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Big Bang Productions Inc.

Think like a physicist. Wonder like a human. Into the Impossible is where Cosmic Conversations happen — uniting Nobel Prize winners, iconoclasts, authors, and technologists to explore reality’s deepest questions. From AI to aliens, from biophysics to the brain, from the cosmos to the multiverse, Brian Keating, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego covers it all.
If you’ve ever asked What’s out there? or What’s next?, this is where curiosity meets clarity.
Learn to think like this. 🎙 Full episodes, notes & more: briankeating.com/podcast

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

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Brian Keating and James Altucher have an unfiltered talk on humility, arrogance, and the strange mix of traits needed to achieve great things. From the wisdom of the Talmud to the Dunning–Kruger effect, they explore why even Nobel Prize winners wrestle with imposter syndrome.

James shares how writing books requires a mix of blind confidence and humility, while Brian connects scientific resilience to obsession, quests, and flow states. The two also talk candidly about the challenges of writing and publishing science books in today’s world—and Brian previews his bold new project exploring Jim Simons, “Chern–Simons Theory,” and the very arrow of time itself.

What You’ll Learn

 Why success requires balancing humility with courage—and sometimes arrogance with ignorance

 How Nobel Prize winners secretly struggle with imposter syndrome

 Why writing books demands both blind confidence and ruthless editing

 The difference between obsession and quest when pursuing success

 What “Chern–Simons Theory” reveals about time, space, and the structure of the universe

Timestamped Chapters

00:00 Humility and Chutzpah in Science

06:35 "Feel Good Productivity Insights"

08:08 Considering Career Change for Fulfillment

10:36 "The Genius of Science"

13:54 Topology Links Time and Dimensions

—

➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:

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📝 Join my mailing list:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/list⁠ 

✍️ Check out my blog:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/⁠ 

🎙️ Follow my podcast:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/podcast⁠ 

—

Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brian Keating on Humility, Chutzpah, and the Arrow of Time | The James Altucher Show

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Astronaut and bestselling author Chris Hadfield joins me to discuss his new Cold War thriller Final Orbit and the real history behind it—UAPs, Operation Paperclip, and the exiled genius who built China’s rocket program. Along the way, we debate the moon landing hoax, the cost of the ISS, and why humans—not robots—must carry our story into the stars.

Key Takeaways: 

 
00:00 Intro 

 
03:06 The Cold War and space exploration 

 
05:40 Conspiracy theories, UAPs, and whistleblowers

 
10:38 Checklists as a survival tool

 
16:06 Moon landing denial 

 
21:26 Judging a book by its cover 

 
26:38 Apollo-Soyuz collaboration 

 
30:59 The legacy of Wernehr von Braun

 
34:20 McCarthyism and the future of space exploration 

 
38:24 Chinese space program and rivalry 

 
44:19 Is it reckless to send humans to space? 

 
48:54 Outro 

Additional resources: 

➡️ Follow Chris Hadfield:

✖️ Twitter: https://x.com/cmdr_hadfield?lang=en 📚 Explore Chris Hadfield’s books: https://chrishadfield.ca/books/ 

➡️ My new book:

📖 Into the Impossible Volume 2: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: Lessons from Laureates to Concentrate Your Creativity and Ignite Your Career: ⁠https://a.co/d/hi50U9U⁠ 

➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:

✖️ Twitter:⁠ ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating⁠ 

🔔 YouTube:⁠ https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1⁠ 

📝 Join my mailing list:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/list⁠ 

✍️ Check out my blog:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/⁠ 

🎙️ Follow my podcast:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/podcast⁠ 

—

Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Hadfield’s Final Orbit! The Moon Landing Hoax, UAPs, China & the New Space Race

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Lou Ignarro went from building pipe bombs as a curious teen to winning the Nobel Prize for discovering how a gas—nitric oxide—regulates blood flow, fuels Viagra, and revolutionized cardiovascular medicine. In this explosive conversation, we trace how one molecule transformed sex, science, and the story of human health.

Key Takeaways: 

 00:00 Intro 

 00:55 The molecule that saves and kills 

 04:00 The invention of the X-ray

 05:44 Nitroglycerin: explosive or life-saving drug? 

