Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Latest Episodes:

Jacob Tsimerman: The Last Generation of Mathematicians Aug 10, 2026

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Ten days after winning the Fields Medal — math's highest honor — Jacob Tsimerman joins to explain why he's leaving academia temporarily for OpenAI's AI safety team, and why he's grieving even as he does it. The conversation covers why math is one of the first fields being radically reshaped by AI, whether a proof still counts if no one can understand it, what mathematical "understanding" really means, the ethics of elite access to frontier models, his disagreements with the Leiden Declaration, and his advice for young people weighing a career in pure math in an age of rapidly advancing AI. This is an exclusive first podcast with Jacob Tsimerman.
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TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00:00 - Fields Medal and Grieving
- 00:05:38 - Canonical Human Cognition Patterns
- 00:10:40 - Prompting the Mathematical Future
- 00:15:40 - Pure Math and Physics Loops
- 00:21:00 - Epistemic Black Boxes
- 00:26:00 - Rigor Outgrowing Intuition
- 00:31:20 - Cognitive Mechanics of Understanding
- 00:37:00 - Gödel and Working Memory
- 00:42:10 - Mathematics as Improvised Art
- 00:47:30 - AI Power and Meritocracy
- 00:52:50 - Math on the Chopping Block
- 00:58:20 - Unrestricted Optimization Risks
- 01:03:40 - AI Safety Manhattan Project
- 01:08:50 - Training for Post-AI Careers
- 01:14:10 - The Managerial Shift
- 01:19:40 - Cognitive Offloading and Adaptation
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Jacob's Website: https://www.math.utoronto.ca/~jacobt/
- Jacob's Publications: https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/Jacob-Tsimerman/3130599
- Quanta's Story On Jacob [Article]: https://www.quantamagazine.org/jacob-tsimerman-wins-2026-fields-medal-for-andre-oort-conjecture-proof-20260723/
- André-Oort Conjecture: https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/202410/rnoti-p1307.pdf
- Canonical Heights On Shimura Varieties And The André-Oort Conjecture [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.08788
- O-Minimal GAGA And A Conjecture Of Griffiths [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1811.12230
- Ten Advances In Mathematics And Theoretical Computer Science: https://openai.com/index/ten-advances-in-mathematics/
- Thoughts About The Leiden Declaration: https://gowers.wordpress.com/2026/07/26/thoughts-about-the-leiden-declaration/
- Tobias Osborne LinkedIn Post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tobias-osborne-601830a5_farewell-to-the-conjecture-prover-several-share-7487777959299276800-mxsa/
- Math For AI Safety: https://mathforaisafety.org/
- Charles Fefferman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fefferman
- G-Functions, Motives, And Unlikely Intersections [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.09867
- Tobias Osborne's QFT Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDfPUNusx1EpRs-wku83aqYSKfR5fFmfS
- AISI Website: https://www.aisi.gov.uk/
- Sebastian Jaimungal: https://sebastian.statistics.utoronto.ca/
- Edward Frenkel [TOE]: https://youtu.be/RX1tZv_Nv4Y
- Roger Penrose [TOE]: https://youtu.be/iO03t21xhdk
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Becca Tarnas: The Unsettling Link Between Jung’s Red Book and Tolkien Aug 03, 2026

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This podcast explores the uncanny link between two of the twentieth century's great visionary works. Becca Tarnas, assistant professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, joins to discuss her doctoral research into the parallels between Carl Jung's Red Book and J.R.R. Tolkien's lesser-known visionary writings. The central claim: working independently, both men produced strikingly similar imagery, timing, and figures — Jung's Philemon and Tolkien's Gandalf, the Eye of the Evil One and the Eye of Sauron — while each insisted their material felt discovered rather than invented. From there the conversation moves through active imagination, the reality of archetypes, psyche versus mind, and the line between mystical insight and psychosis — a wide-ranging look at where imagination ends and reality begins.
