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Enjoy this classic episode from the vault: Max Tegmark & Eric Weinstein, New Years Eve 2020!

Brian Keating brings together two thought leaders at the edge of physics and philosophy: Max Tegmark, physicist, cosmologist, and pioneer at MIT, and Eric Weinstein, mathematician, economist, and creator of Geometric Unity.

Timestamps:

00:00 "Ambitions in AI, Physics, News"

16:58 "Emergent Reality from Proto-Spacetime"

22:50 "Rethinking Unification in Physics"

36:09 "Value of Disagreeable Individualism"

45:32 "Optimism for Academia Careers"

01:04:08 "Dangers of Oversimplifying Physics"

01:07:34 "On Success, Science, and Wonder"

01:18:47 "Funding and Advancing Physics Research"

01:30:28 "Perspective on Science and Society"

01:43:13 "Three Types of Scientific Experiments"

01:52:05 "Collaboration and Discovery in Science"

02:02:20 "The Messiness of Scientific Truth"

02:13:08 "Simulation, AI, and Ethics"

02:20:55 "Limits of Technology in Cosmos"

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Will AI solve future math proofs?

Every time you type a password, buy something online, or send an encrypted message, you’re trusting an assumption about prime numbers: that they don’t hide an exploitable pattern. Modern cryptography depends on primes behaving “randomly enough,” yet many fundamental questions about primes remain unproven.

In this episode, I’m joined by Fields Medalist Terence Tao to explore what mathematicians can prove, what they strongly suspect, and what could change if unexpected structure appeared in the primes. We discuss pseudorandomness and why it matters for encryption, the twin prime conjecture, and how quantum computing reshapes what is feasible in computation and security.

We also get into AI and mathematics: why large language models can sound convincing even when unreliable, how AI can help with idea generation and literature recall, and why verification and proof assistants will matter if AI is to contribute to real mathematical progress. Along the way, Tao explains proof techniques like proof by contradiction, why complex numbers and the square root of minus one are so central, and how high-dimensional geometry breaks low-dimensional intuition.

Finally, Tao shares a real-world example of how math breakthroughs translate into technology: compressed sensing, which has enabled much faster MRI scans by reconstructing images from far less data.

Timestamps:

00:00 Discrepancy Theory Explained

09:35 Induction: Science and Mathematics

14:38 "Proof Concept Through Play"

18:43 "Complex Numbers and Completeness"

25:36 Prime Numbers and Cryptography

29:51 "Computability and Complexity in Mathematics"

35:04 AI Discovers New Knot Theory Insights

42:02 "Elegance in Nature's Laws"

47:12 "AI as Complementary Research Tools"

51:27 "Humility in Pursuit of Proofs"

54:46 "Multiple Approaches to Mathematics"

01:03:04 Rethinking Reality and Physics

01:07:14 "Origins of Compressed Sensing"

01:10:17 "Shannon Bound and Information Limits"

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From the electrifying environment of high-speed particle collisions to the challenge of sifting signals from heaps of experimental noise, you'll hear how Prof Whiteson and his team are pushing boundaries. They discuss bold new algorithms capable of spotting non-standard tracks—think wild trajectories that defy classical expectations and could reveal surprises nature has kept hidden. Practical questions about detector design, efficiency, and even the mathematics of “smooth” particle paths make for a rich, dynamic dialogue.

If you’re curious about how physicists ask the universe its most challenging questions, the frustrations and breakthroughs of innovation, and the fascinating interplay between theory and experiment, this episode will take you to the front lines of discovery. Plus, hear how machine learning might help us find not just the next weird particle, but perhaps the next Nobel-worthy revelation. Get ready for a fascinating journey into the impossible!

Daniel Whiteson is a physicist whose research spans a wide range of topics at UC Irvine. By day, he works on the ATLAS experiment, one of the major physics collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider, where he contributes to Higgs boson precision measurements and develops advanced techniques in machine learning, data acquisition, and trigger systems. His research group is known for applying machine learning innovations to physics problems, including projects beyond ATLAS—like using approximate symmetries or jet pattern matching. Recently, his team has been focused on machine learning projects to identify unusual particle tracks, always pushing the frontier between physics and data science.

Timestamps:

00:00 Revisiting Discovery with New Tools

04:43 Particle Tracking Constraints Explained

06:56 Challenges in Non-Helical Track Detection

10:29 Non-Helical Tracks and Dark QCD

14:38 "Track Reconstruction and Efficiency"

18:43 Quirk Detection and Reconstruction"

23:27 Testing Generalization Beyond Memorization

25:23 Quirk Tracks and Overlap Analysis

30:36 "Smooth Paths and Signal Control"

31:17 "Training Pipeline on Weird Tracks"

35:55 Filtering Standard Model Tracks

38:24 "Challenges in Parameter Optimization"

43:15 "Neural Networks Learn Complex Mappings"

44:38 "Machine Learning for Track Detection"

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My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA

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Brian Keating sits down with Matt Gray for a wide-ranging, thoughtful, and entertaining conversation that explores the intersection of cosmology, philosophy, and mysticism. Together, they tackle some of the universe’s biggest mysteries—from the origins of the cosmos and the mechanics of the Big Bang, to the challenges and philosophy behind scientific discovery.

