Theories of Everything [Music Video]

August 21, 2020 10:19 AM

Theories of Everything [Music Video] by Sabine Hossenfelder. (YouTube video 1min10sec introduction / explanation and 2min10sec of song).

Do we need a Theory of Everything? (YouTube 8min50sec) Is the video she made where she explains what a Theory of Everything means in physics. Some problems that could be resolved and while applauding diverse thought, explains why many have small chance of any success (wrong starting premise ... looking for beauty math ... which she also wrote a book about). During a recent PBS program of Space Time, Sabine got to tell Eric (Weinstein (not sure how to explain him ... he has a PhD and worked for Peter Thiel's hedge fund, now he has a podcast and pretends to be an unparalleled mind ... he is a waste of time)) that his theory was incomprehensible and he needed to consider why and communication strategy. Theory of Everything Controversies: Livestream (YouTube video is 1hr23min but linked to 59min mark where Sabine gives him the truth to his face, he responds and 10 minutes later Sabine delivers a second nice and reasonable and blunt as a two by four smackdown. (Not required watching just addition information about some internet drama or some funny pwnage related to the song, as it is really just the song I think might deliver people some joy).

posted by phoque (7 comments total)

At 2:00 in her "Do we need..." video, she says the models of general relativity and the standard model are mathematically incompatible. She doesn't explain it more, and I'm very curious about what that means.
posted by rebent at 10:45 AM on August 21, 2020

I just watched a Great Courses lecture covering that, and if I understood it correctly it comes down to incompatible views of how the world works. Relativity works in a smooth, predictable reality, but reality for Quantum Mechanics is lumpy and probabilistic.
posted by InfidelZombie at 10:58 AM on August 21, 2020

GR is Lumpy Space Princess; QM is Princess Bubblegum. They ain’t never going to get along.
posted by sjswitzer at 11:16 AM on August 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

This came up in my recommendations but I hadn't had a chance to watc it yet, so thank you for the push. I had already watched the PBS livestream and the timestamped section from the link above was a pure, popcorn-chomping delight while Sabine was speaking.

I don't have strong opinions about a lot of the actual science/theories, given my relative ignorance, but Eric Weinstein comes off badly every time I've watched his content. He seems to talk in circles and gives the impression that he's frustrated by having to explain simple concepts to an audience of toddlers. Plus, yeah, science and mansplaining.
posted by Godspeed.You!Black.Emperor.Penguin at 11:48 AM on August 21, 2020

So glad to finally see Sabine on the blue; it’s hard to believe it’s a first. Her videos are great, though decidedly, um, different. I appreciate her skepticism in a field where most public educators seem to have a pet theory to promote.
posted by sjswitzer at 11:57 AM on August 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

She's been featured here before, I think initially for her program offering to evaluate crankish physics theories for money, for which she had recruited a stable of graduate students, but I haven't heard anything about that for a while.
posted by jamjam at 12:05 PM on August 21, 2020

And she does have a few theories she hand feeds at least, including 'Super Determinism' and a theory that dark matter is a liquid helium -like superfluid.
posted by jamjam at 12:11 PM on August 21, 2020