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TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00:00 - Jung and Tolkien's Red Books
- 00:05:42 - Archetypal Rhymes and Parallels
- 00:11:26 - Defining the Imaginal Realm
- 00:16:38 - Active Imagination vs. Dreaming
- 00:22:00 - Active Imagination Protocol
- 00:27:00 - Psyche’s Spontaneous Expression
- 00:33:57 - Ontology of Imaginal Figures
- 00:39:03 - Psychologizing vs. Mythologizing
- 00:45:57 - Planetary Archetypes Experience
- 00:51:34 - Perceiving Universal Beauty
- 00:58:23 - Universal vs. Objective Reality
- 01:04:00 - Psychosis vs. Gnosis
- 01:09:00 - Grounding the Visionary
- 01:15:00 - Symbolic Language of Madness
- 01:21:00 - Unearned Wisdom and Psychedelics
- 01:26:30 - Motherhood as Expanded State
- 01:33:57 - Meaning in Disconnection
- 01:40:56 - Intuition in Science
- 01:46:55 - Leonardo’s Light and Shade
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Journey To The Imaginal Realm [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/1947544217?tag=toe08-20
- Participatory Imagination [Lecture]: https://beccatarnas.com/2020/08/28/jungs-participatory-imagination/
- Becca's PhD Defense: https://youtu.be/3soOYajHUBM
- The Red Book [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0393089088?tag=toe08-20
- The Holy Grail Of The Unconscious [Article]: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/magazine/20jung-t.html
- Active Imagination: https://jungiancenter.org/jung-on-active-imagination-features-methods-and-warnings/
- Jung On Active Imagination [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0691015767?tag=toe08-20
- Richard Tarnas's Website: https://cosmosandpsyche.com/
- The Passion Of The Western Mind [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0345368096?tag=toe08-20
- Psychological Types [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/1614279705?tag=toe08-20
- The Fellowship Of The Ring [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0547928211?tag=toe08-20
- Kant's 'Categories': https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant/
- The Imaginary And The Imaginal [Paper]: http://www.bahaistudies.net/asma/mundus_imaginalis.pdf
- Toni Wolff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Wolff
- The Call Of Cthulhu [Book]: https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cc.aspx
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Tim Maudlin: Quantum Mechanics Explained FROM SCRATCH Jul 27, 2026

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This is a careful lecture that can be followed with zero background knowledge. Einstein thought he'd caught quantum mechanics in an act of spookiness — this podcast asks whether he was even worried about the right thing. Tim Maudlin, professor of philosophy at NYU and a leading philosopher of physics, delivers a rare full lecture tracing Einstein, EPR, and the road to Bell's theorem. The central claim: Einstein's real objection was never determinism — "God does not play dice" is a red herring — but non-locality, which he inferred rather than assumed. Maudlin traces the argument from Einstein's overlooked 1927 Solvay objection through the EPR paper's criterion of reality, showing why Bohr's famous reply never actually answered it.
