In this episode of Theories of Everything, MIT physicist and historian David Kaiser explores primordial black holes which are hypothetical entities that may have formed before stars or atoms. David discusses their potential role in explaining dark matter, their connections to cosmic inflation, and how they might reshape our understanding of the early universe. This conversation connects the realms of quantum theory, cosmology, and the history of physics.

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Gödel’s incompleteness theorem is one of the most misunderstood ideas in science and philosophy. This video cuts through the hype, correcting major misconceptions from pop-science icons and revealing what Gödel actually proved and what he didn’t. If you think his theorem limits human knowledge, think again. The people referenced are Neil deGrasse Tyson, Veritasium, Michio Kaku, and Deepak Chopra.

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What if gravity is not fundamental but emerges from quantum entanglement? In this episode, physicist Ted Jacobson reveals how Einstein’s equations can be derived from thermodynamic principles of the quantum vacuum, reshaping our understanding of space, time, and gravity itself.

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What if quantum mechanics is not fundamental? What if time itself is an illusion? In this new episode, physicist Julian Barbour returns to share his most radical ideas yet. He proposes that the universe is built purely from ratios, that time is not fundamental, and that quantum mechanics might be replaced entirely without the need for wave functions or Planck’s constant. This may be the simplest vision of reality ever proposed.

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I've been working on this project assiduously and secretly since last year. It's been several months in the making, with several rewrites and several re-edits. It's finally ready to be released, thus shadow dropping it now. It's a 3-hour iceberg on Eric Weinstein's Geometric Unity. I work on understanding and explaining different Theories of Everything for a living, and this one is unlike any other you've seen. This iceberg covers the graduate-level math, but it also constantly provides explainers aimed at different levels for those who are uninitiated with physics and differential geometry. Enjoy.

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Huel: Try Huel with 15% OFF + Free Gift for New Customers today using my code theoriesofeverything at https://huel.com/theoriesofeverything . Fuel your best performance with Huel today!

What really happens when you fall into a black hole? Physicist Neil Turok unveils a radical theory: there is no inside—only a mirror. You meet your antimatter twin, and annihilation follows. No multiverse. No extra dimensions. No information loss. Just elegant math and CPT symmetry. This is the simplest—and most profound—explanation of black holes to date. It rewrites what we thought we knew about the universe itself.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

04:14 The Paradox of Information Loss

11:04 CPT Symmetry and Its Implications

19:09 Stuckelberg's Insights on Antiparticles

29:34 The Black Mirror Solution Explained

41:21 Dramatic Encounters at the Horizon

51:51 The Unexpected Nature of the Metric

59:46 Exploring Quantum Effects in Black Holes

1:05:04 Black Hole Entropy and Observations

1:10:13 The Universe: Superposed and Entangled

1:15:15 The Economist's Insights

1:15:29 Quantum Mechanics and Classicality

1:20:35 Simplicity in Cosmology

1:21:58 The DESE Experiment and Dark Energy

1:26:40 The Cosmological Constant Dilemma

1:31:13 The Bet on Cosmological Theories

1:32:06 The UFO Debate with Neil deGrasse Tyson

1:34:52 The Nature of Time and Understanding

1:36:44 Spinning Galaxies and Cosmic Alignment

1:38:44 Understanding the Black Hole Model

1:41:59 The Mirror Universe Concept

1:49:41 Dimension Zero Scalars in Physics

1:55:15 Solving the Hierarchy Problem

1:56:46 The Future of Physics

2:14:06 Advice for Young Physicists

Links Mentioned:

- On the analytic extension of regular rotating black holes (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.11322

- Comment (2) on “Quantum Transfiguration of Kruskal Black Holes” (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/1906.04650

- Black Mirrors: CPT-Symmetric Alternatives to Black Holes (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2412.09558

- Path integral formulation (Wiki): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_integral_formulation#Feynman's_interpretation

- The dominant model of the universe is creaking (article): https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/06/19/the-dominant-model-of-the-universe-is-creaking

- Particle Creation by Black Holes (paper): https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=-AEEg5AAAAAJ&citation_for_view=-AEEg5AAAAAJ:maZDTaKrznsC

- The distribution of galaxy rotation in JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.18781

- Cancelling the vacuum energy and Weyl anomaly in the standard model with dimension-zero scalar fields (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2110.06258

- Gravitational entropy and the flatness, homogeneity and isotropy puzzles (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2201.07279

- Radiative Mass Mechanism: Addressing the Flavour Hierarchy and Strong CP Puzzle (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.13385

Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt

Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs

#science

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Today we are joined by philosopher Jennifer Nagel for a take-no-prisoners look at universal skepticism—philosophy’s greatest deception. We unpack why doubt itself is the ultimate illusion, how knowledge is primitive instant recognition, and what this means for self, free will & consciousness.

