WEBVTT - Will Physics Ever Explain Everything? 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:10.760 Hey, Daniel, do you think physicists and scientists will ever 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:15.200 come up with some equation that just describes everything, the 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.160 whole thing, you know, like one line of one line 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:21.480 of symbols that just that sums up the entirety of 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:24.560 all of existence, the whole universe, on a T shirt. 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.680 I'm sort of two minds about it. Like one, I 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:29.840 would love for that to happen because it means it 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.480 would be a singular achievement in the human intellectual history. 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:35.519 You know, it's like, actually unravel all of the mysteries 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:37.519 of the universe, which part to come up with it 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.680 or to put it on a T shirt? Um, yeah, 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.239 to get down to the base layer of knowledge and 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:45.320 reveal like the source code of the universe, that would 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.920 be amazing. On the other hand, that would kind of 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:50.920 mean physics is over right, Like that's the fundamental goal 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:52.920 of physics. And if we get there and then we're done, 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.640 like what are we gonna do? So, you know, we 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.360 have a whole raft of physicists becoming cartoonists or something. 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.840 So be careful. So your fear is that you'll be unemployed, 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:04.560 that's right. Don't work too hard, you know, if you 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.080 get too productive then you know, you work yourself out 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:09.600 of a job. That's exactly the concern. Maybe you'll just 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.320 take a little bit extra time to figure it out. 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:14.520 That's right. I'll figure out the theory of everything, and 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.920 I'll just keep it in a drawer in my office. Right, 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.360 and then the day before you retire, you're like, boom, 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:26.480 Nobel prize. Please before I die quickly, Let's put Daniel 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:45.160 out of a job. Let's make this physicist unemployed. Hi, 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.880 I'm Ran and I'm Daniel, and this is our podcast 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.560 Daniel and Jorge explain the universe, where we take the 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.280 entire universe and we roll it up into a burrito 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:56.160 so you can eat it for lunch or put it 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.160 on your T shirt. That's right. Our goal is to 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.520 take everything in the universe and make us that you 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.720 can actually understand it. We're not eager to have you 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:06.960 feel like you're in the presence of a great scientist 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.720 hearing things you'll never really understand. We want to break 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.040 things down so you can really understand them, you know, 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.359 explain them to your grandma or that fat uncle or 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.640 family reunions. That's the goal of this podcast. Or show 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:19.640 off to your court, or is it the next water 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.399 cooler break, Yeah, or point out that they actually don't 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.200 understand what they're talking about, because you do, because you 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.720 listen to this awesome podcast. Today. On the podcast, we're 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:35.119 going to tackle the biggest question in human knowledge. Right, 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.760 that's right, the most fundamental, the deepest, the biggest question 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:46.160 in human intellectual history. What is that question? For him? 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:51.560 Is it possible for humans to know everything? Do you 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.280 mean to know everything? Like? Where is that sock I 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.000 lost in the eighth grade? Yeah? Everything, some formula that 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:01.160 tells you where that so, you know, know, a theory 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.480 of everything does not include location of all lost socks. 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.320 That's impossible, right, And then we could just end the 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.520 podcast right now, because that's just impossible. No, A theory 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:12.160 of everything tries to describe the way things work. Right, 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.480 They can't possibly explain to all the details of everything 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:16.600 that has happened because there's a lot of chaos there. 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:18.880 But you know, a theory of everything tries to say, 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:22.000 we understand the way everything works. We have a system 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.440 that explains it, even the things we don't see or 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:26.240 where we can't see. That's right. It would have to 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.560 be a theory of everything. It would have to be 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.560 something that describes the universe at the deepest level, you know, 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.600 sort of like the the end of our quest to 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:38.160 take the universe apart into its tiny little bits, to 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.600 understand it at every level. That's right. Yeah, to have 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.760 a theory which from which anything can be derived. Right, 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:47.920 all of physics and biology and chemistry and economics and 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:52.600 everything would just be the emergent phenomena that flow naturally 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:57.120 from this one fundamental theory, and then we'll know everything basically, right, 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.800 except for where those songs are. Yeah, So I went 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.160 out and I asked people, do you think it's possible, 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:06.200 given the fullness of time and a bunch of geniuses 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:10.600 in the future, that physics could eventually describe everything, explain 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.920 everything in a single formula that goes onto a T shirt. 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.479 Do you think there's a theory of everything? Here's what 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:21.839 people had to say. Yes, Yeah, with due time, I 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:26.240 think research will elucidate everything that we're looking for. Like, 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.880 I'm religious, I'm a Christian, so I believe that there 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:31.880 are some things that got made that just can't be 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:35.520 described by you know, sciences. So necess what I believed 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.960 that cool, I think it could happen. Gives you such 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:45.240 confidence it's math, and math in essence can describe everything. 