So, how about all that social distancing due to the growing pandemic, eh? There is a lot more staying-at-home these days than we’re normally used to, and I think it’s important to keep our brains active as well as our hands washed and our homes stocked with toilet paper.
To that end, I’m doing a little experiment: a series of informal videos I’m calling The Biggest Ideas in the Universe. (Very tempted to put an exclamation point every time I write that, but mostly resisting.) They will have nothing directly to do with viruses or pandemics, but hopefully will be a way for people to think and learn something new while we’re struggling through this somewhat surreal experience. Who knows, they may even be useful long after things have returned to normal.
The idea will be to have me talking about one Big Idea in each video, hopefully with a new installment released each week. I’ll invite viewers to leave questions here (where I’ll be linking to each video), and at YouTube. Then I’ll pick out some of the most interesting questions and make another short video addressing them.
Full set of videos will be available here on the blog, or directly on YouTube.
Here’s the introductory announcement:
Before anyone jumps in to tell me — yes, I am very amateur at this! My green-screen usage could definitely use an upgrade, for one thing. Happy to take suggestions as to how to improve the quality of the video production (quality of the substance is what it is, I’m afraid).
Consider this a very tiny gesture in the direction of sticking together and moving forward during some trying times. I hope everyone out there is staying as safe as possible.
Comments
70 responses to “The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Introduction”
Can you please do a video on the shape of Universe and whether space is finite or infinite. Thanks!
What is the best theory of why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe? Is this one we will eventually solve?
Professor Carroll,
My husband and I look forward to checking out each and every one of your Biggest Ideas videos!
We are long time fans of yours from the Great Courses, and you are one of our favorites (the other is William Kloss…..art & science!! What more can one ask for? ☺️)
My husband is a retired engineer and I am a music director and pianist who has now lost her employment (our music theater closed their doors for now). So yes, lots of time at home to learn and grow, and …..stay positive!
What was before the Big Bang? Is there even a way to determine if there was something before the Big Bang? Could it still be there?
Thank you for doing this. I appreciate the mental stimulation.
Yes! Thanks.
Will you be sending the links out in a email when the videos are ready to view like you did today?
I don’t remember hearing when the next video will be released and I love this idea.
If you’re on the mailing list for this blog, then yes.
Thanks for all you do, Sean. You’re the best!
Thank you, I’ll be looking forward to your first show in the “big idea” series.
Great idea.
Thank you for doing this. My husband and I loved your courses from The Great Courses. We can’t wait to see what you do here. I would love to hear about some of the recent developments and ideas in physics. I’m always seeing stories in my news feed that sound intriguing — new ideas about dark energy, quantum computing, gravity waves, etc. And what about that object that keeps flashing mysteriously?
Well, the biggest problem in the universe is to get someone (hopefully you; no bet there!) to understand simple things. The universe is a logical system. Maths proves that. This means that the universe was created form a logical operation AND is operating, at the most fundamental level, by way of simple logical operations.
A logical system can only accept on type of stuff out there. Unruh says :
‘ .. A more accurate way of summarizing the lessons of General Relativity is
that gravity does not cause time to run differently in different places (e.g., faster far from the earth than near it). Gravity is the unequable flow of time from place to place. It is not that there are two separate phenomena, namely gravity and time and that the one, gravity, affects the other. Rather the theory states that the phenomena we usually ascribe to gravity are actually caused by time’s flowing unequably from place to place… “ arXiv:gr-qc/9312027v2 17 Dec 1993
So, our “stuff” is a dynamic spontaneous process we call Time. Logically, this process makes everything, vacuum, EM waves and condensed matter, and, of course, Dark matter. The “cause” is a difference in the rate of evolution of this dynamic process from place to place i.e. gravity.
The logical end point of our reductionism is, now, Time. No choice here!
Seems like the audio is only working on the left side for some reason?
What are your current thoughts on Naturalism as an area of study? A few years back you had a workshop (?) on Naturalism with many notable intellects invited, and that you recorded. I have been looking for the follow up on that one session but I’ve not seen anything further from you?
Another question, more Philosophy than Science: What exactly is Mathematics? Please plainly differentiate between applied and theoretical roles.
I just settling in to read The Big Picture for a thoughtful repose in unsettling times, and I see this! Yet another big and generous idea from Sean Carroll.
Thank you.
You and Matt from SpaceTime should find a topic on which you disagree and have a throwdown.
But he’s Evrettian too, so that may be a tough ask.
How did magnetic fields form initially in the early universe?
That a slime mold feeding algorithm approximates large scale universe structure seems to show a promising path to understanding the what why and how of everything. GUT Have i been in social isolation too long?
PLEASE help me understand TIME !
I have read and listened to all
of your explanations and I still
don’t get it. If matter alters time
and space, and we just discovered
most of the matter in the universe,
then how can we know that the universe
is 13.8 billion years old?
Thanks and keep up the great work.
Suggestions:
–To explain in an animated video what’s happening in the future of our universe regarding the standard cosmological model LCDM (A. Loeb and L. Krauss published some papers on the topic in the archiv in the first decade of the century).
–Is the mathematical approach (Einstein’s Field Equations, Cosmological Models, Quantum Field Theory, Quantum Mechanics ,…) the best way to understand the workings of Nature?
Your green screen isn’t all that bad. Having experimented with this for several years, some things you may want to try: (a) Try to keep the distance between you and the green screen as large as possible. Goes a long way to avoid shadows of you on the screen as well as reflections of green light on you. (b) You want to have a (diffuse) light illuminating the screen, but not you. If you don’t have a diffuser, direct the light at the ceiling above the screen (assuming the ceiling is mostly white) or use a reflector (aluminium foil works well). (c) Be careful with your clothes. Anything that’s soft and fluffy or shiny will leave you with a green halo. (d) 90% of green screen problems are almost invisible if you use a dark background. Light backgrounds (like the one you use, which is mostly white) are much more difficult.
No question. Just thanks. The combination of high-flown concepts in a homespun setting just somehow feels right for the moment. You’re good human company in tough times.
Thank you, Sean, for this. We need to occupy our minds with intellectually engaging and beautiful thoughts.
I am intrigued by the concept of the ‘still point’ – an array of numbers that could perfectly describe the universe and everything it contains. So nothing advances, it just ‘is’. Zero entropy? Time is irrelevant. This number cannot be contained within the universe.