Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | February 2025
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Patreon: / seanmcarroll
Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: www.prepostero...
Welcome to the February 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!
Mindscape Podcast playlist: • Mindscape Podcast
Sean Carroll channel: / seancarroll
#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
just to repeat what many have been saying; its about time more scientists speak up. we lost all intellectual potential in government and handed society to a system of career politicians, while mainstream media/pop/tv hollowed out the masses.
Sean, thank you for another amazing solo/AMA episode. Mindscape is invaluably great. This episode just came out and I'm just starting listening, and regarding the opening, I was just thinking to myself, "This guy is a theoretical physicist; he doesn't get into politics, but because the politics these days are so antithetical to everything we hold dear, he's getting into politics now" and thank you for reminding us that we are fully rational and sane to have a problem with inept overfed oligarchy.
100% agree with your sentiments.
Stick with science.
Sean Carroll for President!
FOR REAL
DJT is doing exactly what the normal constituency voted for.
Elections have consequences, the blue hairs lost.
Just two weeks since _our_ President was inaugurated, and his approval rating is *soaring*
USAID was doling out $50 billion / year, mostly to left wing organizations. As an American taxpayer, I don't want my tax dollars going towards any of thatcrap.
Just two weeks since _our_ President was inaugurated and his approval rating is *soaring*
Really love how he doesnt dismiss "off topic" questions and still handles them incredibly well consistently. One of my favourite people in the world.
I have been a fan for a long time. I'm glad you weighed in on politics. We need our educated experts to call out nonsense, and especially cruelty when it is happening. Thank you for that. I know politics is something you don't really want to focus on.
I guess you didn't notice the cruelty of disfiguring minor children in the name of wokeness, or the cruelty of overtaxing our earnings, our possessions, and our expenditures.
I think the biggest thing the president has going for him isn't that they are confusing people into thinking it's just another day; what is going for them is the large number of public who approve of what is happening.
Just two weeks since _our_ President was inaugurated and his approval rating is *soaring*
Seeing these show up in the morning makes me happy
Regarding voting, Sean: One critical thing to point out to questions regarding voting is that down ballot votes are very significant in their impacts on local quality of life. So many people only see the Executive Office of the President as their significant vote, but local issue votes build toward national movement larger agendas. Encourage people to vote in every election on every issue possible.
Thank you for yout time and effort Sean. I know how hard it is to hear the whole episode, so I can imagine how hard it is to make it. Thank you again.
Brandy and Cognac are most definitely NOT whisky (or even whiskey if it's Irish/American). Those are both grape-based alcohol. Whisky/whiskey is barley-based so closer to beer if anything.
I feel that we created an echo chamber and this is why we find ourselves in the current predicament…
Freedom is not a predicament.
My current hypothesis is that the entire cosmos is contained within a sphere, and that as the expanding matter from the cosmos reaches this sphere, the matter collects. And as it collects, it increasingly warps space-time, drawing the remaining matter of the cosmos to it at an accelerating rate.
Its a pitty that Trump has not 0.1% of the intelligence of Sean. Sorry Sean, its even much less! 50% of the US population voted for this acephale this is even worse!
Great to catch you on BBC Radio 4 Screenshot this week talking about time travel. I am a fan of the programme and of your work so it was lovely surprise to hear you.
You are one of the few scientists that are vocal about the embarrassment in the current white house. Thank you
Actually, his fact-free hysterics helped convince the majority of people that TDS is a real thing and that people suffering from this debilitating illness should not be taken seriously, so he did a great service, unwittingly.
We don't want to hear it.
Sean at 3:38:00 you repeat a false talking point about tax rates. Yes, the top marginal tax rate was once 90%, but deductions were much higher. The highest effective tax rate was only about 50%. The government has collected roughly the same amount of money as a % of GDP since the 1940s. Google it if you don't believe me. We wouldn't let politics cloud our understanding of physics, right? Let's not do it for economics either.
The Government collected the same amount, while the pie got bigger for the top .01 percent, because they make the pie. He's saying inequality is higher now then it was, which is a very true statement and cannot be denied by any valid metric.
@@pauljohnson1672 The main cause of inequality is central bank money printing and inflation. Economic growth makes prices fall. 2% inflation every year is what makes people poor. It's not slightly higher taxes on rich people, that's a nonsense propaganda talking point that distracts from the real cause. Dems and Repubs both agree central banks are needed, strange don't you think?
I've also read that the top effective tax rate was 50% in the 40s and 50s. That was due to the marginal rate being 90% for income above about $3M in today's dollars. I think the economy would perform much better if we did that again. Income and wealth inequality has not magically gotten back to gilded age levels. Reagan led us here and Clinton and Obama followed along
Thank you Sean! You're a really good guy and a smart one too. Great inspiration in these times.
