Cumrun Vafa: Puzzles to Unravel the Universe (2020)

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Is string theory actually science?

Many argue that string theory cannot be proven and should therefore be abandoned. For them, string theory is not science at all. But are they right?

I had the pleasure of discussing this with none other than Cumrun Vafa! Cumrun is a Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the Department of Physics at Harvard University, where he has been researching and teaching theoretical physics since 1985. His primary area of research is string theory.

In our interview, we discussed whether we should trust string theory, fine-tuning, and the message he'd put into a billion-year time capsule. We also talked about his book Puzzles to Unravel the Universe.

Tune in to learn about string theory!

Key Takeaways:

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:01:20 Judging a book by its cover
• 00:03:35 What is a puzzle versus a mystery?
• 00:06:06 Black hole entropy
• 00:08:12 Godel's Theorem: Are some puzzles not solvable?
• 00:12:04 Is string theory actually science?
• 00:17:15 Dimensional analysis
• 00:21:15 Singularities
• 00:28:31 ADS and 5 dimensions
• 00:30:48 String theory
• 00:34:49 Supersymmetry
• 00:40:22 On religion
• 00:52:45 A scorecard for physics
• 00:55:21 What would your "ethical will" be?
• 01:02:50 What have you accomplished that once seemed impossible?
• 01:06:30 Outro

Additional resources:

➡️ Learn more about Cumrun Vafa:

📚 Puzzles to Unravel the Universe: https://a.co/d/iWnNDup

💻 Cumrun’s website: https://www.cumrunvafa.org/

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Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

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