Conversation: Salam, Sciama, Witten and Budinich

[@mythicalmusical800]

Nobody notices that they are in the presence of a certified forklift operator in the room. It was me. Filming the whole conversation.

[@chitrodaya]

You did a fine Job Sir.

[@hammadshami6423]

You lucky guy!

[@Tstorm731]

It’s beautifully filmed. You really capture the human element of these men who push the envelope of what is possible with regard to human cognition. Thanks for doing a great job.

[@chris-do7yg]

I too am forklift certified sooooo yea

[@Shahzad-Khan]

Truly in the presence of greatness

[@Z1g0l]

Thank you Eric for leading us to this gem!

[@timadeusart]

..And Jamie 😁

[@Perrydog101]

Yup

[@Perrydog101]

So Dirac had already known that if super symmetry was authentic, it would have already been discovered. Reimer's tension scale was super close, but he didn't include time. Mr. Whiten had a moment to go in another direction and didn't listen to Dirac. Edit, Witten

[@ianlomas625]

And Joe

[@beaudarcey9586]

@@Perrydog101 agreed, if super symmetry was more than a concept, the tension scale would have included chronological intervals. The inclusion of the conception of time is indeed a dilemma with both Dirac and Reimer, and the tension scale in general. BTW I know nothing about Physics, (I hope I spelled that right)... I wanted to demonstrate how CHARLATANS like Deepak Chopra try to fake their own knowledge of Physics/Quantum Physics, with the sole purpose of appearing smart to sell more bullshit books. (I'm demonstrating it's not difficult to fake, because 99.99% of people cant tell the difference unfortunately)

[@karlkarlsson9126]

All dead except one, but yet here we are 36 years later, watching them as they are being alive talking to each-other for us to watch and listen. It's what you leave behind when you die that counts, if you do, you never really die.

[@someone1059]

sometimes unbelievable I mean our forefathers would never haver concieved such technological revolution as this digital revolution through which we are able to see the masters

[@r2371-n8e]

Thanks to Claude Shannon for our new found immortality

[@MS-fg8qo]

Everything and everyone will fall into oblivion eventually. For some people like Witten, it will just take longer but zoom out on time and you won't see any difference between an ape, the average human being, Witten and any supposed super intelligence.

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

@@MS-fg8qo Heat death or big crunch, both are true. Let's all commit suicide, because everything is gonna go to shit eventually anyways... Come on dude...

[@priscillawrites6685]

Sitting here 2024, smiling at the brilliance and clarity of a young Edward Witten.

[@brendawilliams8062]

Yeap, daydreaming stupid on your own math. Like 1/5. 1/2. 158113887 and 2.5. Lost next to so many of these smart ones. But yet still listen

[@Zerostar369]

I feel honored to have been witness to such a great conversation. Thank you.

[@LoquaciousApe]

The sheer breadth and intensity of Witten's understanding of both physics theory and history is incredible.

[@nunofontes9775]

Ditto!

[@benefactor4309]

He studied history as an undergraduate

[@naimulhaq9626]

Indeed. Very interesting discussion. Would have been more interesting if Penrose's massless photon end,of our Big bang before the next eon.

[@matthawksworth]

Just amazing

[@aaronmarchand999]

But yet he was somehow blinded by the utterly ret*rded idea of string theory, and helped lead physics down a long road to nowhere for multiple decades... strange how smart people can be so stupid, in his case with massive negative repercussions that have even stagnated the progress of humanity

[@markkennedy9767]

It's kinda crazy how Witten, even as a young guy seems to hold court, with these older, eminent physicists almost deferring to him, asking him all the questions. Apart from his obvious physics expertise, Witten's knowledge of history and context of physics is pretty amazing.

[@janoycresva276]

He did get his undergraduate in history after all

[@pmcate2]

@@janoycresva276 You wouldn't learn this stuff as a history major

[@haydenhuggins2162]

Witten is the Bohr of our time it’s pretty obvious. Everyone defers to him despite being completely wrong!

