Startseite
Podcasts
Robinson's Podcast Podcast
148 - Lee Smolin: Presentism, Foundations of Mathematics, and Realism in Quantum Mechanics

148 - Lee Smolin: Presentism, Foundations of Mathematics, and Realism in Quantum Mechanics

Robinson's Podcast vor 2 Jahren

0:00

1:16:12

Lee Smolin is a founding and senior faculty member at the
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is best known for
contributions to quantum gravity as a co-inventor of loop quantum
gravity and deformed special relativity. Beyond his work in other
areas of physics, Lee has written a number of best-selling books,
the most recent of which is Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution: The
Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum (Penguin, 2019). In this
episode, Robinson and Lee discuss one of the main tenets that has
characterized his work over the past decades: Realism. They first
talk about realism in quantum mechanics before moving on to Lee’s
version of radical presentism, in which only what is occurring in
the immediate present can be said to exist, before finishing the
main body of their conversation with mathematics and its relation
to both physics and cosmology. The episode ends with brief
digressions on biology and living with Parkinson’s disease. Lee
is also an Honorary Fellow of the John Bell Institute for the
Foundations of Physics. If you’re interested in the foundations
of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out
the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and
education in this important area. Any donations are immensely
helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution: https://a.co/d/7GHcebp

The Singular Universe and the Unreality of Time:
https://a.co/d/hZqLT59

Lee’s Website: https://leesmolin.com

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org/home

00:00 In This Episode…

00:47 Introduction

05:03 From Dropping Out of High School to Physics

10:42 Many-Worlds, Bohmian Mechanics, and Realism in Quantum
Theory

29:18 Realism and the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum
Mechanics

33:00 Uniting Quantum Mechanics and Cosmology

45:43 Working with Roberto Mangabeira Unger

55:10 The Singular Existence of the Universe

01:05:29 Lee’s Interest in Biology

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of
mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations
with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and
everyone in-between.