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What If The Universe Is Math?

2023-01-18 Education
1.1m
36.0k
5.1k
PBS Space Time
PBS Space Time
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PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to:http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime In his essay “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics”, the physicist Eugine Wigner said that “the enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something bordering on the mysterious”. This statement was inspired by the observation that so many aspects of the physical world seem to be describable and predictable by mathematical equations to incredible precision especially as quantum phenomena. But quantum phenomena have no subjective qualities and have questionable physicality. They seem to be completely describable by only numbers, and their behavior precisely defined by equations. In a sense, the quantum world is made of math. So does that mean the universe is made of math too? If you believe the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis then yes. And so are you. #space #universe #maths Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: https://search.pbsspacetime.com/ Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Euan McLean & Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell Spacetime is produced by Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. © 2023 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka Special Thanks to Our Patreon Supporters Big Bang Supporters Tim O’Rourke Steffen Bendel Gautam Shine Bryce Fort Peter Barrett David Neumann Leo Koguan Alexander Tamas Morgan Hough Juan Benet Vinnie Falco Fabrice Eap Mark Rosenthal Quasar Supporters Glenn Sugden Alex Kern Ethan Cohen Stephen Wilcox Christina Oegren Mark Heising Hank S Hypernova Supporters Ryan Moser David Giltinan Ivari Tölp Vyce Ailour Ken S Kirk Honour drollere Joe Moreira Bradley Voorhees Marc Armstrong Scott Gorlick Paul Stehr-Green Ben Delo Scott Gray Антон Кочков John R. Slavik Mathew David S. Cerutti Donal Botkin John Pollock Edmund Fokschaner chuck zegar Jordan Young John Hofmann Daniel Muzquiz Gamma Ray Burst Joe Pavlovic Jswcp Ryan McGaughy Mark West Hypothasies Justin Lloyd Chuck Lukaszewski Edward Hodapp Kevin Tillery Cole Marc Forand D. Delair Walter Montalvo Andrea Galvagni Jerry Thomas Nikhil Sharma Alexander Gruber Jonathan Cordovano John Anderson Scott Hannum Paul Widden Bradley Ulis Craig Falls Kane Holbrook Ross Story teng guo Mason Dillon Harsh Khandhadia Thomas Tarler bsgbryan Susan Albee Frank Walker Matt Q MHL SHS Terje Vold James Trimmier Anatoliy Nagornyy comboy Andre Stechert Paul Wood Kent Durham jim bartosh Nubble Ramon Nogueira The Mad Mechanic Ellis Hall John H. Austin, Jr. Diana S Faraz Khan Almog Cohen Alex Edwards Ádám Kettinger MD3 Endre Pech Daniel Jennings Cameron Sampson Geoffrey Clarion Russ Creech Jeremy Reed David Johnston Web Browser Michael Barton Mr T Isaac Suttell Devon Rosenthal Oliver Flanagan Bleys Goodson Robert Walter Mirik Gogri Mark Delagasse Mark Daniel Cohen Nickolas Andrew Freeman Shane Calimlim Tybie Fitzhugh Robert Ilardi Eric Kiebler Craig Stonaha Graydon Goss Frederic Simon Tonyface John Robinson Jim Hudson A G David Barnholdt David Neal justahat John Funai Tristan Bradley Jenkins Daniel Stříbrný Luaan Cody Brumfield Thomas Dougherty King Zeckendorff Dan Warren Patrick Sutton John Griffith DFaulk Sam Long

Top Comments (10)

@theoriginalstoney 2023-01-18

I love how Matt rushes through the intro, waiting - like a ticking countdown - for the cat to be getting out of there.

1.9k 59 replies
@microbuilder 2023-01-18

That cat was like, "you've got 30 seconds, make it count".

1.6k 27 replies
@petermc_grann4192 2023-01-19

I feel a great sense of joy at the fact that this video on a mathematical universe is... at time of writing... number 42 on trending. If only we knew what the question was

621 58 replies
@FacundoTroitero 2023-01-18

0:26 I love how the cat kind of freaks out when realizes his body could be made entirely of equations

546 15 replies
@jeffk3746 2023-01-19

Love that the channel doesn’t seem to shy away from more philosophical topics. Didn’t expect you guys to be talking about Neoplatonism but it’s interesting to hear a physicist’s perspective

419 28 replies
@crystaldazz 2023-01-21

0:50 To the Editor of this video: The little things you do, like making the text flicker as though it were an old analog television we were watching this on, it's really just the Chef's Kiss of your talents. You add imperceptible quality to these videos, and as thankless as the job is, know you are appreciated. Thank you, mysterious stranger!

399 16 replies
@NavarroRefugee 2023-01-18

That would explain why I seem to be so bad at dealing with it. Very compelling.

217 9 replies
@thenovicenovelist 2023-05-28

This reminds me of a video about a Greek cult that was devoted to numbers and math. Supposedly, their motto was "All is Number" and they believed that Math was the language of everything and that it was always perfect. Then, one day, Hippasus decided to take the square root of 2 and discovered an irrational number. Then, he was either exiled or killed for it. Which taught me an important lesson: don't join any math-based cults.

214 23 replies
@ivanterrible7362 2023-01-21

I'm not thrilled with the concept of life being a mathematical construct, but I am really bad at math so it checks out.

66
@jafstraycat 2023-01-27

Cats were once worshipped as gods. They have never forgotten this.

28

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