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TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00:00 - Einstein's Quantization Hypothesis
- 00:07:20 - Photoelectric Effect Implications
- 00:12:30 - Wave-Particle Duality Myths
- 00:20:40 - De Broglie's Matter Waves
- 00:26:40 - Copenhagen's Completeness Doctrine
- 00:34:10 - Solvay 1927: Two Conceptions
- 00:41:20 - Pinhole Diffraction Problem
- 00:48:00 - Collapse and Relativity Violations
- 00:56:00 - Epistemic vs. Ontic Collapse
- 01:05:00 - Ontological vs. Dynamical Locality
- 01:14:00 - Configuration Space Objections
- 01:25:00 - EPR's Criterion of Reality
- 01:32:40 - Analyzing the Reality Criterion
- 01:40:50 - Causal Isolation and Locality
- 01:48:45 - Entangled Momentum Eigenstates
- 01:56:45 - Logical Core of EPR
- 02:04:40 - Position-Momentum Simultaneous Reality
- 02:14:00 - Inferring Determinism from Locality
- 02:26:30 - Conservation Laws and Information
- 02:37:40 - Counterfactual Definiteness Debunked
- 02:44:00 - Bohr's Incoherent Response
- 02:52:00 - Schrödinger's Entanglement Confession
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/1444331272?tag=toe08-20
- On a Heuristic Point of View About the Creation and Conversion of Light [Paper]: https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/lectures/Rotman_Summer_School_2013/Einstein_1905_docs/Einstein_Light_Quantum_WikiSource.pdf
- The Ghost in the Atom [Paper]: https://vdoc.pub/download/the-ghost-in-the-atom-a-discussion-of-the-mysteries-of-quantum-physics-1guq071e2ukg
- Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics [Paper]: https://mwolf.pracownicy.uksw.edu.pl/MK/Schrodinger_Collected_Papers_on_Wave_Mechanics.pdf
- Quantum Theory at the Crossroads [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0521814219?tag=toe08-20
- Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete? [Paper]: https://journals.aps.org/pr/pdf/10.1103/PhysRev.47.777
- Bohr's EPR Critique [Paper]: https://journals.aps.org/pr/pdf/10.1103/PhysRev.48.696
- The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics [Paper]: https://personal.lse.ac.uk/robert49/teaching/partiii/pdf/SchroedingerPresentSituation1935(1980trans).pdf
- Bertlmann's Socks and the Nature of Reality [Paper]: https://cds.cern.ch/record/142461/files/198009299.pdf
- On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox [Paper]: https://journals.aps.org/ppf/pdf/10.1103/PhysicsPhysiqueFizika.1.195
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Emily Adlam & David Wallace: The Quantum Interpretation That Divides Physicists Jul 20, 2026

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This is a podcast all about parallel universes, and whether we have any right to believe in them. David Wallace, professor of philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh and a leading defender of the Many Worlds Interpretation, joins Professor Emily Adlam, his former student, for a rare joint conversation. The central fault line: Adlam argues no one living inside a many-worlds universe could ever rationally confirm the theory describing it, since Everettian probability may undermine the evidence used to support quantum mechanics itself. Wallace disagrees, but takes the challenge seriously. From there they range across the nature of the wave function, relational quantum mechanics, QBism, and scientific intersubjectivity — two sharp, collegial minds disagreeing productively about what kind of universe we actually live in.
TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00:00 - Wave Function Ontology
- 00:05:35 - Everettian Probability Problem
- 00:11:45 - Relational Quantum Mechanics Limits
- 00:19:15 - Quantum Gravity Frameworks
- 00:24:50 - Subsystem Decomposition Approximations
- 00:31:10 - Testing Wavefunction Collapse
- 00:38:35 - Scientific Intersubjectivity Crisis
- 00:47:55 - Many Worlds Rationality Constraints
- 00:58:50 - QBism and Physical Reality
- 01:05:05 - Conservative Philosophy of Physics
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Emily Adlam's Papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RlTqjZMAAAAJ
- David Wallace's Papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Z35CeHAAAAAJ
- Pointer Basis Of Quantum Apparatus [Paper]: https://libertadacademica.com/Cuantica/ModernaHist/Zurek%20b.pdf
- Information Is Physical [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.13342
- Relative Information, Relative Facts [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11349
- What Kind Of Relationality Does Quantum Mechanics Exhibit? [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.06991
- Models Of Wave-Function Collapse, Underlying Theories, And Experimental Tests [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1204.4325
- On Gravity's Role In Quantum State Reduction [Paper]: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02105068
- Real Patterns In Physics And Beyond [Paper]: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/23888/
- Learning To Represent [Paper]: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/23224/1/learning_to_represent.pdf
- Operational Theories As Structural Realism [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.09316
- Relational Quantum Mechanics [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9609002
- Measurement Outcomes And Probability In Everettian Quantum Mechanics [Paper]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1355219806000694
- Quantum Probability From Subjective Likelihood [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0312157
More links (past guest episodes) at https://curtjaimungal.substack.com
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Ginestra Bianconi: The Physicist Who (Unexpectedly) Derived Gravity From Entropy Jul 13, 2026

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Ginestra Bianconi thinks gravity can be derived from entropy — and that gravity itself is fundamentally anti-reductionistic, since it's about geometry rather than isolated particle interactions. In this episode, the network-topologist-turned-gravity-theorist explains her "Gravity from Entropy" action, which treats matter and geometry symmetrically through a geometric quantum relative entropy (not the horizon entropy of Verlinde or Jacobson). She details why it reduces to Einstein's equations at low energy while predicting a dynamical, always-positive dark energy term (the "G field"), how it may avoid black hole singularities and reproduce the area law without invoking holography, and why she believes understanding the brain may be harder than understanding quantum gravity. We close with her advice for young researchers. I hope you enjoy.
TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00 - Information Content of Geometry
- 07:38 - Geometric Quantum Relative Entropy
- 15:58 - Geometrizing the Matter Field
- 23:45 - Emergent Dark Energy
- 30:12 - Statistical Mechanics vs Thermodynamics
- 37:59 - Structure and Dynamics Interplay
- 45:20 - Holography and Area Law
- 51:23 - Interdisciplinary Research Vision
LINKS MENTIONED:
Ginestra's Webpage: https://webspace.maths.qmul.ac.uk/g.bianconi/
Ginestra's Papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ycQXwWgAAAAJ
Gravity from Entropy [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.14391
Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0393319911?tag=toe08-20
The Thermodynamics of the Gravity from Entropy Theory [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.22545
Notes on Some Entanglement Properties of Quantum Field Theory [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.04993
Inflation from Entropy [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23987
Thermodynamics of Spacetime: The Einstein Equation of State [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9504004
More Is Different [Paper]: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.177.4047.393
Information, Physics, Quantum [Paper]: https://philpapers.org/archive/WHEIPQ.pdf
Network Geometry with Flavor [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.04539
Black Holes and Entropy [Paper]: https://physicsgg.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/black-holes-and-entropy_bekenstein.pdf
Ginestra's Lecture on Higher-Order Networks: https://youtu.be/o4TWDTgqQKY
Elan Barenholtz [TOE]: https://youtu.be/A36OumnSrWY
Frederic Schuller [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Bnh-UNrxYZg
Erik Verlinde [TOE]: https://youtu.be/ilVImMHcr_g
Ted Jacobson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3mhctWlXyV8
Karl Friston [TOE]: https://youtu.be/2v7LBABwZKA
Subir Sarkar [TOE]: https://youtu.be/epkuoytFJWA
Stephen Wolfram [TOE]: https://youtu.be/FkYer0xP37E
Roman Yampolskiy [TOE]: https://youtu.be/TgFmA-Qwsek
Eva Miranda [TOE]: https://youtu.be/6XyMepn-AZo
Cumrun Vafa [TOE]: https://youtu.be/kUHOoMX4Bqw
Neil Turok [TOE]: https://youtu.be/zNZCa1pVE20
David Kaiser [TOE]: https://youtu.be/_yebLXsIdwo
Ivette Fuentes [TOE]: https://youtu.be/YWbjI-QsH2E
Philip Mannheim [TOE]: https://youtu.be/rNXNHYvS7zU
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Curt Jaimungal: Reality Is Bloody Terrifying Jul 08, 2026

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What does it mean to investigate the "nature of reality"? In this episode, we break down the term across philosophy, physics, mathematics, cognitive science, and theology: exploring questions of metaphysics, fundamentality, reductionism, and grounding. We also touch on a conversation with Slavoj Žižek and why the question of why the universe follows laws at all may be the deepest question of all. Plus: why art belongs in this conversation, and why "fundamental" doesn't mean what most people think it means.
TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00 - Metaphysical Foundations
- 02:51 - Fundamentality vs. Reductionism
- 05:12 - Phenomenology and Art
- 07:14 - Münchhausen’s Trilemma (Curt's topological interpretation)
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Quantum Healing [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0553348698?tag=toe08-20
- Realism [Paper]: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20115760
- Mean, Means and Meaning [Article]: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/mean-means-and-meaning
- Harvey Friedman [TOE]: https://youtu.be/gx3uKT1qJvY
- The Reverse Elephant [TOE]: https://youtu.be/q2Zgp2EhSk8
- Slavoj Žižek [TOE]: https://youtu.be/ZLVxfmfds38
- John Norton [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Tghl6aS5A3M
- Most Abused Theorem in Math [TOE]: https://youtu.be/OH-ybecvuEo
- Münchhausen Trilemma: https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/M%C3%BCnchhausen+trilemma
- Know Time Interviews Curt: https://youtu.be/K_jCtpQgqB0
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Philip Mannheim: No Big Bang. No Inflation. No Dark Matter. Jul 06, 2026

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This podcast is about dark matter — and Professor Philip Mannheim thinks it isn't missing at all, just hiding in plain sight as the rest of the visible universe. In his first-ever podcast, on ideas he's pursued since 1972, Mannheim lays out conformal gravity: a theory built on Weyl symmetry rather than Einstein's equations, which explains galaxy rotation curves without dark matter, tames the cosmological constant, and fits the accelerating universe without fine-tuning. With longtime collaborator Carl Bender, he also resolves gravity's infamous "ghost" problem using PT symmetry instead of Hermiticity — suggesting the graviton may not even exist as a particle. I hope you enjoy.
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TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00:00 - Einstein's Relativity Foundations
- 00:05:47 - Riemann Tensor and Curvature
- 00:11:50 - Flaws in Einstein's Equations
- 00:17:23 - Quantum Gravity Renormalizability
- 00:23:28 - Conformal Symmetry Principles
- 00:30:09 - Dynamical Mass Generation
- 00:37:08 - Inflation and Horizon Problems
- 00:43:55 - Renormalization Group Fixed Points
- 00:51:05 - Composite Higgs Solution
- 00:57:03 - Weyl Tensor Action
- 01:03:44 - Solving Dark Matter
- 01:09:36 - Cosmic Coincidence Problem
- 01:16:27 - Hubble Tension and Redshift
- 01:24:31 - PT Symmetry and Ghosts
- 01:31:21 - Probability Conservation vs. Hermiticity
- 01:38:13 - CPT Theorem and Fermions
- 01:45:14 - Quantum Decays and Resonances
- 01:51:05 - Parity and Right-Handed Neutrinos
- 01:56:14 - Gravitons and Wavefunction Collapse
- 02:02:24 - Cyclic Universes and Singularities
- 02:08:24 - String Theory Fine-Tuning
- 02:14:45 - Unitarity and Poincaré Stresses
- 02:21:02 - Gravitational Lensing and Tenure
- 02:26:55 - Nature and Experimental Data
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Philip's Papers: https://inspirehep.net/authors/998943
- Newton's Law Of Gravity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_law_of_universal_gravitation
- Geodesics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodesics_in_general_relativity
- Equivalence Principle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalence_principle
- Introduction To General Relativity [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0070004234?tag=toe08-20
- Foundation Of The General Theory Of Relativity [Paper]: https://isidore.co/misc/Physics%20papers%20and%20books/St.%20John's%20College's,%20TAC's%20curricula's,%20et%20alii%20sci.%20papers/1916-%20The%20Foundation%20of%20the%20General%20Theory%20of%20Relativity%20(Einstein).pdf
- Dynamical Symmetry Breaking As A Bootstrap [Paper]: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.12.1772
- Dynamics Of The Universe And Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking [Paper]: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980ApJ...241L..59K/abstract
- Mass Generation, The Cosmological Constant Problem, Conformal Symmetry, And The Higgs Boson [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.08907
- Living Without Supersymmetry [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.01399
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Curt Jaimungal: What is Existence, Exactly? Jul 01, 2026

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Does Batman exist? Not really—but proving he doesn't turns out to be a logical minefield. This episode tackles negative existentials: why saying "X doesn't exist" seems to require referring to X in the first place. We trace the debate from Russell's theory of descriptions, through Kripke's devastating critique in Naming and Necessity, to Meinong's radical claim that non-existent objects still populate our domain of discourse. Plus: null pointer exceptions as computer science's Meinongianism, why AI struggles with fictional facts, and why three competing theories—descriptivism, Meinongianism, and abstract realism—each come with a steep philosophical price tag. I hope you enjoy.
TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00 - The Batman Paradox
- 03:26 - Russell’s Theory of Descriptions
- 06:36 - Kripke’s Rigid Designators
- 09:44 - Meinongian Domain Quantification
- 12:45 - Nuclear and Extra-Nuclear Properties
- 15:50 - Modal Descriptivism and AI
- 18:54 - Presentism and Temporal Ontology
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Diana Pasulka [TOE]: https://youtu.be/E5MuTHUbMUs
- Why I Don't Buy The Simulation Hypothesis [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3_lBPMc6JRY
- Elan Barenholtz [TOE]: https://youtu.be/A36OumnSrWY
- Naming And Necessity [Book]: https://neuroself.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/naming-and-necessity-full-text.pdf
- Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0486404455?tag=toe08-20
- Critique Of Pure Reason [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0140447474?tag=toe08-20
- The Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics In 5 Minutes [Article]: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/the-interpretations-of-quantum-mechanics
- Alexius Meinong: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/meinong/
- On Denoting [Paper]: https://www.uvm.edu/~lderosse/courses/lang/Russell(1905).pdf
- Graham Priest [TOE]: https://youtu.be/ZGOMmGK4eeY
- Nonexistent Objects [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0300024045?tag=toe08-20
- Abstract Objects [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/9027714746?tag=toe08-20
- Noam Chomsky [TOE]: https://youtu.be/RIY0GFtHU2U
- John Vervaeke [TOE]: https://youtu.be/GVj1KYGyesI
- Presentism: https://iep.utm.edu/time/
- Joscha Bach [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3MNBxfrmfmI
- Existence [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/1107625262?tag=toe08-20
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Simon Saunders: The Unsettling Mysteries of Time Jun 29, 2026

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This is a podcast all about time: depending on how you look at it, that's either unnerving or exhilarating. Professor Simon Saunders — Emeritus Fellow at Merton College, Oxford, and one of the most celebrated philosophers of physics alive — goes deep on what time actually is, why special relativity demands a block universe, and what any of this has to do with the Many Worlds Interpretation. Why doesn't space inherit the paradoxes of time? What's really missing from the block universe picture (and is it the same thing missing from quantum probability?) Saunders argues that Bell inequality violations aren't evidence against locality but evidence for Many Worlds, presents a novel derivation of the Born rule from a single physical postulate, and sketches a quantum version of Leibniz's monadology as a possible path through the mind-body problem. I hope you enjoy.
