410 episodes

A podcast about how we understand the world, scientifically and as humans. Each conversation brings together visionaries from the worlds of arts, sciences, humanities, and technology discussing the nature of reality and how we collaborate to create the future. Hosted by Dr Brian Keating, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego. For show notes go to: https://briankeating.com/podcast

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating Big Bang Productions Inc.

    • Science
    • 4.7 • 858 Ratings

A podcast about how we understand the world, scientifically and as humans. Each conversation brings together visionaries from the worlds of arts, sciences, humanities, and technology discussing the nature of reality and how we collaborate to create the future. Hosted by Dr Brian Keating, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego. For show notes go to: https://briankeating.com/podcast

    Is There Hope for Humanity? Marcelo Gleiser’s Case for Biocentrism

    Is There Hope for Humanity? Marcelo Gleiser’s Case for Biocentrism

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    Is there hope for humanity? 

    In light of the numerous challenges we face today, from political to environmental crises, it seems like there isn’t. 

    But according to today’s esteemed guest Marcelo Gleiser, there’s still hope! However, we need to shift our perspective, recognize our place in the universe, and rediscover our connection to the natural world. 

    These are topics he thoroughly explored in his most recent book: The Dawn of a Mindful Universe: A Manifesto for Humanity's Future. I used our interview to ask him a few questions that came to my mind when I was reading this wonderful book. 

    Tune in!

    Key Takeaways:


    00:00:00 Intro

    00:03:11 Judging a book by its cover

    00:09:44 Copernicus’ heliocentric model

    00:15:57 The perfect cosmological principle 

    00:21:14 Crises in cosmology 

    00:26:38 Humans, the natural world, and biocentrism 

    00:38:05 But what about technological progress? 

    00:42:16 Information theory, panspermia, and exoplanets 

    00:55:33 The origins of life and unifying theories 

    01:00:39 On a more optimistic note 

    01:05:28 AI’s impact on education 

    01:11:30 Audience questions

    01:26:21 Outro




    Additional resources:

    👉 To try everything Brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 days, visit https://brilliant.org/DrBrianKeating/ or click on the link in the description. You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

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    ➡️ Connect with Marcelo Gleiser:
    💻 Website: https://marcelogleiser.com/

    ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:
    ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 
    🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 
    📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list 
    ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 
    🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast

    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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    • 1 hr 31 min
    Why Do Physicists FIGHT Philosophers?

    Why Do Physicists FIGHT Philosophers?

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    Why do physicists fight philosophers?

    A couple of months ago, I was invited to Robinson Erhardt’s podcast to discuss the expansion and inflation of the universe, the relationship between theory and experiment in cosmology, gravitational waves, my brainchild, the BICEP experiment, and a lot more. Enjoy!

    Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in between: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsxwneBx6apV1mQ7CbWKfXQ 

    Key Takeaways:


    00:00:00 Introduction

    00:01:15 Brian the Builder

    00:07:15 The Theory of Cosmological Expansion?

    00:23:48 The Origins of Inflation

    00:31:47 On Theory and Experiment in Astrophysics

    00:41:55 On Gravitational Waves and Inflation

    00:58:27 BICEP Tech Specs

    01:12:01 What Did BICEP Find?

    01:26:46 The Simons Array

    01:30:37 On Eric Weinstein’s Theory of Everything

    01:36:44 Outro




    Additional resources:

    📝 Get one month of Snipd Premium for free with this link: https://get.snipd.com/Cx7S/brianSnipd Snipd lets you take Smart Notes 🧠 with AI 💡 — it’s my favorite podcast player 😀 !

    ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:
    ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 
    🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 
    📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list 
    ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 
    🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast

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

    Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
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    • 1 hr 40 min
    Eric Weinstein: Don't Call It A Conspiracy!

    Eric Weinstein: Don't Call It A Conspiracy!

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    Are experts failing us?

    While there is no clear answer to this question, it is clear that there is a growing public distrust of experts and institutions, and even more clear that this has severe consequences for society and science. 

    Join me and my colleague Eric Weinstein as we explore this issue, dig deep into the reasons for this skepticism, from political pressures to historical deceptions, and hypothesize potential solutions!

