Sean Carroll | The Passage of Time & the Meaning of Life

What is time? What is humankind’s role in the universe? What is the meaning of life? For much of human history, these questions have been the province of religion and philosophy. What answers can science provide?
In this talk, Sean Carroll will share what physicists know, and don’t yet know, about the nature of time. He’ll argue that while the universe might not have purpose, we can create meaning and purpose through how we approach reality, and how we live our lives.
Sean Carroll is a Research Professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology, and an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. His research has focused on fundamental physics and cosmology, especially issues of dark matter, dark energy, spacetime symmetries, and the origin of the universe.
Recently, Carroll has worked on the foundations of quantum mechanics, the emergence of spacetime, and the evolution of entropy and complexity. Carroll is the author of "Something Deeply Hidden", "The Big Picture", "The Particle at the End of the Universe" amongst other books and hosts the "Mindscapes" podcast.

[@raysun6617]

As far as entropy is concerned all I can say is that my brain had such a low entropy before this video that now at the end of the video my brain exploded in the same order of magnitude as from the big bang to now.

[@thomastortorich1429]

During my college days, these topics were not discussed. Why? The professors always avoided anything complex that challenged conventional wisdom.

[@ALINAXANGELINA]

This is the most mindblowing speech I have listened to. Thank you!! Please more.

[@BavonWW]

When he got the hydrogenation part things became very clear and I had the same sensation that I had when I saw my father dressing up as Santa.

[@mera2876]

How can you assume that the Laws of Physics that apply to current circumstances have never been different?

[@johnnytass2111]

"The bright areas is where dark matter is most concentrated"... the gears of the multiverses turn to spark galaxies as dark matter carries out the energy of what could have been but was not... Shine on, you crazy diamond. So metaphorically speaking, is Dark Matter all the "wave-particles" of what could have been riding the waves of Modified Gravity into the fields of all the other Universes of the Multiverse we can no longer see but we feel its absence?

[@crisbycris4012]

Yeah, they all say time is passing by. I am pretty sure that We are the ones passing by time.

[@suecondon1685]

Really enjoyed that.

[@thomastortorich1429]

Are you open to the possibility that a race on a distant universe has a better comprehension of what we still don't understand?

[@CroatAndNettles]

I'm both in the nick of time and in its midst. You saying I'm not? Prove it!

[@charliepotter100]

It would be really good to know which philosophers he was referring to at 56:00.

[@bootwhip]

What is the speed of time?

[@silberlinie]

Wir glauben nicht, dass es die Zeit an sich gibt. Es gibt das zyklischen Verhalten vieler Vorgänge. Diese refrentieren wir. Und benennen einen dieser Zyklusse die Referenz einer Zeiteinheit. Alleine schon die Relativität der von uns gemessenen zyklischen Vorgänge unter relativistischen Bedingungen, zeigt die Brüchigkeit der Annahme eines genuinen pysikalischen Phänomens Zeit.

[@cherontippett7690]

Time is nothing more than the measurement something exists

[@julianholman7379]

Sean Carroll neglected to mention the quite extraordinary significance of (spatio-temporally minute) human consciousness in this vast universe : because human thought right now, at the very threshhold of its extinction, is the unique vessel in which the lifeform which is Language has concocted a tiny intricate near perfect working model of this whole cosmic architecture Sean Carroll's talk has been briefly, roughly synopsizing. Do you get that ??

[@infinitumneo840]

In the quantum world time doesn't flow in any direction.

[@scottianbaker4240]

wow

[@bootwhip]

What about negentropic systems?

[@joegeorge3889]

Time is a continuous evolving process in which the universe is in a forward motion in other words the arrow of time goes forward

[@raysun6617]

Time ia human construct to measure change. A piece of wood does not care about time. If you sat absolutely still inside a cave and observed no change whatsoever then time does not matter just like for the piece of wood. For time change is essential.

[@davewoods177]

wow