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On Being with Krista Tippett

Carlo Rovelli — All Reality Is Interaction

On Being with Krista Tippett

On Being Studios

Sociology, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Krista Tippett, Arts, Culture, On Being, Society, Society & Culture, Science, Social Sciences

4.710.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2020

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Physicist Carlo Rovelli says humans don’t understand the world as made by things, “we understand the world made by kisses, or things like kisses — happenings.” This everyday truth is as scientific as it is philosophical and political, and it unfolds with unexpected nuance in his science. Rovelli is one of the founders of loop quantum gravity theory and author of the tiny, bestselling book Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time. Seeing the world through his eyes, we understand that there is no such thing as “here” or “now.” Instead, he says, our senses convey a picture of reality that narrows our understanding of its fullness.

Transcript

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0:00.0

On Being is brought to you by the John Templeton Foundation,

0:03.3

harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest and most perplexing questions facing humankind.

0:10.0

To learn more, subscribe to their newsletter, possibilities,

0:13.2

and discover the work Templeton supports on topics from curiosity and kindness

0:18.0

to evolution, black holes, and the origins of life.

0:21.6

Sign up at templeton.org-forwardslash-possibilities.

0:26.8

All of reality is interaction.

0:29.6

This everyday truth is as scientific as it is philosophical and political,

0:34.3

and it unfolds with unexpected nuance in Carlo Revelli's science.

0:39.1

He's the author of the global bestseller Seven Brief Lessons on Physics.

0:43.4

This tiny book, in my mind, is the science writing equivalent of moving from prose to poetry.

0:50.0

Now he has a new book called The Order of Time.

0:53.4

Carlo Revelli takes up vast ideas beyond most of our imagining,

0:58.1

like quanta, grains of space, and time and the heat of black holes.

1:03.9

Seeing the world through this physicist's eyes, there is no such thing as here or now.

1:09.4

Our senses convey a picture of reality that narrows our understanding of its fullness.

1:14.5

This is also true, he says, of the huge wave of happenings, which is a human self.

1:20.7

A thing is something which remains equal to itself.

1:24.0

A stone is a thing, because I can ask where the stone is tomorrow.

1:27.2

What's happening is something that is limited in space and time.

1:30.4

A kiss is not a thing, because I cannot ask where is a kiss tomorrow.

1:33.7

Where is this kiss tomorrow? I mean, it just happened now.

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