Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

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Peter Diamandis, Founder of the XPrize Foundation and Singularity University (#045) May 15, 2020

Show notes

Peter Diamandis is a remarkable entrepreneur, and futurist, best known as the Founder & Executive Chairman of XPRIZE Foundation. His new book, written with Steven Kotler, is “The Future is Faster Than You Think: How Converging Technologies Are Transforming Business, Industries, and Our Lives.” Already a bestseller, it is both timely and important. In this discussion with Brian Keating, Diamandis shares his vision for technological and educational advances over the next decade and how COVID-19 has accelerated the timeline.

Show notes and resources are available here.

04:49 How COVID-19 will change what the next ten years look like.
13:02 The Tricorder XPRIZE and how Star Trek inspired Diamandis.
18:19 Artificial intelligence and human intelligence need to work together.
27:03 “For the first time ever, the human race has a singular enemy.”
36:46 Should universities offer lifelong subscriptions?
45:28 Technology marches forward; make it a force for good.
50:30 Arthur C. Clarke supported Diamandis’ early pursuits.

It may have taken a global pandemic for many people to understand exponential growth, but Diamandis has used it for years to explain technological advancement. Understanding Diamandis’ 6 D’s – digitization, deception, disruption, demonetization, dematerialization, and democratization – can help entrepreneurs make an impact. Diamandis is a graduate of MIT and Harvard Medical School. While still in school himself, he co-founded The International Space University which boasts multiple astronauts as alumni. He also co-founded the weightless flight company Zero G that provides training flights for NASA. He is an advisor and friend of the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UC San Diego. Diamandis and Steven Kotler have written three bestselling books together. He co-hosts the podcast Exponential Wisdom with Dan Sullivan.

Buy books by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler:

Learn more about the Tricorder XPRIZE

Listen to Peter Diamandis on a previous episode of INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE

Watch the documentary

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Galileo & the Science Deniers with Mario Livio (#044) May 14, 2020

Show notes

Mario Livio is a renowned astrophysicist & best-selling author. His new book “Galileo and the Science Deniers” is the gripping first biography of Galileo Galilei written by an astronomer. Though Galileo’s quest to prove that Earth orbits the sun was correct, he eventually recanted his belief as punishment for heresy. Livio describes parallels to our modern world where, even 400 years later, some people assail science when it conflicts with their ideology.

Show notes and resources are available here.

An interview with Dr. Livio and Steve Mirsky on Scientific American’s “Science Talk’ podcast is available here.

His research into whether Galileo actually said “And yet it moves!” is here.

00:05:37 Galileo’s quest for intellectual freedom wasn’t an attack on religion.
00:12:15 Telescopes are tools that allow augmented senses.
00:15:44 The importance of Galileo’s discoveries supporting Copernicanism.
00:20:48 Why ideological bias does a disservice to both science and religion.
00:25:51 Galileo was only human — some of his findings were wrong.
00:32:30 Denying science can be dangerous and even deadly.
00:39:15 Did an unconvincing preface lead to Galileo’s arrest?
00:44:12 Do authority figures have an obligation to keep the peace?
00:49:39 Why Galileo was sentenced to house arrest instead of prison.
00:54:43 What was Galileo like as a father?
01:01:12 Teaching ‘the controversy’ can liven up science lessons.
01:06:33 Lessons from Galileo for the COVID-19 pandemic.
01:10:44 5 questions INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE asks all authors.

Livio is now retired from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates the Hubble Space Telescope. He is a Fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and has published over 400 articles, both in peer-reviewed scientific journals and popular science magazines: www.mario-livio.com/articles Livio is also Science Advisor to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, collaborating on the world’s first VR music experience, The Hubble Cantata.

In this discussion with Dr. Brian Keating, Livio recounts Galileo’s prolific

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Sarah Scoles, Journalist and Author of “They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers” (#043) May 12, 2020

Show notes

Science journalist and author Sarah Scoles talks about her new book “They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers”, a study of UFO culture and its critics. What makes people believe intelligent alien life has visited the Earth? Fresh off this week’s news that the Pentagon has declassified and released three videos of UFOs (or UAPs Unidentified Aerial Phenomena as the government prefers to call them), Scoles talks about why some people are more prone to believe than others. And, for an alternate explanation, we refer you to Mick West, a popular skeptic, who analyzed the Nimitz #UFO / #UAP video last year.

Show notes and resources are available here.

And a worksheet for this episode can be found here.

