Cosmic Queries – The Complex Universe with Sean Carroll

About This Episode

What does Hawking radiation look like falling into a black hole? Will we ever find a theory of everything? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice answer questions about invisible fields, many worlds, entropy, the theory of everything, and more with theoretical physicist and philosopher Sean Carroll.

What is a field, and why did it take physics so long to accept something you can’t see? From Newton’s discomfort with action at a distance to Faraday’s lines of force and Maxwell’s equations, learn how electricity, magnetism, light, radio, and X-rays all collapse into a single framework. We also discuss the double slit delayed choice quantum eraser experiment and whether dark energy could be the centrifugal force of a spinning universe.

What does Hawking radiation look like falling into a black hole? Learn why there is a theory of everything even if we don’t know it yet. We explore how particles like photons and muons experience time while Sean instructs us on the dangers of anthropomorphizing particles.

We discuss the arrow of time and entropy. Why does the past feel different from the future? Is the arrow of time fundamental or emergent from entropy and cosmology? Does entropy explain why choices can’t affect the past? We explore the many-worlds theory, branching universes, and whether alternative timelines are physically real or just math. Sean breaks down delayed-choice quantum eraser experiments, many-worlds versus Copenhagen interpretations, and whether rotating universes could mean we’re inside a black hole.

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