 11:07 Fine-tuning and Lou’s religious beliefs 

 14:38 Judging a book by its cover 

 16:56 The importance of curiosity 

 20:00 Thoughts on the Nobel Prize

 24:58 What does Viagra do and how does it work? 

 32:10 The importance of collaboration in scientific research 

 35:15 Achieving the breakthrough discovery 

 41:02 What happens if a woman takes viagra?

 42:55 Other applications of nitric oxide 

 47:57 Lou’s heart-healthy diet 

 52:41 Outro 

Additional resources: 

➡️ Follow Lou Ignarro: 

✖️ Twitter: https://x.com/drignarro 

📚 Dr. NO by Lou Ignarro: https://a.co/d/gSarIKX 

➡️ My new book:

📖 Into the Impossible Volume 2: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: Lessons from Laureates to Concentrate Your Creativity and Ignite Your Career: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U 

➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:

✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 

🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 

📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list 

✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 

🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast 

—

Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Pipe Bombs to Viagra: Nobel Prize Winner’s Secrets Revealed

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb joins Brian Keating to discuss a groundbreaking observation: the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged 3I/ATLAS, a rare interstellar visitor, from the vantage point of Mars.

In this episode, we explore:

 • What HiRISE detected and why it matters for planetary science.
 • How interstellar objects like ʻOumuamua and 3I/ATLAS challenge our theories.
 • Why Mars may become an ideal outpost for detecting future interstellar visitors.
 • The implications for astrobiology, planetary defense, and our search for extraterrestrial technology.

✨ Just as the 1977 “Wow! Signal” jolted radio astronomers with a one-time unexplained burst, 3I/ATLAS may be its optical cousin—an anomalous, fleeting, but potentially transformative messenger. Loeb even calculated that 3I/ATLAS’s trajectory passed within about one degree of the Wow! Signal’s sky position, making the connection more than metaphorical. Ignoring such rare alignments risks repeating history: anomalies slip through our fingers while orthodoxy insists nothing unusual happened. The Wow! Signal warned us of the danger of complacency; 3I/ATLAS reminds us that cosmic surprises often lurk at the margins of expectation, carrying lessons we may miss if we force every mystery into old categories.

-

🚀 EXCLUSIVE: Avi Loeb Reveals What HiRISE Just Saw on Mars! 🌌

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb joins me to discuss the latest revelations about interstellar object 3I/ATLAS as it makes its closest approach to Mars. From HiRISE images to unusual chemistry, polarization anomalies, and even a potential link to the Wow! Signal, this conversation explores whether 3I/ATLAS is a natural comet—or a possible technological artifact. Along the way, we cover censorship from Galileo to today’s UAP debates, the “Sputnik moment” of interstellar objects, and what a global response might look like.

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 – Introduction & why this day is special
1:29 – 3I/ATLAS closest approach to Mars: HiRISE imaging
2:50 – Mass, size, and what it means for its trajectory
5:06 – Global spacecraft observing 3I/ATLAS (NASA, ESA, UAE, China)
7:21 – Explaining the anomalies: jets, chemical makeup, negative polarization
13:06 – Alignment with the plane of planets (0.2% likelihood)
14:31 – Coincidence with the Wow! Signal and radio SETI opportunities
18:52 – White paper to the UN: global response to interstellar visitors
24:21 – Perseverance rover possible detection of ATLAS
29:47 – Nickel–iron anomaly and unusual chemistry
36:44 – Science inefficiency & missed discoveries (Hot Jupiters analogy)
43:29 – Why critics are wrong about “just a comet”
55:04 – Galileo, Pinker, and common knowledge parallels to UAP debates
1:01:20 – Peer review, censorship, and suppression in modern science
1:03:59 – Anti-science, conspiracy theories, and science communication
1:11:55 – Risk vs. safety in research; why scientists avoid anomalies
1:23:28 – China, Mars samples, and the race for extraterrestrial life
1:37:32 – JWST chemistry results: carbon dioxide vs water
1:41:42 – Should we send signals to 3I/ATLAS?
1:44:12 – Wake-up call for humanity & final reflections
 
 
️ The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast has featured 22 Nobel Prize winners, Fields Medalist Terence Tao, and legendary mathematician Jim Simons. Subscribe to join the conversation at the frontiers of science, math, and technology.

