Julian Barbour: What Happens When Physics Abandons Time Entirely

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Curt Jaimungal

Physics, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 606 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2025

⏱️ 137 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Julian Barbour: time is an illusion and QM should be replaced by relational ratios — exploring entropy, consciousness, and cosmic structure without time or wave functions.0:00 Introduction1:35 Consciousness and the Nature of Reality3:23 The Nature of Time and Change7:01 The Role of Variety in Existence9:23 Understanding Entropy and Temperature36:10 Revisiting the Second Law of Thermodynamics41:33 The Illusion of Entropy in the Universe46:11 Rethinking the Past Hypothesis55:03 Complexity, Order, and Newton's Influence1:02:33 Evidence Beyond Quantum Mechanics1:16:04 Age and Structure of the Universe1:18:53 Open Universe and Ratios1:20:15 Fundamental Particles and Ratios1:24:20 Emergence of Structure in Age1:27:11 Shapes and Their Explanations1:32:54 Life and Variety in the Universe1:44:27 Consciousness and Perception of Structure1:57:22 Geometry, Experience, and Forces2:09:27 The Role of Consciousness in Shape DynamicsSPONSORS:- I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOE- Substack: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com- Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE- YouTube Membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/joinRESOURCES:- Julian's previous TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bprxrGaf0Os- Turok (Big Bang): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUp9x44N3uE- Turok (Black Holes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZCa1pVE20- All Possible Paths: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcY3ZtgYis0- Vervaeke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVj1KYGyesI- Barandes & Aaronson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rbC3XZr9-c- Anti-Gravity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBA3RUxkZdc- Peter Woit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTSeqsCgxj8- The Monadology - Leibniz: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546527664- The Janus Point - Barbour: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0465095461- Motive Power of Heat - Carnot: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1514873974- Lucretius: On the Nature of Things: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0393341364- Heisenberg and the Interpretation of QM: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1107403510- Quantum Mechanics for Cosmologists: https://books.google.ca/books?id=qou0iiLPjyoC&pg=PA99- Faraday, Maxwell, and the EM Field: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1616149426- Feeling of Life Itself - Koch: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08BTCX4BM- Time's Arrow and Simultaneity (Barbour): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2211.14179- Moving Force of Heat (Clausius): https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/2559_Therm_Stat_Mech/docs/Clausius%20Moving%20Force%20heat%201851.pdf- Motions of Elastic Spheres (Maxwell): http://www.alternativaverde.it/stel/documenti/Maxwell/1860/Maxwell%20%281860%29%20-%20Illustrations%20of%20the%20dynamical%20theory%20of%20gases.pdf- Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell-Boltzmann_distribution- Gravitational Arrow of Time: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1409.0917- The Nature of Time: https://arxiv.org/pdf/0903.3489- Problem of Time in Shape Dynamics: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1302.6264- CPT-Symmetric Universe: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1803.08928- Mach's Principle (JSTOR): https://www.jstor.org/stable/2397395- Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Vanta.
0:03.0	Security and compliance done wrong is a headache.
0:06.0	Done right, you build trust and grow faster.
0:08.0	That's Vanta.
0:09.0	For startups, Vanta acts as your first security hire,
0:13.0	using AI to get you compliant fast.
0:15.0	For enterprises, it's your AI-powered hub for compliance,
0:18.0	risk and automating workflows.
0:20.0	From startups like Cursa to enterprises
0:22.3	like Snowflake, top companies choose Vantor. Do security and compliance right. Get started today at
0:28.0	vanta.com. I think it's just possible that there really isn't any quantum mechanics at all. It's just
0:34.6	a manifestation of classical physics that has not been recognized.
0:39.9	This is a major discovery in Newton's theory of gravity only four years old. This is probably
0:45.2	the most important symmetry in physics. This is why I think we may have stumbled on the nature
0:52.9	of creation.
0:58.4	Physics traditionally builds from notions of time and scale.
1:03.0	However, today we have a treat with British physicist Julian Barber,
1:07.9	who argues that the universe is grounded fundamentally in relationships between particles,
1:10.9	and this upends even the primacy of wave functions.
1:17.6	All the evidence can in principle be explained without any wave function.
1:23.0	Discarding external clocks and rulers, Julian develops something called shape dynamics.
1:27.8	This is where instantaneous configurations or snapshots are primary. My conjecture now is that the whole story is incredibly much simpler than anybody thinks.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Curt Jaimungal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Curt Jaimungal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.