    Eric Weinstein is an American managing director of Thiel Capital, Peter Thiel's investment firm, a position he has held since 2015. Though not an academic physicist, he proposed a unified theory of physics in 2013. He and his brother Bret Weinstein coined the term Intellectual Dark Web to refer to an informal group of pundits. Eric is a vocal critic of modern academic hierarchies and advocates for advances in scientific theory over an emphasis on experimental results. We discuss funding, academic freedom, and theoretical vs experimental physics.

    Key Takeaways:


    00:00:00 Intro

    00:00:33 Giving platforms to unorthodox thinkers

    00:03:39 Eric on the collapse of institutional trust

    00:06:25 The decline in the reputation of universities and their impact

    00:11:49 Need for reconciliation over COVID-related lies

    00:24:08 Dangers of misinformation 

    00:28:04 The complicated relationship between national security and science

    00:40:57 Eric’s vision for re-establishing trust in the scientific community

    01:08:14 Outro




    Additional resources:

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    ➡️ Connect with Eric Weinstein
    ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricRWeinstein/

    ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:
    ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 
    🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 
    📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list 
    ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 
    🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast

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

    Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
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    • 1 hr 11 min
    250K Subscribers Q&A Special

    250K Subscribers Q&A Special

    Join my mailing list https://briankeating.com/list to win a real 4 billion year old meteorite! All .edu emails in the USA 🇺🇸 will WIN!

    You know what's better than a 250k sub celebration? 

    Nothing! 

    I am immensely grateful for each and every one of you. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. There is nothing I love more than engaging with all of you and sharing my passion for the impossible every day. 

    To celebrate and commemorate this crazy milestone, I've asked for questions on all my channels, and today, I'm going to answer them all! 

    So, without further ado, let’s get right Into the Impossible!

    Key Takeaways:

    00:00:00 Intro 
    00:01:37 Does time have any relationship with temperature? 
    00:07:18 On losing the Nobel Prize
    00:14:07 How much do I get paid? 
    00:16:43 Why do we prioritize studying the minutiae? 
    00:22:35 How do we know that the CMB occurred 380,000 years after the Big Bang?
    00:27:52 The greatest challenge of our educational system 
    00:36:04 Why I’m not convinced by determinism 
    00:41:52 The reality of podcasting and money 
    00:50:01 Is it time to stop taking Sam Harris seriously?
    00:56:24 Problems in our educational system and the prestige of physics 
    01:08:30 How do I explain my work at cocktail parties?
    01:11:56 Could gravity be massive? 
    01:15:00 Could the universe be an infinite multidimensional fractal?
    01:24:43 Gravitational lensing 
    01:28:00 How many galaxies does the universe contain? 
    01:30:57 Joe Rogan’s mini-me? 
    01:36:37 Does dark matter even exist? 
    01:39:50 My favorite meteorites, Starlink and the Simons Observatory
    01:43:29 Extra interdimensional beings? 
    01:48:30 Are there various ways to solve the Hubble tension? 
    01:54:50 Outro

    Additional resources:

    📝 Get one month of Snipd Premium for free with this link: https://get.snipd.com/Cx7S/brianSnipd Snipd lets you take Smart Notes 🧠 with AI 💡 — it’s my favorite podcast player 😀 !

    ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:
    ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 
    🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 
    📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list 
    ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 
    🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast

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

    Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 2 hr 1 min
    Did This NEW Theory of Gravity Solve the Expanding Universe? Claudia de Rham

    Did This NEW Theory of Gravity Solve the Expanding Universe? Claudia de Rham

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    The acceleration of the expansion of the universe is one of the fundamental questions in cosmology. 

    Scientists believe that dark energy is driving and accelerating the expansion; however, there is a discrepancy between the predicted amount of dark energy in the universe and our theoretical calculations based on the properties of fundamental particles.

    To get to the bottom of this, today's guest, Professor Claudia de Rham, proposed a new theory of "massive gravity" that could solve this “impossible” riddle. 

