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Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

By: Theories of Everything
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 Exploring theoretical physics, consciousness, Ai, and God in a technically rigorous manner. If you'd like to support this endeavor, then please visit the Patreon ( https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal ). Thank you for your charitable and kindhearted support. My name's Curt Jaimungal, a Torontonian with a degree in mathematical physics from the University of Toronto and I analyze various Theories of Everything from this analytic perspective, though more and more opening up to alternative approaches. The separating factor of TOE from other podcasts is its focus on depth even at the risk of limiting the audience due to how much detail we delve into subjects. Paralleling the intensity found in academic discourse, we're increasingly embracing a spectrum of unconventional ideas to conduct research during this podcast, rather than merely conveying existing information. Contact toe [at] indiefilmTO [dot] com for business inquiries / sponsorship.Copyright 2020 All rights reserved. Philosophy Physics Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Einstein Would Fail Modern Grant Applications | David Deutsch

    Einstein Would Fail Modern Grant Applications | David Deutsch
    Oct 6 2025
    David Deutsch argues that Einstein would struggle to secure modern research grants, exposing how funding systems favor incremental work over bold, fundamental ideas. He connects this bias to quantum computing, constructor theory, free will, and the role of creativity in scientific breakthroughs.- 00:00 - Einstein's Grant Application- 07:00 - Funding People, Not Projects- 12:35 - Is Physics Stagnant?- 17:34 - The "Checkbox" Problem- 26:05 - Physics vs. Math Departments- 32:42 - Fundamental vs. Foundational- 40:08 - Physicists and Philosophy- 45:44 - Why Academics Are Silent- 51:20 - The Problem of Quantum Gravity- 58:31 - Qubit Field Theory- 1:03:18 - Problem-Solving in Physics- 1:17:14 - Deutsch's "Impossible" List- 1:24:23 - Meeting Hugh Everett- 1:35:01 - Susskind's MWI Objections- 1:46:44 - Everett and Quantum Computing- 1:56:20 - Constructor Theory- 2:03:01 - Free Will and Knowledge- 2:09:08 - Follow The FunSPONSORS:- The Economist: 20% off - https://www.economist.com/toe- Claude: 50% off Claude Pro - http://claude.ai/theoriesofeverythingRESOURCES:- Beginning Of Infinity [Book]: https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Infinity-Explanations-Transform-World/dp/0143121359- How To Reverse Academia’s Stagnation [YouTube]: https://youtu.be/Em-85baHx0A- Qubit Field Theory [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/0401024- Quantum Theory, The Church–Turing Principle And The Universal Quantum Computer [Paper]: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspa.1985.0070- ArXiv: https://arxiv.org/- Scott Aaronson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/1ZpGCQoL2Rk- Wayne Myrvold [TOE]: https://youtu.be/HIoviZe14pY- Neil Turok [TOE]: https://youtu.be/zNZCa1pVE20- String Theory Iceberg [TOE]: https://youtu.be/X4PdPnQuwjY- Alex Honnold [TOE]: https://youtu.be/D4oXvxqzSyA- Michael Levin Λ Anna Ciaunica: https://youtu.be/2aLhkm6QUgA- Stephen Wolfram [TOE]: https://youtu.be/FkYer0xP37E- The Heisenberg Picture: https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/Advanced_Statistical_Mechanics_(Tuckerman)/09%3A_Review_of_the_basic_postulates_of_quantum_mechanics/9.04%3A_The_Heisenberg_Picture- Jacob Barandes Λ Emily Adlam: https://youtu.be/rw1ewLJUgOg- Everett’s Letter To DeWitt: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/manyworlds/orig-02.html- The Many-Worlds Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics [Book]: https://www.amazon.com/Interpretation-Quantum-Mechanics-Princeton-Library/dp/069161895X- Leonard Susskind [TOE]: https://youtu.be/2p_Hlm6aCok- Sean Carroll [TOE]: https://youtu.be/9AoRxtYZrZo- David Wallace [TOE]: https://youtu.be/4MjNuJK5RzM- Chiara Marletto [TOE]: https://youtu.be/40CB12cj_aM- Roger Penrose [TOE]: https://youtu.be/sGm505TFMbU- Robert Sapolsky [TOE]: https://youtu.be/z0IqA1hYKY8- Yang-Hui He [TOE]: https://youtu.be/spIquD_mBFk- Maria Violaris [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Iya6tYN37ow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    2 hrs and 19 mins
  • Wayne Myrvold: A 2 Hour Deep Dive Into Entropy