03:20 How a New York Times article about UFOs led to inspiration.
06:00 Why don’t astronomers see UFOs?
10:30 Confirmation bias for fans of the X-Files.
14:10 Why people believe the government, and even astronomers, are hiding something. 18:10 Could UFO investigations benefit from the scientific peer-review process?
18:35 MUFON is crowdsourcing the search for extraterrestrial life [https://www.mufon.com]
20:30 Why are millionaires & billionaires like Tom DeLonge and Robert Bigelow willing to spend so much money on this pursuit?
29:40 Earth may already host alien life in a shadow biosphere.
31:30 5 questions INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE asks all authors. Sarah Scoles is a freelance science writer, a contributing author at WIRED, and a contributing editor at Popular Science.

See her impressive list of bylines here: http://www.sarahscoles.com

Sarah previously worked as an associate editor at Astronomy magazine and an educational tour guide at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia. In this discussion with Brian Keating, Scoles relates that she never planned to write a second book about space, but research and imagination demanded it. Her first book, 2017’s “Making Contact,” is a biography of Dr. Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute, who provided inspiration for Carl Sagan’s protagonist in his book “Contact.”

Buy Sarah Scoles’ books here:

They Are Already Here: https://amzn.to/3fcofXp
Making Contact: https://amzn.to/3fc644o

Find Brian Keating on Twitter: twitter.com/DrBrianKeating

Find the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination on Twitter: twitter.com/imagineUCS

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Brian Keating & Dave Rubin — DON’T BURN THIS BOOK: using free speech to avoid a Sci Fi dystopia (#042) May 05, 2020

Show notes

Brian Keating interviews Dave Rubin (The Rubin Report) on the most interesting issues of the day: free speech and expression, classical liberalism, lessons from Jordan Peterson, and the imperative of tolerance. More about Dave Rubin: https://daverubin.com/ Find Dave on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RubinReport Get Dave’s book: Thinking for Yourself in an Age of Unreason: https://amzn.to/2KCurtT

00:01:00 The mellifluousness of the Long Island accent! 00:05:00 Coming out of the Closets: first as a gay man, and then as a classical liberal
00:12:07 The Exclusive story of how Dave named the book and designed the cover
00:21:00 Shadow Banning: the new normal?
00:23:11 Are we running out of time to defend liberalism?
00:26:46 Is there a danger in overblowing your message?
00:30:00 Similar messages like Michael Shermer’s https://youtu.be/5dGzMTdfsic
00:34:36 Digital Detox: why and how?
00:41:02 Jordan Peterson: what do you do when your mentor struggles?
00:47:43 Are you worried about getting too popular?
00:52:53 High-Performance Public Speaking
00:57:57 Would you rather have a 1,000 readers now or 1 reader in a 100 years?
00:59:10 Would you rather have fans or haters read your book?
00:59:51 What are you most pessimistic about?
01:01:09 What advice would you give your 20-year-old self?
01:03:16 Can creativity be taught? Dave’s journey from a left-leaning progressive to a free-thinking classical liberal has been quite an adventure.

As a gay married man in America, Dave spent the majority of his adult life subscribing to a certain political belief system based primarily on his immutable characteristics. Fed up with the mainstream media narrative and click-bait news, Dave decided to open up about his awakening, for all to see. He came to realize that no person or idea should be expected to join a side, but rather they should embrace their status as an individual. He now feels that political correctness and groupthink are reaching dangerous levels, distracting us from the true American dream of the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. Dave’s background as a stand-up comedian, degree in political science, and willingness to listen without fighting has uniquely positioned him to tackle big ideas and uncomfortable truths with thought leaders from both sides of the aisle. His show The Rubin Report aims to create civil discourse with people we both agree and disa

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Stephen Wolfram, Founder & CEO of Wolfram Research, Computing the Cosmos (#041) Apr 23, 2020

Show notes

Stephen Wolfram, Founder & CEO of Wolfram Research, Creator of Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, Author of A New Kind of Science, discusses computational science, his new Project to Find a Fundamental Theory of Physics, and more. Over the course of 4 decades, Stephen Wolfram has pioneered the development & application of computational thinking. He has been responsible for many discoveries, inventions & innovations in science, technology, and business. In this wide-ranging interview with Brian Keating @DrBrianKeating , Wolfram discusses his decades in-the-making Wolfram Physics Project, his career, his philosophy & approach to science, his hoped-for legacy, and questions from the audience including whether mathematical beauty matter at all, or is it just falsifiability?