    Claudia de Rham is a Swiss theoretical physicist at Imperial College London. She is known for her work at the intersection of gravity, cosmology, and particle physics. She won the 2020 Blavatnik Young Scientist Award for reviving the theory of massive gravity and has made significant contributions to understanding dark energy, dark matter, and gravity. Her research focuses on modified theories of gravity, including massive gravity and Galileon gravity.

    Join us as we explore the true nature of gravity and the beauty of falling!

    Key Takeaways:


    00:00:00 Intro

    00:01:19 Mass of the graviton 

    00:08:20 Judging a book by its cover

    00:15:20 Could AI experience the joy of falling?

    00:20:07 The speed of gravity 

    00:22:55 How would a breathing mode manifest itself?

    00:34:08 Extra dimensions  

    00:40:00 Do we need a quantum theory of gravity? 

    00:45:00 Nothing happens at the Planck length

    00:50:27 Quantum nature of gravity 

    00:55:34 Outro




    Additional resources:

    📝 Get one month of Snipd Premium for free with this link: https://get.snipd.com/Cx7S/brianSnipd Snipd lets you take Smart Notes 🧠 with AI 💡 — it’s my favorite podcast player 😀 !

    ➡️ Connect with Claudia de Rham:
    💻 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-de-rham-b2b4b3274/ 

    ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:
    ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 
    🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 
    📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list 
    ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 
    🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast

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

    Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 59 min
    Brian Keating Discusses the Early Universe & Science Communication with Lawrence Krauss

    Brian Keating Discusses the Early Universe & Science Communication with Lawrence Krauss

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    In this personal conversation with a long-time friend of the show, Lawrence Krauss, I talk about my origins, my passion for physics, how I started researching the CMB, the BICEP experiments, my relationship with religion and Judaism, and much more. Tune in! 

    Lawrence M. Krauss is a highly acclaimed theoretical physicist, commentator, bestselling author, President of The Origins Project Foundation, and host of the Origins Podcast. Among his many significant scientific contributions was the 1995 proposal that most of the Universe's energy resides in empty space.

    Key Takeaways:


    00:00:00 Intro

    00:00:38 My origins

    00:09:27 The importance of reading science and sci-fi 

    00:20:11 My passion for physics 

    00:30:49 On religion & my relationship with Judaism 

    00:49:35 Why I research the CMB

    01:05:12 The BICEP experiments 

    01:17:39 The rush to publish 

    01:23:24 Inflation theory and the multiverse

    01:35:52 Simons Array and Simons Observatory 

    01:51:37 Outro




    Additional resources:

    📝 Get one month of Snipd Premium for free with this link: https://get.snipd.com/Cx7S/brianSnipd Snipd lets you take Smart Notes 🧠 with AI 💡 — it’s my favorite podcast player 😀 !

    ➡️ Check out Lawrence Krauss: 
    📚 The Edge of Knowledge by Lawrence Krauss: https://a.co/d/2Dtwy3x 
    💻 Website: https://lawrencemkrauss.com/ 
    ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/LKrauss1

    ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:
    ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 
    🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 
    📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list 
    ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 
    🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast

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

    Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 1 hr 54 min

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5
858 Ratings

858 Ratings

Anna [SOP] ,

🔍 Discovering Reality: "Into the Impossible With Brian Keating" 🌟

"Into the Impossible With Brian Keating" is a fascinating podcast that explores the intersection of arts, sciences, humanities, and technology. Each episode features insightful conversations with visionaries, offering deep dives into the nature of reality and our collective future. Dr. Brian Keating, a distinguished professor of physics, expertly guides these discussions, making complex topics accessible and engaging. Highly recommended for anyone curious about understanding the world from diverse perspectives.

MarkChicagoIL ,

Interview with Eric Weinstein

But bye

Aaron in Brooklyn ,

Interesting but now wandering away

Dr Keating is an engaging and effective communicator. Unfortunately he is more and more focused on “boosting fringe voices” or bringing in his (Trumper) political or religious views, and less and less explaining key concepts in consensus physics. He seems very motivated by clickbaiting and building an audience, which may be related to his motivation towards controversy over coherence.

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