Bernard Carr is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary, University of London. He has worked on black holes with Stephen Hawking, alongside other aspects of cosmology, and has also been president of the Society for Psychical Research.  I begin this conversation by asking about Owen Barfield’s questioning the principle of uniformitarianism in science, the assumption that the laws of physics, as well as space and time, are the same in all times and places. I also raise the thought of another physicist, John Wheeler: “We are in this sense, participators in bringing about something of the universe in the distant past” Bernard carefully unpacks the various ways to address these matters. The conversation ranges from how physics might be extended to link materiality and mind, the significance of different experiences of time, whether Dante’s experience can inspire physical insight, and how language and everyday experience offers clues to the nature of reality which any theory of everything must embrace. 0:00 Did Stephen Hawking enjoy The Theory of Everything movie?3:30 Why the theory of everything in physics really isnt’6:15 What do we see looking back across space and time?10:30 What relativity tells us about the relationship between observer and observed?14:40 Awe and wonder, the beauty of the universe15:17 The relationship between the outside world and our experience of it18:31 To what extent do observations change reality itself?21:08 Is the universe fuzzy before observers?25:30 The link between consciousness and cosmological constants29:35 The two slit and delayed choice experiments31:48 John Wheeler and the choice of light from quasars40:08 The pyramid of complexity and the fine-tuning41:35 Is consciousness excreted by the brain?42:39 Consciousness as fundamental46:52 Evidence for the brain as a filter of consciousness48:54 Dante’s experience of dimensions of consciousness unfolding52:01 The essence of mystical experience53:03 The hierarchy of consciousness and the specious present57:31 The significance of self-consciousness and navigating scales of consciousness1:00:53 Why am I me and not you?1:05:40 Unity and separation in ordinary experiences of time1:07:34 Hints of connection, telepathy and non-locality1:10:37 Beauty and the experience of cosmic union1:12:30 The history of physics and the demolition of common sense1:15:44 Four-dimensional reality and the end of “out there”1:21:00 Extra dimensions after Einstein1:24:40 The significance of branes and bulks and the ubiquity of space1:29:15 The heart of Bernard’s approach: phenomenal dimensions and higher dimensions1:33:34 A flash of perception in early life1:34:55 Barfield and the evolution of human perception1:38:19 Meaning, connection and spiritual experience in science1:40:27 Hints from language and the origins of language1:44:05 Physics must expand to accommodate mind

Ver todos los episodios