We also discuss his books A New Kind of Science (2002), Idea Makers (2016) and Adventures of a Computational Explorer (2019). Show notes and resources available here:

Topics discussed in this in-depth interview:

The Impact of Computers on his life 00:12:18
Prime Numbers 00:15:25
What he thinks he’s good at doing 00:20:49
#WolframAlpha 00:21:30
The work he and his son did on creating a language for #ArrivalMovie 00:32:38:26
The first alien intelligence is really AI! 00:38:58
thoughts on #2001ASpaceOdyssey from his blog post 00:44:50
Cellular Automata & Complexity (1994) 00:54:50
Doom for the “Simulation Hypothesis” Thanks to the Physics Project 1:00:00
A New Kind of Science 01:14:54
Adventures of a Computational Explorer 02:06:39
How Steve Jobs convinced him to use ‘Mathematica’ instead of Wolfram Omega 02:32:02

Wolfram was educated at Eton, Oxford, and Caltech. He published his first scientific paper at the age of 15, and received his PhD in theoretical physics from Caltech at the age of 20. Wolfram’s early scientific work was mainly in high-energy physics, quantum field theory & cosmology. Having started to use computers in 1973, Wolfram rapidly became a leader in the emerging field of scientific computing, and in 1979 he began the construction of SMP—the first modern computer algebra system—which he released commercially in 1981.

In recogn

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Greg Zuckerman, author of THE MAN WHO SOLVED THE MARKET: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution (#040) Apr 20, 2020

Show notes

Find show notes and other resources here

Brian Keating, Director of the Simons Observatory, interviews Greg Zuckerman, author of the bestselling biography of Jim Simons, “The Man Who Solved The Market”. Portfolio/Penguin has published Greg Zuckerman’s latest book, THE MAN WHO SOLVED THE MARKET: How Jim Simons Launched The Quant Revolution. This book, the culmination of two challenging years of research, is the story of how Simons, a secretive mathematician and code breaker, set out to conquer financial markets, overcoming a series of imposing obstacles to become the greatest moneymaker in modern finance. Recruiting colorful and enigmatic mathematicians and scientists, Simons embraced algorithms and computer models while Mark Zuckerberg was still in grade school, launching a quantitative revolution that has shaken Wall Street. With their winnings, Simons, his colleague Robert Mercer, and others at Renaissance Technologies have upended the worlds of education, science and politics. THE MAN WHO SOLVED THE MARKET was shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year award. The book competed against five of the year’s best nonfiction books for the award. It’s been reviewed in Bloomberg, and the Financial Times, and adapted in the Wall Street Journal. Get your copy here: or from our friends at Warwicks.com

For more, including an excerpt of the book and its many endorsements and reviews, visit here.

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A Conversation with Physicist and Science Fiction Author David Brin (#039) Apr 13, 2020

Show notes

A Conversation with Physicist and Science Fiction Author David Brin about his work and his recent post:

More repercussions in a plague year… and some long term (excerpted here) :

And yes, some foresee all this accelerating the exodus of the uber-rich, abandoning us to simmer in festering cities and suburbs. Connecticut, Wyoming and New Zealand have seen such influx. Certainly there is a “prepper” wing of oligarchy that’s bought up whole mountain ranges in Patagonia, Siberia and under the sea. I portrayed that mind set in The Postmanand in Earth and in Existence. Of course the smarter half of the zillionaire caste wants no part of such insanity. Nor will such preparations avail the selfishness-fetishists an iota, even if the fit truly hits the shan. There are five reasons why this masturbatory survivalist fantasy is utter proof of mental defectiveness. Finally Smart Sovereignty: – Whether this Minsky Moment triggers revitalization and waves of new-creative solutions by an empowered citizenry… or one of Marx’s purportedly “inevitable” stages of spiral into revolution… may depend on to what extent we revive civic goodwill and use new technologies to enhance logical, fact-centered. pragmatic civil discourse. Recall that earlier communication techs — e.g. the printing press, radio and loudspeakers — all led first to polemical horror shows that made things much worse… before folks sussed the new media and learned to parse truth from populist lies, making things much, much better. That natural progression took decades, though. Time we simply do not have.

== The jury is still out ==

I left aside possible outcomes that seem more “science fictional”… …e.g. what-if there is more to this virus than meets the eye? We already know that corona viruses are not like the flu. Flu stays in business by mutating rapidly, every year, forcing new kinds of vaccines to be developed. (Again, see my predictive short story “The Giving Plague,” which dives into the many ways that viruses and parasites “negotiate” with their hosts.)

