Synopsis
A podcast of stories, ideas, and speculations from the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination. Each month, we'll bring you into a conversation between visionaries from the worlds of arts, sciences, humanities, engineering, and medicine on the nature of the imagination and how, through speculative culture, we collaborate to create the future.
Episodes
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Eric Weinstein: The Crazy Structure of the Universe (#308)
02/04/2023 Duration: 19minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/65tgV4OrsAk?subconfirmation=1 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 To advertise with us, contact advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Avi Loeb: `Oumuamua is EXTRATERRESTRIAL (#307)
28/03/2023 Duration: 01h05minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtube.com/live/86E03OzQDCo?sub_confirmation=1 Recently, Bergner and Seligman explained the behavior of the first interstellar object, ‘Oumuamua, as a rare form of a quite common object, a comet. They claim it "began as an icy planetesimal that was irradiated at low temperatures by cosmic rays during its interstellar journey, and experienced warming during its passage through the Solar System. This explanation is supported by a large body of experimental work." But Avi Loeb disagrees: “In a new paper published recently in Nature -- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05687-w Acceleration of 1I/‘Oumuamua from radiolytically produced H2 in H2O ice -- Jennifer Bergner and Darryl Seligman suggest that the peculiar acceleration observed by the first known interstellar object `Oumuamua, can be explained if `Oumuamua was made of water ice which w
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Can Scientists Be Spiritual? Alan Lightman | Into The Impossible Podcast (#306)
27/03/2023 Duration: 57minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/R5DXUZet7HE?sub_confirmation=1 Is the brain a computer? Where does the soul lie? Can quantum mechanics explain consciousness? Alan Lightman takes on these ancient questions and more in this fabulous new book chock-full of cutting-edge research and the latest discoveries in brain science. Watch Alan's first episode on the Into the Impossible Podcast https://youtu.be/MG2cPltzCdY Lightman is currently a Professor of the Practice of the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alan has written several books on topics ranging from relativity and gravitation to personal development. The topic of this episode of the Into The Impossible Podcast is his new book, The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science. Subscribe to the Jordan Harbinger Show for amazing content from Apple’s best podcast of 2018! https://www.jor
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Martin Bauer: The Revolutionary Stern-Gerlach Experiment (#305)
24/03/2023 Duration: 01h23minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Watch the video of this episode here: https://www.youtube.com/live/hiw3aJwc7TU?feature=share?sub_confirmation=1 The Stern-Gerlach experiment is one of the most important results in physics history. Shockingly, the paper had never been translated into english until today's guest, Prof. Martin Bauer set himself to the task. We'll discuss the experiment, as well as Martin's research. Bring your questions for this renowned science popularizer and scientist! Read the paper: The Stern-Gerlach Experiment, Translation of: "Der experimentelle Nachweis der Richtungsquantelung im Magnetfeld" by Martin Bauer https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.11343 The following is a translation of the paper by Walther Gerlach and Otto Stern that reported the first evidence for the quantization of atoms in a magnetic field. The atoms have quantum states corresponding to a limited number of possible angles between the directions
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Studying Autism with BRAINS Grown In Space | Alysson Moutri on The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast (#304)
20/03/2023 Duration: 01h12minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Be sure to watch the video of this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/hDKGF5W4Qis?sub_confirmation=1 Where does consciousness come from? Can we cure autism? Can we grow a human BRAIN in Space? Dr. Alysson Muotri joins me to discuss all these fascinating questions and more. Brain organoids are lab-grown minibrains that mimic structural and functional features of full-size brains. They are created by culturing pluripotent stem cells in a three-dimensional rotational bioreactor, and they develop over a course of months. Brain organoids have emerged as novel model systems that can be used to investigate human brain development and disorders34, as well as evolutionary studies and neural network research Muotri is a Professor at the Departments of Pediatrics and Cellular & Molecular Medicine at UC San Diego, an Associate Director of CARTA, The Center for Research and Training in Anthropology,
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When Will We Detect Dark Matter? Elena Aprile and the XENON Experiment (#303)