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:50.560 So in theory, we can use math to describe everything. 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.480 I think eventually, um, that can happen, but it's going 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:58.719 to take a long time and lots of work. All right, 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.599 So some people felt pretty off in in physicist. I 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:03.800 know those people. I love those people. They also sort 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.120 of terrified me, you know, I really appreciate their like, well, 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.479 physics has figured a bunch of about so I'm sure 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.520 given enough time, they'll figure it out, you know, Like 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.000 and the guy who said, like math describes everything, so 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:17.320 of course that's kind of cool. But also it's a 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.159 lot of pressure. You know, like if you feel like, well, 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.320 physics can figure everything out, then all you have to 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:23.960 do is sit in your office with pencil and paper 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.400 and eventually all the answers in the universe will come 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:31.160 to you. You know. It's um, yeah, it's a it's 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.040 a lot of pressure. So I appreciate those people having 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:37.120 so much faith in us, but it's you know, if 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:39.039 we do figure out a theory everything, it's still a 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:40.680 lot of work. You want to leave a little bit 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:44.360 of room for like, hey, maybe we won't do it well, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:46.880 I don't know, Um, and some people, some people definitely 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.440 felt like it's impossible, you know, there's a gap. There 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.320 are things that humanity can never understand, you know. And 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:55.880 there was the one guy who thought, well, God creates 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.920 some things that cannot be understood. And there's some people 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:02.960 who just thought humans are not smart enough, you know. Um, 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:05.880 and maybe we've been watching too many political tuctures or something, 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.040 which you know, I might be of the same opinion 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:09.760 if you watch enough of those things. So it's like 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:12.279 people generally had faith in physicists, but not in human 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.680 beings in general, that's right, Yeah, yeah, And maybe those 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.000 people don't realize that physics is just people, right, Physics 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.800 is just people thinking. Um, there's no like deep physics 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.400 that's absent of humanity, right. Everything we do in physics 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.760 is a model inside our head, our attempt to understand 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:33.400 the universe. But it's always going to be inherently human, right, 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:37.280 it's nothing extra human about it. Well, you don't think 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.000 people like Einstein had some sort of extra capacity than 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.480 most people. Oh no, I think Einstein was a super 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.280 duper human. But we're all human, right, and we think 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.279 about the universe in a certain way. We perceive it 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:50.599 in a certain way. Things make sense to us in 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:54.400 a certain way. I mean, imagine if we met alien scientists, right, 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:58.120 what fraction of our human physics would be understandable to them? 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:00.440 Skip over the part where we have to like develop 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:02.640 a common language and you know, agree not to kill 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:04.479 each other. And you know, you've got a bunch of 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:06.800 the best alien physicists in the room and a bunch 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.240 of the best human physicists in the room. Everybody's wearing 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.880 the same lab coat, and you know, start comparing notes. 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:14.760 How does that go? Well? I think that's a really 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:17.680 deep question. I think probably we would learn more about 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.239 the way the human mind works, like the human mind, 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:22.880 than the way the universe works, because I'm sure a 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.520 lot of the theories we've built reflect the way we 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:27.360 think and feel. Do you think it would be sort 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:29.640 of like if we got together with a bunch of 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:33.680 chimpanzees and we're like, hey, guys, let's talk physics. How 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:35.840 would that? You know? How that would go? They would 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:37.840 be trying to explain to them cut of physics, and 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:41.880 it just they just wouldn't be intellectually capable of grasping it, right, 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:43.720 even if you could speak to our language. Yeah, they 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.040 would probably just be throwing throwing poop at us while 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.360 we're talking about cloning physics, which you know, I think 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.400 I've had that experience in the classroom, you know, lecturing 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:53.600 to a bunch of people who just totally uninterested. Never 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.360 actually got to the throwing poop part of the equation. 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.040 But sometimes I do feel like people aren't interested. Did 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:02.120 you just call your students a inticence, None of my 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:06.280 current students, of course. No, They're all are all very 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:10.000 they're wonderful. No, it's not a question of whether the 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.760 aliens are smarter than us. I just think that the 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.480 theories we've come up with as humans are going to 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.320 be indelible human. You know, there are product of a 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:20.600 human mind, and they cannot be separated from that. So 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.000 I think it's until we meet alien physicists, until we 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.800 find another intelligence with different set of biases and perspective 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:32.000 and fundamental thoughts structure, that we can learn what about 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.599 the physics we've developed is just human and what of 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:38.200 it is actually fundamental and inescapable. It could be that 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.880 we're seeing everything in the wrong way totally. Yeah, absolutely, 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.520 everything we've learned is filtered through our experience, our consciousness. Right, 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:47.360 So we have these few senses. If you have a 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.120 different set of senses, you experience the universe differently, you 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:52.760 think very differently about the way the universe might be structured. 