[@janoycresva276]

@@haydenhuggins2162 He’s made great contributions to mathematics & even won a Field’s Medal. That doesn’t change the fact that String Theory is not physics & clearly incorrect because in the near 60 years since its inception, it not only hasn’t produced any measurable predictions & for the things that should’ve been detected based on its predictions, the data consistently contradicted them. Compare that to something like Newtonian Mechanics, Maxwell’s Equations, General & Special Relativity, or the most successful theory so far with Quantum Mechanics which gave rise to Quantum Field Theory have all made incredibly precise predictions & yielded experimental confirmation of them no more than 10-15 years after being published.

[@haydenhuggins2162]

100% correct. He’s a tremendous genius, but string theory is missing the mark on our reality.

[@degenetron7590]

People like this are simply a gift to humanity for this whole species to progress further

[@martin1988mj]

I get goosebumps when I listen to this conversation. I only understand it partly, but the notion that by the privilege of listening this you are at the forefront of science and understanding is simply stunning

[@amartya6636]

Martin Stojanovik Absolutely..

[@jamesfrancese6091]

Martin Stojanovik This conversation is over 30 years old, and is mostly breakroom chatter

[@matthew01234]

This is 33 years old. It still feels like the forefront though so I get why you say that.

[@davismavis2834]

You only partly understand this, yet feel compelled to comment on your lack of understanding. Weird.

[@carpathianhermit7228]

​@@davismavis2834how so

[@vatsalyavaibhavsrivastava2671]

Absolutely loved it

[@CD-123]

Iitian??

[@bustofpallasathena]

@@CD-123 bet your sweet fatoot ; not

[@wandererstein3724]

Great respect for Dr.Abdus Salam and Edward Witten. Witten looks so young in this video.

[@kaghan-x3d]

thank alot ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@docoftheworld]

one of the greatest minds sitting in one room and discussing the origin of ideas. this is so beautiful. One can only be filled with wonder and amazement.

[@ZoeTheCat]

I wish we had equivalent Dirac, Schrodinger, Pauli, Bohr, Einstein, etc videos.

[@gizsim]

fuck yeah, that would be SO awesome!!!!

[@mohammadmahmood8255]

After 4 years of this interview, Witten won the fields medal and you can see his passion and enthusiasm for Maths and Physics here...Sadly Abdusslam the noble laureate passed away in 1996 ...

[@kaatnikaatni9012]

Wrong Ed written got field medal before this,get ur facts right!

[@ntak7716]

@@kaatnikaatni9012 and you get your spelling right,it’s Witten.

[@DaMonster]

@@kaatnikaatni9012 the description says the talk was in 1986 and he won fields in 1990

[@AbhayPeshin]

after his death his grave was desecrated and while he was alive he was forced to live as a non muslim in Pakistan. If the pakistanis knew theire historic lore they would know all the troubles thry face now is because of the bad karma acrrued!

[@DaggerSecurity]

@@AbhayPeshin why? what was the drama that caused them to treat him like that?

[@tomp2008]

33:29 brilliant camera-work

[@Agnes135]

LMAO

[@-_Nuke_-]

yes wtf xD

[@lancebaldi9548]

30:04

[@Krispio666]

Lmao the guy got bored of staring at their faces I guess

[@robertpirsig5011]

Expression is in the hands.

[@wiserhuman21]

Edward Witten's speeches are like academic essays) 1st paragraph, 2nd paragraph, Transition words, excellent grammar

[@oldoddjobs]

He can speak, wow

[@kundakaps]

@@Fabio-zd6oi Yeah good luck though. Only two Nobel Prize winners in the sciences have had their kids do so as well.

[@lukelively8380]

I'm only speculating, but I think he may have a photographic memory. He occasionally seems to drift off to another place and speaks as if he's reading from a paper.

[@Postdisclosureworld]

@@lukelively8380 That's incredible to even contemplate.

[@Chadhogan111]

Lmao what?

