Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

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Physicist Nir Lahav joins me to argue that the hard problem isn't hard so much as confused—a consequence of treating consciousness as an absolute property rather than a relative one. Drawing on the principle of relativity, he proposes that subjective experience is a genuine physical property that manifests only from within a cognitive system's own internal simulation, where the felt sense of good and bad becomes as real as location in space. This conversation requires zero prior background in physics or philosophy. Every concept is built from scratch.

SUPPORT:
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LINKS MENTIONED:

- Nir's Website: https://www.lahavnir.com/about-me
- Nir's Papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LFMD5RkAAAAJ
- Nir's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Nir.Lahav
- Nir's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thewonderofscience9863/videos
- A Relativistic Theory of Consciousness [Paper]: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.704270/full
- Church-Turing Thesis: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
- What Is It Like to Be a Bat? [Paper]: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Nagel_Bat.pdf
- On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies [TOE]: https://users.physics.ox.ac.uk/~rtaylor/teaching/specrel.pdf
- Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/037575766X?tag=toe08-20
- Discourse on Metaphysics [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/1474457789?tag=toe08-20
- The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity [Paper]: https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/cosmology_2025/pdf/Einstein_Extension_Relativity_1916.pdf
- Some Functional Effects of Sectioning the Cerebral Commissures in Man [Paper]: https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.48.10.1765
- Reasoning or Reciting? [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.02477
- The Conscious Mind [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0195117891?tag=toe08-20
- Consciousness Iceberg [TOE]: https://youtu.be/65yjqIDghEk
- Michael Levin [TOE]: https://youtu.be/c8iFtaltX-s
- Karl Friston [TOE]: https://youtu.be/2v7LBABwZKA
- Daniel Dennett [TOE]: https://youtu.be/bH553zzjQlI
- Bernardo Kastrup [TOE]: https://youtu.be/lAB21FAXCDE
- Joscha Bach [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3MNBxfrmfmI
- Matt Segall [TOE]: https://youtu.be/DeTm4fSXpbM
- Leo Gura [TOE]: https://youtu.be/YspFR9JAq3w
- What Is Energy, Actually? [TOE]: https://youtu.be/hQk9GLZ0Fms
- Plato's Cave [TOE]: https://youtu.be/PurNlwnxwfY
- Iain McGilchrist [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Q9sBKCd2HD0
- Andres Emilsson: https://youtu.be/BBP8WZpYp0Y
- Ruth Kastner [TOE]: https://youtu.be/-BsHh3_vCMQ
- Urs Schreiber [TOE]: https://youtu.be/1KUhLHlgG2Q
- Ted Jacobson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3mhctWlXyV8
- Stephen Wolfram [TOE]: https://youtu.be/0YRlQQw0d-4
- Emily Adlam and Jacob Barandes [TOE]: https://youtu.be/rw1ewLJUgOg
- David Chalmers [TOE]: https://youtu.be/RH5qjdHhtBk
- Donald Hoffman and Philip Goff [TOE]: https://youtu.be/MmaIBxkqcT4
- Donald Hoffman [TOE]: https://youtu.be/CmieNQH7Q4w
- Michael Levin and Anil Seth [TOE]: https://youtu.be/_kuwwmFnxGY
- Elan Barenholtz [TOE]: https://youtu.be/A36OumnSrWY
- Geoffrey Hinton [TOE]: https://youtu.be/b_DUft-BdIE

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Curt Jaimungal argues that astrophysicists like Neil deGrasse Tyson and spiritual gurus Deepak Chopra and Thomas Campbell can’t logically claim they don’t hold beliefs. This “Theories of Everything” with Curt Jaimungal episode uses analytic philosophy to show why belief’s vital for understanding physics and consciousness, countering what Thomas Campbell and NASA scientist Nathalie Cabrol say.

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

TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00 - The "No Belief" Fallacy
- 03:00 - Faith vs. Propositional Belief
- 04:57 - Implicit Belief in Hypotheses
- 07:10 - van Fraassen’s Constructive Empiricism
- 11:51 - Fallibilism and Epistemic Virtue

SUPPORT:
- Support me on Substack: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe
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JOIN MY SUBSTACK (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e

LINKS MENTIONED:
- Neil deGrasse Tyson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/HhWWlJFwTqs
- Kierkegaard: The Most Terrifying Philosopher I've Encountered [TOE]: https://youtu.be/BWYxRM__TBU
- Curt Interviews NASA Scientist on NPR: https://youtu.be/C8zrfZq1XEs
- Bayesian Epistemology: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology-bayesian/
- Belief: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/belief/
- The Norm Of Assertion: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29684696/
- Truth And Objectivity [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0674910877?tag=toe08-20
- Constructive Empiricism Now [Paper]: https://www.princeton.edu/~fraassen/articles/pdfs/CE_Now.pdf
- Willard Quine: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/quine/

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.