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Giving the Devil His Due: a conversation with Michael Shermer & Brian Keating (#038) Apr 13, 2020

Show notes

Brian Keating Interviews Skeptic Magazine publisher and author of “Giving The Devil His Due” Michael Shermer. Get Michael Shermer’s Books here:

Find Show Notes and Links here

Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of the Science Salon Podcast, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101. For 18 years he was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird Things and The Believing Brain, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, The Moral Arc, and Heavens on Earth. His new book is Giving the Devil His Due: Reflections of a Scientific Humanist. Follow Michael on Twitter: https://twitter.com/michaelshermer and Brian Keating here: https://twitter.com/drbriankeating Michael regularly contributes opinion editorials, essays, and reviews to: the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Science, Nature, and other publications. He wrote 214 consecutive monthly columns for Scientific American. He appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, Dateline, Charlie Rose, Oprah, and Larry King Live (but, proudly, never Jerry Springer!). He has been interviewed in countless documentaries aired on PBS, A&E, Discovery, The History Channel, The Science Channel, and The Learning Channel. Dr. Shermer was the co-host and co-producer of the 13-hour Family Channel television series, Exploring the Unknown. His two TED talks, seen by millions, were voted in the top 100.

Dr. Shermer received his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He has been a college professor since 1979, also teaching at Occidental College, Glendale College, and Claremont Graduate University, where he taught a transdisciplinary course for Ph.D. students on Evolution, Economics, and the Brain.

Watch Michael Shermer discuss Losing the Nobel Prize with Brian Keating on SCIENCE SALON # 70
Topics discussed in this extended interview include:
M

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The Physics of Krav Maga with author and physics Professor John Eric Goff (#037) Apr 13, 2020

Show notes

Krav Maga (“contact combat” in Hebrew) is a hard-hitting and efficient form of self-defense that was popularized by Israeli soldiers. Stressing practical, real-world fighting and a philosophy of self-defense, its popularity has grown worldwide over the past few decades. In The Physics of Krav Maga, John Eric Goff, a physicist, best-selling author, and martial arts practitioner, explains the science behind dozens of Krav Maga moves, from headlocks to hammer fists. Focusing on Warrior Krav Maga, a fighting style that combines the key elements of Krav Maga with kickboxing, wrestling, karate, and other fighting specialties, this equation-free, conceptual introduction is aimed at martial arts practitioners interested in refining their fighting technique and all fans of the fascinating moment when sports meet science. With step-by-step descriptions and detailed photos of each critical motion, Goff takes a scientific look at everything from punch speed to power output and reaction time. Armed with this book, readers will understand the physics behind each move.

They will also learn how to

enhance their level of physical fitness
disrupt an opponent’s balance―while keeping theirs
make use of leverage to defeat a larger, stronger attacker
become faster and more powerful
inflict pain up close • use weapons―and “weapons of opportunity”
and much more!

Anyone interested in martial arts, in how physics applies to sports and combat, and in how a physicist wins a fight will love The Physics of Krav Maga. John Eric Goff is a professor of physics and the chair of the physics department at the University of Lynchburg. The author of Gold Medal Physics: The Science of Sports, he holds a black belt in Karate and a purple belt in Krav Maga.

If you enjoyed this episode of INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE, please subscribe, comment, share and review.

For a chance to win a free copy of our most recent guest’s newest book, send a screenshot of your review to info@imagine.ucsd

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Brian Keating interviews Professor Elena Aprile about the search for dark matter and her life in science (#036) Mar 12, 2020

Show notes

https://chasingeinsteinfilm.com

http://www.xenon1t.org

Elena Aprile is UCSD’s Margaret Burbidge Visiting Professor at UC San Diego and Professor of Physics at Columbia University. She is the founder and spokesperson of the XENON Dark Matter Experiment. Aprile is well known for her work with noble liquid detectors and for her contributions to particle astrophysics in the search for dark matter. Professor Aprile appears in the documentary CHASING EINSTEIN about the search for dark matter.

Could Einstein have been wrong about the true nature of gravity? Does his general theory of relativity and the Standard Model need an update? Unprecedented advances in experimental particle physics, astronomy and cosmology are uncovering mysteries of cosmic consequence. Among the most challenging is the realization that 80% of the universe consists of something unknown that exerts galactic forces pulling the universe apart. The search for Dark Matter extends from the worlds most powerful particle accelerators to the most sensitive telescopes, to deep under the earth. Nobel worthy discoveries await. Scientists at UC San Diego are at the epicenter of the search for Dark Matter leading efforts to build the next generation of instruments and experiments to uncover its secrets.

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