Please feel free to talk about anything you feel is important. Actually, at this point, politic is like trying to avoid an elephant in the room. Everytime you briefly speak about it, its always very informative. But I understand that it brings a lot of drama.
Remember folks, if you have special talent, or a hobby that can help your community in any way, go ahead and put a lot of energy on that. If we all do our small part, this world will remain straight. But if people fall to the temptation of taking advantage of the broken system, it will just get worst and worst. Let's do our part to keep this straight folks :) We can do it, all together.
Doctors irreversibly maiming children in the name of gender reaffirmation is a real special talent.
In USA there are many doctors with "special talent".
They are disfiguring minors with life altering surgeries.
"this month's AMA is going to be mercifully short" no way "on politics" oh
I was never onboard with the idea of SpaceTime being explained as the fourth dimension, nor flat world not having a 3rd dimension component as in the famous (Carl Sagan) demonstration. The second dimension exists in the third dimension being very small it has depth/height. So If you imagine living in the 5th dimension and you're experiencing time, then time cannot be a dimension itself. This would suggest that SpaceTime permeates all dimensions.
Spacetime is described as 4D because it takes 4 numbers to define a point (event): 3 spatial coordinates and 1 temporal coordinate according to some chosen reference frame. Most importantly, relativity shows us that we cannot think of space and time as separate things because different observers will disagree about distance and time duration measurements between events. But all observers will agree about the spacetime interval.
Flatland is a book about a world that exists on a 2D plane. The creatures that live there have no perception of a 3rd spatial dimension. In the book, time exists as a concept regardless of the number of spatial dimensions. Hope this helped.
Sean is always thought provoking and inspiring.
Things are 'real' in the sense that it fills the functions that allow our souls and bodies can and do functions that gives us a location different then others are and have .. CS Lewis discusses this aspect in one of his books; 'The Problem with Pain' or 'Mere Christianity'.
Video really starts at 9:51
No, it starts at 0:00 and some necessary things are said for ~9 minutes.
@Amethyst_Friend I don't know you. Your opinion is worthless to me.
@@phenghs2007 we ll take Sean's opinion over yours then and listen from the very first second.
Or you didn't want people to hear truth
@@OrlOnEarth Your perogative.
Thank you for the time frame and link. Tired of hearing unnecessary politics interjected into a scientific discussion about something completely unrelated.
I don't disagree with his "opinions" but find it a divisive way to start a video and only serves to turn people off to science and scientists.
Thank you for posting!!! 💙💙
Thanks for the mention of John Rawl's "Theory of Justice". That work seems from the present perspective to be as utopian as Plato's "Republic" even though it was written to make explicit the principles of liberal democracy as Rawls saw them in the US constitutional framework of 1971.
Thank you for doing this
Great stuff as always!
Thank you 👍
38:48 I don't think the rotation of the sun makes a measurable difference to the earth's orbit. Yes, the sun would get more compacted in response to it experiencing less centrifugal force, but it would do so roughly symmetrically. The sun's centre of gravity and mass would both remain the same.
3:08:12 Lenders factor inflation into their expected rates of return, though, right? So if global GDP growth really did slow to zero or 0.X%, wouldn't we expect interest rates to drop accordingly, and overall supply/demand for borrowing to stay more or less the same in the very long term?
1:54:55 I just don't understand this. Of course academics are more congenial in their disagreement with one another. They are where they are because they are concerned with the truth of propositions - as naive as that sounds - and not with validating a dogma with which they have identified not only their person but also (at least oftentimes) the very idea of virtue or rectitude.
They could at least in principle admit that their own opinion was wrong without simultaneously endangering their sense of who they are.
1:45:39 I thought for sure he was gonna say Shawn Bradley until he said 80s
Im sorry @seancarroll but please stick to science I don't come to your podcasts to hear a lick of politics. You will see in my retention I'm leaving this video after like a minute sorry not sorry
😨 Just keep breathing. Just keep breathing…😬😶🌫️
Best
Always a nice surprise!
Prepare yourself for right wing ‘outrage’ and scrutiny. Love your videos man, good luck.
😀
He get's it...
Me: Is the current political situation a predictable demon? Talos: Depends on your surfing skills. You feeling lucky? Me: If this is last week's scramble out the gate... I'm feeling positive about the lead out.
I just read today about a new theory on Quantum theory from UCL LONDON ENGLAND.
Thanks for not shying away from the politics.
Thank you for not focusing on science and interjecting a divisive topic.
@@OnceAndFutureKing13711 If calling out horrible behavior is "divisive," more please.
