75 | Max Tegmark on Reality, Simulation, and the Multiverse

75 | Max Tegmark on Reality, Simulation, and the Multiverse

We've talked a lot recently about the Many Worlds of quantum mechanics. That's one kind of multiverse that physicists often contemplate. There is also the cosmological multiverse, which we talked about with Brian Greene. Today's guest, Max Tegmark, has thought a great deal about both of those ideas, as well as a more ambitious and speculative one: the Mathematical Multiverse, in which we imagine that every mathematical structure is real, and the universe we perceive is just one such mathematical structure. And there's yet another possibility, that what we experience as "reality" is just a simulation inside computers operated by some advanced civilization. Max has thought about all of these possibilities at a deep level, as his research has ranged from physical cosmology to foundations of quantum mechanics and now to applied artificial intelligence. Strap in and be ready for a wild ride.

Max Tegmark received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has played an important role analyzing data from large-scale structure and the cosmic microwave background. He is the author of Our Mathematical Universe and Life 2.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. He is a co-founder of the Foundational Questions Institute and the Future of Life Institute.


Jaksot(416)

62 | Michele Gelfand on Tight and Loose Societies and People

62 | Michele Gelfand on Tight and Loose Societies and People

Physicists study systems that are sufficiently simple that it's possible to find deep unifying principles applicable to all situations. In psychology or sociology that's a lot harder. But as I say at ...

2 Syys 20191h 12min

61 | Quassim Cassam on Intellectual Vices and What to Do About Them

61 | Quassim Cassam on Intellectual Vices and What to Do About Them

All of us have been wrong about things from time to time. But sometimes it was a simple, forgivable mistake, while other times we really should have been correct. Properties that systematically preven...

26 Elo 20191h 10min

60 | Lynne Kelly on Memory Palaces, Ancient and Modern

60 | Lynne Kelly on Memory Palaces, Ancient and Modern

Memory takes different forms. Memories can be encoded in the strength of neural connections in our brains, but there's a sense in which photographs and written records are memories as well. What did p...

19 Elo 20191h 15min

59 | Adam Becker on the Curious History of Quantum Mechanics

59 | Adam Becker on the Curious History of Quantum Mechanics

There are many mysteries surrounding quantum mechanics. To me, the biggest mysteries are why physicists haven't yet agreed on a complete understanding of the theory, and even more why they mostly seem...

12 Elo 20191h 40min

58 | Seth MacFarlane on Using Science Fiction to Explore Humanity

58 | Seth MacFarlane on Using Science Fiction to Explore Humanity

Fiction shines a light on the human condition by putting people into imaginary situations and envisioning what might happen. Science fiction expands this technique by considering situations in the fut...

5 Elo 20191h 12min

57 | Astra Taylor on the Promise and Challenge of Democracy

57 | Astra Taylor on the Promise and Challenge of Democracy

"Democracy may not exist, but we'll miss it when it's gone" — or so suggests the title of Astra Taylor's new book. We all know how democracy falls short, in practice, of its lofty ideals; but we can a...

29 Heinä 20191h 23min

56 | Kate Adamala on Creating Synthetic Life

56 | Kate Adamala on Creating Synthetic Life

Scientists can't quite agree on how to define "life," but that hasn't stopped them from studying it, looking for it elsewhere, or even trying to create it. Kate Adamala is one of a number of scientist...

22 Heinä 20191h 12min

55 | A Conversation with Rob Reid on Quantum Mechanics and Many Worlds

55 | A Conversation with Rob Reid on Quantum Mechanics and Many Worlds

As you may have heard, I have a new book coming out in September, Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime. To celebrate, we're going to have more than the usual number o...

15 Heinä 20191h 26min

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