The genius of Edward Witten | Edward Frenkel and Lex Fridman

[@LexClips]

Full podcast episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/haTLYWCAaLllpLs Lex Fridman podcast channel: kzbin.info Guest bio: Edward Frenkel is a mathematician at UC Berkeley working on the interface of mathematics and quantum physics. He is the author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality.

[@infinitel00p94]

Please get Witten on. We all would love that!

[@jbangz2023]

Still a long list: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics

[@Macfromwales]

Here's what's happening, Eds father Lewis announced he had cracked zero point and had them on the assembly line. Then he suddenly goes completely silent with his son Edward then derailing humanities entire physics process and talking us down the intellectual cul d sac that is string theory. Get it?

[@coleyoutubechannel]

Get Edward Witten on the show!!!!

[@Tacos27182]

Get him and Eric on and have them go fight about geometric unity.

[@rickyp3329]

Written needs to go on shows before it's to late

[@ghostpiratelechuck2259]

@@Tacos27182 Eric wouldn’t show up.

[@evalac2840]

​@@ghostpiratelechuck2259 he said he would

[@juanitoviejo2121]

@@Tacos27182 Can Weinstein speak without endless metaphor? Tiresome, and merely entertainment...

[@Nakameguro97]

With Witten, you do not have to know physics or mathematics to notice how concisely and precisely he speaks; only a supremely clear mind with mastery of the subject at hand can convey ideas in this way.

[@nosuchthing8]

Or he has given the same speech hundreds of times

[@fahim.foysal]

​@@nosuchthing8 That would mean every experienced lecturer would deliver precise and concise lectures, which is obviously not the case.

[@chriskindler10]

I feel like at this point Lex tried numerous times to get Ed Witten on the show, but he either hasn't replied or agreed to it

[@Fduthoy]

that's very probable

[@InternalAmbition]

Coz hes a right wing bum. Edward Witten is smart enough to know who deserves his time and Friedman isnt that guy.

[@dannygibson2597]

So basically everyone is so impressed by him because he knows both math and physics at the highest possible level. It would be like someone being a hall of famer in 2 professional sports simultaneously. That is wild.

[@smokestrong1000]

Um no. You have to know the math to do the physics. To put it as simplistic as possible, physics is math but only word problems that you have to figure out what math to use to solve the problems.

[@youtubesucks1885]

@@smokestrong1000 Witten conjectured things in pure math multiple times from physical models he was studying that surprised the top mathematicans. He was proved right every single time and still is because some things are still open.

[@paxwallace8324]

He won the Fields medal

[@saifalam2030]

You have to be good in maths if you want to be good in physics.

[@nohandler1493]

He won field medal which is like novel prize in math, so he is a hall of famer in math. He contributed a lot in string theory basically founding father of modern string theories. But string theory is completely theoretical as oppose to what physics say your hypothesis need to be practically tested and verified. We don't have any technology to verify string theories. So, he is not going to win Nobel prize. Einstein did not win Nobel prize for none of his relativity theory because it was not proven at that time. Now we know time is relative because we use Einstein special relativity to fix the time at which we received signal from GPS satellite as time runs slow at higher orbit. We also know that light get bended because of gravity as general relativity said. We also captured the first picture of wormhole as Einstein predicted so all Einstein theory is practically proven because of the development of tech

[@liberty-matrix]

"Nuclear physics is incredibly complicated but it's described by extremely simple equations." ~Edward Witten

[@greenie62]

sounds like computer science...or probably any science in that, tiny tiny operations scaled to beyond intuitively expected heights. i say this as a programming scrub but, just someone in awe of the universe/real intelligence/abstraction.

[@alexjbriiones]

I think that would be one of your great interviews if you could ask Ed Witten to be interviewed by you.

[@franekkrol1389]

With all love and respect to Lex doing podcasts is like waist of time for Witten

[@ernietech-101]

Lex is worthy of Dr. Witten's time. But as I have been told by people I know who went to Princeton, Dr. Witten is very dedicated to his students education and that's where he devotes his time@@franekkrol1389

[@Kivas_Fajo]

Isn't Witten the only physisist that has been awarded the Fields Medal of Mathematics?

[@keithrezendes6913]

First awarded in 1936, 64 people have won the medal as of 2022. With the exception of two PhD holders in physics (Edward Witten and Martin Hairer), only people with a PhD in mathematics have won the medal.

[@Kivas_Fajo]

@@keithrezendes6913 Wow! Thank you so much for enlightening me. Appreciate it!