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:54.760 I mean there's a lot of deeply flawed sci fi 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:58.240 movies which touch on this really important issue, like Arrival, right, 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.040 you know, the Aliens and Arrival think about time differently, 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:03.200 and so I'm sure their physics is built in a 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:07.880 completely different way. Ours is built on our limited experience, 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:15.960 that's right, Yeah, absolutely, and a limited, very limited grant funding. Well, 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:17.880 let's bring it down. What does it actually mean to 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.280 have a theory of everything? Yeah? Does it mean an equation? 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:24.920 Does it mean a set of axioms you know, or statements? 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:27.400 Or does it mean like a little computer to which 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:29.120 you can input anything and will tell you what the 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:31.800 universe would do? Yeah? And it doesn't mean something which 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.280 will tell you where your lost socks are? Right? Um, 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:39.120 then what's the point and why are we even doing this? Man? Um? 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:41.360 You know, the entire physics enterprises just to help you 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.680 find lost socks. Um. In my view, a theory of 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:49.040 everything would be a set of equations that describe the 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.760 way the universe works at its most fundamental level, meaning 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:56.240 that from that anything else can be explained. You know, 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:02.040 take for example, our current understanding of chemistry, right, molecules interacting, etcetera. 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:05.920 Now can you use that to explain hurricanes, right, or 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:09.440 whether or you know, the solar system. Our current laws 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.520 of physics and chemistry can explain things that are larger 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.680 emergent phenomenon that arise from those more fundamental aspects. Right, 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:19.720 So that works. So when you say explain, you actually 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.800 mean like, we see something and then we can go 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.920 back to your magic formula, and your magic formula would say, oh, yeah, 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.880 I can see how that came to be. Or if 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.319 I run it then we get the same result. That's right. 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:35.120 Or you can encode those rules into a simulation and 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.400 predict exactly what's going to happen. Or you can be 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.400 super smart and do it in pencil and paper and say, 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:43.439 these equations predict that hurricanes will happen, or these equations 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.160 predict that planets will orbit the Sun. In this way, 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:48.800 all these things that we see that we experience, these 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:53.240 are emergent phenomenon. Right. There are higher level events that 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:57.880 arise out of deeper, lower level rules. Right. So there 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.440 was actually happening. You know, when example, you throw a baseball, 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.240 is all those particles are moving in tandem, and there's 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.600 all this quantum field theory that's happening um while that happens, 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.240 and you know, you can describe the way baseball moves 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.760 using a very simple parabolic formula. That parabolic formula can 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.800 be derived from the lower level set of rules. So 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.440 it's sort of like an onion. You know, we think 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.599 about theories of the universe in layers. It's like the 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:26.040 equations to describe the way things work in the macroscopic level, 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.080 you know, baseballs. Then there's equations that describe how things 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.040 work at the atomic level, and then there's equations to 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:33.559 describe the way things work at the cork level or 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:36.440 the the electron level. Right, And so the idea is 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:39.240 a theory of everything would be the lowest level would 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:43.080 be one from which everything else could be derived. In principle, 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.720 it's like the rules at the very very very very 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:49.560 center of the onion exactly. Uh, if the universe is 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.120 a simulation, right, then this would be like the source 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.720 code of that simulation would be the basic rules for 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.000 which everything results. It's like you can have a rule 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:02.200 about economics Magrican makes you know, people respond to their 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.040 best interests where they go for the lowest price. That's 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.680 a good theory, and it describes this complex phenomenon, but 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:11.199 it doesn't actually tell you the most basic thing that's 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:13.480 going on. That's right, and the most basic dance going 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.400 on is, you know, a bunch of particles are slashing 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.080 around inside their head, you know, and you can describe 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.120 at different levels. You can describe at the particle level, 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:23.160 which is very cumbersome because there's so many particles that 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.960 doing these kind of calculations would be almost impossible. Or 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.559 you can describe it at the biochemical level. You know, Uh, 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.080 these dopamine and this sort of neurotransmitter and all these 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:33.960 things are happening. A lot of these things. You can 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.400 describe at lots of different levels, and you pick the 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:38.880 level that's most appropriate. Right, you want to solve a 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.360 problem involving a baseball, You're gonna do a simple parabolic calculation. 