    Wayne Myrvold: A 2 Hour Deep Dive Into Entropy
    Sep 29 2025
    In this episode, we dive deep with philosopher of physics Wayne Myrvold to puncture entropy clichés and reframe thermodynamics as a resource theory. He argues the “entropy always increases” slogan is a consequence—not the law—and shows that Clausius’s entropy is defined only given the second law, while Gibbs vs. Boltzmann entropies answer different questions (“which entropy?”). We tour Maxwell’s demon, Landauer erasure, available energy/Helmholtz free energy, and why, once fluctuations matter, Carnot efficiency is only a statistical bound. Along the way: macrostates vs. microstates, why “disorder” misleads, ergodicity’s limited relevance, whether the universe is an isolated system, heat death as resource exhaustion, and how collapse theories would rewrite the story. We even touch QFT/stat-mech pedagogy and career advice. If you're curious about what entropy really is—and how information, agency, and objectives change the answer—this one’s for you. Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com Timestamps: - 00:00 - Is Entropy in the System or in Our Minds? - 07:12 - The Original Thermodynamics: A 'Resource Theory' of Heat and Power - 18:24 - The Second Law Doesn't Assume Entropy; Entropy Requires the Second Law - 30:58 - From Caloric Fluid to Molecular Motion: The Historical View of Entropy - 39:04 - Maxwell's Revelation: Why the Second Law Can't Be an Absolute Truth - 48:11 - Information as a Resource: How Knowledge Can Seemingly Defeat Entropy - 1:00:53 - Boltzmann vs. Gibbs: The Objective vs. Subjective Views of Entropy - 1:10:24 - Maxwell's Demon and Landauer's Principle: The Physical Cost of Information - 1:25:02 - The Inevitable "Heat Death" of the Universe? - 1:30:19 - The Fallacy of Equating Entropy with "Disorder" - 1:35:21 - The Ergodic Hypothesis: A Foundational, Yet Possibly Irrelevant, Concept - 1:43:52 - Why Statistical Mechanics May Be on Shaky Ground (Like QFT) - 1:50:50 - A Professor's Advice: Don't Jump on the Research Bandwagon Links Mentioned: - Ted Jacobson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3mhctWlXyV8 - Concerning Several Conveniently Applicable Forms For The Main Equations Of The Mechanical Heat Theory [Paper]: https://web.lemoyne.edu/giunta/Clausius1865.pdf - John Norton [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Tghl6aS5A3M - On An Absolute Thermometric Scale [Paper]: https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/2559_Therm_Stat_Mech/docs/Thomson_1848.pdf - Carnot Efficiency: https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Carnot_efficiency - Maxwell’s Talk On Molecules: https://victorianweb.org/science/maxwell/molecules.html - Helmholtz Free Energy: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/helmholtz-free-energy - Boltzmann Entropy: https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/Western_Washington_University/Biophysical_Chemistry_(Smirnov_and_McCarty)/01%3A_Biochemical_Thermodynamics/1.05%3A_The_Boltzmann_Distribution_and_the_Statistical_Definition_of_Entropy - Maxwell’s Letter: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PH-CAVENDISH-P-00092/1 - Landauer’s Principle: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S135521980300039X - On A Universal Tendency In Nature To The Dissipation Of Mechanical Energy: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14786445208647126 - Neil Turok [TOE]: https://youtu.be/zNZCa1pVE20 - Roger Penrose [TOE]: https://youtu.be/sGm505TFMbU - Sean Carroll [TOE]: https://youtu.be/9AoRxtYZrZo - Understanding The Infinite [Book]: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Infinite-Shaughan-Lavine/dp/0674921178 - Classical Electrodynamics [Book]: https://www.amazon.com/Classical-Electrodynamics-John-David-Jackson/dp/1119770769 - Why Information Is Entropy [YouTube]: https://youtu.be/8Uilw9t-syQ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    2 hrs and 6 mins
  • Your Brain Isn’t a Computer and That Changes Everything

    Your Brain Isn’t a Computer and That Changes Everything
    Sep 22 2025
    The best way to cook just got better. Go to http://HelloFresh.com/THEORIESOFEVERYTHING10FM now to Get 10 Free Meals + a Free Item for Life! * One per box with active subscription. Free meals applied as discount on first box, new subscribers only, varies by plan. Get 50% off Claude Pro, including access to Claude Code, at http://claude.ai/theoriesofeverything For the first time on TOE, I sit down with professors Anil Seth and Michael Levin to test the brain-as-computer metaphor and whether algorithms can ever capture life/mind. Anil argues the “software vs. hardware” split is a blinding metaphor—consciousness may be bound to living substrate—while Michael counters that machines can tap the same platonic space biology does. We tour their radical lab work—xenobots, compositional agents, and interfaces that bind unlike parts—and probe psychophysics in strange new beings, “islands of awareness,” and what Levin’s bubble-sort “side quests” imply for reading LLM outputs. Anil brings information theory and Granger causality into the mix to rethink emergence and scale—not just computation. Along the way: alignment, agency, and how to ask better scientific questions. If you’re into AI/consciousness, evolution without programming, or whether silicon could ever feel—this one’s for you. Timestamps: - 00:00 - Anil Seth & Michael Levin: Islands of Consciousness & Xenobots - 08:24 - Substrate Dependence: Why Biology Isn't Just 'Wetware' - 13:13 - Beyond Algorithms: Do Machines Tap Into a 'Platonic Space'? - 21:46 - The Ghost in the Algorithm: Emergent Agency in Bubble Sort - 29:26 - Degeneracy: The Biological Principle AI is Missing - 36:34 - The Multiplicity of Agency: Are Your Cells Conscious? - 43:24 - Unconscious Processing or Inaccessible Consciousness? The Split-Brain Problem - 49:32 - The Ultimate Experiment to Decode Consciousness - 57:31 - A Counter-Intuitive Discovery: Consciousness is *Less* Emergent - 1:03:39 - Psychedelics, LLMs, and the Frontiers of Surprise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 13 mins
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