The Michael Shermer Show
Michael Shermer
Categories: Science & Medicine
Listen to the last episode:
Sean Carroll is creating a profoundly new approach to sharing physics with a broad audience, one that goes beyond analogies to show how physicists really think. He cuts to the bare mathematical essence of our most profound theories, explaining every step in a uniquely accessible way.
Quantum field theory is how modern physics describes nature at its most profound level. Starting with the basics of quantum mechanics itself, Sean Carroll explains measurement and entanglement before explaining how the world is really made of fields. You will finally understand why matter is solid, why there is antimatter, where the sizes of atoms come from, and why the predictions of quantum field theory are so spectacularly successful. Fundamental ideas like spin, symmetry, Feynman diagrams, and the Higgs mechanism are explained for real, not just through amusing stories. Beyond Newton, beyond Einstein, and all the intuitive notions that have guided homo sapiens for millennia, this book is a journey to a once unimaginable truth about what our universe is.
Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, and Fractal Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He is host of the Mindscape podcast, and author of From Eternity to Here, The Particle at the End of the Universe, The Big Picture, and Something Deeply Hidden. He has been awarded prizes and fellowships by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the American Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of London, and many others. He lives in Baltimore with his wife, writer Jennifer Ouellette. His new book series, The Biggest Ideas in the Universe, includes one volume on Space, Time, and Motion, and this new volume on Quanta and Fields.
Shermer and Carroll discuss: the measurement problem in physics • wave functions • entanglement • fields • interactions • scale • symmetry • gauge theory • phases • matter • atoms • time • double-slit experiment • superposition • directionality in nature • the multiverse • known unknowables • Is there a place for God in scientific epistemology?
Previous episodes
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475 - Quanta and Fields Sat, 18 May 2024
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474 - Reporting From the Frontlines of the Culture Wars Tue, 14 May 2024
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473 - How to Expand Consciousness Sat, 11 May 2024
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472 - Everything is Predictable: How Bayesian Statistics Explain Our World Tue, 07 May 2024
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471 - The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos Sat, 04 May 2024
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470 - The Science of Happines Tue, 30 Apr 2024
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469 - How Rhetoric Shapes Your Opinions Sat, 27 Apr 2024
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468 - Accomplishment and Happiness (Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker) Tue, 23 Apr 2024
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467 - Should We Prepare for Nuclear War? (Annie Jacobsen) Sat, 20 Apr 2024
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466 - An AI... Utopia? (Nick Bostrom, Oxford) Tue, 16 Apr 2024
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465 - Life on Mars? (Robert Zubrin) Sat, 13 Apr 2024
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464 - Robots and the People Who Love Them Tue, 09 Apr 2024
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463 - The Formation, Diversification, and Extinction of World Religions Sat, 06 Apr 2024
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462 - The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Uncertain Tue, 02 Apr 2024
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461 - The End of Race Politics (Coleman Hughes) Sat, 30 Mar 2024
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460 - How to Repair America’s Broken Democracy Tue, 26 Mar 2024
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459 - Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up (Abigail Shrier) Sat, 23 Mar 2024
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458 - An Unfinished History of the Holocaust Tue, 19 Mar 2024
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457 - The Weirdness of the World Sat, 16 Mar 2024
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456 - The Story of Female Empowerment & Getting Canceled: Elite Commando and Kickboxing World Champion Leah Goldstein Tue, 12 Mar 2024
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455 - Who Wrote the Qur’an, Why, and What Does it Really Say? Sat, 09 Mar 2024
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454 - Purpose in the Eyes of a Psychiatrist Tue, 05 Mar 2024
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453 - Does Humanity Function as a Single Superorganism? Sat, 02 Mar 2024
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452 - The Power of Noticing What Was Always There Tue, 27 Feb 2024
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451 - China's Grip on Rare-Earth Elements and the Future of Global Energy Security Sat, 24 Feb 2024
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450 - mRNA Vaccines, Mask Mandates, and the COVID-19 Response (Paul Offit) Tue, 20 Feb 2024
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449 - Foster Care, Family, and Social Class Sat, 17 Feb 2024
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448 - How U.S. Public Health Has Strayed From Its Liberal Roots Tue, 13 Feb 2024
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447 - Against the New Politics of Identity Sat, 10 Feb 2024
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446 - What Determines Who Succeeds in the NBA? Tue, 06 Feb 2024
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445 - Transforming Mental Health: Little Treatments, Big Effects Sat, 03 Feb 2024
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444 - Overcoming Self-Censorship in the Age of Outrage Tue, 30 Jan 2024
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443 - One Couple’s Vacation Caused 100,000 People to Die Sat, 27 Jan 2024
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442 - Head of TED Talks Shares a New Vision of Generosity Tue, 23 Jan 2024
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441 - Are Parallel Universes and Extra Dimensions Real? Wed, 17 Jan 2024
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440 - Michael Shellenberger Explains Government Censorship of Social Media Tue, 09 Jan 2024
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439 - Multiculturalism and Lessons From the Rwandan Genocide Wed, 03 Jan 2024 - 0h
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438 - The Meaning of Life (A Message for the Holidays) Sun, 24 Dec 2023 - 0h
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437 - A Trial by Media Ended Caylan Ford’s Career in 4 Hours Tue, 19 Dec 2023
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436 - How Not to Age Sat, 16 Dec 2023
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435 - How to Cultivate Your Imagination as an Adult Tue, 12 Dec 2023
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434 - Nobel Prize Winner Explains Inequality and Capitalism Tue, 05 Dec 2023
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433 - The Purpose of the Universe Sat, 02 Dec 2023
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432 - How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation Tue, 28 Nov 2023
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431 - JFK 60th Anniversary of the Assassination Wed, 22 Nov 2023
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430 - The Scientific Search for Alien Life Sat, 18 Nov 2023
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429 - Ayaan Hirsi Ali Converted to Christianity Wed, 15 Nov 2023 - 0h
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428 - UFO: The Inside Story of the U.S. Government's Search for Alien Life Tue, 14 Nov 2023
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427 - Identity Politics and its Discontents Sat, 11 Nov 2023
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426 - What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things? (Dan Ariely) Tue, 07 Nov 2023