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.680 You're not going to go with a heavy hitting quantum 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:48.040 field theory calculation. Right, But the theory of everything in 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:52.280 principle could derive anything else. Right, You can derive those 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.160 laws of parabolic motion, from the deepest level, from that 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:57.679 the core of the onion. So that's the goal of 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:01.040 the theory everything describe everything that happens in terms of 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:04.400 the smallest, most fundamental units. Well, I think an even 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:06.640 bigger question is, how do you even know such a 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:10.240 thing is possible? Like, how do you know that everything 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:14.320 can be described by one equation or two equations or 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:18.120 three equations? Right? Like, what makes you think it's possible 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.360 to even understand everything? I know? It seems like hubrists right, 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:23.719 Like somebody eat a bunch of mushrooms and had a 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.160 vision and now they're like, yes, I saw it, man, 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:30.000 Like the universe makes sense man um Right, So it's 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:34.000 either a weed field dream or enormous hubrists um. What 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.280 makes us think it's possible is that we're making steady progress, 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.240 you know. Um. I think about the way the world 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:42.240 used to be a total mystery to people, you know, 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:44.840 thousands of years ago, so much about everyday life as 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.400 a mystery. And you know, we've cracked a lot of 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:49.959 those nuts. You know, everything that we thought was strange 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.240 or mysterious so we had to attribute to some bizarre 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:56.480 god with you know, unknown motives. We've understood in terms 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.720 of natural phenomenon that which follow rules. So for some 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.800 rea sas and we don't understand, it appears that the 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:06.400 universe follows a set of rules. And those rules are 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.600 fairly constant, and so we can discover them by experimenting 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.840 and tinkering and trying stuff. And humans seem to have 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:16.840 the capability, the mathematical, the logical, the scientific capability to 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:19.720 reveal these rules and then you know, use them for 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.240 good or evil. Right, So you're saying you have faith 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.760 in physicists and humans. I have some faith. I mean, 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.200 look at what look at what we have accomplished, and 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:33.320 I look upon my great arts, look upon my works, 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:37.280 he mighty and despair. Now I love that poem Asymandias 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:40.520 because it's both positive and negative. Right, be jealous of 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.200 what I've accomplished, because you are so small, Or if 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.360 you think you're so great, remember that I was ones 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.680 great and have now fallen into dust. Um. Yes, So 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.120 maybe that future physics looks at us and and says 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.920 they accomplished nothing. But I would say, what makes us 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.960 think it's possible is that we're making steady progress. I mean, 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.160 the kind of things we understand about the universe now 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.040 are incredible compared to what we understood a hundred years ago, 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:07.000 five years ago, five thousand years ago. But is there 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:09.800 maybe a limit? And let's get into it. But first 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:24.680 let's take a quick break. So my favorite thing about 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.200 the theory of everything is it's acronym, its initials T 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.720 O E. So really, when you're talking about the theory 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:35.400 of the universe, you're talking about the universe? Is big 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:40.600 toe right? Right? Such a grand idea humbled by its acronym? Yeah? Yeah, 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:44.800 not not a great pr move there by physicists. Now 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.600 we have to find that secret circle of scientists who 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:49.360 are in charge of naming this stuff, because they got 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:51.080 some real work to do. I mean, I got notes, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.200 let me tell you. I mean, the particles got ridiculous names. 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.600 The theory of everything is a silly name. I don't 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:57.960 even know what the history of it is. Like. Who 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:00.320 was the first person to say theory of every Yeah? 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:02.520 I know that Einstein was one of the first people 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:04.960 would like, seriously go after it. Of course he didn't 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:09.520 make much progress. Why not the everything theory? Right? Better 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.280 everything theory? Yeah? I like that? All right, Um, you 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:15.400 should file a trademark for that. You'll get one penny 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:19.360 every time somebody says it. We talked about what it 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:21.840 means to say the theory of everything and what it 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.400 could be, and what we think when is possible? So 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:26.440 what do we know? Like, why isn't what we know 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.400 now a good theory of everything? What makes us think 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.240 that we don't have it yet? Right? Well, we do 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.520 know a lot. We've learned a lot about the universe. 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.800 And one thing that persuades us that things might be understandable, 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:40.760 that it might be a simple theory of everything is 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:43.120 that we're making a lot of progresses have been saying. 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.520 But it's more than that. Every time we peel back 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.560 a layer of reality and see what's underneath the description 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.520 that beneath it is simpler, right, Think, the level of 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:55.680 complexity required to describe the universe keeps getting simpler and simpler. 