Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | July 2024

[@Attila_Beregi]

we just had an election to pick a mew mayor in a city of 2 miilion. at the end, after 740.000 votes counted, the difference was 41. so even though it's not one vote but still shows i think that "every little counts" when it comes to voting

[@DeclanMBrennan]

And in my country we have Proportional Representation where every vote does count. If you don't get your first preference, you might get your second or third.

[@wkittils]

The press argument defending focus on Biden’s age while Trump's baked-in bad behavior is given a pass as yesterday’s news is a classic example of not seeing the forest through the trees. Furthermore, the end result leads to a misleading comparison which is not as shocking as the need to spell out the need for basic non-misleading integrity.

[@GuillermoMartinez-eq7kt]

Ok so let’s elect a dementia baked-in president instead 🤣

[@rayfighter]

I'm with George Conway here - Trump checks amazing 9 out of 9 symptoms for the sociopath diagnosis, where just 3 are enough. And he is malignant narcissist too. At this point, no psychologist is needed anymore, but G. Conway is bringing experts up soon anyway. Unfit for office.

[@johnhelm6231]

Very good audio quality ☝️🌟✨🎤.

[@michaelkahama3459]

Whenever Sean speaks about politics does he think in the back of his mind that these values on constitutions are emergent?

[@georgewaters6424]

One does not just sit down to listen to 3 hours of Sean without comment!

[@BabuSathyanarayana]

@davidmudry5622 Good point. I agree science needs to be taught most accurately with continuous updates of the new discoveries and understanding, Gravity as force versus space geometry, is still not very well illustrated for young minds as they develop the understanding with the three dimensional space. A nice challenge to the science teaching communiry and science communicators. Quantum behaviors also fall in to this category, and likely, many more.

[@Raptorel]

I think the mistake that Sean is making in the teleportation example is that the classical world is only what we can observe about what really is. So just because I create a brain that classically looks like Sean's brain doesn't mean that I have re-instantiated Sean's first person perspective. After all, if you have a qubit and you observe it, you only observe one bit of information out of it, even though the qubit was much more than that. Not to mention that Sean insists to be copied exactly. But why? What if I misplace just one neuron of Sean's brain, would that be "someone else" than him? After all, if I kill one neuron from his brain right now, there won't be any difference in his first person experience, so why would it matter if it's completely, 100% identical when he's replicated? Oh, and one more thing: we can find frames of reference where he is destroyed first then re-instantiated somewhere else or re-instantiated somewhere else and then destroyed, due to how relativity works - we can't say which of these was "first". So there's a bunch of funky things going on with that example.

[@Games_and_Music]

2:22:22 (awesome timing btw) I have the same thought, because the pollution clearly adds a lot of color to the sunsets, which looks amazing, ironically. I remember my favorite sunset about 15 years ago, i was walking home from work and suddenly the sky started turning orange, then deep orange, until the streets looked bright red. I took a bunch of pictures on my phone, but sadly only one of them survived, which was a profile shot of myself against the sun, but i lost the red street shots. But yeah, i think it was because of Saharan sand blowing over, so it wasn't actually pollution in that sense, but in general i do like me some orange sunsets.

[@librulcunspirisy]

Thanks 👍

[@ianbrown3342]

Hi Sean. I dont find looking for life on other planets to be very intriguing typically. But while watching an introduction to entropy the speaker mentioned lifeforms are well suited to creating high entropy. And for every one photon from the sun, the planet re-emmits 20 lower energy photons. Could we not look at other planets and their star to planet photon ratio to see if they are candidates for life? Hope you get a chance to read this. I see im two weeks late. I'll try to get my question in on the next ask me anything session as well. Thanks!

[@imadetheuniverse4fun]

love this thought btw, did you ever get it asked / answered?

[@jcamacho5103]

Sean can you timestamp the audio by section and question(s) so we can identify and then choose which question(s) we want to listen to?

