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Welcome to the August 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!

Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/04/ama-august-2025/

Support Mindscape on Patreon.







See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AMA | August 2025

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book.  Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day.  Interviewees in order, will be:Richard Dawkins  July 23rdNiall Ferguson July 24thNicholas Christakis July 25thMaarten Boudry July 26thAbigail Thompson July 27thJohn Armstrong July 28thSally Satel – July 30Elizabeth Weiss – July 31Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz – August 1Frances Widdowson – August 2Carole Hooven – August 3Janice Fiamengo – August 4Geoff Horsman – August 5Alessandro Strumia – August 6Roger Cohen and Amy Wax – August 7Peter Boghossian – August 8Lauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau – August 9Alex Byrne and Moti Gorin – August 10Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan – August 11Karleen Gribble – August 12Dorian Abbot – August 13The topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war. The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west.   We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses.  Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away.  It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship.  The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began.  Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat.   But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west. I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia.  With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube. Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

Geoff Horsman | The War on Science Interviews | Day 13

Alessandro Strumia | The War on Science Interviews | Day 14

Janice Fiamengo | The War on Science Interviews | Day 12

AMA | July 2025

As a listener of TOE you can get a special 20% off discount to The Economist and all it has to offer! Visit https://www.economist.com/toe

In this episode, I speak with Professor Felix Finster, a radical thinker reimagining the foundations of physics. We explore his theory of causal fermion systems, where reality emerges from quantum correlations—without assuming spacetime or geometry. From the Dirac sea to quantum gravity, this conversation challenges familiar concepts and offers a glimpse into where the next physics revolution might begin.

Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com

Listen on Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
03:12 The Origins of Causal Fermion Systems
06:55 Engaging with Alternative Theories in Physics
15:22 The Standard View of Causation
18:21 Classical, Quantum, and Pre-Quantum
23:06 How Spacetime Emerges from Disconnected Points
29:49 Recovering Lorentz Signature Without Assumptions 
31:48 Recovering the Born Rule from First Principles 
39:39 The Measurement Problem
46:20 Bounds on CSL Parameters
49:45 The Dynamics of Spacetime 
57:47 Collaboration with Yao and Reflections on the Theory 
1:03:13 A Quantum Gravity Theory Without Supersymmetry 
1:05:28 The Dirac Sea
1:11:40 Addressing Infinite Energy in Semi-Classical Gravity
1:13:09 Octonions in the Vacuum Structure
1:17:32 Chirality and the Action Principle 
1:20:33 Baryogenesis and Why Matter Exists
1:35:10 Rethinking the Strong CP and Hierarchy Problems
1:38:43 Recognition, Collaboration, and Growing Attention
1:54:00 Mathematical Criteria vs. Experimental Tests
2:01:02 Advice for Young Researchers

Links Mentioned:
- Felix's Papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=F7ppNroAAAAJ
- Felix's Bio: https://www.uni-regensburg.de/mathematik/mathematik-1/startseite/index.html
- Causal Fermion Systems [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2405.19254
- Linear Dynamics of Wave Functions [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2101.08673
- The Principle of the Fermionic Projector [Book]: https://www.amazon.com/Principle-Fermionic-Projector-Advanced-Mathematics/dp/0821839748
- Baryogensis for Causal Fermion Systems [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2111.05556
- Holographic Mixing [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2410.18045
- Standard Model Physics from an Algebra? [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1611.09182
- Barry Loewer & Eddy Chen [TOE]: https://youtu.be/xZnafO__IZ0
- Fay Dowker [TOE]: https://youtu.be/PgYHEPCLVas
- String Theory Iceberg [TOE]: https://youtu.be/X4PdPnQuwjY
- David Kaiser [TOE]: https://youtu.be/_yebLXsIdwo
- Ruth Kastner [TOE]: https://youtu.be/-BsHh3_vCMQ
- Amanda Gefter [TOE]: https://youtu.be/yABPvDJ6Zgs
- Jacob Barandes [TOE]: https://youtu.be/7oWip00iXbo
- Eva Miranda [TOE]: https://youtu.be/6XyMepn-AZo
- Emily Adlam [TOE]: https://youtu.be/6I2OhmVWLMs
- Scott Aaronson & Jacob Barandes [TOE]: https://youtu.be/5rbC3XZr9-c


SUPPORT:
- Become a YouTube Member (Early Access Videos):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join
- Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal 
- Support me on Crypto: https://commerce.coinbase.com/checkout/de803625-87d3-4300-ab6d-85d4258834a9
- Support me on PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=XUBHNMFXUX5S4

SOCIALS:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt
- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs



Guests do not pay to appear. Theories of Everything receives revenue solely from viewer donations, platform ads, and clearly labelled sponsors; no guest or associated entity has ever given compensation, directly or through intermediaries.

