Sean Carroll | Why Almost No One Understands Quantum Mechanics and Other Problems in Physics & Philosophy

Hidden Forces

Demetri Kofinas

Business, Government

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2020

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Episode 119 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Sean Carroll, a best-selling author and research professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology. His research has focused on fundamental physics and cosmology, especially issues of dark matter, dark energy, spacetime symmetries, and the origin of the universe. Recently, Dr. Carroll has worked on the foundations of quantum mechanics, the emergence of spacetime, and the evolution of entropy and complexity.

Our focus today is on the subject of Sean Carroll's latest book "Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Space-time." The conversation jumps around quite a bit, and much of the discussion bends towards the philosophical. Demetri and Dr. Carroll discuss ontological questions dealing with the nature of reality and the possible limitations of science as an epistemological tool for making definitive statements about our own conscious experience. They also delve into some of the core theoretical aspects of quantum mechanics like the measurement problem, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, entanglement, and nonlocality. Sean Carroll also explains some of the various interpretations of quantum theory such as the Copenhagen interpretation, Many Worlds, Be Broglie–Bohm, Spontaneous Collapse, and QBism.

For subscribers to our Hidden Forces Overtime feed, Demetri and Sean spend the balance of their time discussing more off-the-wall subjects such as the impact of quantum mechanics in culture, the fascination with time travel, challenges for artificial general intelligence, the prospect of aliens, and the implications of flat earth theory.

You can access the show overtime, along with the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers also get their own exclusive Overtime RSS feed, which can be easily be added to your favorite podcast application.

Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

Subscribe & Support the Podcast at http://patreon.com/hiddenforces

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's episode of Hidden Forces is made possible by listeners like you.
0:04.4	For more information about this week's episode or for easy access to related programming
0:09.7	visit our website at hidden Forces. I.O. and subscribe to our free email list.
0:16.4	If you listen to the show on your Apple Podcast app, remember, you can give us a review.
0:21.5	Each review helps more people find the show and join our
0:24.9	amazing community. And with that, please enjoy this week's episode. And the What's up everybody? My guest today is Sean Carroll, a best-selling author and research professor of theoretical physics
0:56.6	at the California Institute of Technology. He's written both as an author and as a researcher about fundamental questions in physics
1:06.2	and cosmology, especially issues of dark matter, dark energy, space time symmetries,
1:12.4	and the origin of the universe, and more recently on the foundations
1:16.5	of quantum mechanics, the emergence of space-time, and the evolution of entropy and complexity.
1:23.7	Our focus today is on the subject of Dr Carroll's latest book,
1:28.0	Something Deeply Hidden, Quantum Worlds and the Emer emergence of space time.
1:33.2	You'll notice that we jump around quite a bit
1:36.8	and much of the conversation bends towards the philosophical
1:40.6	including ontological questions about the nature of reality and the possible limitations of science as an epistemological tool for making definitive statements of
1:53.0	of that reality.
1:55.0	There's a lot in this conversation to unpack,
1:58.0	and although I've tried my best to grasp the various
2:02.0	interpretations of quantum mechanics, the implications of the theory
2:06.4	are so at odds with our own experience of the physical world that it's been a continuous struggle for me to try and understand them.
2:15.8	And I want to understand them, or at least I want them to feel more accessible to me.
2:21.8	And though I can't say that I've accomplished that, I think there's
	...

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