Thomas is a professor of Physics at KU Leuven (https://shorturl.at/IVa8S).

He's on Twitter: https://x.com/ThomasVanRiet2

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

00:24 - General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics

11:50 - String Theory

21:41 - Singularities in String Theory

37:47 - Extra Dimensions in String Theory

48:30 - The Landscape and The Swampland

58:36 - Fine Tuning of the Universe

01:16:20 - The Most Beautiful Concept in Physics

01:20:00 - Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Hope you enjoy it, this is Back to the Stone Age!

Andrea is a theoretical physicist and he works on Dark Matter and Particle Physics.

He was awarded the ERC (European Research Council) Starting Grant.

Andrea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-caputo-ph-d-2475999b/?locale=en_US

Seeing my interviews from one year ago is a bit cringe, but I'm working on it 😜 Hope you like it anyway!

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

01:10 - The Standard Model

03:09 - Gravity and the Standard Model

06:30 - String theory and accelerators

13:47 - The Hierarchy problem

22:54 - Supersymmetry

26:12 - ΛCDM model and the Standard Model

34:08 - Dark Matter candidates

41:20 - Inflation and the Standard Model

49:00 - Extra dimensions

52:07 - The Baryon Asymmetry problem

57:58 - Neutrinos' mass problem

01:06:13 - The CP problem

01:16:24 - The parameters of the Standard Model

01:20:33 - Is mathematics invented or discovered?

01:23:07 - Final thoughts and conclusion

Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!

Do you like philosophising? Then this conversation is for YOU! 🫵🏻

Brad Wray (https://shorturl.at/gY9Oh) is Associate Professor at Aarhus University, and together we tackle deep philosophical questions.

Find Back to the Stone Age on:

• YouTube: https://shorturl.at/c5a37
• Spotify: https://shorturl.at/11x47
• Apple Podcast: https://shorturl.at/pFRCC

Outline

00:35 - Philosophy of Science

01:17 - Definition of knowledge

01:52 - How do scientific discoveries shape our understanding of reality?

02:26 - Metaphysics

09:56 - God in Philosophy

11:41 - Limitation of human knowledge

13:52 - Theory of everything

19:45 - How is knowledge acquired?

29:24 - Role of epistemic communities for knowledge acquisition

34:40 - Disruptive science and increase of scientific papers

46:03 - Academic vs technological development

51:38 - Artificial intelligence and technology

01:00:44 - Collaborating with other researchers

01:04:15 - Thomas Kuhn

01:06:02 - Paradigm in science

01:13:30 - Kuhn cycle

01:20:19 - Revolutionising paradigm shifts: Copernican revolution and Plate tectonics

01:32:15 - Incommensurability in scientific revolutions

01:40:18 - Planck's principle

01:45:55 - Role of theories in understanding reality

01:52:11 - Is scientific progress linear?

01:52:55 - Scientific realism

01:58:25 - Antirealist perspective

02:05:40 - Death

02:09:25 - Nuclear weapons

02:16:27 - Conclusion

Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!