[@tamurhaq]

Wow how incredible to have stumbled upon this. Thank you to the uploaded.

[@paulmulenga8742]

OMG the brilliance of this conversation is mind blowing

[@kdub1242]

This kid Witten is going places.

[@kdub1242]

+JINXED 63 Yup, and he's the only physicist to ever win the "mathematician's Nobel" - the Fields Medal. Super-mega genius he is.

[@johnevans3115]

+K Dub Ed Witten certainly is going places. According to quantum physics he can be in two places at once....

[@PolkiSaMalutkie]

You what?

[@boxerpop82]

The man created M-theory unifying all former theories of String Theory into one and coming up with a result that produces gravity as a consequence.

[@pookz3067]

Even if you take away all of his physics achievements, the mathematical consequences of his physics as well as his pure math papers (he's written quite a few) would make him one of the most reknowned mathematicians in the world. Amazing.

[@zaxhanta3142]

The sheer knowledge, understanding and genius in this conversation is tangible even after 3 decades. Beautiful. Brilliant.

[@afeeraadil1930]

Dr. Abdus Salam, the genius. ♥️

[@ishyandmikkischannel8811]

Interesting to visit 30 years after having a shared office next to Salam's. At. 11:00 Salam makes a reference to Chris Isham who never got into strings as far as I remember. At 19:00 Witten mentions Tom Kibble's cosmic strings - a beautiful idea, very big around 1990, not borne out by experiment. Kibble really deserved the Nobel for the Higgs mechanism for the later 1967 paper (Weinberg thought so). I do recall Salam giving a seminar on Chern-Simons which Witten had been pushing. And brings back memory of E8 - every 2nd seminar used to be on that.

[@smalam64]

Your name sir

[@tenningale]

Before I ever heard Witten speak I just saw him in pictures and thought he looked like a badass who'd probably have a baritone, authoritative voice.

[@siddhantritwick287]

What an honor to watch the great minds together!

[@Wandering_Chemist]

Literally some of the greatest minds just sitting together discussing the nature of reality at the must fundamental level….just purely fascinating.

[@matthawksworth]

This has got to be the most intelligent conversation ive ever heard

[@realBlue2024]

Or will...

[@yanickborg3118]

And yet, it turned out to be completely on the wrong track.

[@alanfertom6354]

Oh my god! Watching witten and Salam have a argument is like seeing Plato and Aristotle have a dialogue.

[@s4nt1ss]

Not even close man

[@cymoonrbacpro9426]

Alan Fertom Total futility, it went nowhere!

[@fernandosouto659]

Beautiful analogy...

[@edwardjones2202]

Hahahaha

[@perfectoid8376]

i dint know what you guys saw but what i observed was that my buddy Witten scored 1 in the women's department and 0 for my men Salam

[@tagexing]

The occasion of this conversation seems to be the day when Witten was awarded the first Dirac Medal, as Salam said at 4:25, "Dirac, who we were celebrating today by giving Witten the first Dirac Medal." The award was announced on August 8, 1985. The ceremony may have happened in Feb 1986?

[@HalfassDIY]

This whole conversation is delightful !

[@gabrieliatarelli]

Thanks for uploading this. can you please make closed caption available ? i have a friend that would love to understand it but he's def.

[@HawthorneHillNaturePreserve]

Witten’s knowledge of physics, math and history runs circles around his piers. I’m convinced he must have a photographic memory because his recall of extreme detail is uncanny. And most exciting is his passion and love of the subjects and intellect, he gets almost giddy when he talks. You would expect fire to come out of his ears at times. His thought is palpable.

[@qwertyzxcv123]

He took undergraduate studies of history, journalism and linguistics before moving on to Physics and Mathematics.

[@matthew01234]

I'm not a conspiracy theorist and this is just a joke but if there is even one hyper-intelligent alien masquerading as a human on this planet I am certain Ed Witten is it. That was just a joke though. I did say "if" and that's an impossible if.