[@ronaldrussel1158]

​@@keithrezendes6913Edward is not even originally a physicist, he first completed a BA in history with linguistics, then he tried graduate studies in economics, gave up, then applied mathematics and switched to phd in physics. Martin had a much more focused path, BS mathematics, MS physics (mathematical physics) and phd physics (mathematical physics). Ed is unique and one of the greatest geniuses in history.

[@feynmanschwingere_mc2270]

​@@ronaldrussel1158Ed Witten is SCARY smart. I met an graduate student, of Indian descent, at Princeton who was pursuing a masters (or PHD) in history. He relayed to me a story meeting Witten where he told him he was studying history and Witten knew more about the history of India than HE DID. And this a freaking mathematical physicist. It seems like everybody who's ever met him has a similar story. The smartest guy in every room he walks into - with a very eclectic intellect (i.e. journalism, history, politics, philosophy, etc) and very humble too. He is easily the greatest physicist/mathematical physicist of the 21st century and could go toe to toe with any mathematician in history given his prodigious creativity. An exceptional human being.

[@adamya1639]

@Art3c_breeze his father louis witten is a prominent theoretical physicist(still alive at 103!!!), he probably had a hand in educating edward from a young age to think deeply and critically about the world and science. It is also a matter of fact that edward witten has been gifted with a magnificent intellect and the relentless curiosity to utilize it :)

[@davidcantu2665]

“He takes an idea in physics and then find the interpretation of it in mathematics”. This sounds in some situations more effective than the usual thinking of finding a mathematical equation and then finding the intrinsic reality

[@Nate-BreakingPoint-Interactive]

Something I’ve been thinking for awhile with the common reductionist approach in physics is that it probably creates technical debt, like we’ve probably made up a couple things misinterpreting the truth

[@oppamaclare]

I had a revelation watching this video clip. You can tell where you are in the overall longer video by observing amount of coke left in Lex's bottle.

[@vector8310]

I have read writings of Witten and Eric Weinstein. Weinstein barely reaches past Witten's knees.

[@USmetallist]

Eric Weinstein ... talked about Witten this last time on JRE ...with severe praises!

[@Henry-kv7zl]

He would agree! And I think anyone with any sense would question why even mention such a useless, pointlessly negative statement!

[@vitigaymer1053]

What does this clip have to do with Weinstein? You sound obsessed. Where did Eric touch you?! Lol

[@456dave7]

That's putting it very midely... Witten has an h-index of 203 (i.e. published more than 203 papers which had been cited at least 203 times) while Eric didn't even publish a single paper

[@adrrda6091]

It seems Witten is either the cleverest scientist/mathematician alive or one of the prime candidates, so what you're saying is hardly worth mentioning.

[@oldrusty6527]

Is it just me or is everyone talking about Witten lately?

[@bobocpe]

Exactly my thought.

[@yodools]

It's because Eric Weinstein went on joe rogans podcast and painted him as the ultimate villain of physics who has single handedly led physics astray for 40 years

[@kksrinivas24]

Sam here. Heard him first time in Lex podcast and then in JRE.

[@siddharthbirdi]

Because String theory has lost its credibility and people are calling it an outright failure because it has consumed the greatest intellectual minds on earth for decades and hasn't produced a single verifiable prediction so far. Ed Witten, being the founder of M theory, is considered a brilliant guy who has been leading this group for the last 40 years into irrelevance.

[@alexjbriiones]

They have finally discovered him. He will be the new Einstein, if not yet.

[@paxwallace8324]

He's A) a very humble and soft spoken introvert. And B) not exactly the Best at doing popularisation of these highly elusive concepts. But yeah couldn't hurt🤷 What about Brian Greene who's definitely in his Camp Or Even Kaku always loves an interview. Also an interesting possibility would be Lisa Randall from Harvard or the very cool Janna Levine who's arguably the best at speaking in a completely uncompromising yet popular science way about this stuff. Long live the Higher Dimensional multiverse!

[@rauckr09]

Ed Witten appears to be the strongest advocate of applying mathematical equations to physics. Steven Wolfram is the number one advocate of attempting to understand Physics using simple programs instead of equations. This is a new paradigm, and we will see which approach yields more progress.

[@sonarbangla8711]

Frenkel claims Witten keeps discovering more and more connections with QM and mathematics. Lex should ask him how does Witten explain connections of the quantum with classical objects?

[@jonathansharir-smith6683]

This isn’t the hardest question in quantum foundations. Look up the “decoherence” program.

[@OwnGrid]

The better question do you know what QM is

[@tombentley7168]

When I listen to Witten I am reminded of the governor of Texas in The Best Little Whore House in Texas--doing the Texas Side Step. After the Texas governor did his little dance one reporter said to another reporter “what did he say”--the reply was “a possible maybe”

[@LearningWithSuj]

Edward is like if Jean Claude Van damne had gone into mathematical physics instead of martial arts/ Hollywood.

[@darwinlaluna3677]

Is the electromagnetism from north pole to south pole is much stronger than to electromagnetism going south to north?

[@Moondog-j7b]

Makes you wonder what could have been if Ramanujan hadn’t been so forced to write proofs of his work instead of breaking new ground as he was good at.

[@balancejedi162]

Not everything he dreamt up was correct though which is why the proofs were required

[@farzamimran3960]

Proffs are required it doesn't matter how great u are

[@DomenG33K]

He lost his mind and completely denied proof that he was wrong saying "god speaks to me it cannot be wrong"...

[@ysf-d9i]

@@balancejedi162 there's a possibility that we could have let him come up with 10,000 ideas and have others verify it to find that 1000 were legit and 9000 fail, instead of making him prove it himself and end up with 100 ideas that are all legit

[@thedouglasw.lippchannel5546]

Amazing!

[@waltthizzney2878]

Rob Lowe …. Yeah!

[@paulwary]

Mathematicians: No way! Witten: Way! Physicists: We're not worthy!

[@VCT3333]

The bigger problem with the emphasis on solving the discrepancy between Gravity and QFT is that it still leaves out any real explanation of Dark Matter and Dark Energy which actually compose 95 percent of the universe. This dicking around with string theory has got to stop and theoretical physicists should look into not only the DM and DE and it's nature, but also all the results coming from JWST in terms of Cosmology, especially early universe. I have a feeling that String Theory is going to be looked at by the future generations, like we look at phlogiston, Aether or Lamarckianism.

[@youtubesucks1885]

No.

[@i_booba]

I’m pretty sure that supersymmetry (which I believe is required for modern string theory/M theory) predicts a particle that looks a lot like the dark matter particle we expect. Furthermore, if dark energy truly is connected to the vacuum energy of empty space, then it’s likely that quantum gravity contains the missing ingredients for explaining it (since current QFT predicts a value 10^120 or so too high). So, we should absolutely keep pursuing each and every possibility. It took us 2500 years to finally prove Democritus’ atom was correct. Give scientists the time and resources they need to figure things out.

[@glennpaquette2228]

How many predictions has he made for observable quantities, and how many of those predictions have been confirmed experimentally?

[@i_booba]

I mean, quantum gravity is probably the most difficult problem in modern physics, and it only becomes relevant at extremely high energies or extremely small distances. It’s going to be a long time until we can prove anything quantum gravity related, at least directly. Maybe someone clever can devise some experiment that indirectly tests certain aspects of some ideas, but we have to be prepared for a long and arduous journey here. Centuries or millennia, possibly.

[@surfingonmars8979]

I met him a couple of times. Word of advice: do not play chess with him.

[@sanjosemike3137]

By most accounts, Witten is a brilliant and fine man. But I think it is time to stop deifying him with a form of quasi worship. I don’t think he enjoys it either. Atheists are always looking for God substitutes. As atheists, you should grow up and accept your atheism. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)

[@brandonmeadows9403]

Is math in general failed? The fact that there are so many “THEORIES “ makes it hard to make any of the properties into laws.

[@ernietech-101]

And yet Ed Witten is a guy you would see in a Starbucks near Princeton U. Because people have.

[@cybervigilante]

Good taste in physics. Bad taste in coffee.

[@ZombieLincoln666]

Well yeah he lives in Princeton..

[@ronjon7942]

Wonder what it’d be like for a couple of average lay parents, like my wife and me, to have a kid like Witten. We don’t have children, so I’ve not a clue, but it’s got to be hard to recognize, nurture, foster the kids’ gifts, get him or her the proper education, shelter and protect them, etc. I also wonder how many protégés are or have been out there who weren’t encouraged or directed to utilize their talents and gifts effectively. I dunno, just a random thought.

[@xXxBladeStormxXx]

I think you mean "prodigies" not "protégés". But yeah I also automatically thought that Ed Witten must've been someone like Sheldon Cooper, i.e. PhD at 14 years old or something. But actually he graduated high school at 17 or 18 and then got a bachelor's degree in history, according to Wikipedia. He was interested in politics apparently but then decided to study economics for a bit before moving to mathematics and then physics.

[@philschiavone101]

He has not broken enough ground to bury the standard model.

[@armenpoghosyan4998]

He hasn’t done shit, yet he loves it when they call him the next Einstein

[@qwertyzxcv123]

@@armenpoghosyan4998 and what have you contributed to mathematics and physics, you arrogant worm

[@ClearMystic]

Witten + 5-meo-dmt = source code of the universe half joking ;)

[@tomjeff1743]

Just waiting for morgan freeman to show up and save the day

[@chasehprice]

Lex, stop drinking coke zero

[@ramonarobot]

Looks like Max Tegmark, for some reason

[@Albeit_Jordan]

so wittan is the jacob collier of physics

[@nothingnewhere6551]

Lol

[@hughegentry8255]

Everybody cheer leads about Whitten and his math is great but what has he done for physics (other than his inability to make String Theory acceptable by the mainstream)?

[@MeenPo786]

Eric Weinstein says Ed Witten wasted lot of time on string theory!

[@mcamp9445]

Eric doesn’t know what he’s talking. About

[@cybervigilante]

String theory is bunk.

[@youtubesucks1885]

People who follow advice by Eric Weinstein need an appointment at the psychiatrist

[@keyvan2]

None of Witten's physics theories can be proven experimentally. The string theory that he and others advocate has failed to find a unified theory of physics. It is all wonderful philosophical exercise in mathematics and Witten isn't the one making that happen.

[@robertpirsig5011]

He apparently doesn't enjoy interviews and my guess is because the interviewers ask superficial questions. Lex would need to really be on point with his questions, not some of the philosophical stuff he can come out with.

[@Gayathri-qt1bn]

Get witten on the show

[@Mazyloui]

Isn't he the guy who never touched reality? Good for him

[@PeterKoperdan]

And yet, even the brightest mind will get nowhere when going down a blind alley...

[@qwertyzxcv123]

And what does your words of wisdom wants to imply? STFU

[@scottychen2397]

Ed Witten is being a male with eigenstate |0> and amplitude C0 And Ed Witten is being a female (what we’ll refer to in lectures as the natural eigenstate) with data: C1 . |1> Time is an illusion: The great open question, can anyone right down a realistic hamiltonian for the amplitude solutions?

[@darkonone5158]

another member of the tribe oi vei, it's just a coincidence it would be interesting to see what percentage of his tribesmen Lex had on his show

[@schuylerhaussmann6877]

is witten also jewish, i know frenkel is? smart tribe

[@pmlbeirao]

Maybe you should be more like them.

[@kagefisk]

They are both white, is that also a "weird coincidence" to you?

[@darkonone5158]

@@kagefisk nice try

[@zemm9003]

I am not even sure what is contributions to Physics are. I would say non existent? In his lectures he goes on and on about Mathematical concepts that may or may not be related to Physical concepts.

[@dusternal]

spring theory...its clear and obvious

[@CheddyBear714]

I need to speak to some top physicists and magnetic/nuclear/plasma engineers about my ideas for creating a craft that can time jump, or have the propulsion power and or ability to jump through space. I don’t know how to get ahold of people that could take my ideas and possibly turn them into something useful, or at the very least make sure my ideas are useless.

[@ronjon7942]

Probably not here.

[@Bumbaclartios]

The norm macdonald of academia

[@pablodejesusfieiro1337]

the wit of witten

[@rg3412]

Is he really a genius? He’s led an entire field astray. Let’s reserve the word “genius” for real accomplishments and discovery in physics.

[@ferrantepallas]

No offence, but how much of a genius can Witten be if he's pursuing a dead end going nowhere?

[@ChronoBubble-iy1in]

it does not take a PHD or even a Bachelor's degree to see what is wrong with string theory, just reason that one dimension entity like this quantum string can not exist in the objective reality, because if you take any a 3D object and you take away any one of its 3 dimensions that object physically would cease to exist, on top of that the concept of dimension exists only in the mind the observer and this telling you that it is a relative concept. it would be safe to say that a dimension is an illusion, having said that, that it does not mean the physical space does not exist!

[@CarnifaxMachine]

Quick! You should go tell Ed Whitten! Clearly your KZbin-commenter take on the matter usurps decades of physics research from the smartest minds in the world.

[@zeronicel4455]

maybe only number 2 physicist loves to read books and copy his work…

[@bjk837]

Smarter than Jon Von Neumann???

[@thewalkingjoke3843]

I personally believe, from what I have read, that Von Neumann had the fastest mind in human history. Keep in mind, he was in the time of greats like Heisenberg, Einstein, Feynman etc., ans was still considered by most phycisists to be in a completely different league than all of those greats.

[@crabb9966]

​@@thewalkingjoke3843maybe the fastest mind was some caveman living in prehistoric times...

[@zeldovich33]

No. Von neumann contributions and its impact are out of this world. Same as for people like chandrashekar or zeldovich. Those people may be don't use such sofisticate mathematics like witten, maybe because they didn't need. But in terms of real physic contributions those people are out of the charts.

[@ysf-d9i]

@@crabb9966 unlikely, because our neural networks have evolved a lot AND they couldn't get the nutrition to allow their brains to grow like we can. Plus, the population size was so small back then, that like 10-20% of all humans who ever lived are still alive today.

[@crabb9966]

@@ysf-d9i well, population size is a good point, but for the rest I wouldn't necessarily think it is true

[@FaridShahidinejad]

Joe Rogan for smart people

[@nosuchthing8]

Genius at wasting the best and brightest minds for 40 years!!! 😂

[@snitox]

Anti-Israel Bernie Supporter. I'm already a fan.

[@majorrgeek]

Witten is wrong about string theory, so, not much of a genius

[@146maxpain]

Ed Witten is not a Physics genius. I am sorry string theory fans but your emperor wears no clothes.

[@youtubesucks1885]

Saying this is like a free ticket to the closed psychatry.

[@146maxpain]

@@youtubesucks1885 the medical definition of a psychosis is that you cannot determine what is real and what is not. Since "string theory" has not been verified by any experiment you are the one who is psychotic for believing this bullshit and worshipping this man.

[@youtubesucks1885]

@@146maxpain Why would the math, everything in your modern life is based on be psychotic? Maybe you should start to think for yourself and stop repeating bullshit you did hear somewhere on the internet? :)

[@pmlbeirao]

He's a Mathematics genius, which is fine, but people should stop calling him a physicist.

[@youtubesucks1885]

@@pmlbeirao He is a mathematical physicist. To make your head go boom even more I tell you that there are even physical mathematicans, who derive new things in math from physics aka string theory. Another reality check for you is that every single thing in physics is pure math. Surprise brother.

[@adilhaider7139]

ppppppp

[@jeffswingdancer8302]

Hundreds of physicists have worked on string theory over decades & what can they do with it that is of any value? Just keep working on it.

[@youtubesucks1885]

What does it help you if we explain it to you but you do not understand a single word? We better save our time

[@KaiWatson]

Yeah but Witten would get his trash kicked in the Octagon. There's more to life than being an egghead. #strikeforce

[@KaiWatson]

Even Socrates said that.

[@neutronstar7803]

Crazy how Lex Fridman give praises almost exclusively to jewish scientists/personnalities. Has he heard of Terence Tao?? This guy is the best mathematician alive and he is factually infitely better than Witten. I can draw a long list of incredible living mathematicians/physicists who get absolutely no mention in his podcast and who are at par or better than Witten. There is a disproportionate number of jewish guests in his podcast which can lead some ignorant people to think that science is made by jewish people. Even a subscriber to his channel who knows nothing about science will at some point after months of podcast notice that something is off: how come so much light and focus is put on the work of jewish scientits?. Seems like Lex's unconscious agenda is "let me show you why we are the best". Don't get me wrong: I am a great admirer of all scientist regardless of their religion beliefs. But the same way I hate what the soviet government did to jewish bright students/scientists like Frenkel, I don't like Lex's creeping propaganda.

[@HAZMOLZ]

I think it's more likely a proximity bias than anything intentional/propagandist.

[@moart87]

Ye was right all along

[@notyourbruh]

tf, lex is fair and balanced and I am a mostly very right leaning guy saying this.

[@krishnashukla9154]

*Infinitely better* ☠️ stop acting like you understand either of the geniuses work

[@alexjbriiones]

Not true. If you do a little bit of research, you will find that Jewish scientists have almost a monopoly on genius! About 60% of Nobel prizes have been won by Jewish or of Jewish descent.

[@EdwinRieswijk]

Edward Witten might be very smart, nevertheless stringtheory brought us nowhere (yet??)

[@dianepeters8685]

You need to employ subtitles as his accent is too thick.

[@mandelorean6243]

Uh, turn up the volume? Hah, that's wild.. because he's very easy to understand to ol' plain English speaking me

[@Whyoakdbi]

I agree. His accent is quite rough.

[@funwithflags7506]

theres nothing wrong with his accent he is more than understandable as someone who only can speak english