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What is mathematics, really? Mathematician David Bessis joins me to argue that math isn't about numbers in a Platonic realm or a meaningless game of symbols—it's a cognitive technology for rewiring your brain. We explore why the official definitions of mathematics have been unresolved for 2,300 years, why understanding something means finding it obvious, and how the gap between a beginner and Terence Tao looks less like genetic destiny and more like compound interest on intuition. When asked what mathematics fundamentally is, his answer cuts through millennia of philosophy: it's what happens in your head when you pretend something is true until it feels real.

LINKS MENTIONED:
Papers, books, websites:
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/
- https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YmJL9KwAAAAJ
- https://amazon.com/dp/0300283288?tag=toe08-20
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/p/the-magic-of-mathematical-intuition
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/p/weve-been-wrong-about-math-for-2300
- https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9404236
- https://amazon.com/dp/0387900926?tag=toe08-20
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/p/the-curious-case-of-broken-theorems
- https://mathworld.wolfram.com/FermatsLastTheorem.html
- https://xenaproject.wordpress.com/2024/12/11/fermats-last-theorem-how-its-going/
- https://gwern.net/doc/math/1979-hersh.pdf
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_universals
- https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/set-theory/zf.html
- https://imperialcollegelondon.github.io/FLT/blueprint/
- https://amazon.com/dp/1015393233?tag=toe08-20
- https://annals.math.princeton.edu/2015/181-3/p01
- https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0610778
- https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~bts82/events/homotopyF20/notes/bar-construction-typed.pdf
- https://www.edge.org/conversation/reuben_hersh-reuben-hersh-1927-2020
- https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Ramanujan/
- https://amazon.com/dp/1107536510?tag=toe08-20
- https://viennot.org/abjc-lectures.html
- https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/272332/1-s2.0-S0021869306X06555/1-s2.0-S0021869305006150/main.pdf
Videos:
- https://youtu.be/tYgiVnQubyw
- https://youtu.be/RX1tZv_Nv4Y
- https://youtu.be/73IdQGgfxas
- https://youtu.be/lhpRAWxvY5s
- https://youtu.be/rJz_Badd43c
- https://youtu.be/c8iFtaltX-s
- https://youtu.be/81sPQGIWEfM
- https://youtu.be/wbP0KjWm0pw
- https://youtu.be/mTwvecBthpQ
- https://youtu.be/_sTDSO74D8Q
- https://youtu.be/DeTm4fSXpbM

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.

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What if gravity is just entropy in disguise? Professor Erik Verlinde joins me to argue that gravity isn't a fundamental force—it's thermodynamic, emerging from quantum information the way gas pressure emerges from molecules bouncing around. We explore why spacetime may be stitched together by entanglement, and how dark energy and dark matter both pop out automatically without extra particles or parameters. Verlinde explains why the cosmological constant problem is a red herring, and why there may be no final theory of physics. When asked where the universe comes from, his answer is one word: chaos.

SUPPORT:
- Support me on Substack: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe
- 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

JOIN MY SUBSTACK (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e

TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00:00 - Thermodynamic Gravity and Information
- 00:06:35 - Beyond Effective Field Theory
- 00:13:08 - Turtles All The Way Down
- 00:25:41 - Entropy as a Force
- 00:36:31 - Entanglement and Spatial Connectivity
- 00:47:31 - Deriving Inertia and F=ma
- 00:56:41 - De Sitter Space Challenges
- 01:02:01 - Dark Matter and Milgram
- 01:11:51 - The Emergence of Time
- 01:21:01 - Statistical Gravity Fluctuations
- 01:27:01 - Quantum Computational Complexity
- 01:36:01 - Physics Intuition and Mentorship
- 01:47:31 - Beauty, Garbage, and Chaos