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TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00:00 - Defining Temporal Passage
- 00:05:03 - Block Universe and Relativity
- 00:11:15 - The Timeless Viewpoint
- 00:18:07 - CMB and Global Time
- 00:23:19 - Persistence and Spatial Revisitability
- 00:31:02 - Philosophy of Physics Foundations
- 00:38:46 - Relativistic Localization Problems
- 00:49:22 - Reeh-Schlieder and Vacuum States
- 00:55:23 - Branching and Actuality
- 01:05:41 - Interval Probabilities and Frequentism
- 01:14:14 - Decoherent Histories Interpretation
- 01:25:49 - Ontic Structural Realism
- 01:32:15 - Deriving the Born Rule
- 01:38:02 - Leibnizian Quantum Monadology
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Simon's Papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=htEv3XIAAAAJ
- Many Worlds? [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0199560560?tag=toe08-20
- A Brief History of Time [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0553380168?tag=toe08-20
- How Relativity Contradicts Presentism [Paper]: https://users.ox.ac.uk/~lina0174/kansas.pdf
- Trouble With Quantum Mechanics [Article]: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/01/19/trouble-with-quantum-mechanics/
- Locality, Complex Numbers, and Relativistic Quantum Theory [Paper]: https://www.jstor.org/stable/192768
- Bohmian Mechanics: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-bohm/
- Finite Frequentism Explains Quantum Probability [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.12954
- Chance in the Everett Interpretation [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.04720
- Reeh-Schlieder Defeats Newton-Wigner [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0007060
- Everett's Thesis [Paper]: https://cqi.inf.usi.ch/qic/everett_phd.pdf
- Physics and Leibniz's Principles [Paper]: https://philpapers.org/rec/SAUPAL-2
- Critical Exposition of the Philosophy of Leibniz [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/1605204536?tag=toe08-20
- Avshalom Elitzur [TOE]: https://youtu.be/pWRAaimQT1E
- David Wallace [TOE]: https://youtu.be/4MjNuJK5RzM
- Sechit Madra (Trainer): https://www.instagram.com/sechit_madra
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Neil Turok: A Route to Quantum Gravity (Without Strings) Jun 22, 2026

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This is a breaking podcast. We're premiering a new paradigm for quantizing 4D gravity here first, without strings. Neil Turok — inaugural Higgs Chair at Edinburgh, former director of Perimeter Institute, and 2026 Fellow of the Royal Society — believes quantum gravity may not require strings, extra dimensions, or a multiverse. The key: a 1970s theory called quadratic gravity, long abandoned over two seemingly fatal problems. Turok and Bateman argue both problems dissolve — one by reinterpreting a classical instability as ordinary gravitational expansion, the other by a subtle tweak to the Born rule that allows quantum states of negative norm without ever producing negative probabilities. One quiet assumption, Turok argues, underpins decades of string theory's necessity. Drop it, and the whole case for a multiverse unravels. Neil graciously gave me a sneak peek at his and his PhD student Sam Bateman's new research. Bleeding edge! I hope you enjoy.
TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00:00 - Quadratic Gravity Emergence
- 00:05:03 - Renormalization and Asymptotic Freedom
- 00:10:57 - Ghosts and Krein Spaces
- 00:16:00 - Generalizing the Born Rule
- 00:23:27 - Ostrogradsky Instability Reinterpreted
- 00:31:29 - UV Completeness and QCD
- 00:38:21 - Higgs Compositeness and Hierarchy
- 00:43:58 - CPT Symmetric Universe Minimalism
- 00:52:54 - The 36 Fields Mystery
- 01:00:10 - Orthodoxy vs. Revolutionary Ideas
- 01:06:39 - Gravitational Entropy and Smoothness
- 01:16:14 - Multiverse Measure Problem
- 01:23:05 - Theoretical Physics Health
- 01:30:07 - Sam Bateman’s Breakthrough
- 01:43:33 - Philosophy of Cosmology
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Neil's Papers: https://inspirehep.net/authors/985402
- Renormalization of Higher-Derivative Quantum Gravity [Paper]: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.16.953
- Quadratic Gravity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadratic_gravity
- Asymptotic Freedom in Higher-Derivative Quantum Gravity [Paper]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0370269385902485
- Ostrogradsky's Theorem: http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Ostrogradsky's_theorem_on_Hamiltonian_instability
- Krein Space: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indefinite_inner_product_space
- CPT-Symmetric Universe [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.08928
- Pathologies of Dimension-Zero Scalar Fields [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.05683
- No-Ghost Theorem for Pais-Uhlenbeck Oscillator [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0207
- Cancelling the Vacuum Energy [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.06258
- Gravitational Entropy [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.07279
- Neil's Lecture: https://pirsa.org/15100070
- Neil Turok on the Big Bang [TOE]: https://youtu.be/ZUp9x44N3uE
- Neil Turok on Black Holes [TOE]: https://youtu.be/zNZCa1pVE20
More links at https://curtjaimungal.substack.com
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