLB, Delta protesting Georgia; Dr. Seuss; What about our current situation reconfirms his views? What has caused a rethink? What does he believe that nobody else does? What is he most hopeful about? Most concerned about? Get Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress https://amzn.to/3eV6Vs2 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating And please join my mailing list to get resources and enter giveaways to win a FREE copy of my book (and more) http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 📝 🎥 🎥 Watch my most popular videos🎥 🎥 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 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 🏄‍♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔥 Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating 📖 Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA 🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 📧Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 👪Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize 🎙️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-impossible/id1169885840?mt=2 🎙️Listen on all other platforms: https://wavve.link/into A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andy Weir, bestselling author and lifelong space nerd, dives into his thrilling novel, Project Hail Mary, where a lone astronaut faces an extinction-level threat. He discusses balancing realism with fiction, critiques COVID responses in relation to global cooperation, and shares insights on the importance of amateur contributions to science. Weir also candidly reflects on mental health, writing habits, and the challenges of adapting his work into film. With humor and depth, he illuminates the intersection of science and storytelling.

Eric Weinstein & Lee Smolin: A conversation on Theories of Everything: String Theory, Geometric Unity, Loop Quantum Gravity, Lisi’s E8 etc. 00:00 Introduction 05:00 Michio Kaku & the God Equation: problematic? https://youtu.be/3to9ymn-XKI 10:00 Is String Theory sucking the oxygen out of physics? 15:00 There are challenges to challengers like loop quantum gravity 30:00 A rubric for judging theories of Everything? 1:00:00 Intelligent Design?! 1:05:00 UFO’s and Pentagon data dump 1:10:00 How to treat an 👽 1:15:00 God and Man: don’t be like Captain Cook! Please join my mailing list to get resources and enter giveaways to win a FREE copy of my book (and more) http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 📝🎥 🎥 Watch my most popular videos🎥 🎥 Michiio Kaku GOD EQUATION https://youtu.be/3to9ymn-XKI 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?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM 🏄‍♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔥 Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating 📖 Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA 🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 📧Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 👪Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize 🎙️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-impossible/id1169885840?mt=2 🎙️Listen on all other platforms: https://wavve.link/into A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating Thanks to our sponsors! https://magbreakthrough.com/impossible http://betterhelp.com/impossible Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Immediately recognizable in his wheelchair and surrounded by an entourage of nurses, Stephen Hawking was a symbol of the power of mind over matter. The public adored him, and the media compared hirn to Newton and Einstein. Appearing at concerts, on The Simpsons, and even on the edge of space, he was widely considered the world's best physicist, and even its smartest person.Thanks to our sponsor BioOptimizes! Sleep better with www.magbreakthrough.com/impossible and use code impossible at checkout to save 10%In fact, he was neither. In HAWKING HAWKING: The Selling of a Scientific Celebrity (Basic Books; April 6, 2021), science journalist and author Charles Selfe upends everything we thought we knew about Hawking, showing how his greatest genius was arguably in his talent for self-promotion. Delving deeper than previous biographies, which tend to be excessively flattering, Seife reveals Hawking as an important scientist whose importance is almost universally misunderstood; a person who suffered deeply and also caused deep suffering; a celebrity his forebears and fundamentally changed the concept of a scientific celebrity." scientist who broke the mold.To understand Hawking, Seife traces his life in reverse, starting with his elaborate funeral at Westminster Abbey, where he was interred few feet away from Newton and Darwin, through the decades when he searched in the limelight for the recognition he craved, and further back to his devastating ALS diagnosis at age 21 and the beginning of his first marriage, which would end in scandal. Hawking made important contributions early in his career, most notably in his work on black holes, but as his celebrity grew he was increasingly apt to declare victory over problems he hadn't solved, persuading audiences of his authority on topics about which he knew little and enlisting students to defend him as he failed to break any new ground in the quest for a "theory of everything."Get the book: Hawking Hawking: https://amzn.to/3u8Na5o 00:00:00 Introduction 07:00 Did Charles get blowback from criticizing an icon? 21:45 Hawking Hartle then m theory - do physicists believe either of them? 28:00 Why everything we think we know about Stephen Hawking is wrong! In his lifetime, Hawking was seen as a genius on par with Newton. In reality, he was by no means the greatest physicist of his day. His early work on black holes was groundbreaking, but, Seife argues, much of his later work failed to measure up its promise, and physicists like Roger Penrose ultimately deserve more credit than Hawking. 38:59 Why did Hawking concede the BH information paradox? 42:35 What would Charles like to ask Hawking as a journalist? 50:00 The tragedy of Hawking's disability, and its relationship to his public image. How Hawking struggled knowing that part of his celebrity was based on his illness. 57:36 The halo effect 58:28 How is life as a professor of journalism at NYU? 1:00:00 The perils of press conferences in science Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeatingAnd please join my mailing list to get resources and enter giveaways to win a FREE copy of my book (and more) http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php🎥 🎥 Watch my most popular videos🎥 🎥 Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0 Sheldon Glashow: https://youtu.be/a0_iaWgxQtA Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuqyAvX7Wo 🏄‍♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔥 Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating 📖 Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA 🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/Artwork: Sloan SobieThanks to our sponsors! https://magbreakthrough.com/impossible http://betterhelp.com/impossible Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An MIT astrophysicist reinvents herself in the wake of tragedy and discovers the power of connection on this planet, even as she searches our galaxy for another Earth, in this “bewitching” memoir.