From the archive: Carlo Rovelli on how to understand the quantum world (part two)

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2021

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

From electrons behaving as both particles and waves to a cat in a box that’s both dead and alive, the consequences of quantum physics are decidedly weird. So strange, that over a century since its conception, scientists are still arguing about the best way to understand the theory. In the second of two episodes, Ian Sample sits down with the physicist Carlo Rovelli to discuss his ideas for explaining quantum physics, and how it affects our understanding of the world. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Guardian. Hi, Science Weekly host Madeline here.
0:15.0	The team are all on their Christmas holidays.
0:18.0	So today we've picked out an episode from the archive for you.
0:22.0	It's the second part of a conversation between Guardian Science Editor
0:26.0	Ian Sample and physicist and author Carlo Ravelli. We put out the first part of the conversation on Tuesday. So if you're keen to hear it, do go back in your
0:37.1	podcast feed or head to the Guardian.com to find it. In today's episode, Carlo Ravelli talks to Ian about his own theories to explain some of the weirdness of quantum mechanics,
0:50.0	and they discuss what it means for how we should understand the world.
0:55.0	We'll be back on Tuesday with a new episode.
0:59.0	Until then, stay safe, happy New Year and alive. Light that behaves as a wave, or like a a particle depending on how you measure it.
1:26.3	Quantum physics is mind-bendingly weird.
1:29.5	And in the century since its conception, its meaning and consequences have continued to allude both scientists
1:35.6	and philosophers.
1:37.8	How can two particles far apart seemingly interact with one another.
1:46.5	How can a particle be in two locations or states at once?
1:49.5	How should we understand it all?
1:53.6	The mistake we're making is forgetting that we are part of reality. We are ourselves a part of reality.
1:55.4	And so every description is always a description from the inside,
1:58.4	from a point of view, from a perspective.
2:00.8	This is a deep lesson.
2:02.4	When we are thinking, we're always thinking from a standpoint
2:05.6	not from an absolute position and I think it's good for also for the you know for the discussion about that us is a teaching.
2:18.1	I'm E in sample and this is science weekly. Science Weekly.
	...

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