Martin Rees Predicts the Future of Humanity and Science! (#366)

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2023

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What’s written in our stars? Here to read humanity's horoscope is none other than Lord Martin Rees! Lord Martin Rees has played a huge role in my career and is an inspiration to me and millions of scientists around the world. There is literally nothing beyond his purview, and our conversation bore this out -- we covered everything from A to Z: artificial intelligence to zoology! Nothing was off-limits – we even shared our mutual and controversial distaste for alchemy and astrology! Lord Rees of Ludlow, the Astronomer Royal, is the Co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and an Emeritus Professor of Cosmology & Astrophysics at Cambridge University. He is the 38th Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the author of ‘On the Future’ and 10 other books and the 60th President of the Royal Society. Key Takeaways: Intro (00:00) Judging a book by its cover: On The Future (01:48) Reading the Queen's horoscope (03:08) Do physicists envy mathematicians? (06:46) Why is Einstein so often a target of criticism? (10:21) The steady-state of the universe debate and cosmology's earlier days (15:56) Martin's prediction that the CMB could be polarized (22:02) Theories of Everything. Do we need them? (29:12) Complex vs. complicated (37:30) There may be some benefits to the pandemic! (56:09) What do you think about blockchain and Bitcoin? (57:56) How coins got their ridges (59:51) What is your ethical will? (1:16:14) Outro (1:26:10) — Additional resources: 🥗 Thanks, HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/50impossible and use code 50impossible for 50% off plus 15% off the next 2 months. 📝 With a MasterClass annual membership, you can take one-on-one classes from the world’s best for $10 a month with your annual membership, get unlimited access to every class — and even better, right now, as an Into The Impossible listener, you can get 15% off when you go to MASTERCLASS.com/impossible. 🧑‍💻 Visit LinkedIn.com/IMPOSSIBLE to post your job for free! 📚 On the Future: Prospects for Humanity by Lord Martin Rees: https://amzn.eu/d/48JcB1Y ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's a symptom of what's wrong with society that so much of our effort goes into making things secure.
0:07.6	If you imagine what fraction of our economy goes into computer security, safety, air security, etc.
0:14.7	Things that we would not have to do at all
0:16.6	if you could trust each other.
0:17.8	Blockchain may have advantages,
0:19.8	but of course, downside is that its main motive is to provide security which you
0:24.9	wouldn't need to bother about if you could trust people.
0:37.0	Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Open the pod bay doors.
0:41.0	Today we are speaking with a man who is, I call him the biggest mench in the multiverse.
0:47.6	It is Lord Martin Reese, Astronomer Royal, a friend of the Arthur C. Clark Center for Human Imagination,
0:55.0	a long time influence, inspiration, and really in some ways the father of my field of
1:00.0	CMB polarization, as I'll explain as we go on but first today Martin welcome are you in
1:06.8	Cambridge right now I'm at home in Cambridge and great to be with you Brown it's great to be with you, Brown. It's great to be with you.
1:13.6	I always cherish our conversations.
1:15.8	Today we're going to be talking first about your book
1:19.2	on the future, which came out a couple of years ago, but the reason for this is that Lord Reese was one of the
1:26.4	recipients of the Arthur C. Clark Foundation awards recently for the future along with Ted Chang and Fabiola Giyanetti of Cern and it was an occasion to get some time with him I could not resist so first of all congratulations on winning the Arthur C Clark Foundation
1:46.3	Award thank you very much and that was about the future and I think your book is was really kind of a cornerstone theme I read it when it came out
1:56.0	I reread it and and I really do want to talk about it usually
2:00.9	Lord Martin we review the first thing I always say is I judge all books by their
2:05.7	cover and this cover is perhaps the most sparse cover I've ever seen so we won't
2:11.9	talk about the cover but I do want to talk about the title
	...

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