Sabine Hossenfelder: What Do Scientists Know About UFOs?
Shownotes
Is the speed of light really not an absolute limit? Could time travel be possible? And are some of the most popular theories in modern physics impossible to test?
In this episode, I talk with Sabine Hossenfelder, theoretical physicist and one of the world's best-known science communicators. We discuss some of the biggest mysteries in modern physics: the origin of the Universe, the nature of time, the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations, artificial intelligence, free will, and the theories causing the most controversy among scientists today.
We discuss:
- Why might the speed of light not be the limit for transmitting information?
- Are we searching for alien civilizations in entirely the wrong places?
- Is time travel possible according to modern physics?
- Why might free will be an illusion?
- Could artificial intelligence ever become truly conscious?
- Are we living inside a computer simulation?
- Why is the multiverse impossible to prove?
- What do we actually know about the Big Bang and the first moment of the Universe?
- Why does Sabine consider many modern cosmological theories closer to mathematical stories than science?
Timestamps:
- 00:00 Teaser
- 01:40 Who Is Sabine Hossenfelder?
- 03:00 Why Haven't We Found Aliens Yet?
- 07:46 Can We Travel Faster Than Light?
- 13:06 Is Time Travel Possible?
- 16:30 The Time Paradox Einstein Couldn't Explain
- 18:16 Is Our Future Predetermined?
- 21:40 Do Humans Have Free Will?
- 28:48 When Will AI Become Smarter Than Humans?
- 33:00 Are We Living in a Simulation?
- 36:50 How Could We Prove That Our World Is a Simulation?
- 37:41 Why Are Scientists Afraid to Study UFOs?
- 40:52 "Intelligent Life Exists Somewhere in the Galaxy"
- 41:45 What Was Orbiting Earth 50 Years Ago?
- 44:41 Does the Multiverse Exist?
- 46:04 Why Don't Scientists Know How the Universe Began?
- 50:54 Did the Big Bang Really Happen?
- 53:08 How Old Is the Universe, Really?
- 53:43 Has String Theory Failed?
- 58:20 Was the Universe Fine-Tuned for Life?
- 1:00:54 A $40 Billion Particle Collider
- 1:06:36 Should Elon Musk Decide the Future of Science?
- 1:11:09 Will We Ever Meet Aliens?