Understanding the Biggest Ideas in the Universe Without Being a Physicist

Inquiring Minds

Science, Society & Culture, Neuroscience, Female Host, Interview, Social Sciences, Critical Thinking

4.4 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we welcome back theoretical physicist and philosopher Sean Carroll to talk about how his most recent book, The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion, attempts to bridge the gap between how scientists talk about physics and how they usually go about explaining it to non-scientists. The goal is to help you understand what physicists are talking about—equations and all—without needing to know much more than some algebra.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You and Betty and the nancy's and bills and Joes and Janes will find in the study of science a richer, more rewarding life.
0:11.0	Hey, welcome to Inquiring Minds. I'm Indravis Gantus.
0:14.4	This is a podcast that explores the space where science and society collide.
0:18.8	We want to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it matters.
0:27.3	It's always a good day when I get a new book from one of my favorite physicists, Sean Carroll, sent to my house.
0:38.6	If you don't know Sean or his work, you're in for a treat.
0:42.0	Sean Carroll is the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins and
0:46.6	fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He's also host of the Mindscape Podcast,
0:52.1	an author of several books, including one of my favorites called The Big Picture.
0:56.3	He's received awards from the National Science Foundation, NASA, the American Institute of Physics,
1:02.9	and many others. And now he's promised us a trilogy of books to help those of us who are not
1:09.6	professional physicists take a deeper dive into the
1:13.1	biggest ideas in the universe.
1:18.1	Sean Carroll, welcome back to inquiring minds.
1:21.1	Thanks so much for having me back. It's great to be here.
1:23.2	It's always so good to talk to you. So you're promising us a trilogy.
1:27.5	That's right.
1:28.9	So for our listeners who don't know about this exciting trilogy, tell us a little bit about
1:34.1	sort of why you decided to break it up into three books.
1:36.4	What is it?
1:37.4	Well, I'll tell you the true story.
1:39.6	I mean, the fake story would be something about, you know, I don't know, literary merit or
	...

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