[@Frangos1958]

Amazing video, thank you. I was lucky enough to be a student at Imperial College London and meet Abdus Salam when he won his Nobel prize in 1979. Also met Kibble who is mentioned a few times. Interestingly, they predict the detection of gravitational waves within 10 years - it took about 30 in the end.

[@not_co_co]

Nerd

[@adityadhardwivedi819]

​@@not_co_co nerd is new normal for gen z

[@gibbogle]

I was also a student at ICL, met Kibble, not Salam.

[@kewal_chhetri]

So fortunate to hear the conversation amongst these great personalities...

[@aroojqureshi8012]

Utmost respect for Dr. Abdus Salam. One of the greatest minds of 20th Century.

[@garamiglm2026]

The Brilliant Abdus Salam in his elements. Great to see all these geniuses talking. Respect from India.

[@atlas7425]

Me, too. I like that discussion very much. Are you a physicist or just a physics enthusiast ?

[@garamiglm2026]

Just a physics enthusiast, i am afraid, with a superficial knowhow on physics. ! I hope to delve deeper into these topics someday.

[@atlas7425]

Harami Glm I am a physics enthusiast, too. I am going to study maths or physics some day and till that I try to get more knowledge.

[@yotty97]

i dont like indian men, i think they're annoying.

[@garamiglm2026]

Why dont you teach 'your' men not to meddle in affairs of innocent people ? You are ofcourse free to have your opinion..

[@smoothcriminal28]

Edward Witten is a remarkable human being with a mind of epic proportions.

[@MrWikimat]

Like The Rolling Stones...

[@VetusBarbatus]

I had the same conversation with my friends in the pub the other day. People seems to get very passionate about it.

[@realBlue2024]

Humm...I don't want to be a fly on your wall.

[@cesarjom]

To think these conversations about String Theory took place in the mid-80s and then about 10 years later Witten would complete his M Theory research that showed that all the different superstring theories of this era were in fact all the same, in their limiting cases, of one unified theory!!!

[@buddhasarchive8385]

Loved the conversation. this is more than 30 years old and feels like I am watching it live.

[@AmjadHussain-me4fc]

this is just amazing....all beautiful minds in one room...

[@Chase-b5t]

Abdus Salam and Ed Witten at the same table. Two of the greatest minds who ever lived.

[@nyanpraterjr1819]

I too think Young Professor Witten's knowledge and sense of history of Physics and math (etc.) is, among other things, what makes him so charming and likeable... plus his humility, humor, and genuine love of discovery! ❤️😊

[@priscillawrites6685]

Witten’s undergrad degree is in history. PhD physics.

[@chetnasirodaria3579]

Abdus is like teacher seeing his extraordinarily brilliant student.

[@robertpirsig5011]

Witten ain't the student here I wouldn't say.

[@chetnasirodaria3579]

@@robertpirsig5011 I am just trying to give analogy by seeing video. Like teacher questioning student

[@timewalker6654]

​@@robertpirsig5011r u fokn stupid

[@tw0ey3dm4n]

Salaam is the father figure here for sure testing his son, pushing him for answers. I love it

[@Avlys101]

So incredibly rare to have a video of a deep technical discussion between the best minds on the planet.

[@shozabraza.design]

Fields medal winner Edward Witten with Nobel Prize winner Abdus Salam made my day.

[@pickitypopsnickitylovejone6558]

I think Witten would cringe at how romanticized he is in this comment section. I also think it is what hampers successful communication between himself and most people today. Not to take away from his stellar achievements, of course, he is brilliant. What is fascinating or surprising to me is how understable geniuses like him are, the same impression I have of Einstein. They do not have the airy view of themselves that people tend to have about them.

[@edwardjones2202]

Do you understand String Theory?

[@robertpirsig5011]

I agree. He would be confounded that people are marvelling at him rather than the ideas.

[@SoundsSilver]

How you can watch any interview of Witten and not see that he exudes narcissism I do not know.