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:58.080 Like you know, for example, think about the objects in 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.000 the universe. You want to describe everything in the universe. 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.880 So there's like an infinite number of kinds of things. Right, 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:06.119 there's gas and stars and hamsters and ice cream and 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.239 lamas and cartoonists and all this stuff. And you can 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:11.639 explain all of that using a hundred basic building blocks. 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:15.440 Periodic table. You can explain the periodic table everything that's 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.639 in that using just quirks and leptons. Right, you can 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.679 build any atom out of out of just quirks and leptons. 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:24.920 So the number of pieces you need to describe basically 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.399 everything we've encountered keeps getting smaller. So so to me, 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:31.040 that's progress. You're asking earlier, like why do we think 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:32.880 it's this is possible? How do we know we get there? 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.200 So we're making this progress, and I feel like, how 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:37.720 will we know we get there when we get to 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:41.119 the simplest possible theory, You know, a theory that has 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.560 the smallest number of bits and the smallest number of parameters, 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:48.080 and has no hanging questions, no room to say, well 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.840 why this and not that, or why these two different 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:53.239 things instead of just one thing. So when you can 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.120 simplify it no longer, that's how you know you got there. 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.000 So it's kind of about the number of ingredients that 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:00.920 we think things are made out of. Kind of, right, 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.560 we went from a hundred elements in the periodic table 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:07.640 of elements to like an electron and small particles. You're 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:11.440 saying that maybe one day will get to one particle. Yeah, 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:12.679 you know what I mean, Like, if you go from 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.480 infinity to a hundred to three, the next step is 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:17.920 just two and one, right, right? That when the goal 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.400 is to get to one. Right, And the deepest goal 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.280 in particle physics is to simplify the universe and explain 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.080 it in terms of just one thing. And I've just 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:27.600 had like a sort of personal epiphany, which is I 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.240 realized that one of the reasons that physics appeals to 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:32.480 me so much is this attempt to simplify. Like in 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:35.000 my life, I'm always trying to simplify everything, Like, can 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.360 I get this simplify? Can I explain all these two 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:39.080 different things in terms of just one thing? Can I 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.040 just send one email to everybody? Is there a rule 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:43.840 that you know it kind of tells me how to 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.320 live my whole life? How do I respond to a 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.240 party invite? Or you know, is there a strategy for 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.040 making small talk and that works in any situation? And 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.320 I love that what you mean, You're you're always trying 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:58.160 to look for the underlying rules something. Yeah, I want 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:00.840 the theory of every conversation, right, I want to know 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:04.199 how to handle how to navogate a party conversation, no 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.240 matter what happens. That would be a fantastic theory. Hopefully 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:09.280 you'll figure it out before you start a podcast or 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:19.240 something a conversational too late. Is there a basic building 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.960 block of the universe out of which everything is built, 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.760 because right now we have twelve basic building blocks, so 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.480 we're definitely not there. Right we have six quarks and 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:33.119 six leftons. Only three of those twelve particles are ever 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:36.080 used to make atoms, and those twelve particles don't even 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.359 describe like the dark matter and everything else that's out 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:40.840 there in the universe. So not only do we know 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:43.560 there are other particles that we haven't discovered, but we 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.960 also have questions about these particles, like why are there 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.399 so many? It would be great to narrow that down. 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:50.480 So you're saying that we think there might be a 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:53.160 theory of everything because there's plenty of still stuff still 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.880 left to explain, basically, right, like, we're not there yet 0:19:57.200 --> 0:19:59.520 because there's a lot we haven't explained. That's right, we're 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:02.320 not there yet, and we've been making steady progress and 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:05.320 at every stage things get simpler, and so we suspect 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:07.840 that if we keep cracking the nut, then we'll get 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:11.280 simpler and simpler nuts. Until eventually maybe we'll get down 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.480 to the one thing that it built everything else is 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.479 built out of, and that would explain everything the peanut 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:21.240 of the universe. God, if we find that particle and 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:23.199 so many names at peanut, I'm gonna blame you for 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.840 that horrid that's right, it's because then there's going to 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:30.479 be the anti peanut, you know, um peanut on I um, 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:34.040 you know bound states of peanuts and oh man, it's 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:35.960 gonna be a disaster. But you know that's not the 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:38.840 whole story. Right. There's particles, but there's then there's also forces. 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:41.520 So what do you think a theory of everything would 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.160 look like? Like, Like, it'd be like everything is made 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:47.440 out of the peanut, and the peanut can be form 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.440