#science
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Dirac's 90-Year-Old "Mistake" Unifies All of Physics

Carole Hooven | The War on Science Interviews | Day 11

We answer your questions. To listen to our backlog of ask-us-anything episodes for free, head to our Patreon, or join for $3/month to submit your questions: https://www.patreon.com/whythisuniverse

AUA: Changing Dark Energy, Twin Paradox, and What's Next for CERN

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book.  Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day.  Interviewees in order, will be:Richard Dawkins  July 23rdNiall Ferguson July 24thNicholas Christakis July 25thMaarten Boudry July 26thAbigail Thompson July 27thJohn Armstrong July 28thSally Satel July 29thElizabeth Weiss July 30thSolveig Gold and Joshua Katz July 31stFrances Widdowson August 1stCarole Hooven August 2ndJanice Fiamengo August 3rdGeoff Horsman August 4thAlessandro Strumia August 5thRoger Cohen and Amy Wax August 6thPeter Boghossian August 7thLauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau August 8thAlex Byrne and Moti Gorin August 9thJudith Suissa and Alice Sullivan August 10thKarleen Gribble August 11thDorian Abbot August 12thThe topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war. The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west.   We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses.  Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away.  It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship.  The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began.  Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat.   But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west. I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia.  With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube. Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

The Origins Podcast: The War on Science Interviews: Day 1, Richard Dawkins

Frances Widdowson | The War on Science Interviews | Day 10

Andrew Seddon, founder and CEO of CircuitHub, joins Chris to talk about how CircuitHub has changed over the past 12 years as a startup and how they are continuing to push the boundaries of high mix domestic electronics manufacturing.

#699 – CircuitHub, 12 Years Later with Andrew Seddon

Niall Ferguson | The War on Science Interviews | Day 2

Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz | The War on Science Interviews | Day 9

Sally Satel | The War on Science Interviews | Day 7

Elizabeth Weiss | The War on Science Interviews | Day 8

As a listener of TOE you can get a special 20% off discount to The Economist and all it has to offer! Visit https://www.economist.com/toe

What if your thoughts aren’t your own? Professors Elan Barenholtz and William Hahn propose that language is not a tool we use but a self-generating organism that uses us. In this mind-bending live discussion at the University of Toronto, they argue that language installs itself in our minds like software, runs autonomously, and shapes behavior at a deeper level than we realize. Drawing on LLMs, autoregression, and cognitive science, they suggest your brain may function like a predictive engine and that “memory,” “self,” and even “God” may just be tokens in an informational system.

Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com

Listen on Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
05:28 The Nature of Autoregression
10:14 Memory and Cognition Redefined
11:28 The Role of Language Models
14:23 Exploring Consciousness and Software
26:22 The Evolution of Language
38:08 Language: A Cultural Artifact
54:19 The Power and Danger of Language
1:02:52 Embracing Uncertainty in Knowledge
1:04:59 Courage to Believe in Ideas
1:09:30 Support and Engagement with Content

Links Mentioned:
•⁠  ⁠Elan’s Substack: https://elanbarenholtz.substack.com/
•⁠  ⁠Elan’s Papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2grAjZsAAAAJ&hl=en
•⁠  ⁠William’s Blog: https://hahn.ai/blog/index.html
•⁠  ⁠Ekkolapto’s Site: https://www.ekkolapto.org/
•⁠  ⁠Andrés Emilsson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/BBP8WZpYp0Y
•⁠  ⁠Elan Barenholtz [TOE]: https://youtu.be/A36OumnSrWY
•⁠  ⁠Anna Ciaunica & Michael Levin [TOE]: https://youtu.be/2aLhkm6QUgA
•⁠  ⁠William Hahn [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3fkg0uTA3qU
•⁠  ⁠Michael Levin’s Presentation [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Exdz2HKP7u0
•⁠  ⁠Stephen Wolfram [TOE]: https://youtu.be/0YRlQQw0d-4
•⁠  ⁠Geoffrey Hinton [TOE]: https://youtu.be/b_DUft-BdIE
•⁠  ⁠Ai Panel [TOE]: https://youtu.be/abzXzPBW4_s
•⁠  ⁠Joscha Bach & Ben Goertzel [TOE]: https://youtu.be/xw7omaQ8SgA
•⁠  ⁠Noam Chomsky [TOE]: https://youtu.be/DQuiso493ro
•⁠  ⁠Michael Levin Solo [TOE]: https://youtu.be/c8iFtaltX-s
•⁠  ⁠Consciousness Iceberg [TOE]: https://youtu.be/65yjqIDghEk
•⁠  ⁠Joscha Bach [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3MNBxfrmfmI
•⁠  ⁠Scott Aaronson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/gGsh0_-q7LI
•⁠  ⁠Iain McGilchrist [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Q9sBKCd2HD0
•⁠  ⁠The Master and His Emissary [Book]: https://www.amazon.com/Master-His-Emissary-Divided-Western/dp/0300188374
•⁠  ⁠Michael Levin & Karl Friston [TOE]: https://youtu.be/0yOV9Pzk2zw
•⁠  ⁠Shape Rotators vs Wordcels [Article]: https://sasamilic.medium.com/some-thoughts-on-the-shape-rotator-vs-worcel-meme-f320261a21cd