Timestamps:

00:00 "Science, Nobel Near-Miss, and Humor"

07:26 "Passion for Science and Sharing"

12:00 "Chasing a Nobel-Worthy Discovery"

20:42 Limits of Scientific Falsifiability

22:18 "Origins and Concepts of Cosmology"

32:28 "Galileo, Einstein, and Scientific Progress"

34:16 "Nobel Prizes and Collaboration Challenges"

38:58 "Galactic Dust and Panspermia"

48:15 Agnostic vs. Atheist Questioning

51:44 John Lennox: Faith, Science, and Scripture

58:35 Equations, God, and Belief Dynamics

01:03:12 Belief Nuances and Perspectives

01:06:07 Maxwell's Ether and Light Waves

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My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA

The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un

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Join us LIVE with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb for the final verdict on the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed visitor from beyond our solar system. We examine the newly proposed 14th anomaly: the remarkably rare alignment of 3I/ATLAS’s rotation axis within about 8 degrees of the sunward direction at distances greater than 5 AU, a configuration with a probability of less than about 0.5 percent if random.

This alignment has major implications for how we interpret the object’s anti-tail jet geometry, rotational dynamics, and overall physical behavior, adding to a growing list of anomalies that strain standard cometary explanations. Whether you are interested in jets, rotation periods, anti-tail physics, or what these observations imply about natural versus technological origins, this livestream offers a rigorous, evidence-driven deep dive. We will lay out the data, compare competing interpretations, and ask the central question: is 3I/ATLAS simply an unusual comet, or something fundamentally different?

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Run of Show

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Pilgrimage mode: kilt on, chapeau secured, and I’m standing outside 14 India Street, Edinburgh — the birthplace of the physicist I’d nominate as the quiet GOAT: James Clerk Maxwell.

In this solo vlog, I walk the neighbourhood where Maxwell grew up, try (and fail) to get into the small museum without a reservation, and connect the dots from Maxwell’s equations to the modern world: Wi-Fi, GPS, power grids, and yes… a Tesla charging across the street from his childhood home.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Kilted pilgrimage begins

00:32 Maxwell’s Edinburgh origin story (and my museum plea)

01:27 Tesla charging across from Maxwell’s house

02:24 The prodigy years + Cambridge arc

03:00 Maxwell as “natural philosopher” + why he matters now

04:33 “Let there be light” (and what the equations really changed)

06:25 Ether, gears, and the bridge to modern physics

Video & Edited by Sheikh Media Website: sheikh.media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmadisapro/

This video contains commentary and criticism under Fair Use (17 U.S.C. §107).

All third-party clips, articles, and documents are used for educational and critical purposes.

Sources & Credits

YouTube Clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFZpkB3igC8&t=58s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNPwfQDrK5Q&t=42s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sghTX3Zc1sE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh3EfcNzKjI&t=9s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWCN_uI5ygY&t=1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6gd3bQLiFc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-vS2nVRGc8&t=46s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Dh35gejuc&t=548s

Articles & Documents:

https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2004/PSCF9-04McNatt.pdf

https://www.bem.fi/library/1865-001.pdf

https://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/specrel.pdf

Google Images and Wikipedia were used for general reference.

AI Tools Used:

VEO, Flow, Hygen, Seedance, Nano Bnana, and others for audio and visuals.

Stock Footage & Media:

All stock footage, audio, and images used from premium licensed accounts: Wondershare Filmora, Shutterstock, Epidemic Sounds, Canva, and Pexels.

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My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA

The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un

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Sixty-six million years ago, a single asteroid ended the reign of the dinosaurs—and Govert Schilling says the next one could be headed for us. In this episode, we uncover the science of cosmic threats, extinction risks, and whether humanity stands a chance when the sky turns deadly.

Key Takeaways:

Additional resources: 

📚 Target Earth by Govert Schilling: https://a.co/5uCEmZi 

➡️ My new book:

📖 Into the Impossible Volume 2: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: Lessons from Laureates to Concentrate Your Creativity and Ignite Your Career: ⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/hi50U9U⁠⁠⁠ 

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Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode!