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Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

01:28 The Nature of Knowledge

10:58 Philosophers and the Skeptical Mindset

16:57 Types of Skepticism

22:27 Exploring Knowledge Attribution

29:51 The Illusion of Knowledge

34:16 Knowing Without Knowing

38:10 Writing About Knowledge

46:10 Analyzing Knowledge

55:08 The Gettier Problem and Its Challenges

1:01:10 The Functionality of Knowledge

1:11:23 Collaborative Understanding of Knowledge

2:10:00 Understanding and Consciousness

2:26:32 Truth and Its Nature

2:32:16 Superposition and Contradictions

2:32:19 Conclusion

Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE

Become a YouTube Member (Early Access Videos):

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Links Mentioned:

- Knowledge: A Very Short Introduction (book): https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Very-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/019966126X

- Knowledge and its Limits (book): https://www.amazon.ca/Knowledge-its-Limits-Timothy-Williamson/dp/019925656X

- Very Short Introductions (series): https://www.google.com/search?q=a+very+short+introduction+to+series&sca_esv=3da4db664be6b3a1&ei=ypX6Z6flHsDniLMP2v2QkQk&ved=0ahUKEwin8oSB9tKMAxXAM2IAHdo-JJIQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=a+very+short+introduction+to+series&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiI2EgdmVyeSBzaG9ydCBpbnRyb2R1Y3Rpb24gdG8gc2VyaWVzMgUQABiABDILEAAYgAQYhgMYigUyCxAAGIAEGIYDGIoFMgsQABiABBiGAxiKBTIIEAAYogQYiQUyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIFEAAY7wVIqBRQxAtYwBBwAXgAkAEAmAFZoAGtAqoBATS4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgSgAocCwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR8ICDRAuGIAEGLADGEMYigXCAg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFwgIPEAAYgAQYQxiKBRhGGPsBwgIbEAAYgAQYQxiKBRhGGPsBGJcFGIwFGN0E2AEBwgIGEAAYBxgemAMAiAYBkAYKugYGCAEQARgTkgcBNKAHph6yBwEzuAf_AQ&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#wgvs=e

- Time: A Very Short Introduction (book): https://www.amazon.ca/Time-Short-Introduction-Jenann-Ismael/dp/0198832664

- Laplace meets Godel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB3tS7j7nNU

- Flexible Goals (paper): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/cogs.13195

- The Legend of the Justified True Belief Analysis (paper): https://philpapers.org/archive/DUTTLO-3.pdf

- Lay Denial of Knowledge for Justified True Beliefs (paper): https://philpapers.org/archive/NAGLDO

- TOE’s Consciousness Iceberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDjnEiys98o

- Matt Segal on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeTm4fSXpbM

- Curt reads Plato’s Cave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PurNlwnxwfY

- David Bentley Hart on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEAgVvW9i10

- Donald Hoffman on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmieNQH7Q4w&t=1s

- Iain McGilchrist on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-SgOwc6Pe4&t=6326s&ab_channel=CurtJaimungal

- Geoffrey Hinton on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_DUft-BdIE

- John Vervaeke on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVj1KYGyesI&t=1s

- Wolfgang Smith on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp18_L_y_30

- Polymath’s Ai panel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abzXzPBW4_s

- Donald Hoffman and Philip Goff on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmaIBxkqcT4

- Robert Sapolsky on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0IqA1hYKY8&pp=ygUUY3VydCByb2JlcnQgc2Fwb2xza3k%3D

- Curt debunks the “all possible paths” myth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcY3ZtgYis0&t=46s

Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt

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Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com

Links Mentioned:

- Original Substack article: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/particles-dont-take-all-possible

- Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics (article): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/the-interpretations-of-quantum-mechanics?utm_source=publication-search

- Jacob Barandes on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrUvtqr4wOs

- Tim Maudlin on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU1bs5o3nss

- Sean Carroll on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AoRxtYZrZo

- Eva Miranda on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XyMepn-AZo

- Mithuna’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LookingGlassUniverse

- Mithuna Yoganathan on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2ct0zv_M-I

- Defining light (article): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/well-technically

- What is energy, actually? (article): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/what-is-energy-actually

- TOE’s String Theory Iceberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4PdPnQuwjY

- Paper on Bell’s Theorem: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.17521

- Veritasium’s YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium

Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE

Become a YouTube Member (Early Access Videos):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join

Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt

Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs

#science

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Today we are joined by physicist and philosopher Emily Adlam for her first appearance on Theories of Everything to challenge one of the deepest assumptions in science: that time flows. In this thought-provoking conversation, Adlam presents her “all-at-once” view of physics, where the universe is more like a completed Sudoku puzzle than a film playing forward. We explore the measurement problem in quantum mechanics, the role of the observer, the illusion of causality, and why these foundational questions demand both philosophical clarity and scientific precision.