[@rozaepareza]

I have a comment about the question at 1:37:45. As someone with similar views to you, Sean, about this kind of hypothetical, I was surprised by your answer. I actually would be ok with the copy being made first and then being "killed" a second later, since I wouldn't really be getting killed at all - it would be similar to just losing a second of memory. (Assuming the disassembly process was painless of course, but that goes for any teleportation device no matter whether the copy was created before or after.) You could extend the question, and say what if a duplicate was accidentally created during teleportation and the mistake was discovered the next day? In that case, I would actually still be ok with being disassembled, assuming nothing particularly profound had happened in the intervening time, as it would be a similar loss to losing the last day's memories. (Since I would volunteer, that means my copy would volunteer as well, so we'd have to sit down and work out which one had had the more valuable experiences over the last day.) Of course, if weeks or months had gone by I wouldn't want to do that, any more than I'd want to lose the last weeks or months of memories. We would be starting to become significantly different people at that point.

[@millatron2292]

For those who challenged the "transporter problem" solution presented, your conjectures about multiple copies is actually not allowed as part of the no cloning / no broadcasting theorem. That is to say that in order to gain the necessary information at the quantum level to completely replicate the person on the other end of the transporter, the existing person must be disassembled completely (preventing leaving a copy behind) and can only be created at the destination via quantum teleportation which prevents multiple copies from existing. Though its all purely the fiction part of science fiction, there is nothing scientific that prohibits the view point of a continuum of consciousness through the transportation process. There's nothing that guarantees it either. If you want a totally different terrifying possibility with teleportation I encourage you to read "The Jaunt" by Stephen King.

[@KH16411]

Why is exactly replicating at the quantum level necessary for maintaining continuous experience? Seems extremely arbitrary as consciousness as we understand it is a macroscopic phenomenon and you’d think it would be robust to very small changes

[@TheRealDoctorB]

Sean, I recently saw you on NDT's YT channel with Neil and a childhood friend also from Philly. You referenced a 2021 publication where you argue the fundamental ontology of the world as a vector in Hilbert field. I thought the core of existence was Higgs field. How are these concepts related?

[@deeptochatterjee532]

At 1:44:39, isn't the patron describing the consistent histories interpretation? It's definitely been invented (though I don't like it either)

[@charlievane]

the problem is corruption

[@Michael-nt1me]

...confusion, corruption and criminalization....

[@quigon6349]

Exactly do not vote for GOP or democrats both corrupt gangs

[@twonumber22]

yeah money needs to be removed from politics in every possible way

[@twonumber22]

@davidmudry5622 Time to log off david

[@KH16411]

Okay but relativistic star trek transporter right? Is it okay to create a clone of you such that your forward light cones don’t cross? What does instantaneous entail? Etc etc

[@INflamesRobbie]

Hello! Fan from Sweden here. Been listening to you since MS no 1. I realy like your calm voice and very knowledgable way of explaining everything. You´re teh main reason why I beleive in the "many worlds" - hyphotesy. I know it´s about your opnion on things on theese AMA`s but when you talk politics it´s hard for me to listen cause I dont know if thats really your opinion and you´re ignorant of reality and the truth or if you´re just talking a stand because thats what the sience community and the universities demands of you. We in Europe have suffered much more becusee of the far left leaning politics than you have obviously. But if you dont change direction it will come to you very soon. And I will tell you that we espacially here in sweden we ar every open to othwer cultures and religions. Racism ha snot been a problem here at all in many decades. And we have 20% of our population thats is from another country. With that said it´s hard for me to here someone as educated as you talking about Trump as if he is a criminal and how the supreme court has failed. When the reality is that your goverment has done everything in its power to go after this man, (wheher you likew him or not) a presidential candidate, to hinder him from even takiong part in the election. In sweden we have a long history of a well functioning demoacracy. If a political party would try to go after another party thw way tje Biden administration has done by gooing after Trump they would loose all support here. Spending million and millions of dollars trying to find (and even making up criminal offensives) even tha smallaest type of misconduct, is shamefull to the great country that I beleive you are. Simaltanosly you are having a prsident that clearly is not the one in charge in your country. Because it is not obvious that you He´s not capable of taking big dissicions? And thats not more worrying to you? That you have a commander in chief thats incappable. And you are not angry about that??? Biden isn´t the gong after Trump it is the whole administration. I dont like either of the candidates you have. Here in Sweden we hav emany parties and the govermnet is allweays a coallition. I´m sorry to say this but your not so objective thoughts on politics makes it hard for me to listen to this AMA´s anymore. So please dont talk politics on yor AMA´s. I think you´re one the best intellectualls when it comes to physics and cosmology and even philossophy. Thank you!

[@imadetheuniverse4fun]

i don't really get this post - at all. why do yo have this massive paragraph of text when you should just be answering the one question. why do you think trump's actions regarding the insurrection are not criminal?

[@BabuSathyanarayana]

Hi Sean, With a non-partisan stance, Harris replacing Biden has changed the scene quite bit on one side, while the other side is already having doubts about Vance and, who knows, what is next. Time to share your thoughts again.

[@Destrolll]

A point about teleportation. Sean says that he doesn't mind to be killed by a teleporting machine if he gets reassembled at the same moment. Does this mean he should be ok with being killed at any moment, because at the same moment there will be a world where he avoids death. And another point when he says, it is ok if and only if he gets reassembled at the same time. But there is no such thing as a same time. While writing this I realised that you can ask for 0 spacetime interval instead of "same moment"

[@jay31415]

The answer is "yes". No one could possibly "mind" being killed, obviously. But if you don't provide a new copy of him, then you'll have some explaining to do to his loved ones, and if you can't provide a copy of him, you might be tried for murder.

[@Stadtpark90]

That very first (priority) question about the Hubble Tension was actually helpful for my physical world view, which despite all your efforts still mostly is relying on (your) authority. - I know: it’s ironic - every scientist (especially you) is against arguments from authority; yet here we are / here I am… - that’s the beauty about your AMA episodes: you don’t hold back with your opinions. (Contrary to your more careful presentations.)

[@real_pattern]

it's not intrinsically wrong to rely on epistemic authorities. the problem would be if you'd think without further argumentation or reliable empirical motivations / support that anything SC says is true or incorrigible *because* he's an authority. given sean's credentials, his public outreach efforts and most importantly, his transparency about how he applies epistemic virtues and methods to arrive at his credences and stances, he's one of the best experts you can choose to influence or guide your views.

[@FigmentHF]

Thanks, Sean. I find this very comforting and inspiring, as well as insightful and entertaining.

[@ZootaAndrewMahera]

Shawn..Im a self taught audio editing and mastering hobbyist .And a musician. I can remove the room reverb , add clarity to your voice and the overall audio cold sound like high end studio record production. I'll be happy ho help you out for free . I'll upload a sample of the audio to this... On my channel and post the link ...

[@diandeva]

It’s Sean not Shawn 😊

[@AugustReversal]

@@diandevaMaybe he's actually an audio genius and thinks in phonetics and makes common spelling mistakes as a result lol. Probably not but you never know. Savants are a thing.

[@kostoglotov2000]

Could be, that we are coming out of the last ice age

[@teapot_]

Larry Rossie question 1:14:40 was very relevant and something I would like to happen throughout the world, not just in the US. Also I liked your answer very relevant and balanced. We can land on the moon, investigate space, perform brain surgery. Surely we can put together a political system that is fair and beneficial to the majority. Thanks Sean.

[@HakWilliams]

Sean, thank you for your big brain sanity!

[@alexiskiri9693]

This heat is the new normal. Get used to it.

[@swirlinember1974]

I appreciates you Sean! Doing the great work

[@luizarthurbrito]

About the guy who moved with a cat. Don't worry, some cats take up to 3 months to get used to a new environment. Soon enough it'll be comfortable again.

[@DaxLLM]

Factors Leading to Dispute Despite Grave Danger: Psychological comfort: Emotional security from familiar beliefs. Fear of change: Resistance to lifestyle or worldview changes. Confirmation bias: Seeking confirming information. Cultural and social identity: Aligning with community beliefs. Misinformation: Influence of false information. Trust issues: Distrust in scientific institutions or authorities.

[@Michael-nt1me]

What Peer Review Science may come as our technological know how and technologically interconnecting advance ventures into what is ...true, truth and more truthful.... coming forth and going forward?

[@jonathanbyrdmusic]

Gotta love these guys who come here like “what this actual theoretical physicist is not understanding is…”

[@rayfighter]

ikr? 😂

[@mw-th9ov]

As an empirical fact biological age and date of birth age are not the same. Dates of birth do not predict biological age. Since everything involves entropy, that theoretical fact can't be used to equate birth date age and biological age.

[@jamesfeisttabla]

This has to be the Lock Picking Lawyer

[@grixlipanda287]

France has had a left or centre left wing government every decade since at least the second world war. That it has another one is not a shock or a surprise. The people voted for a right wing government and the centre and left formed a coalition to stop them from getting power. How is that for democracy?

[@HakWilliams]

Sounds like democracy

[@syphonunfiltered]

It's better than what's happening in the US where the right wing is a minority (~30%) but they've acquired a disproportionate amount of power, and they're using it in a creeping march towards authoritarianism.

[@AndreluisMachadoloboesilva]

Indigenous people are not the ones to blame for climate change, that's tecnology's industry fault. If every one in the world had the consume of a rich american person, the natural resources of the planet are gone, and yes, we're doom. Now, if we learn something with indigenous people, there's room for everyone of the 8 billion of us to leave and share the resources of Earth.

[@gustavocve1779]

I lean more to the republican party, but I don't agree with Trump in most of his politics. I prefer Biden to win the election for the good of the world, not just in the matter of the environment, but also with the Ukraine conflict.

[@brendosapien]

Among other things, where it comes to climate, we can do a lot personally to reduce erosion and restore ecosystems, so that the land can keep more water and organic compounds and minerals rather than allowing them to wash away - this deepens the soil horizon, establishing plants, increasing soil moisture, reducing albedo (usually related to cooling from reflection, but can contribute to odd vortexes, heat domes, and other erratic climate effects) and CO2 off-gassing from bare rock and sand, etc. Also, water vapor (according to a study by Texas A&M) is a much worse greenhouse gas than CO2 - not to diminish the effect of human industry, we also release a lot of water vapor thinking none of it, and this is low hanging fruit. Also I just saw a post about phyto-mining getting nickel for EV battery storage and increased-potency solar panels by growing certain flowers. Not to diminish the extreme reality we are experiencing, but there are options we can be courting now.

[@CorwynGC]

You are correct, we can do so much more personally. People often say that anything you can do is a drop in a bucket, but we must remember that the entire bucket is nothing but drops. The difference between CO2 and H2O is most notably the lifespan in the atmosphere. CO2 lasts roughly 100 years, while H20 is days. Not to diminish the problems we have with H2O, but it is viewed as a short term problem. Also CO2 increases H2O.

[@MrVaypour]

While you have 95% of human beings living below the bread line, climate change will never be a priority. Equality will bring about resolve.

[@Michael-nt1me]

Consider the advance of ...truths, faiths and doubts.... as our Wiser Knowledge Engineering emerges and evolves.

[@johndunn5272]

Can you make a comment on Stephen Wolframs view of the Ruliad

[@GoatOfTheWoods]

Mindscape 155

[@TalentMixture2024]

You Are My Teacher I have A Question # Sean Carroll

[@garydecad6233]

Can we clone Sean Carroll for President of the United States or at least Chief Science Advisor to the President?

[@garydecad6233]

…and of course the President needs to believe that good science is best for our country and the world.

[@wkittils]

Albeit a very "pale" imitation

[@emilydavid3104]

Our economy couldnt handle that he knows when he says stuff like that its to get attention and be extreme. Thats why people like him bc of how extreme he is.

[@tk5821]

I was waiting for this like a crackfiend knocking on the dealer door at 4a.m scratching his armpits

[@MrPDTaylor]

Terry, get off my lawn

[@mw-th9ov]

Re: poetry is hard The romantic poets wrote some great poems which are not obscure or arcane: Wordsworth, Keats , for example.

[@kschuman1152]

I have to comment on your opening about climate change. I believe that humans have and continue to be responsible for a warming climate (along the conventional line that we are emitting vast quantities of green house gases). However, compared to the risk of nuclear war as threat that mankind faces from now till the end of the century, nuclear war as an order of magnitude greater risk. What I really dislike about the global warming bandwagon is that it is sucking away all the oxygen out of public debate about the greatest threat mankind has ever faced -- indeed a global nuclear war is almost inevitable unless society becomes much more aware of this risk and comes to fear it much more than it does currently. While unmitigated climate change will very likely cause the weather to get hotter by the end of the century. Hydrogen bombs will make it much, much hotter... as hot as hell, and very much like it.

[@arasharfa]

the american military industrial complex is one of the biggest polluters, those issues are connected.

[@twonumber22]

I just have to say that it's much more than just "the weather getting hotter". You probably already know that but it's just the way you put it leaves out things like famine, disease, etc.

[@Destrolll]

3:12:37 so true

[@Stadtpark90]

The cat question: 😂😂😂 n=2 - again arguments from authority 😊

[@sciencedaddio1643]

I know you don't care, I'm out man.

[@HakWilliams]

LOL

[@Zsa-Zsa7]

Politics? No thank you.

[@jamesplant5280]

The uninformed and disempowered do not know what concept of self interest even is.

[@Michael-nt1me]

😔 ...nature, nurture, culture, and self-stature.... ...non-self and self.... ...self, family and civilizations.... ...self, others, mankind and Almighty (SOMA)....

[@DaxLLM]

Reasons People Dispute Clear Scientific Evidence: Cognitive biases: Deviations from logical reasoning. Belief systems: Resistance due to strong pre-existing beliefs. Education and knowledge: Varying levels of scientific literacy. Social influence: Impact of family, friends, and social groups. Media consumption: Influence of information sources.Personal experiences: Individual experiences affecting views.

[@ThatNoobie]

🥵

[@trevormugalu3797]

Sean, I don't know if anyone has told you this, but you kinda look like Donald Trump.

[@matthewspartan8754]

Wow! He actually does look like a slightly younger Trump!

[@emilydavid3104]

Nothing like trump what lol

[@matthewspartan8754]

@@johncarter1150 just joking 🤣

[@B_Ahmed1234]

He looks like old melted cheese? Edit: Trump does, Sean does not

[@swirlinember1974]

Nah, resemblance ends with they both have two eyes, nose and mouth.

[@HeatherSZ]

The heat is brutal. Absolutely brutal. And if either candidate wins, we are fucked. What a spot to be in.

[@RealQinnMalloryu4]

If you care a about climate effects and climate change than you vote against donald trump and vote Joe Bidon because Donald Trump replie American band cut down Greenhouse band cfcs

[@RealQinnMalloryu4]

I meant Paris climate Agreement

[@setitfree78]

I hope it gets even hotter

[@HakWilliams]

Why?

[@setitfree78]

@HakWilliams I'm trying to even out my tan

[@syphonunfiltered]

I hope it gets even hotter for you too

[@setitfree78]

@@syphonunfiltered I hope the heat gives you a very uncomfortable sweating experience.

[@TheCosmicGuy0111]

Funnn

[@grixlipanda287]

Sean, concerning your opening statements on climate change, you mentioned average temperature increase. The average temperature is rising because winters are becoming milder. This contradicts your point about climate becoming more extreme. You also mention rising temperatures, but compared to the really hot weather the US experienced in the early 20th century, this is nothing special. Nothing you said is logically coherent. Your physicist friends are right to distrust this narrative, you... should... listen... to... them.

[@vimal-cliobconsulting]

Haha

[@jay31415]

A quick check shows that even year-to-year comparisons of a single month demonstrates a progressive rise in temperature.

[@CorwynGC]

'Extreme' in the case means higher Energy level. This leads to extreme (high energy) events, such as storms of various sorts. But that aside, merely getting hotter by itself will eventually kill us all if it continues unabated.

[@bryandraughn9830]

There's nothing good about humans polluting everywhere in every way and ramping it up year after year. It's a stupid way to move forward. I don't care if it's affecting the climate. It's disgusting and stupid.

[@HakWilliams]

Summers are getting hotter, droughts are getting worse, hurricane are bigger, more frequent, and earlier. First does and wildfires are getting worse. Heat waves are getting deadlier all over the world.

[@aosidh]

Grilled pizza is awesome. It's a little tricky to toss dough unless you have a dough roller to make uniform circles, but you can get realistic plastic "throw doughs" 😽🤌