Dr. Jacob Barandes is a professor of Physics at Harvard University who studies the foundations of physics. He has emerged as a leading skeptic of the idea that our universe is somehow fundamentally mathematical in nature, marking a full cycle of more than two thousand years of ink spilled about the nature of the universe. Barandes has found that there is a way of modeling the basement membrane of reality as being made of bodies with location, where everything from superposition to electricity and magnetism are a product of the motions of these bodies. Our conversation spans the basic principles that Barandes has used to arrive at this conclusion, the vital role that confusion over what constitutes a “measurement” plays in producing a highly paradoxical interpretation of nature, and the fact that this debate about the nature of the universe - substance versus mathematics - has been raging for more than two thousand years, with no end in sight.
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00:00 Go!
00:05:40 – What Are Hilbert Spaces?
00:10:14 – Why Complex Numbers Matter in Quantum Mechanics
00:12:45 – Abstraction vs. Clarity in Physics
00:17:17 – The Particle Misconception in Quantum Theory
00:22:10 – What's Missing in Quantum Textbooks
00:25:28 – What Is a Measurement in Quantum Mechanics?
00:32:08 – The Problem of Self-Reference in Quantum Theory
00:35:31 – Understanding the Heisenberg Cut
00:39:37 – Decoherence Isn’t Collapse
00:49:47 – The Quantum Measurement Problem
00:52:46 – Competing Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics
01:00:00 – Toward a Real Quantum Reality
01:06:25 – The Moral Responsibility of Scientists
01:12:19 – Free Will and Physical Law
01:16:01 – Material Science and Quantum Resonance
01:20:01 – Aether, Electromagnetism, and Relativity
01:27:21 – Why Scientific Progress Is Messy
01:31:42 – The Limits of Scientific Explanation
01:33:20 – Plato, Ethics, and the Modern World
01:36:06 – Can Physics Define Good?
01:39:14 – Why Physics Can’t Capture the Human Spirit
01:45:04 – Building Community in Physics
01:48:22 – Trying Matters More Than Winning
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ABOUS US: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities.
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