#JannaLevin #BlackHoles #BlackHoleBlues Theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin is an-award winning author of both nonfiction and fiction. In her interview on the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE podcast, she emphasizes the important role of creativity in science, and life in general. We discussed Levin’s research on the topology of the universe and black holes, including the Event Horizon Telescope. We also discuss her highly-anticipated upcoming book, “Black Hole Survival Guide.” Subscribe to my newsletter to receive show notes for this episode: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 00:03:17 Science is part of our culture. 00:12:17 Cultivating communication skills in scientists. 00:16:29 Gödel, Popper, and what constitutes good science. 00:23:55 Extra spatial dimensions. 00:31:45 “Every kid is a scientist.” 00:37:26 Illuminating black holes. 00:44:50 The relationship between author and reader. 00:52:58 What can the pandemic teach us? 00:56:30 What did Levin think was impossible until she did it? Janna Levin is a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. She earned a PhD in theoretical physics from MIT. She is also the Chair and Founding Director of the Science Studios at Pioneer Works, a nonprofit center blending science and art. Levin is the author of both fiction and nonfiction books, winning literary prizes and a Guggenheim Fellowship for science writing. Pre-order Levin’s book “Black Hole Survival Guide” here: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Survival-Guide-Janna-Levin/dp/052565822X Buy her previous books here: http://jannalevin.com/black-hole-blues-and-other-songs-from-outer-space/ Watch Levin’s interview with Brian Greene for The Broadcast at Pioneer Works: https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/brian-greene-in-conversation-with-janna-levin/ Watch Levin’s TED Talk “The sound the universe makes” here: https://youtu.be/eLz9TvxGoKs Watch the NOVA special “Black Hole Apocalypse” hosted by Levin here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/black-hole-apocalypse/ Find Levin on the web: http://jannalevin.com and Twitter: https://twitter.com/JannaLevin ?‍♂️ Watch my most popular videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM  ?‍♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating ? Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating ? Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA ? Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmatio ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEtGYQ7A0B4

#MindScape #SeanCarroll #physics Sean Carroll joins me to discuss his magnificent new book, The Biggest Ideas In the Universe. Sean is an American theoretical physicist and philosopher who specializes in quantum mechanics, gravity, and cosmology. He is the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He has been a contributor to the physics blog Cosmic Variance, and has published in scientific journals such as Nature as well as other publications, including The New York Times, Sky & Telescope and New Scientist. He is known for atheism, critique of theism and defense of naturalism. He has appeared on the History Channel's The Universe, Science Channel's Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, Closer to Truth (broadcast on PBS), and Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Carroll is the author of Spacetime And Geometry, a graduate-level textbook in general relativity, and has also recorded lectures for The Great Courses on cosmology, the physics of time and the Higgs boson. He is also the author of four other popular books: From Eternity to Here about the arrow of time, The Particle at the End of the Universe about the Higgs boson, The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself about ontology, and Something Deeply Hidden about the foundations of quantum mechanics. He began a podcast in 2018 called Mindscape, in which he interviews other experts and intellectuals coming from a variety of disciplines, including "[s]cience, society, philosophy, culture, arts and ideas" in general.He has also published a Youtube video series entitled "The Biggest Ideas in the Universe" which provides physics instruction at a popular-science level but with equations and a mathematical basis, rather than mere analogy. The series has become the basis of a new book series with the installment, "The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion". 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:07 On the tension between philosophy and science and Sean’s book “The Big Picture” 00:07:31 Judging Sean’s book by its cover and the story of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion, book series. 00:16:11 Becoming a professional physicist versus other professions? 00:21:15 Sean Carroll's Mindscape Big Picture Scholarship ( https://bold.org/scholarships/mindscape/ ) 00:24:14 On the academic “hunger games” and becoming a professor. Is higher education becoming a luxury? Is it obsolete? 00:32:14 What role can AI play in the future of education? 00:34:10 The role of Einstienian gravity and the equivalence principle in The Biggest Ideas. 00:42:00 How do you know your doing a good job of interviewing? 00:45:17 Can a computer feel and/or think? 00:50:00 Can consciousness be effected by gravity? Is there a quantum foundation to consciousness a la Penrose/Hammeroff’s orchestrated reduction? 00:53:51 Have you experimented with psychedelics? 00:58:20 Imaginary numbers and their role in physics. How do classical and quantum mechanics go together? 01:00:00 What do you think of the potential of JWST? 01:03:30 What are you views on the probability of SETI/Alien life? 01:08:10 Maya Beneowitz asks why assume a finite dimensional Hilbert space referring to Sean’s talk on extracting the universe from the wave function ( https://youtu.be/GqOs7OSabdA ). 01:16:00 About branch thickness and the many worlds hypothesis. The wave function squared. 01:18:34 Fantastic Four teaser https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/ https://twitter.com/seanmcarroll Mindscape Podcast on Apple https://bold.org/scholarships/mindscape/ Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join ? Watch my most popular videos:? A New Contender is Here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6A6myur--c Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1 Jordan Harbinger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmiNhzmmhBk Neil deGrasse Tyson https://youtu.be/1kxgK6J4S5Y Michio Kaku: https://youtu.be/3to9ymn-XKI Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/g00ilS6tBvs Avi Loeb: https://youtu.be/N9lUceHsLRw Follow me to ask questions of my guests: ?‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating ? Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ? Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php ?️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast.php A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUnnE9dYKlg