12/03/2023 Duration: 50minWatch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/Qp3YOsaJ4r0 Please support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Elena Aprile is UCSD’s Margaret Burbidge Visiting Professor at UC San Diego and Professor of Physics at Columbia University. She is the founder and spokesperson of the XENON Dark Matter Experiment. Aprile is well known for her work with noble liquid detectors and for her contributions to particle astrophysics in the search for dark matter. Professor Aprile appears in the documentary CHASING EINSTEIN about the search for dark matter. https://chasingeinsteinfilm.com/ www.xenon1t.org Could Einstein have been wrong about the true nature of gravity? Does his general theory of relativity and the Standard Model need an update? Unprecedented advances in experimental particle physics, astronomy and cosmology are uncovering mysteries of cosmic consequence. Among the most challenging is the realization that 80% of the universe consists o
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They’re Going to Destroy Science! Eric Weinstein and Brian Keating Part 2 of 2 (#302b)
06/03/2023 Duration: 51minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/zDTdm5ZS7gI?sub_confirmation=1 PART 2 of 2 Fresh off his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), join me and Eric Weinstein in this frank discussion diving deep into philosophical and existential questions of nuclear war, UFOs, faith, belief, global conflict, antisemitism, the state of elite academia, geopolitical threats including American leadership in STEM, COVID annihilation and more. Eric holds a Ph.D. in mathematical physics from Harvard, but did not pursue the traditional academic route at all. He is an author, mathematician, economist, and Managing Director of Thiel Capital. Eric practices physics outside the academic establishment, and in that regard he is most famous for his geometric unity proposal. He is the host of The Portal podcast and known as one of the voices of the intellectual dark web. Weinstein is a vocal critic of
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They’re Going to Destroy Science! Eric Weinstein and Brian Keating Part 1 of 2 (#302a)
05/03/2023 Duration: 58minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/zDTdm5ZS7gI?sub_confirmation=1 PART 1 of 2 Fresh off his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), join me and Eric Weinstein in this frank discussion diving deep into philosophical and existential questions of nuclear war, UFOs, faith, belief, global conflict, antisemitism, the state of elite academia, geopolitical threats including American leadership in STEM, COVID annihilation and more. Eric holds a Ph.D. in mathematical physics from Harvard, but did not pursue the traditional academic route at all. He is an author, mathematician, economist, and Managing Director of Thiel Capital. Eric practices physics outside the academic establishment, and in that regard he is most famous for his geometric unity proposal. He is the host of The Portal podcast and known as one of the voices of the intellectual dark web. Weinstein is a vocal critic of
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Freeman Dyson (#301)
02/03/2023 Duration: 01h01minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible For that last four years of his life, Freeman Dyson would spend winters in La Jolla, and work alongside physicists at UC San Diego (as well as the super-secret scientific advisory group known as the JASONS). This video was from my last conversation with Freeman at UC San Diego in 2018. Freeman Dyson was Professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study. Mathematician, physicist, philosopher and iconoclast Freeman Dyson was one of the most influential, far-reaching and unconstrained minds of our age. His explorations -- ranging from fusion power to star-encapsulating energy collectors called 'Dyson Spheres' -- stimulated thinkers around the globe. Boldly speculating ahead trillions of years, Dyson has been called the top theologian of the 20th century. Always unabashed, he has raised controversy from all ends of the political spectrum with unusual ideas about climate change. Dyson came to Corn
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What’s the Matter of Everything? Particle Physicist Suzie Sheehy on the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast (#300)
22/02/2023 Duration: 01h10minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible A vivid account of experiments that changed the course of history, leading to some of the most significant breakthroughs in science. From the serendipitous discovery of X-rays in a German laboratory to the scientists trying to prove Einstein wrong (and inadvertently proving him right) to the race to split open the atom, these brilliant experiments fundamentally changed our lives. Discoveries that have helped us detect the flow of lava deep inside volcanoes, develop life-saving medical techniques like diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy, and create radio, TV, microwaves, smartphones—even the World Wide Web itself. Suzanne Sheehy is an Australian accelerator physicist and is currently a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, where she also teaches graduate-level accelerator physics, and an Associate Professor in Medical Accelerator Physics at The University of Mel
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Eric Weinstein & Dan Green: Can New Physics Be Tested? (#299)
18/02/2023 Duration: 01h31minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Join Eric ( @EricWeinsteinPhD ) and Prof Dan Green (twitter.com/nu_phases) A discussion on the state of physics -- both theoretical and experimental -- and ways to make progress in the future. Watch Physics is NOT In Crisis! Physicist Dan Green Into The Impossible Podcast https://youtu.be/ZhthGWoIMlU Join this channel to get access to perks: www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join Connect with Professor Keating:
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Part 2 of 2: David Friedberg is All-In on Science (#298)
11/02/2023 Duration: 01h17minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible David Friedberg believes that science is the best hope to save humanity. He is an American entrepreneur, businessman, and angel investor. After several years in investment banking and private equity, Friedberg joined Google in March 2004 as one of the first 1,000 employees and a founding member of Google’s Corporate Development group. As Corporate Development and Business Product Manager, Friedberg helped run Google's online advertising platform, AdWords, and negotiated acquisitions and worked with Google co-founder Larry Page. David appears each week as one of the four Besties on the @allin Podcast - one of Apple and Spotify’s Top podcasts — alongside fellow investors and pundits David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya, and Jason Calicanis. He founded and was chief executive of The Climate Corporation, whose $1.1 billion sale to Monsanto in 2013 made it the first unicorn (finance) in the agricultural t
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Part 1 of 2: David Friedberg is All-In on Science (#297)
10/02/2023 Duration: 01h33minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible David Friedberg believes that science is the best hope to save humanity. He is an American entrepreneur, businessman, and angel investor. After several years in investment banking and private equity, Friedberg joined Google in March 2004 as one of the first 1,000 employees and a founding member of Google’s Corporate Development group. As Corporate Development and Business Product Manager, Friedberg helped run Google's online advertising platform, AdWords, and negotiated acquisitions and worked with Google co-founder Larry Page. David appears each week as one of the four Besties on the @allin Podcast - one of Apple and Spotify’s Top podcasts — alongside fellow investors and pundits David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya, and Jason Calicanis. He founded and was chief executive of The Climate Corporation, whose $1.1 billion sale to Monsanto in 2013 made it the first unicorn (finance) in the agricultural t
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Dan Green Physics is NOT In Crisis! (#296)
05/02/2023 Duration: 45minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Is fundamental physics in trouble as past guests like Lee Smolin, Lawrence Krauss, Eric Weinstein, Sabine Hossenfelder, and Neil Turok have suggested? Dan Green is a theoretical physicist focusing on the intersection of cosmology and high energy particle physics. He's a professor at UC San Diego, where Into The Impossible's new studio is located. Dan discusses his career progression, his research, and some of the most significant, though possibly underappreciated, results in fundamental physics for the last several decades. Enjoy a great discussion and learn some new physics in our very first in-person episode at our new studio! https://twitter.com/nu_phases 00:00 Introduction 02:01 Dan's Origin Story 04:16 Theory vs Experiment 06:56 Significant Results Thread 14:12 How Emergent Ideas Form from Research 16:16 Sara Seager's Atmosphere Models, for Exoplanets 17:53 Is Physics In Crisis? 22:5
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Aliens are NOT here! With Sarah Scoles (#295)
04/02/2023 Duration: 46minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Sarah Scoles, Journalist and Author of “They Are Already Here UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers” joins us to discuss alternatives to the SETI visitation phenomenon. www.sarahscoles.com twitter.com/ScolesSarah Connect with Professor Keating:
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Aliens are Out There! Lisa Kaltenegger (#294)
02/02/2023 Duration: 01h31minPlease support the podcast by taking our short listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intotheimpossible Lisa Kaltenegger is the founding director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell. In 2009, Kaltenegger realized that a telescope like JWST would see only tiny signals from atmospheric gases during each transit, so in order to achieve any statistical certainty, astronomers would need to observe dozens or even hundreds of transits, which would take years. Acting on this insight, astronomers started to seek Earths in close orbits around dimmer, colder red dwarf stars, where atmospheric signals will be less drowned out by starlight and transits repeat more frequently. In 2017, astronomers announced the discovery of seven rocky planets around a red dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1. Then in September, the SPECULOOS-2 system emerged as a backup. These stars are close. They’re dim and red. They each have multiple rocky planets that transit. And as of the summer, the JWST is up and running even better than ex
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Putting Einstein to the TEST: Jim Gates (#293)
31/01/2023 Duration: 37min#einstein #relativity #gravity In 1911, a relatively unknown physicist named Albert Einstein published his preliminary theory of gravity. But it hadn't been tested. To do that, he needed a photograph of starlight as it passed the sun during a total solar eclipse. So began a nearly decade-long quest by seven determined astronomers from observatories in four countries, who traveled the world during five eclipses to capture the elusive sight. Over the years, they faced thunderstorms, the ravages of a world war, lost equipment, and local superstitions. Finally, in May of 1919, British expeditions to northern Brazil and the island of Príncipe managed to photograph the stars, confirming Einstein's theory. Sylvester James (Jim) Gates Jr. is an American theoretical physicist. He currently holds the Clark Leadership Chair in Science with the physics department at the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. He is also affiliated with the University Maryland's School of Public Pol
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Do We Live in a Mirror Universe? Oliver Philcox (#292)
26/01/2023 Duration: 41minAlso available as a video on Youtube: https://youtu.be/y0_ePN7c1gw What is parity and how can it be violated? A striking asymmetry in the arrangements of galaxies in the sky has been announced. If confirmed, the finding would point to features of the unknown fundamental laws that operated during the Big Bang. “If this result is real, someone’s going to get a Nobel Prize,” said Marc Kamionkowski, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University who was not involved in the analysis. Brian Keating and Oliver Philcox discuss the large scale structure of the universe and how enigmatic space tetrahedrons, drawn between galaxies, may map out some key features of the most poorly-understood phases of early big bang cosmology. Oliver Philcox is a theoretical physicist interested in statistical cosmology. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy before spending a year in Harvard’s Center for Astrophysics. He is a Junior Fellow in the Simons Society of Fellows, hosted at Columbia Unive
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This Book Sent Galileo To JAIL! (#291)
23/01/2023 Duration: 31minThe Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo) is a 1632 Italian-language book by Galileo Galilei comparing the Copernican system with the traditional Ptolemaic system. It was translated into Latin as Systema cosmicum (English: Cosmic System) in 1635 by Matthias Bernegger. The book was dedicated to Galileo's patron, Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who received the first printed copy on February 22, 1632. Download your copy of Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems in auidiobook form here https://BrianKeating.com/dialogue Background In the Copernican system, the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun, while in the Ptolemaic system, everything in the Universe circles around the Earth. The Dialogue was published in Florence under a formal license from the Inquisition. In 1633, Galileo was found to be "vehemently suspect of heresy" based on the book, which was then placed on the Index of Forbidden Books, from which it was not
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Is There A MIND Behind the Big Bang? Luke Barnes on Brian Keating’s INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast (#290)
18/01/2023 Duration: 43minSee the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/bRCLzMS8Rck Is there evidence for God in the origin of Universe? What were Aristolte’s contributions to science? How does a scientist come from a Young Earth Creationist background. Luke Barnes co-authored with Geraint Lewis, of A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos published by Cambridge University Press. The book explores the last forty years of scientific evidence that if the Universe had been forged with even slightly different properties, life as we know it - and life as we can imagine it - would be impossible. This has profound implications about how we understand the Universe, from its most basic particles and forces, to planets, stars and galaxies, and back through cosmic history to the birth of the cosmos. Conflicting notions about our place in the Universe are defined, defended and critiqued from scientific, philosophical and religious viewpoints. The authors' engaging and witty style addresses what fine-tuning might mean for the fut