SUPPORT:
- Become a YouTube Member (Early Access Videos):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join
- Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal 
- Support me on Crypto: https://commerce.coinbase.com/checkout/de803625-87d3-4300-ab6d-85d4258834a9
- Support me on PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=XUBHNMFXUX5S4

SOCIALS:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt
- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs

Guests do not pay to appear. Theories of Everything receives revenue solely from viewer donations, platform ads, and clearly labelled sponsors; no guest or associated entity has ever given compensation, directly or through intermediaries.

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

The (Terrifying) Theory That Your Thoughts Were Never Your Own

Nicholas Christakis | The War on Science Interviews | Day 3

John Armstrong | The War on Science Interviews | Day 6

This episode of The New Quantum Era podcast, your host, Sebastian Hassinger, has a conversation with Dr. Charlotte Bøttcher, Assistant Professor, Stanford University. Dr. Bøttcher is an experimental physicist working with superconducting quantum devices, and shares with us her areas of focus and perspective on this critical area of materials research for quantum information science and technology. Episode HighlightsMeet Dr. Charlotte Bøttcher: Dr. Bøttcher shares her journey from Harvard (PhD) and Yale (postdoc with Michel Devoret) to launching her own experimental quantum materials group at Stanford. She discusses the excitement (and challenges) of building a new research lab from scratch.Hybrid Quantum Material Systems: The heart of the conversation centers on hybrid systems combining superconductors (aluminum) with semiconductors (indium arsenide). These materials pave the way for:Tunable and switchable superconductivity—the foundation for switchable quantum devices and potential advances in quantum information technology.Probing unconventional and topological superconductors, with implications for fundamental physics and exotic quantum states.Applications in Quantum Computing:Superconductivity plays a crucial role not only in qubits themselves but also in creating tunable couplers between qubits, allowing for controlled entanglement and reduced crosstalk.High-Tc superconductors (those with high critical temperatures) are discussed, including their complex, often disordered behavior—and their challenges and potential in qubit applications.Quantum Simulation and Sensing: Dr. Bøttcher describes her group’s efforts to use devices for simulating complex many-body quantum systems, including both bosonic and fermionic Hamiltonians. Quantum devices are also used for quantum sensing—detecting magnetic fields, charge, or collective modes in exotic materials (such as uranium-based superconductors).Controlling Disorder: The episode explores how adjusting electron carrier density can expose or screen disorder in materials, enabling the study of its effects on quantum properties.Building a New Lab: Charlotte highlights the rewarding process of establishing her own experimental lab and mentoring the next generation of quantum scientists.Fundamental Science vs. Application: Dr. Bøttcher emphasizes the synergy between foundational quantum research and technological development—the pursuit of basic understanding feeds directly into better qubits and devices, which in turn open new avenues for exploring quantum phenomena.Future Directions: Looking ahead, her group aims to develop new superconducting qubits capable of operating at higher temperatures and frequencies, expand their quantum simulation platforms, and continue collaborations with Yale and others. The quest for phenomena like Majorana fermions and the exploration of topological phases remain part of her group’s broader experimental frontier.Key Quotes “Combining superconductors and semiconductors gives us not just new functionality for quantum technology but also lets us explore fundamental questions about exotic states of matter.” – Charlotte Bøttcher “Building a lab from scratch is a lot of work, but every day is exciting. Working with students and starting new experiments is incredibly rewarding.” – Charlotte BøttcherTune in for a deep dive into hybrid materials, quantum simulation, and the inner workings of a cutting-edge quantum materials lab at Stanford!For more episodes: Visit newquantumera.comThanks to the American Physical Society (APS) for supporting this episode.

Hybrid Quantum Materials with Charlotte Bøttcher

Maarten Boudry | The War on Science Interviews | Day 4

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