Gotta love the person who wasted their question trying to virtue signal Schrodingers cack. Shouldve probably spent more time researching pre 20th century relationships 😅 Although it doesnt excuse his adultery. 👎🏻 But people are gonna b human. And not all b saints.
Thank you very much as usual, Mr. Sean Carroll, for another great episode!
Nobody is buying what we're not selling...
My hypothesis. Overshoot. They are pressing the brakes. th-cam.com/video/kZA9Hnp3aV4/w-d-xo.html
The population tends to stupidity because the group is sharing entropy...?
Hi Sean! I'm a big fan. But I have one criticism...you said Luigi Mangione was the killer of the United CEO. As far as I know he hasn't been convicted yet ; isn't it more accurate to say he's alleged to have killed the United CEO? I don't want to seem petty but one of the things I admire about you is your precision with language...and shouldn't we maintain the presumption of innocence at least until a verdict is given?
can you make a rock so heavy that even you couldn't lift it?;:
A smart person calling a rich person dumb...this is when you know you let your feelings take control.
You don't believe a rich person can be dumb? Weird.
@@EnglishMike Probably best you work on reading comprehension. As a hint, the verb, calling, is what the original poster is discussing. Never stated what you claim.
Thank God this will get me off the internet for a couple hours
Universe. Unity.
As religion AND science both eventually Understand;
With Universality there’s only Us.
Not them or us.
Wholesome Wholeness.
The Bible was loaded with Parables. Reread them as metaphorical verses. 📖
Think of yourself and all of the people around you as quantum particles.
Minute inner particles of the same cell.
One of the trillions of cells that make up the next level of physical existence.
Now that you realize how connected we all are?…
Shouldn’t you rethink the way that we talk about our tiny differences?
Should it really matter much Whether we are connected by invisible, dark matter or a visible spiderweb?
Whatever your species, race, politics, opinions, or religion…
If you’re in this Universe, aren’t you in this together with me UNIVERSALLY?
@@billblais3580 "...aren’t you in this together with me UNIVERSALLY?"
I really hope not.
@@OnceAndFutureKing13711
I’m on this island called Earth. 🌍
it floats in an immense space of unbreathable space, at unlivable temperatures.
Where are you?
We need to hold representatives responsible for not representing the voters. How to get this done, I have no idea. Possibly making laws of transparency regarding donations. Then again I don't see representatives supporting this either.
Just two weeks since _our_ President was inaugurated and his approval rating is *soaring*
Name one fascist dictator whose agenda encompasses reducing the size, cost and power of government...
Really enjoy your science content.
I don’t share your politics, but am always looking for thoughtful political content that challenges my perspective. Surprisingly difficult to find.
Most people burden their psyche with knee jerk, emotionally motivated political opinions/beliefs.
Highlights that we are all far more irrational, fearful than we’d like to believe.
Our nervous, scurrying rodent like ancestors still hold strong sway over our lives!
Really great questions and answers, enjoying 1/3 in, thank you
First
Absolutely a true statement... Until our representatives are legally obligated to represent their district's voters, voting is a waste of time.
Regarding Trump - If the other candidate was Sean the choice would be easy :-). But if you have to choose between 2 candidates, where one is a senile idiot and the other one is just batshit crazy? (Kamala is not helping either). Maybe try to figure out how to fix/renew the US democracy so that it produces people who are not evil and/or stupid?
Kamala was the candidate, how can you remotely compare her to Trump
@@Amethyst_Friend They're rationalizing their bad judgement. They know Trump will be a terrible president, and they're trying to blame everyone else for supposedly giving them no choice but to vote for him. Typical Trumpian behavior, if you think about it. It's never their fault.
Just two weeks since _our_ President was inaugurated and his approval rating is *soaring*
He rerepresents the majority of US citizens. He won the popular vote, and 27 states, vs 23 for the loser.
BREAKING: TRUMP RESUMED US WEAPONS shipments to UKRAINE this weekend.
Booo, trump hater. Still love u tho!
The majority of people on this planet likely have a less than favorable opinion of Donald Trump.
srsly?
@@scravywarhog Yeah it's seriously weird to "love Carroll"
hate stupidity, hate greed, hate cruelty, so yes I guess hate Trump.
@ Aww you poor, poor baby.
We all acknowledge your restraint. At some point we should be allowed to call Ignorance out. Some things are objectively true. How are we the bad guy? We're not hindering the progress of humanity. Others are and it's obvious.
Hallo sir your student from India
In other words.... Someone with big money influence would need to step up. Hasn't happened yet. They're all afraid of losing their money to a cause.
Sure, like we need more money in politics.