👉 What do YOU think HiRISE really saw? Could 3I/ATLAS change how we understand our place in the cosmos? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
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EXCLUSIVE: Avi Loeb Reveals: What HiRISE Just Saw on Mars!

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Is AI our partner in evolution, or is it a harbinger of our downfall?

In this episode of Into the Impossible, I sit down with two brilliant minds to explore the current and future relationship between artificial intelligence, human evolution, and creativity. Blaise Agüera y Arcas, a leading AI researcher, and Benjamin Bratton, philosopher and theorist, bring their unique insights to this conversation. Together, we discuss how AI is not here to replace us but to reshape what it means to be human, through symbiosis rather than competition. 

We explore the concept of the hardware lottery, the role of randomness and creativity in both human brains and machines, and how AI can help us rethink the concept of evolution itself. From quantum computing to AI’s future in medicine and education, this conversation explores the big questions shaping tomorrow’s world.

—

Key Takeaways: 

 00:00:00 Einstein's happiest thought and the hardware lottery 

 
00:11:13 Co-evolution and human-AI interaction 

 
00:12:44 Is AI training us?

 
00:15:43 The limitations of AI 

 
00:23:19 Ethical considerations of AI use

 
00:26:42 The path to a new physics 

 
00:30:32 Blaise’s books explained

 
00:40:23 It takes a computer to know a computer 

 
00:44:30 The role of improvisation 

 
00:47:19 The role of predictability 

 
00:52:48 Where are we now? 

 
00:57:01 AI, education, and daily use cases

 
01:02:27 Judging a book by its cover

 
01:11:29 Outro 

—

Additional resources: 

📚 Who Are We Now? by Blaise Aguera y Arcas: https://a.co/d/aG81gqL 

➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:

✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 

🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 

📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list 

✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 

🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast 

—

Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is AI Our PARTNER or Our ENEMY? Google CTO Blaise Agüera y Arcas

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Dive into the fascinating world of Lord Kelvin, a pivotal figure in the scientific revolution! In this video, we explore his groundbreaking contributions, including the concept of absolute zero and the Kelvin temperature scale.

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Timestamps:

 00:00- Introduction to Lord Kelvin

 02:15- The significance of absolute zero

 05:30- Kelvin's early academic achievements

 08:45- The cosmic microwave background explained

 12:00- The evolution of physics from natural philosophy

 15:30- The enduring legacy of Kelvin's work

 17:00- Conclusion and reflections

-

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The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un

-

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The Scientists: Lord Kelvin’s Dangerous Idea (Absolute Zero)

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In this episode, Steven Pinker unpacks how common knowledge shapes everything from why rational people can’t agree to disagree to why markets boom and bust. We explore the risks of falsifying expert claims, the power of social norms, and whether civilization is held together by truths—or by the fictions we all agree to share.

—

Key Takeaways: 

 
00:00 Intro 

00:58 When common knowledge is wrong

02:37 The role of common knowledge in social
coordination 

08:48 Free will and determinism 

14:48 Judging a book by its cover

21:08 Government suppression and common knowledge

30:08 The agree to disagree theorem 

34:54 Generosity and charity in human affairs

41:12 The role of common knowledge in religious
beliefs 

48:31 LLMs and common knowledge 

50:39 Outro 

Additional resources: 

📚 When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows… by Steven Pinker: ⁠https://a.co/d/bKJzohi⁠ 

➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:

✖️ Twitter:⁠ ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating⁠ 

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✍️ Check out my blog:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/⁠ 

🎙️ Follow my podcast:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/podcast⁠ 

—

Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven Pinker on Cancel Culture, Common Knowledge & AI

James sits down once again with cosmologist Brian Keating—longtime friend of the show and author of Into the Impossible: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner. In this candid conversation, they challenge each other’s views on focus, curiosity, and the trade-offs of staying in your lane. Brian shares behind-the-scenes lessons from interviewing Nobel Prize winners, the thinking behind his new “Keating Test” for AI, and why communication matters as much as discovery in science.

