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Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Sir Roger Penrose Faith, Fantasy, and the Big Questions in Modern Physics (#324)

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2023

⏱️ 102 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Watch the video of Sir Roger's lecture here: https://youtu.be/smUYz9ti_bA Sir Roger Penrose, the celebrated English mathematician and physicist as well as author of numerous books, including The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics, joined the Clarke Center to share a talk titled "Fashion, Faith and Fantasy and the Big Questions in Modern Physics" based on his book of the same name. In his book Fashion, Faith and Fantasy and the Big Questions in Modern Physics, Roger Penrose argues that fashion, faith, and fantasy, while sometimes productive and even essential in physics, may be leading today's researchers astray in three of the field's most important areas—string theory, quantum mechanics, and cosmology. * **String theory** is a branch of theoretical physics that attempts to unify all of the fundamental forces of nature in a single framework. However, string theory requires the existence of six extra hidden dimensions, which Penrose argues is not physically plausible. He also cautions that the fashionable nature of string theory can cloud our judgment of its plausibility. * **Quantum mechanics** is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. However, Penrose argues that quantum mechanics is based on a number of unproven assumptions, and that it may not be applicable to all physical systems. * **Cosmology** is the study of the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe. Penrose argues that many of the current fantastical ideas about the origins of the universe cannot be true, but that an even wilder reality may lie behind them. Penrose concludes by arguing that fashion, faith, and fantasy should be replaced by physics: theories which, although they may be completely wrong, can at least be tested in the foreseeable future and discarded if they disagree with experiment or investigated further if not excluded by the results. The book has been praised by some physicists for its insights into the current state of physics, while others have criticized it for its negative tone and its lack of constructive proposals. Subscribe to the Jordan Harbinger Show for amazing content from Apple’s best podcast of 2018! https://www.jordanharbinger.com/podcasts Please leave a rating and review: On Apple devices, click here, https://apple.co/39UaHlB On Spotify it’s here: https://spoti.fi/3vpfXok On Audible it’s here https://tinyurl.com/wtpvej9v Find other ways to rate here: https://briankeating.com/podcast Support the podcast on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating or become a Member on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome listeners to this replay episode of Into the Impossible. Left mostly

0:09.8

unchanged this is a recording of electric given by Nobel Laureate Sir Roger Penrose at

0:14.8

UC San Diego in 2017, hosted by the Arthur C. Clark Center for Human Imagination.

0:21.0

It was introduced by the Center's Director Eric Vary and

0:25.1

moderated by your host Brian Keating. To get the most out of this, please watch

0:31.9

the video and subscribe on our YouTube channel at Dr.

0:36.4

Brian Keating. That's D.R. Brian Keating. You'll find other episodes with

0:40.5

our friends Sir Roger and you'll see his beautifully evocative hand-drawn

0:45.2

illustrations. If you've been listening to this show for a while you know that

0:50.8

Sir Roger's 1989 masterwork,

0:53.2

The Emperor's New Mind, was an inspiration for Professor Heating.

0:57.2

Rogers follow-up to that book, Shadows of Mind,

1:00.8

came out in 2017 and included new theories of consciousness.

1:05.0

In this lecture Sir Roger talks about his book

1:09.5

Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the new physics of the universe.

1:15.8

He discusses platonic ideals, quantum theory, cosmology, and the role of beauty in science. With metaphor and occasional whimsical twists,

1:25.4

Sir Roger makes some of the universe's most vexing scientific puzzles approachable as only he can.

1:34.2

Please let us know what you think of into the impossible

1:36.7

and share with us your suggestions and requests

1:39.4

in the form of a review, like this one from Apple Podcasts.

1:44.0

From its Whitey 92, great show, engaging conversations that I could listen to for hours.

1:50.0

One of the best guest Lists in Podcasting,

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