Some fundamental questions today with Gimmy, PhD student at GRAPPA doing research in black holes, gravitational-wave astronomy, and dark matter.

Gimmy is soon going to the Institute of Advanced Study of Princeton for a postdoc!

Gimmy's website: https://gimmytomas.github.io/index.html

Find Back to the Stone Age on:

• YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-Any
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288

Outline

00:32 - Is math invented or discovered?

06:40 - Are paradoxes intrinsic to our reality?

11:20 - String theory and mathematics

16:53 - Theories of everything

24:00 - Reconciling gravity and quantum mechanics

30:00 - Understanding the origin of the Big Bang

37:05 - Time

46:52 - Is time fundamental or emergent?

52:18 - Time and space swap inside a black hole

57:44 - Mental picture for spacetime curvature

01:04:19 - Weirdness of quantum mechanics: entanglement

01:07:00 - Schrödinger equation, probabilities, uncertainty principle

01:15:16 - Is the wave function real?

01:18:39 - “God” and death

01:24:25 - Biological engineering of human life

01:29:00 - Making sense of numbers in cosmology

01:34:20 - Fine-tuning of nature

01:40:26 - Inflationary multiverse and infinity

01:51:45 - Artificial intelligence

01:56:32 - Consciousness

02:03:22 - Free will

02:07:46 - James Webb Space Telescope

02:13:08 - Final thoughts and conclusion

Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!