[@geometerfpv2804]

​@@SoundsSilverHe's literally just calmly stating his scientific imaginings. How can you take that as narcissistic unless you are one of those people that think intelligence is arrogance? That's a profoundly American idea, cultures in other places don't have that association.

[@3steban427]

Absolutely fascinating to hear them talk about gravitational wave detection

[@HiAdrian]

Thank you so much for sharing this with us, simply wonderful!

[@redwolf155]

So honored to see Abdul Salam speak here,

[@manxr1]

I think Lie was originally looking for the Galois theory of differential equations of some sort? Peter Olver talks about it in his very well-written book on Applications of Lie Groups to Differential Equations.

[@bilalarain4632]

Abdus Salam, indeed what a personality.

[@tanmaybhore1979]

The best video I've seen in a long time, thank you for the upload

[@alexandermcfarlane2109]

Awesome to see their hopes at 40mins fulfilled this year :)

[@HappyG1lm0re]

I love how we can see the Witten ponder something, smile like a kid thinking about if he should present this idea, then he sends it.

[@afifakimih8823]

Who knows then,one day this smart kid wiould be world smartest person or would be one of the great Theoretical physicist,and only physicist ever who won field madal in mathematics (equivalent to nobel prize). Ed Witten is a giant in his field.!! He is actually a genius.! 💜❤❤

[@robertwhitten265]

@24:00 "Galactic center with threads coming out and the threads are 100 parsecs long" That's like 8 times the Kessel Run made by the Millennium Falcon.

[@7177YT]

A very delicate dance between young Witten and the veteran profs, almost a sparring session at times. The bit where they politely told Witten they don't buy his cosmic strings at Cygnus X-3 around 22:00

[@miscibi]

Holy shit! It was quite a while ago when I received the answers to sooo many questions I had about physics, mathematics, and coming up with theories! THANK YOU for uploading this.

[@breakfastenjoyer]

Please allow for captions to be added.

[@hrperformance]

amazing to hear this!! thanks for posting

[@UmarKhan-zl2jm]

I always come to this video very often just to see Ed's talk

[@christopherwoodcock8535]

Nice to see scientists talking seriously about real science. And, Edward Witten is truly brilliant

[@stephencarlsbad]

I love how a young Ed Witten holds the older guard of physics captive with his passion for sharing scientific nuance, beyond what they may have intuited.

[@MS-cj8uw]

Its a grate privilege that to see the geniuses talking .... thank you ......actually I thing that we are in the era of converting the mathematics to a physics .......and that indeed like a great victory to a human kind, it seem as there is a continuous sound saying that there is a deep connection between our biological system and the universe....... it seem we are not in the era where we make analysing for the physics of nature by the mathematics only ......

[@dr_IkjyotSinghKohli]

How much we miss in today's society with the scientists of today! We went from Dennis Sciama and Abdus Salam to Neil de Grasse Tyson and Lawrence Krauss, a true loss for today's youth!

[@ZoeTheCat]

Yeah. Not many world class physicists have been successful at communicating to the masses. That's why Tyson, Kaku, et al get so much exposure. Feynman has probably been the BEST ever to communicate to the general public as an upper echelon WORLD CLASS physicist. I'm afraid that "today's youth" aren't that interested. Social media continues the dumbing down of the world.

[@fredrika9556]

Would it not be more accurate to say that we went from Sagan to Degrasse Tyson and from Abdus Salam, for exampel, to some of the many fine physicists of today who also primarily do scientific research?

[@dr_IkjyotSinghKohli]

Fredrik A Tyson has not published a paper in more than 2 decades. When he did publish a paper, I believe he was the 4th or 5th co-author... He does zero scientific research today.

[@dr_IkjyotSinghKohli]

***** Yes. I very much agree. Not only that, but social media has also made everyone into a scientific genius, so everyone thinks they know everything.

[@ZoeTheCat]

Ikjyot Singh Kohli There are some great physicist writing books out there for the masses (Weinberg, Lederman, etc), but the spokesman roles are consumed by Tyson, Kaku and a number of merely competent physicists. I think these spokesmen realized their limitations in the upper echelon of physics and decided to cash in instead. I don't have too much of a problem with that. We can still get great courses from Witten, Susskind and others. The thing that infuriates me the most are the quacks and utter crackpots out there who spread misinformation/conspiracy for profit. Many militant theists also add to the spread of misinformation.

[@NewbFixer]

these are the best conversations when everything was done in the best interest of science and not politics or societal trends.

[@qwertyzxcv123]

I'm proud to say that I understand some of the words they said.

[@NomenNominandum]

So many of the most brilliant physics minds in a discussion - just AWESOME !!!

[@Nihhuz]

I have no clue what they're talking about but it's fascinating.

[@enigma9306]

Every few no longer I come back and watch this video. It's surprisingly relevant

[@Edruezzi]

This is the first time I've heard Abdus Salam.

[@jeremyryandegraw]

38:05 why these edits? This happened a few times.

[@PeoplesScience]

almost forgot to watch this today. This is a morning tradition at this point

[@branchclan6112]

Interesting to hear these long form conversations on things not seen by the human eye.

[@NorwegianViking86]

The amount of respect Witten had, even at this age. Its mindblowing. I feel I wouldnt make a fool of myself in most settings but if he is present I would shut up and listen.

[@WorldView22]

This is of great historical value. Science is a noble endeavour and one of humanity's finest enterprises, when it's done conscientiously. Worshiping people for some theories they proposed and supported, and even for their honest and advanced hard work is neither noble nor related to science but to plain foolish ignorant fanaticism. These people have earned the respect of their colleagues and history records their impact to society, typically in the long run. There are numerous scientists who neither received the recognition that is due to them nor the means to work on what they could do best. Let's tone down the reverence a notch; Witten shows restraint and humility until today, and for a very good reason.

[@gerardopc1]

Isn't it fantastic that we have free access to this video? 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@jessicaiatarelli6948]

I would like to ask the same thing. Closed caption or subtitles... Please!! English is not my first language and I'm working very hard to understand some of the things that are being said in this video. Help me! =)

[@sajateacher]

Listening to these gentlemen speak is like listening to great music... not that I understand even 5% of what they're saying, however. I remember reading something by Paramahansa Yogananda where he speaks of, I think it was his Samadhi experience, where he saw great whips lashing curtains of light into the illusion of reality and all creation. Perhaps what he was seeing were cosmic strings? Wish I could remember where I read it...

[@drbonesshow1]

Ryan Blais Take heart: 5% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

[@kensandale243]

"Listening to these gentlemen speak is like listening to great music... not that I understand even 5% of what they're saying" You don't understand it...yet you think it is brilliant. You have a problem.

[@sajateacher]

Ken Sandale - That's almost a Haiku. Well done.

[@prepareforwinter213]

It’s weird how these guys are actually intimidating, their intelligence could melt your brain

[@robbader3]

Did this take place before M-Theory was devised by Witten? It seems like you can almost see him come up with the idea of "going home and discovering M-Theory" at 7:19.

[@ashishkiift]

This is GOLD ! Thank You KZbin !

[@gaulindidier5995]

Whether string theory is true or not, Ed is such an impressive mind, i'm quite inspired by him!

[@samman350]

Hear what you're saying: you're revering a person whose theories are esotheric, and have never been tested with reality. No doubt his brilliance at math, but you should be utterly sceptical of his contributions to physics if they have never been tested with reality (i.e. an experiment).

[@gaulindidier5995]

@@samman350 Oh I don't think String Theory or M theory is it either. Witten is still the man though!

[@samman350]

@@gaulindidier5995 why is he 'the man'?

[@samman350]

@Julez O'Neil I get no responses that are substantial, I only get people calling me names and to 'stfu'. This is the same reaction that strongly religious people have when you question their beliefs. I'm not insulting anyone, I respectfully question the relevance and justification of the practice of string theory.

[@samman350]

@Julez O'Neil 'understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest', 'private, confidential'. Just try to read a quantum gravity paper. How does this definition not apply?

[@BarriosGroupie]

Ed is 35 years of age here; a mature physicist and not a kid.

[@karlhoffman4676]

I love how there's levels to genius. 3 brilliant minds listening to a clearly more intelligent human, and they all know it... I wonder how many conversations Einstein had with his peers discussing relativity and impressing everyone.

[@Bikewithlove]

“I’m not late - given the time dilation of postulated quantum gravity in a Higgs particle accelerator I’m early in a way you could never understand.” -Witten

[@gheckolock81]

Wish there was a video of these people navigating the regular world together. Imagine them shopping, at the DMV or changing a tire.

[@DrDeuteron]

This was 1986: A time if maximum optimism. Salam's SU(2)xU(1) had just unified the electroweakforce, SU(3) would soon be confirmed with 3-jet events. Gauge symmetry was king. It was pretty clear SU(5) was the GUT, and then into gravity, and it would be super. Well no. protons didn't decay, su5 was wrong, 30y later the Higgs was found but no SUSY...we are lost. There's been some fun in the neutrino sector, but otherwise: nothing new has happened in particle physics. Looking back, I put the W, Z (Salam) discovery (1985) as the beginning of the end of the glory years of particle physics...and this interview capture that optimism perfectly. Ofc Sciama hints at where the action would be: astrophysics. Cygnus X-3 is a bust, but all the mind bending data have come from above since this was filmed.

[@Eric714Trading]

I was just about to type this out myself

[@danarrington2224]

I would love to know if anyone is able to clean up the sound a little. The "muffled" sound makes it hard for me to keep up, especially since they all have unique accents.

[@pzever]

what a brilliant young mind Witten was at the time...

[@richmahogany1]

this was shot in such a weird way. one guy will be talking then it will cut to another guy's face from a different part of the video smiling or something.

[@afifakimih8823]

Who knows then that kid,one day will be world smartest person,a great Theoretical physicist,a great mind..!!❤💜❤💜

[@justinbenglick]

Great video! Is there video of the Dirac Medals being awarded?

[@ive3336]

It's wild that 4 years after this conversation the Hubble telescope was launched and absolutely blew everyone's mind. Gonna have to go and find each of their reactions to hubble now 😂 great vid!

[@ethorii]

I can see the Napoleon Dynamite persona based on a couple of Witten's traits. I love his level calm voice even though I have almost no comprehension of what he says.

[@pebblebeach4868]

Great call, wow.

[@darkstatehk]

"The plasma physics involved would look rather complicated; Complicated enough that I certainly would never come to understand it myself" Classic Ed Witten! Borderline sarcasm wrapped so beautifully in a soup of realism. Dear Ed......please don't die until you are at least 400 years old.

[@pickitypopsnickitylovejone6558]

Great observation, but I do not think it is partially sarcastic, I think he speaks from a very human perspective. To us he may seem the intellectual god, but to himself only a human with limitations to his comprehension. That indicates to me a very healthy dosage of humility and, as you accurately state, realism on his part. He does not assume that he'd understand or be proficient at just anything, especially not in physics (specifically "obscure" physics).

[@Neonb88]

He may be much smarter than us, and he knows many things we don't know. But he doesn't know wayyyyy more things than he knows

[@mrbubbles69able]

19:27 the eyebrow raise of Edward Witten

[@ktatlow]

This is wonderful! Does anybody have a link to a transcript?

[@BrianWhisenant-r8o]

Genious in the room n they have nothen but chills when they see who God gave us😊

[@erickesquivel8609]

I love how Witten talks with his eyes half closed like he’s really thinking hard about stuff. It reminds me about me when I’m thinking hard about stuff and I try to relax so that my brain isn’t all overworking and missing the answers.

[@brendawilliams8062]

Yeap. It’s like a Giza pyramid wants to sit on your lap and the lap tops easier

[@drbonesshow1]

The young Ed Witten looks like he's also there to sell the three others on the panel a pair of shoes: 1:55