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WANTED: Developers and STEM experts! Get paid to create benchmarks and improve AI models. Sign up for Alignerr using our link: https://alignerr.com/?referral-source=briankeating

Today’s guest Bret Weinstein takes us on a fascinating journey to discover the next evolution of mankind.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

00:00 "Universal Principles of Evolution"

08:14 "Soma, Germline, and Senescence"

12:34 "Life Cycle Adaptation Patterns"

17:46 "Hybrid Creatures, Not Resurrections"

24:01 "Biology, Ancestry, and Modern Pathology"

27:14 "Precautionary Principle and Hidden Risks"

33:51 "Antifragility: Growth Through Challenges"

41:02 Evolutionary Patterns in Nocturnal Vision

48:16 Culture: A Tool for DNA Goals

54:02 "Overhyped Fears of LLM AI"

55:55 Overhyping LLMs: Evolution Prevails

01:05:13 "Sober Realism About AI"

01:09:04 "Passion for Science, Not Professorship"

01:16:59 "Developing Independence and Skepticism"

01:18:42 "AI: A Modern Cassandra Warning"

01:26:30 "Rethinking Priorities: Solar Storms"

01:33:05 "Prioritizing Hazards Intelligently"

01:35:00 "Reprogramming Life's Blueprints"

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Additional resources:

Dark Horse Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@DarkHorsePod/videos

Peterson Academy Lecture Series: https://petersonacademy.com/?utm_source=Keating

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Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours:

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The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un

📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺

Neil Turok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5cFLN65fI

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Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1

Sir Roger Penrose: https://youtu.be/AMuqyAvX7Wo

Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/g00ilS6tBvs

Avi Loeb: https://youtu.be/N9lUceHsLRw

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In this special crossover episode, Brian Keating joins Julian Dorey to celebrate Julian's impressive milestone of reaching 1 million subscribers. Together, they take a deep dive into the latest theories shaking up our understanding of the universe—from fresh debates surrounding the Big Bang, new discoveries about dark matter and dark energy, to the powerful technology transforming how we explore the cosmos.

Key Takeaways:

00:00 "NASA's Impact Despite Small Budget"

09:03 Discovery of Cosmic Microwave Background

15:03 "Big Bang Evidence in Tap Water"

17:21 Meteorite Discovery Challenges Dark Energy

22:21 "Understanding Spiral Galaxies Dynamics"

31:37 Celebrating Science and Serendipity

36:56 Debating the Universe's Origins

40:49 Hubble Constant Discrepancy Foun

47:31 "Conversation on Space and Starlink"

52:31 Consciousness Expansion or Earth Protection?

56:09 Ocean Colonization and Future Challenges

01:02:44 Cosmic Birefringence Exploration

01:07:12 Nobel-Worthy Discovery's Iron

01:12:42 "Fermi Paradox and Civilization Longevity"

01:16:23 Cosmic Coincidences and Probability

01:20:21 Podcast Crossover & Elon Interview

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Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours:

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Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu

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The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un

📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺

Neil Turok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5cFLN65fI

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Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1

Sir Roger Penrose: https://youtu.be/AMuqyAvX7Wo

Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/g00ilS6tBvs

Avi Loeb: https://youtu.be/N9lUceHsLRw

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Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt for your chance to win a meteorite 💥 What connects a 5,000-year-old stone circle to the most ambitious radio telescope ever built? In this episode, we travel from Stonehenge to Jodrell Bank and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) to trace humanity’s obsession with the sky — from lifting megaliths to catching whispers of the Big Bang.

We start at Stonehenge, a Neolithic “star clock” aligned with the solstices, then fast-forward through millennia to stand beneath the 76 m Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank, and finally into the control rooms of the SKA: hundreds of dishes and over 100,000 antennas designed to detect the first stars and galaxies. The tools change — stones, steel, superconducting detectors — but the question stays the same: what is our place in the universe?

Topics:

* How Neolithic builders engineered and aligned Stonehenge with the Sun?

* Why Jodrell Bank became a Cold War–era listening post and a pulsar powerhouse?

* How pulsars, neutron stars, and the Crab Nebula became cosmic calibration tools?

* What the SKA will actually “hear” from the cosmic Dark Ages and first stars?

* How the Simons Observatory and SKA together will rewrite our map of the cosmos

Timestamps:

00:00 Stonehenge introduction and the mystery of its construction

01:56 Transport and engineering of the Sarsen and bluestones

05:34 Stonehenge as a solar-aligned cosmic calendar

08:00 Transition from Stone Age to modern astronomy at Jodrell Bank

09:15 Lovell Telescope history and its role in tracking Sputnik

20:00 Overview of the SKA and its global scientific mission

44:23 From ancient stones to radio telescopes: the shared human quest to understand the cosmos

Thanks to the incredible staff of Jodrell Bank for their hospitality!

Featuring Lucio Piccirillo (U. Manchester) https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/lucio.piccirillo

Keith Grainge (SKA Headquarters; Jodrell Bank scientist)

Simon Garrington (Director, e-MERLIN, Jodrell Bank)

Learn more about the Simons Observatory: https://simonsobservatory.org/about/so-uk/

SO-UK https://www.souk.ac.uk

Learn more about what SO:UK is delivering from Michael Brown talk: https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/28120/contributions/116594/attachments/74662/107684/SO_UK_Paris_Nov_2022.pdf

The UK-based data center, in Manchester, transitioned to full operations in Spring 2025.

The SO:UK project is funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Infrastructure Fund, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and the UKRI Carbon Reduction Fund.

Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours:

📚 Get my books:

Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu

My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA

The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un

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