This episode isn’t about self-help clichés. It’s about real-world insights you won’t hear anywhere else—whether it’s why guarding your time is the most important skill, how to use flow states to sharpen your career, or why great breakthroughs depend on questioning the work of those who came before.

What You’ll Learn

 Why Brian created the “Keating Test” as a new measure for true artificial intelligence

 How Nobel Prize winners balance intense focus with curiosity across disciplines

 Why communication skills matter as much as scientific discovery for lasting impact

 How to guard your time from “time bandits” and apply the power of saying “no”

 Practical ways to find your lane—or combine lanes—while still pursuing flow and mastery

Timestamped Chapters

 [02:00] The Keating Test: AI, free will, and the act of survival

 [06:00] Humor, history, and reclaiming the “worst joke ever told”

 [08:00] Friendship, TEDx, and 11 years of conversations

 [09:00] Lessons from Nobel Prize winners: beyond self-help habits

 [10:00] Publishing with Scribe/Lioncrest and connections to James and David Goggins

 [12:00] Into the Impossible, Volume One: why distilling Nobel wisdom matters

 [13:00] Imposter syndrome, Alfred Nobel, and Volume Two’s focus

 [15:00] Donna Strickland, LASIK, and the power of saying no

 [18:00] Stay in your lane—or widen it? A debate on mastery and curiosity

 [23:00] Newton, Pascal, and the discipline of sitting in a room

 [26:00] Regrets, diversification, and finding flow

 [28:00] Crystallized vs. fluid intelligence in the age of AI

 [31:00] The importance of novelty—and the Lindy test

 [35:00] Math, reality, and the unreasonable effectiveness of ideas

 [38:00] Teaching quantum computing: bridging theory and life skills

 [43:00] From cryogenics to code: skills that outlast AI

 [47:00] Why communication defines success in science

 [50:00] Doing things that don’t scale: relationships, meteorites, and networks

 [52:00] The missed opportunities of office hours—and how to build relationships

 [54:00] Reading theses, genuine curiosity, and non-scalable networking

 [55:00] Into the Impossible, Volume Two: life lessons and scientific breakthroughs

 [57:00] How old is the universe? The cosmic controversy

 [59:00] Gravitational waves, BICEP2, and losing the Nobel Prize

 [61:00] Dust, data, and the Simons Observatory’s quest for origins

 [63:00] What comes next: Jim Simons’ legacy and Brian’s future book

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How to Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner | The James Altucher Show

Get Dr. Brian Keating’s NEW Book for Only 0.99! This week only: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN8DH6SX?ref_=pe_93986420_775043100

For over a century, cosmologists have believed that the universe began a single fiery moment. The Big Bang. But what if that story is incomplete?

Or what if it's even wrong? 

My guest today, Professor Niayesh Afshordi, is a professor of astrophysics at the Perimeter Institute and the University of Waterloo.

He and his colleague Bill Halpern argue that the real battle in science is over the mysteries of singularities, those points where our equations collapse and space, time and physics itself seem to break down.

In a new book, Battle of the Big Bang, they take us inside the fight to understand whether the Big Bang was truly the beginning of it all, or whether it was just one chapter in a far stranger cosmic saga.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

00:00:00 – Cosmologists no longer see the Big Bang as the beginning of time

00:11:01 – Singularity vs the later hot Big Bang phases like nucleosynthesis

00:12:13 – Survey of physicists shows “Big Bang” is understood differently

00:15:37 – Hawking and singularities

00:23:12 – Black hole information paradox remains unresolved after 50 years

00:30:26 – Religion remains a social tool

00:35:56 – The Simons Observatory was created to probe primordial gravitational waves in the CMB

00:39:50 – Scientific careers are constrained by funding and “hot topics” in research

00:41:17 – Science advances by tying ideas to observation, not just social structures

00:42:07 – Disagreement with Carlo Rovelli

00:44:54 – Competing quantum gravity models are ideas, not fully testable theories yet

00:46:14 – String theory, loop quantum gravity, and holography lack experimental evidence

00:47:55 – Cancellation of CMB Stage-4 highlights limits of experimental cosmology

