Richard Borcherds: The Monster Group and Monstrous Moonshine

I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOE Fields Medalist Richard Borcherds talks about the Monster Group, its links to string theory, and his self‑study path in math. Also: creativity, learning strategies, free will, consciousness, and the simulation hypothesis.0:00 Introduction2:35 How Richard got interested in math3:42 Math vs physics unification4:38 Daily ritual (or non‑ritual)5:19 Time spent working / studying7:22 Creativity old vs young8:30 Greatest strength: obstinacy8:58 Working in isolation: strength or weakness?10:48 Starting math in 20s, 30s, 40s11:45 Choosing a problem you care about12:41 Dealing with non‑creativity / writer’s block14:40 Depression as a scientist15:24 IQ and nootropics17:02 Creative process18:33 Thinking style: pictorial, algebraic, etc.21:11 Not following “deep work”22:00 Reading non‑scientific books22:48 Audience: view on Jordan Peterson23:31 Audience: experience of madness in isolation23:56 Audience: diet / fasting24:37 Learning new mathematics25:42 Solving problems by ignoring them26:51 Advice for 20s learning math outside field28:03 Dislike of infinity categories28:44 Memorizing proofs/theorems?29:53 Happiness and meaning: math vs life30:40 Life without math31:32 Winning the Fields Medal32:19 What makes math meaningful?33:10 Discovered vs invented34:35 Why the Monster Group matters37:18 “Quantum Field Theory gives me a headache.”39:21 Free will?41:17 God, simulation hypothesis, many worlds44:53 Hard problem of consciousness46:28 Favorite mathematicians48:22 “Ed Witten is terrifying”49:05 Monster Group and physics52:55 Contributing to math as outsider55:44 Many Worlds again56:15 Is set theory too unwieldy?1:00 03 Pluralism in math foundations1:02 48 Intuitionist / finitisim / computational logic?1:04 29 Can 40‑year‑olds learn advanced math?1:05 20 Unreasonable effectiveness of math1:06 19 Why some don’t understand math?1:08 09 On Ramanujan1:10 45 Number theory lectures & QFT difficulty1:14 56 Learning styles & philosophy of math1:17 48 Knowing progress on a solution1:19 11 Langlands program1:21 45 Knowing what to learn when unaware1:24 02 Learning math & physics from YouTube1:29 46 Goldbach's conjecture1:31 53 Nervousness, anxiety, group theory, chit‑chat1:38 49 “Secret” math techniques1:39 56 Why modular forms are mesmeric1:41 50 Rebuttal: discovered vs inventedSPONSORS:- Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal- Crypto: https://nowpayments.io/donation/TOE- PayPal: https://bit.ly/2EOR0M4- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt- iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802- Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfPRESOURCES:- YouTube: https://youtu.be/xu15ZbxxnUQ- Borcherds' YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIyDqfi_cbkp-RU20aBF-MQ Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science. FOLLOW: Substack | Spotify | YouTube | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices