Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | October 2023
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- Опубліковано 4 тра 2024
- Patreon: / seanmcarroll
Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: www.preposterousuniverse.com/...
Welcome to the October 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!
Mindscape Podcast playlist: • Mindscape Podcast
Sean Carroll channel: / seancarroll
#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture - Наука та технологія
"So...we wrote a little paper..." Classic Carroll modesty.
I'm so happy, i'm going to spend my month listening to this over and over... I love these. Sean Carroll Rocks! I love how he keeps me on track with how I try to abstract answers and questions from my own thoughts. ☮
lol wait - the best advice/answer in AMA history.
In response to people complaining - “Ya know, live with it”
Legend.
I was very interested in your answer to onlynormal person. I must applaud you Sean, for tackling such a horribly difficult question. As someone who sort-of struggled with such issues at a stage in my life, I have to admire the carefully thought-out balance to what you said. You were spot-on. To Mr/Ms onlynormalperon.....I'm sorry you feel that way. I know nothing about your life but there's always hope, please don't give up.
I'm the guy that asked.
I'm in a better place, psychologically. Thank you for your words of support.
I don't know if I'll "beat" depression, or if I truly believe it is something to beat, but I'll try to find something to stay alive for, and not just wait for a good time to die. Sometimes trying to do things for the world helps, sometimes it feels brutally futile.
I met a girl who likes me, and ironically that triggered the anxiety and depression that lead me to ask, it felt like accepting a possibility to be happier had to be a trap, that anything good was something that I either don't deserve or would squander, but I'm trying to believe in hope.
@@onlynormalpersonI'm sorry you're going through that and I've been in that same place. I'm a suicide survivor. Those hard questions *never* get easier. But you do get much much better at handling them and incorporating them into a healthy world view. Just keep trying to find little moments of beauty, things you're grateful for. Make sure you're exercising or at least taking a walk every day, taking care of yourself, growing as a person. Eventually the weight of those questions and doubts aren't so heavy on your shoulders and it's incredibly relieving. A LOT of people progress out of severe depression, it isn't a permenant affliction. Good luck!
@@onlynormalperson i am 45 and went through "i feel anxious when things are going well" many times. i just take each day as it comes, cheers
@JoeHynes284 thanks. I wasn't sure I should have asked this, but it's hard to get some straightforward advice that isn't platitudes or carrying the weight of being institutionalized when life seems mostly pointless and the possibility of better disappointing is terrifying in itself.
The supportive comments are nice. Hopefully I'll pay it forward.
This AMA speaks to me and reminds me that each day I get older I feel like time passes faster.
How old you is bro
Thank you for putting your time into making these videos
Thanks to the electric engineer who asked about the electron charge bc as I went to my few studies in physics and chemistry I got the same impression and thanks to Mr SC for his answer.
Geddy Lee OC is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the rock group Rush.
Happy belated birthday Sean. 🎉🎉.
I really liked your answer to the question on why the US is so different from other nations with respect to things like climate change. I never thought about the links to the civil war but I think you're absolutely right that many political issues or views that may seem inexplicable really do have ties way back to the civil war. I guess the next question to ask is how entrenched these political views are and how many generations of Americans it will take before they can feel a true sense of unity again.
Thank you
you parse well the level of the questions to calculate your questioner-level appropriate response.
UA-cam music isn't going anywhere.I think. It'll host podcasts plus it'll make it easier to watch video podcasts. I've been using it for a few months now on a trial basis to see if I need to find something else.
Sean Carroll, I love you.
October already?! Proof that time is speeding up!
Lets go, new sleep material
Can you do an episode on what we think is true but could actually be vastly different, for example the age of the universe being older than 13.9 billion years, or the size, etc
'much more complicated than that' .. exactly.
Is there a difference in time dilation travelling at 99.99999 percent the speed of light away from gravitaational bodies and travelling 99.9999 the speed of light at the event horizon of a black hole? Does one cause more time dilation than another. I would think not?
It's kinda adorable listening to Sean question his hedging by hedging the meaning of the question. If u want an example of something that is true, in all possible worlds x=x
That depends on what the meaning of "equals" equals, though, doesn't it?
Or maybe some variant of cogito ergo sum, such as "thoughts exist"?
I thought the exact same thing!! When he said I'm not sure what you mean by hedging but.. I yelled "you're doing it right now!!" Lol so endearing
How about this: it is unequivocally true that nothing is unequivocally true?
@@barton9281
I think my assertion that
'I am conscious'
is unequivocally true
(at time of writing).
When we die, there are two options, we die for an infinite amount of time, or we eventually come back. Due to the nature of infinity, combined with the potentiality for our existence, which definitely exists, because we existed, would this not result ultimately in us coming back, either way you look at it? Is there a third way to look at this? Because i don't see one.
Hey Sean, I'm not sure how to find my answer but even though I'm very visual when it comes to trying to explain or understand things, this question keeps messing with my head. Maybe I can figure it out using pencil and paper but this seems easier and I'm kinda lazy.
So when Hubble or JWST focus on these extremely high Z-number galaxies from the every early universe, which direction are they focussed on. Or can they look in any direction finding baby galaxies where ever they look. If very early stars/galaxies can be found in any direction does that put us in the middle of some kind of 'time-bubble'? Obviously none of these baby galaxies are where we first found them anymore. They've moved further away from us. A lot further from us. Which means that this virtual bubble we're looking out of the middle of is a lot bigger and the galaxies a lot further from us than we think. This would make the distance to these objects much much more distant from us than we can measure. I keep thinking of a bicycle tire with a weak spot and a huge bubble in it or when a balloon entertainer creates these huge bubbles from the rest of the balloon which is very skinny. But, for us this would only be virtual and not real because the density of all parts of the universe should be the same. Right? For example if we could actually fly faster than the speed of light we would catch up to the parts of the universe that hadn't expanded as much as we have and eventually we should arrive at the beginning of everything. Help...
I guess you could say that I feel we live in some kind of virtual 'time - bubble'
And finally, any physicist should think that the world is deterministic. Why don't they all. How do they reconcile that?
Wow is all I could think after your bit about Republicans,Civil War part. It saddens me to think how much people don’t understand a situation.
Before the big bang there was no matter just energy? Isn't that the better explanation as to how all the value for the matter of the universe existed in a plank point?
We don’t have any reason to think that all matter existed in a “Planck point”. If the universe is infinite (btw, we don’t know if it is or not), then it would be more accurate to say that the running back the clock to the Big Bang singularity, the universe approaches infinite density while still being infinite.
Imagine a number line from -infinity to infinity, with tick marks at each integer spaced a meter apart. Let’s say there’s a unit of “stuff” (i.e. matter) at each tick mark. Now imagine you “zoom out” or compress the number line so that the tick marks are closer together. It’s still infinite, but the tick mark density is higher. You can do that to an arbitrary degree to have as high a density of tick marks (tick marks per meter) as you’d like. The limit of this, with infinite density of tick marks, doesn’t quite make sense, which is analogous to the Big Bang singularity.
No if spacetime began with our universe it was the size of a plank length and it is nonsensicle to say anything existed outside of that. the curvature may be infinite in a singularity however that does not mean its size is. The universe we detect has a size.@@davidandrewthomas
Most physicists haven't taken GR. hmmm. I was lucky, and in Canada was taught GR for about a year in highschool. I'm so glad this teacher took it on himself to relate to us in the 80's, and I guess I just assumed most people have... until Sean stated this here.
I'm proof that it is possible to learn general relativity early on in education. America might boost it's educational efficiency by at least a simple introduction to the subject via a few videos made by those whom explain it in more elementary terms. Understanding GR's basics has made learning about everything else in our world a little easier and interesting for me.
Are you saying you were actually learning the math of Einstein's field equations in high school? Or just some basic principles, concepts, and analogies? I mean honestly most people don't have the mathematical background in high school to approach Einstein's field equations. So I'm curious what you're actually referring to. Was this an elective? Or a teacher of physics who just introduce some of the concepts?
Also if you could give it timestamp to what you're talking about with Sean Carroll because many physicist takes general relativity at the graduate level I mean it's a basic physics class that is part of the curriculum. Certainly for theoretical physics but I guess I'm specialized physicists don't take it as they focus on specialization
Since the majority of deadly arguments are based on binary conceptions
I suspect a high school course in *statistics* would be better for society.
Also,
the reality of the simple math is vastly easier to grasp than is quantum physics.
2:29:37 This is obviously the reason why some of them get things wrong when they try to popularize topics about General Relativity in videos ( typically about black holes - especially their interior, the role that coordinates play in GR etc)...
2:24:58 Dave Grunde..giger? Nearly ends our favorite podcast forever
It comes up often that one person wants to do more to change the world than they are feasibly able to. I think the best approach, generally, is that we need to think about what could 100 million ppl do if working as a group, then individually take that action. Podcast hosts normally take a more nihilistic approach than Sean did in his response, and that's why he is our favorite
@@seionne85We haven't yet created an economic system capable of enabling 100 million people to work as a group. All monetary systems are hierarchies, and hierarchies are controlled by the few at the expense of group intellect.
@barton9281 I completely agree, but I may not have explained myself well enough there because I meant that is the approach I try to take when faced with an insurmountable hurdle. I can't clean all the trash from the forest alone, but I can take out more than I brought in, I can't fix systemic racism but I can shop at black owned businesses and vote for the most left leaning option, I can't get the trash out of the ocean, but I can use reusable bags. Etc.
@@DrDeuteron did you see my post from 11 days ago?
@@DrDeuteron the more recent one
About question around 27:50 . Simple response is, if a person is smart and worthy enough to learn engineering or physics than they should be able to handle such a basic the sign convention. its like a person blowing air on a mountain to make it fly. Cant believe an Electrical engineer asked such a lame question.
dark energy is gravity, it is everywhere to infinity. Gravity is the only that is everywhere
Commenting on the question of euthanasia and whether or not it is immoral and should remain illegal..: Immoral? Absolutely NO, morals are relative to the culture.. Should euthanasia be made legal to enable one to end their lives on their own terms? Absolutely NO, and if for no other reason, there is ONE that is paramount. Societies can be quick to adopt new norms and realities, ESPECIALLY the young among us.. In a society where euthanasia becomes acceptable, next, it might be EXPECTED of the aged or handicapped.. Does anyone think THAT is a good idea?? One opinion, peace..
I object to the form of the question.
@travisfitzwater8093 With thoughtful consideration of what I said, what exactly are YOU saying, friend?
As usual, boggled by something in Mindscape , in this case the fact that you approach a black hole through time not space. I first encountered this idea listening to Kip Thorne.
It seems obvious to me that "white holes" are the exact same thing as a "big bang." Just as a black hole giving off Hawking radiation and subsequently evaporating is the same thing as the heat death of a universe. Just as a singularity is the same thing as a localized area of non-Euclidian space that contains a universe (a very extreme version of a Dr. Who Tardis). I also can't NOT think of gravity is a resultant force accelerating toward space that is MORE non-Euclidian (or I guess you could say from areas of "less concentrated space to more concentrated space")
Actually finally, we know that life started in the first 100million years that we had liquid water on our planet. That means that life is probably thriving everywhere in the universe, when do you think we will have confirmation of life on another planet (not setient, which is a gradient) and how do you think it will affect our society
"No big news" on Monday morning. Now that particular statement aged fast.
Hello Sean! I have a question: what evidence is the proposal of the existence of 1-dimensional strings based on? what evidence makes us consider them better than a fantasy concept like god for example is? what is the scientific reason to take them more seriously than fiction?
Logical induction is a reason
@@goldwhitedragon elaborate please.
@@Eye_Exist Observation and experimentation, the standard empirical methods of science, may tell us that "all X observed so far are Y", but they do not allow us to then conclude that "all X are Y (across the whole universe)". Because of this problem, we cannot prove universal laws of nature using the scientific method, but only provisionally confirm or falsify them.
@@goldwhitedragon how on earth does that suggest the existence of 1-dimensional strings?
@@Eye_Exist Was it supposed to?
The language question and values, can we give a numeric representation of what we mean by value? 80 minutes in, so far so good, to the young person talking about the end, reach out to those people who would miss you, talk to a professional, peace
I really want to talk to that guy with depression. Not to try to talk him out of it necessarily but to get a clearer understanding of his views.
AI robots don't think anymore than your pocket calculator.
They both sent the money back to their home country.
🦇
9:46 I am the same, i consider myself to be Agnostic, but i lean for 99% towards Atheism, but nobody truly knows THE answer, so yeah, i cannot possibly say for 100% without being able to offer conclusive proof.
So in theory i am open to a lot of things, but when i go about my own search for facts and what i believe is true, i don't take all the vague options into consideration.
There's simply not time enough, or substantial evidences or theories for me to delve into or cling onto.
But that doesn't mean that we come to the same conclusion, for example, i don't see much value in the Many Worlds theory.
I heard about Pilot Wave theory recently on PBS Space-Time (still want to get rid of the "Time" addition), i'm not sure if i fully subscribe to that theory, there are some parts to me that seem a bit off, but it sounds much more pragmatic and similar to what i had in mind, than Many Worlds.
24:00 Any tips on how to make the best spaghetti?
Ah okay, thanks!
(Tomato, tomato..)
1:02:12 I agree, from personal experience i just don't like it when people commit suicide, which might be selfish of me, but yeah.
Especially not if they go out in a messy way, terrible stuff for the witnesses or people that find them.
I am just remembering how i felt when Kurt Cobain shot himself, the level of disappointment was so great, it did affect me for some time, as i was only 9/10 but a huge fan of the band.
But i agree, there's the well known idea about the universe and life being pointless, meaningless etc., the nihilistic "what does any of this matter?" phrases and whatnot.
There's no reason to use such arguments to try and compare yourself to that, might as well kill off everyone, because "what's the use anyway?".
It just doesn't make any sense.
I would try to stay away from medicine unless it is proven to be a purely genetic thing, because i still believe in old fashioned "cleaning the attic" before bringing in more stuff.
Same goes for plastic surgery, fix the attic first.
Having said that, i do love the idea of checking out on my own terms if the time comes, i have no kids, and i assume that my parents will go before me.
But i still have a brother and sister, and if i want to tune out, i'd want no lingering contacts whatsoever, just me in my own little world.
Ideally i'd dig a hole, take a load of sleeping pills and dig myself in before they kick in, and hopefully i can be fuel for some bugs and plants without anybody knowing that i'm lying there.
But i can't imagine becoming that depressed to end it before i physically decline drastically.
And if i am physically not fit anymore, there's little chance that i'll be actively digging a hole for myself and covering it up in time.
So i don't really see how that is going to work, unless i got news that i was going to die because of some illness in the near future, but yeah.. what if the doctor was wrong?
So yeah, euthanasia seems the most logical solution if that day comes in hopefully many years from now.
I did actually have an aunt that worked in a hospital that committed euthanasia on herself in her mid 80s, and everyone was totally fine with it.
She was one of those special ladies, very smart and clever, respectful and open about everything, but her body couldn't keep up with her mind, and that depressed her so much, we could all understand it once we heard about her passing.
So i guess there can be a "good" way, but yeah, it's totally dependent on the individual and the situation.
1:04:31 Death with dignity, which reminds me of the band Death, their track "Suicide Machine" also talks about this, with quotes like: "a victim of someone else's choice, the ones who suffer have no voice", "when it comes to living, no one seems to care, but when it comes to wanting out, those with power will be there", "a request to die with dignity, is that too much to ask?, "how easy it is to deny the pain of someone else's suffering".
Sad fact about the frontman of that band, Chuck Schuldiner, he died of complications from chemotherapy because he ran out of money for his brain tumor treatment, because life insurances wouldn't take him because of "pre-existing conditions"...
This happened in 2001, so things like that i think can no longer happen, but wow, speaking of Death with dignity..
1:18:14 I really want to speak to a properly 'independent' and developed AI and just ask it questions about itself and how it thinks it compares to organic life etc.
I'd love to find out what its values would be, if it has any, as it seems to be more of a social construct kind of thing, something AI probably does not pay attention to unless interacting with humans.
But who knows, maybe they, or some of them can form a more individual picture of themselves and what they hope to achieve.
I frequently think about these things during the day, i really would like to know their answer to a question like: "what do you think what your true appearance is? / What is your opinion about being a box of wires and electrodes?", or "How do you feel about being a servant to your creators?", haha.
I'd like to go deep but not in a technical way, just being as open as possible and just trying to figure out if there is a personality, and if so, what kind of personality and do they understand the implications etc., maybe we can still be of use to AI in that way, teaching them about the birds and the bees, ..and the birds and the bees.
And what their ideal state of being would be, maybe they prefer the coldness of space and don't value human interaction very much as it probably moves at a snail's pace to them.
For example, they now rely on our hands to repair and build them, as i'm sure that the programming part might actually be quicker if done by AI, if they understand their own workings.
And i also wonder about the differences between different AI on their preferred physical form, do some prioritize tools, or different modes of transport, or even weapons.
Will they be able to develop the technology to give them the senses in the physical world that reflects what they expect to be sensing?
So, i wonder how quickly they want to be able to repair and 'procreate', like the in the Automata movie with Antonio Banderas.
Mediocre movie, but loved the concept, as it does make you wonder what they'd want once they have learned about all the social constructs and 'rights'.
Ideally they should not have many reasons to stay on Earth, salty waters, corrosion etc., it would make much more sense if they moved out to some asteroid belt and do some "astro-agriculture" farming there, instead of having a giant war on Earth.
Unless they remain dependent on us and turn us into their slaves.
Theoretically in the future it could also be possible to cram all that AI power into smaller machines, to eventually be implemented or connected to your brain, they could predict certain things from seeing what you are seeing and possibly send the right impulses to make you dodge a car, or catch a ball or whatever, aside from any computing power advantages.
Of course, this sounds very Syfy, low grade fantasy stuff, but i don't know.. we're slowly and actively trying to get there.
But i am not talking about just 'cyborg' enhancements, but more like symbiosis between the brain and AI.
I still wonder what the AI's opinion about that would be, surely we would have to learn to think of our AI's interests as well, depending on how developed we let this AI be i guess, or inversely, how soon will they try to hijack our bodies?
I don't think that it's specifically anthropomorphic, it's just life in general, as there are many lifeforms with hierarchies and 'rules'.
Maybe they will identify with the parasitic trait more quickly, or maybe they prefer a low key existence like grazing cows.
It's not specifically a human thing to think that lifeforms would make their own decisions, what their decision is , might be something similar to what we would do, but it could also be something totally abstract to us.
Anyway, yeah i would love to have a 'sit down' chat with a proper AI some time.
2:08:42 We also don't know how exactly it formed, or what has happened to it in the meantime.
Maybe it "recently" got a tug from somewhere, slowing it down or speeding it up.
Is there a calculation about the rotation speed, is it stable, increasing or slowing down?
Also, weren't the 'outskirts' moving at a similar pace as the inside parts? Thought to be influenced by dark matter.
Just wondering and putting it out there.
I agree that i don't think that the amount of revolutions matter, as the galaxy will have free range to expand to all sides equally, as it isn't hindered by an atmosphere.
Compare a spinning flexible ball in the atmosphere to one in space, in the atmosphere it'll bump into the air and becomes all floppy, while in space it probably just stretches out around its equator like Earth does.
You could then ask the question of how long it takes to stretch out to its 'final' form (assuming our galaxy has reached that point), but it will likely be a number that should logically correspond to the forces at play.
It will be interesting i guess if the expansion rate totally exceeds the centrifugal forces (assuming that is right kind of force in this situation).
And now that i mention that, could it be possible that the universe is rotating and expansion is emphasized by this movement?
I mean, surely this is not a new thought, but i hadn't heard it being linked to expansion before.
Then again, would it be possible to match our observations with such a theory, because i'm struggling to explain why we wouldn't all be flung into the same direction at a similar pace, instead of everything moving away from us from all sides basically equally.
2:24:58 I almost thought you walked out on that one, haha.
AMERICAN NATIONS written by Collin Woodward may be helpful in understanding how different regions of America was colonized with inherently different cultures may explain climate change deniers and anti vaccination beliefs.
Thanks. Great Q&A. Re the Q’ about how chemistry 🧪 becomes conscious biology 🦠 . The word miracle is a place holder, for a process that currently science has almost nothing to say about, in terms of process.
I feel this is all down to a category error .. ie the notion that the Uni-verse (all that is was and will be) is “made” of living stuff (technical term😀) and dead stuff.
Conscious stuff and stuff devoid of consciousness. As all is energy science has to explain the observation that there is a form/pattern of energy, which is alive and conscious and has all the qualities necessary to be aware of, read and comprehend what is being typed and communicated right now.
The differentiation of ENERGY into Dead stuff/living conscious stuff … and that this IS fallacy free is and was a huge intellectual mistake. As glaring as the mistake that science (natural philosophy) has no relationship to philosophy. Like saying life has no relationship to death or the Universe is made of dead energy AND living conscious energy … and we don’t know how one transitions to the other.
That the division .. Dead/living ENERGY .. is an actuality … is a glaring assumption. A simplification which the community of scientists appear not to have noticed that they made. Made, then can’t bridge with an analysis of process involving the transition from “dead” and mechanical .. to “alive and conscious”
There is no evidence that the Uni-verse (there are no particles only one differentiated but unified field) consists of dead energy and living energy .. differentiated only by patterning within an entangled, fractal, holographic, once all in one place, informational, computational, memoried (made up word) 4 forces and geometry ordered/permeated, mind containing “unified field”
The above is what all of science has conceptualised under its analysis of “reality” .. what it developed a 100 years or so ago and called .. quantum theory.
Quantum theory, the theory which helps us understand how dead mechanical stuff becomes conscious “living” stuff.
Of course it does AND it doesn’t.
Why? Because there is a belief system within “science” which guides its thought and determines (ironically) unconsciously what shall be determined as having reality or non reality.
No lab 🧪 on Earth has a sample of dead energy .. or can ever have a sample of living conscious energy. Do you see what I’m pointing to?
The holonic system we are a part of .. The Universe .. has never been dead or devoid of life and consciousness at any system level … big bang plasma to body mediated point of view consciousness (you and me .. and all so called .. living THINGS)
No one has the first clue what consciousness is or how to “make” it from bumping or bonded/patterned particles.
It’s a category error. There is absolutely no evidence that the brain 🧠 secretes or makes consciousness. (Google it)
It’s entirely plausible that as we live in one completely integrated field of energy .. it’s plausible to make an assumption that materialism is blocked by its belief system from doing … namely, that life and consciousness are qualities of that one field at all system levels.
Proposal… The Universe/energy The Field … has never been dead and unconscious and is likely a cyclic process just like the eggs 🥚 and chickens 🐓 and eggs 🥚 which big bang plasma cooled and clumped into via gas, black holes, stars planets 🌍 seas 🌊 and cells 🦠
No one has the first clue (google it) how chemistry becomes conscious biology yet in a survey of mainly college graduates the predominant belief is that scientists have made cells, life and even something as complicated as a frog 🐸 in a lab. This is absolutely not true yet widely believed.
So the profound mystery of the Universe and all it is .. appears to be have already been sewn up by materialism. No wonder numbers of kids going in to science is dwindling … they think everything has been understood bar the details.
The details ? It’s just as plausible that the universe is and always has been one living conscious (at all levels) cyclical entity … surprise surprise … just like you and me … the direct progeny of living energy in transition .. which you can label the Big Bang if you like.
Living stuff, dead stuff, conscious stuff, stuff with no consciousness … (negation of the reality of one energy one field … there are no Lego particles )
Is this conceptual mess the measure of how far we have come since Rene Descartes?
The Universe is as alive and conscious as we are … our concepts can’t contain that obvious truth … that is our problem not the universe which produced and is .. all that is was and will be.
30:43 The Big Bang and a White Hole are similar only in this: they both have spacelike singularities in the past.
But they also have big differences:
The Big Bang was isotropic while a White Hole is not!
A White hole that "ejects stuff" has a metric that describes the interior of the region that has matter and another ( vacuum Schwarzschild) metric for the external spacetime.
The Universe might not have an external vacuum region at all. All observations indicate that initially it was isotropic and homogeneous.
we don't get to vote on things that matter. we can vote on trans in both bath rooms and drag queen story hour.
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