“Sara Seager’s exploration of outer and inner space makes for a stunningly original memoir.”—Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone.Sara Seager has always been in love with the stars: so many lights in the sky, so much possibility. Now a pioneering planetary scientist, she searches for exoplanets—especially that distant, elusive world that sustains life. But with the unexpected death of Seager’s husband, the purpose of her own life becomes hard for her to see. Suddenly, at forty, she is a widow and the single mother of two young boys. For the first time, she feels alone in the universe.As she struggles to navigate her life after loss, Seager takes solace in the alien beauty of exoplanets and the technical challenges of exploration. At the same time, she discovers earthbound connections that feel every bit as wondrous, when strangers and loved ones alike reach out to her across the space of her grief. Among them are the Widows of Concord, a group of women offering advice on everything from home maintenance to dating, and her beloved sons, Max and Alex.Thanks to our sponsors:BioOptimizes! Sleep better with www.magbreakthrough.com/impossible and use code impossible at checkout to save 10%And Better Help: http://betterhelp.com/impossibleGet THE SMALLEST LIGHTS IN THE UNIVERSE https://amzn.to/3ueRujJ 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:46 The story of the title and cover. 00:07:53 Where did you find solace after your family tragedies? How did your write about them? 00:12:42 What gave you the confidence to write a memoir? 00:27:35 What got you into astronomy? 00:35:22 Why look for life beyond earth? Isn't life on earth enough? 00:45:21 What do you think about the academic "hunger games"? Is being a PhD. oversold? Post Doc bloating. 00:49:00 What is your philosophy of mentorship? 01:00:00 The controversial discovery of phosphine on Venus. 01:11:56 What do you think of Avi Loeb's assertions and extreme reaction to it? 01:23:00 What would you put in your ethical will? 01:25:00 What would you put on your monolith? 01:29:38 What have you done that you once thought was impossible as advice to your younger self? Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeatingAnd please join my mailing list to get resources and enter giveaways to win a FREE copy of my book (and more) http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 📝🎥 🎥 Watch my most popular videos🎥 🎥 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 🏄‍♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating🔥 Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating📖 Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA🔔 Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php📧Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php👪Join my Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/losingthenobelprize🎙️Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-impossible/id1169885840?mt=2🎙️Listen on all other platforms: https://wavve.link/intoA production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greenspun grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, and received a B.S. in Mathematics from MIT in 1982. After working for Hewlett Packard Research Labs in Palo Alto and Symbolics, he became a founder of ICAD, Inc. Greenspun returned to MIT to study electrical engineering and computer science, eventually receiving a Ph.D.Working with Isaac Kohane of Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Greenspun was the developer of an early Web-based electronic medical record system. The system is described in "Building national electronic medical record systems via the World Wide Web" (1996).[1] Greenspun and Kohane continue to work together on a medical informatics at Harvard Medical School.In 1995, Greenspun was hired to lead development of Hearst Corporation's Internet services, which included early e-commerce sites. In 1997 he co-founded ArsDigita, a web services company which grew to $20 million in annual revenues by 2000.Photo.net and ArsDigitaIn 1993, Greenspun founded photo.net, an online community for people helping each other to improve their photographic skills. He seeded the community with "Travels with Samantha",[3] a photo-illustrated account of a trip from Boston to Alaska and back. Photo.net became a business in 2000 with the help of some of his cofounders Rajeev Surati and Waikit Lau. Having grown to 600,000 registered users, it was acquired by NameMedia in 2007 for $6 million, according to documents filed in connection with a planned public offering of NameMedia shares. Greenspun founded the open-source software company ArsDigita and, as CEO, grew it to about $20 million in revenue before taking a venture capital investment.Greenspun was an early developer of database-backed Web sites, which became the dominant approach to engineering sites with user contributions, e.g., Amazon.com. Greenspun was also a developer of one of the first Web-based electronic medical record systems. Greenspun's Oracle-based community site LUSENET was an important early host of free forums.AviationGreenspun has written several textbooks on developing Internet applications, including Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing,[21] SQL for Web Nerds,[22] and Software Engineering for Internet Applications,[23] the textbook for an MIT course. Greenspun is the editor of Medical School 2020, which provides a first-person account by a medical student.[24]TeachingGreenspun and his co-founders at ArsDigita started a non-profit foundation that ran the ArsDigita Prize, an award for young web developers, and the ArsDigita University, a tuition-free one-year program teaching the core computer science curriculum, one course at a time. Winners of the Prize include a 12 year old Aaron Swartz.[25]Greenspun has taught electrical engineering and computer science at MIT.[26] One of Greenspun's most famous students is Randal Pinkett, who built an online community for low-income housing residents in Greenspun's 6.171 Software Engineering for Internet Applications course. Pinkett went on to win NBC TV show The Apprentice. In 2003,And please join my mailing list to get resources and enter giveaways to win a FREE copy of my book (and more) http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 📝🎥 🎥 Watch my most popular videos🎥 🎥 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 🏄‍♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating Thanks to our sponsors!https://magbreakthrough.com/impossiblehttp://betterhelp.com/impossible Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices