The Equation That Changed How Physicists Think About Reality | Juan Maldacena - #554

Juan Maldacena is a theoretical physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study whose 1997 paper remains the most cited in the history of theoretical physics.

We cover:
-why wormholes and quantum entanglement may be the same thing
-what actually happens to information when you throw something into a black hole
-the reason Hawking radiation accidentally gave cosmologists the equation that explains why the universe has structure
-whether science-fiction wormholes are ruled out by the laws of physics
-the one unsolved problem Juan says matters more than black holes.

The most important problem in quantum gravity is understanding the beginning of the Big Bang — not black holes.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 What If Einstein's Two Strangest Ideas Were One?
01:15 Juan Maldacena: The Most Cited Physicist Alive
03:25 What Would Einstein Most Want to Know Today?
07:45 The Holographic Principle Explained
09:20 What Happens When You Throw a Laptop Into a Black Hole?
11:00 Is Information Actually Lost Forever?
12:25 The Problem Juan Wants to Solve Before He Dies
13:50 Why Real Black Holes Don't Emit Hawking Radiation
15:25 How Black Hole Physics Accidentally Explained the Universe
17:00 Could Primordial Black Holes Be Dark Matter?
18:30 Real Observers Solving Imaginary Problems
21:15 Why Imaginary Numbers Keep Being Right
25:00 The Origin Story of AdS/CFT
27:05 Do We Actually Live in AdS Space?
29:00 Are Wormholes Real or Just Science Fiction?
32:10 Could AI Have Helped Einstein?
33:00 Can Science and Religion Coexist?

———

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