00:49:14 – Afshordi views himself closer to an observer than a pure theorist

00:54:51 – Scientific progress benefits from bridging between communities

00:57:47 – Repulsive gravity in inflation avoids singularities but leaves open loopholes

01:01:00 – Singularity theorems can break down with quantum gravity or altered dimensions

01:03:05 – Our universe was born inside a black hole

01:06:16 – Future probes might let us see further back than the CMB

01:10:56 – Einstein unknowingly started the quest for quantum gravity

-

Additional resources: 

Get Niayesh Afshordi’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Big-Bang-Cosmic-Origins/dp/0226830470

Get Dr. Brian Keating’s NEW Book for Only 0.99! This week only: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN8DH6SX?ref_=pe_93986420_775043100 

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥

-

Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join

📚 Get a copy of my books:

Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu

My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA 

The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un

📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺 

Neil Turok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5cFLN65fI

Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1

Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1 

Sir Roger Penrose: https://youtu.be/AMuqyAvX7Wo

Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/g00ilS6tBvs

Avi Loeb: https://youtu.be/N9lUceHsLRw

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Are We Wrong About the Big Bang? Niayesh Afshordi

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What if your life wasn’t real—not metaphorically, but literally? That’s the premise my guest today has been exploring for years. Rizwan Virk, MIT graduate, gaming entrepreneur, and author of The Simulation Hypothesis, believes that physics, computing, and even ancient wisdom traditions point to the same unsettling conclusion: we may be living inside a programmed reality.

In this conversation, we dive into the science, philosophy, and technical roadmaps that could one day prove—or disprove—this theory. We explore quantum mechanics, AI, and the limits of spacetime itself, asking whether reality is an unshakable foundation… or just a beautifully rendered illusion.

Key Takeaways: 

 
00:00 Intro 

 
00:00:42 The Simulation Hypothesis 

 
00:10:14 The limitations of AGI

 
00:15:17 Rizwan’s religious background

 
00:21:43 Energetic physical limitations in a simulation

 
00:28:33 Quantum computing and the simulation hypothesis

 
00:34:45 Judging a book by its cover

 
00:37:11 The Planck length 

 
00:41:59 Is Deja Vu a consequence of the simulation? 

 
00:43:41 Ethical and moral considerations

 
00:48:35 How to avoid collapsing the wave function 

 
00:54:33 Cracks in the matrix 

 
01:02:21 What’s the purpose of the simulation? 

 
01:07:28 Rizwan’s next project 

 
01:09:02 The winning strategy 

 
01:10:37 Outro 

—

Additional resources: 

➡️ Follow Rizwan Virk:

✖️ Twitter: https://x.com/rizstanford?lang=en 

➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:

✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 

🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 

📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list 

✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 

🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast 

—

Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Matrix Is a Documentary: Riz Virk on the Simulation Hypothesis

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In a sweeping conversation drawn from his collaboration with Stephen Hawking, Thomas Hertog explores the radical “no-boundary” theory—a vision of the cosmos with no singular beginning, evolving laws of physics, and a past that isn’t fixed until observed. Rejecting the untestable multiverse, Hertog and Hawking built a fully quantum cosmology that embeds the observer within the equations, predicting inflation and replacing anthropic guesswork with a falsifiable framework.

Hertog explains how time could emerge from something deeper than the Big Bang, why constants of nature may be dynamic, and how holography hints the laws of physics themselves might fade away at the origin. He then turns to the experiments—from next-generation CMB polarization to gravitational wave backgrounds—that could confirm or refute this bold vision, challenging us to see the universe as a living, evolving system whose history we help to shape.

—

Key Takeaways: 

00:00 Intro 

01:03 Thomas’s first reaction to Hawking’s theory 

03:38 Hawking’s model of the Big Bang

07:20 The no-boundary proposal 

22:18 The role of conscious observers in cosmology

24:34 The wick rotation and its implications

29:29 The future of physics and experimental tests

37:57 The experimental minimum

40:04 The holographic principle 

43:57 Work Thomas would like to share with Hawking 

49:11 Outro

—

Additional resources: 

📚 On the Origin of Time by Thomas Hertog: https://a.co/d/ftze4JC

—

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—

Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

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