As a listener of TOE you can get a special 20% off discount to The Economist and all it has to offer! Visit https://www.economist.com/toe

Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com

Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE

Become a YouTube Member (Early Access Videos):

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Links Mentioned:

•⁠ ⁠Emily’s profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Emily-Adlam

•⁠ ⁠Spooky Action at a Temporal Distance (paper): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7512241/pdf/entropy-20-00041.pdf

•⁠ ⁠Quantum Field Theory and the Limits of Reductionism (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2407.20457

•⁠ ⁠Two Roads of Retrocausality (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2201.12934

•⁠ ⁠Taxonomy for Physics Beyond Quantum Mechanics (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2309.12293

•⁠ ⁠Strong Determinism (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2203.02886

•⁠ ⁠Carlo Rovelli on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF4SAketEHY

•⁠ ⁠Stephen Wolfram on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YRlQQw0d-4

•⁠ ⁠Emily interviewed about Nonlocality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR7aPlZg7dE&ab_channel=GeorgeMusser

•⁠ ⁠Tim Palmer on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlklA6jsS8A

•⁠ ⁠Tim Maudlin on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU1bs5o3nss

•⁠ ⁠Algorithmic Randomness and Probabilistic Laws (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.01411

•⁠ ⁠Governing Without a Fundamental Direction of Time (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.09226

•⁠ ⁠Matt Segal on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeTm4fSXpbM

•⁠ ⁠Jacob Barandes on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oWip00iXbo&list=PLZ7ikzmc6zlN6E8KrxcYCWQIHg2tfkqvR&index=33

•⁠ ⁠Sabine Hossenfelder on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3y-Z0pgupg&t=1s

•⁠ ⁠Bernardo Kastrup and Sabine on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJmBmopxc1k&t=755s&ab_channel=CurtJaimungal

•⁠ ⁠Sean Carroll on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AoRxtYZrZo

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:56 Observers in Quantum Mechanics

02:15 The Measurement Problem

06:23 Dogmas in Quantum Foundations

08:24 Causation and Its Philosophical Implications

09:12 The Arrow of Time and Its Mysteries

10:28 Exploring Coarse Graining and Reductionism

13:21 Non-Locality: Temporal vs. Spatial

16:06 The Nature of Non-Locality

19:34 Temporal Non-Locality and Its Implications

21:51 Retrocausality: The All-at-Once Perspective

26:25 The Measurement Problem and All-at-Once Framework

28:24 Observer-Centric Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics

31:29 Probabilities in Physics

32:51 The Process Matrix and Causal Structures

38:33 Foundations of Physics and Philosophy

1:05:16 The Emergence of Space-Time

1:08:11 Exploring Correlations in Physical Parameters

1:10:44 Epistemology of the Measurement Problem

1:13:26 Lessons in Patience and Persistence

Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt

Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs

#science

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Head on over to https://ver.so and use coupon code TOE at checkout to save 15% on your first order.

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Today we are joined by theoretical physicist Claudia de Rham for her return appearance on Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal to discuss the possibility that gravity itself has mass. In this mind-bending conversation, she explores how this idea challenges long-held assumptions in general relativity and opens the door to a new understanding of dark energy and the structure of the universe. We also dive into the frontiers of cosmology, quantum gravity, and what it means to question the foundations of physics.

Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com

Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE

Become a YouTube Member (Early Access Videos):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join

Links Mentioned:

•⁠ ⁠The Beauty of Falling (Claudia’s book): https://amzn.to/4i4Z9cx

•⁠ ⁠Claudia’s published papers: https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/c.de-rham/publications

•⁠ ⁠Claudia’s first appearance on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve_Mpd6dGv8&t=83s&ab_channel=CurtJaimungal

•⁠ ⁠Carlo Rovelli on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF4SAketEHY

•⁠ ⁠Curt’s Substack article on energy: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/what-is-energy-actually

•⁠ ⁠Neil Turok on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUp9x44N3uE

•⁠ ⁠Tim Palmer on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlklA6jsS8A

•⁠ ⁠DESI article on The Economist: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/06/19/the-dominant-model-of-the-universe-is-creaking

•⁠ ⁠String Theory Iceberg on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4PdPnQuwjY

•⁠ ⁠Leonard Susskind on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p_Hlm6aCok

•⁠ ⁠Chiara Marletto and Vlatko Vedral on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uey_mUy1vN0

•⁠ ⁠TOE’s telling of “The Dark History of Anti-Gravity”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBA3RUxkZdc

•⁠ ⁠Positive Signs in Massive Gravity (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/1601.04068

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

01:20 - Claudia's Approach

09:11 - Claudia's Motivation

14:45 - Dark Energy

23:35 - Causality

27:19 - Other Approaches

45:10 - New Physics

50:47 - Dark Energy (continued)

57:36 - Quantum Gravity / String Theory

01:14:10 - Gravitons & Photons

01:21:44 - Symmetry

01:30:25 - Double Slit Experiment

01:50:15 - Cosmology

01:54:45 - Massive Graviton

02:00:10 - Conclusion

Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt

Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs

#science

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