LINKS MENTIONED:
Papers, books, websites:
- https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Tm64-J0AAAAJ
- https://journals.aps.org/prb/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevB.4.3174
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1001.0785
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.02269
- https://journals.aps.org/pr/pdf/10.1103/PhysRev.47.777
- https://amazon.com/dp/0486600688?tag=toe08-20
- https://www.nature.com/articles/248030a0
- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:The_Field_Equations_of_Gravitation
- https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9504004
- https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0603001
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1005.3035
- https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0106112
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1408.3203
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.02087
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.08255
- https://www.ias.edu/sns/events/iaspctspgi-workshop-quantum-aspects-black-holes-and-spacetime
- https://amazon.com/dp/0262533413?tag=toe08-20
Videos:
- https://youtu.be/HIoviZe14pY
- https://youtu.be/X4PdPnQuwjY
- https://youtu.be/xZnafO__IZ0
- https://youtu.be/gEK4-XtMwro
- https://youtu.be/-BsHh3_vCMQ
- https://youtu.be/3mhctWlXyV8
- https://youtu.be/bprxrGaf0Os
- https://youtu.be/zNZCa1pVE20
- https://youtu.be/ZUp9x44N3uE
- https://youtu.be/2p_Hlm6aCok
- https://youtu.be/kUHOoMX4Bqw
- https://youtu.be/_yebLXsIdwo
- https://youtu.be/Ve_Mpd6dGv8
- https://youtu.be/0YRlQQw0d-4
- https://youtu.be/Bnh-UNrxYZg
- https://youtu.be/hF4SAketEHY
- https://youtu.be/Iya6tYN37ow
- https://youtu.be/0_Px5gbs9i0
- https://youtu.be/gsSJPLX-BTA
- https://youtu.be/73IdQGgfxas
- https://youtu.be/c8iFtaltX-s
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What if physics is just the universe learning? Most Theories of Everything episodes are mind‑bending for their math, physics, philosophy, or consciousness implications. This one hits all four simultaneously. Professor Vitaly Vanchurin joins me to argue the cosmos isn't just modeled by neural networks—it literally is one. Learning dynamics aren't a metaphor for physics; they are the physics. Vanchurin shows why we need a three‑way unification: quantum mechanics, general relativity, and observers.

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

TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00:00 - The Neural Network Universe
- 00:05:48 - Learning Dynamics as Physics
- 00:11:52 - Optimization and Variational Principles
- 00:21:17 - Deriving Fundamental Field Equations
- 00:28:47 - Fermions and Particle Emergence
- 00:37:17 - Geometry of Learning Algorithms
- 00:44:53 - Emergent Quantum Mechanics
- 00:50:01 - Renormalization and Interpretability
- 00:57:00 - Second Law of Learning
- 01:05:10 - Subatomic Natural Selection
- 01:15:40 - Consciousness and Learning Efficiency
- 01:24:09 - Unifying Physics and Observers
- 01:31:01 - Qualia and Hidden Variables
- 01:40:24 - Free Energy Principle Integration
- 01:46:04 - Epistemological Doubt and Advice

LINKS MENTIONED:
- Vitaly's Papers: https://inspirebeta.net/literature?sort=mostrecent&size=25&page=1&q=find%20author%20vanchurin
- Vitaly's Lecture: https://youtu.be/TagDLiLb2VQ
- Vitaly's Website: https://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/~vitaly/
- Towards A Theory Of Machine Learning [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2004.09280
- Autonomous Particles [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2301.10077
- Emergent Field Theories From Neural Networks [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.08138
- Covariant Gradient Descent [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.05279
- A Quantum-Classical Duality And Emergent Spacetime [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.06083
- Emergent Quantumness In Neural Networks [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.05082
- Predictability Crisis In Inflationary Cosmology And Its Resolution [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9905097
- Stationary Measure In The Multiverse [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/0812.0005
- The World As A Neural Network [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2008.01540
- Self-Organized Criticality In Neural Networks [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2107.03402v1
- One Hundred Authors Against Einstein [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/B09PHH7KC8?tag=toe08-20
- Geocentric Cosmology: A New Look At The Measure Problem [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1006.4148
- Jacob Barandes [TOE]: https://youtu.be/gEK4-XtMwro
- Yang-Hui He [TOE]: https://youtu.be/spIquD_mBFk
- Eva Miranda [TOE]: https://youtu.be/6XyMepn-AZo
- Felix Finster [TOE]: https://youtu.be/fXzO_KAqrh0
- Stephen Wolfram [TOE]: https://youtu.be/FkYer0xP37E
- Stephen Wolfram 2 [TOE]: https://youtu.be/0YRlQQw0d-4
- Avshalom Elitzur [TOE]: https://youtu.be/pWRAaimQT1E
- Ted Jacobson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3mhctWlXyV8
- Geoffrey Hinton [TOE]: https://youtu.be/b_DUft-BdIE
- Wayne Myrvold [TOE]: https://youtu.be/HIoviZe14pY
- Cumrun Vafa [TOE]: https://youtu.be/kUHOoMX4Bqw
- Claudia De Rham [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Ve_Mpd6dGv8
- Lee Smolin [TOE]: https://youtu.be/uOKOodQXjhc
- Consciousness Iceberg [TOE]: https://youtu.be/65yjqIDghEk
- Matthew Segall [TOE]: https://youtu.be/DeTm4fSXpbM
- Andres Emilsson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/BBP8WZpYp0Y
- Will Hahn [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3fkg0uTA3qU
- David Wallace [TOE]: https://youtu.be/4MjNuJK5RzM
- Karl Friston [TOE]: https://youtu.be/uk4NZorRjCo
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