1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,160 Welcome to this deep dive and we're gonna be tackling 2 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:09,720 One of the big ones today one of those questions that makes you go, huh? What is reality? It's a big one 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:14,480 It is but I think we're gonna try to make it bite-sized, you know 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:20,320 Starting with something we all know an apple, you know red juicy. Maybe you have one for breakfast, right? 5 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:25,320 We're gonna use this simple apple as a springboard to explore some pretty wild ideas 6 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:32,720 Yeah, both philosophy and science and our sources for this one take us from you know those classic philosophers like 7 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:39,960 pondering life in their togas all the way to kind of mind-bending physics that might make your head spin, but 8 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:44,320 They might we're in this together. We are we are in it together. This is a journey 9 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,760 Yeah, and the journey starts with a seemingly simple question is an apple 10 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:54,520 I mean you can touch it you can taste it, but what does that even mean right? 11 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:56,480 This is where philosophy steps in yeah 12 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:02,600 And one of the first stops on our reality road trip is Plato's allegory of the cave. Are you familiar with this one? 13 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:07,640 Oh, yeah, it's about these prisoners who spend their entire lives seeing nothing but shadows on a cave wall 14 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,400 I'm thinking that's the whole world. Well, there is yeah, so 15 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,920 Plato's point was that what we perceive as reality might be like those shadows 16 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:23,520 Hmm, just a limited glimpse of a much bigger more complex picture. Hmm. You know our senses might be fooling us 17 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,960 Okay, that's already making me question my snack choices, but wait it gets weirder 18 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:34,200 Oh, yeah, our sources point out that animal see color totally differently than we do like a bee 19 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:39,560 Sees ultraviolet patterns on flowers that are invisible to us. That's right. Yeah 20 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:43,520 It's like each species is living in its own custom-made visual simulation 21 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:50,120 You know wow your reality. Yeah quite literally isn't the same as a dog's reality or a bird's reality 22 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:56,120 So what you're saying is my apple might look delicious to me, but to a bat it's practically broadcasting on a different channel 23 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:03,400 Exactly, that's wild. Yeah, so the takeaway here is that even something as basic as color is just our brains interpreting information 24 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:09,000 It's not necessarily an objective truth about the apple itself. You got it that that is a really good way to put it 25 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:16,200 Mm-hmm. Yeah, and that's where science comes in trying to unpack. Yeah, what our senses are telling us right our sources talk about the poet John Keats 26 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,560 Who was a bit bummed when? 27 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:25,280 Newton explained light through physics. Yeah, basically unweaving the rainbow as Keats put it 28 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,120 I get that you know some things just seem more magical when you don't know how they work 29 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:34,440 But I guess understanding that magic on a deeper level is its own kind of awesome. It is it is 30 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:40,200 So how do our eyes make sense of all these colors? Well, this guy Tom is young figured out that we have 31 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:44,100 Three types of color sensitive cells in our eyes. Okay 32 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:49,240 They work together like a team mixing and matching signals to create the whole spectrum of colors 33 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,680 We see so it's like our eyes are mixing colors like a painter's palette 34 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:58,940 Yeah, and the final masterpiece is what we perceive as reality right and that reinforces the idea that even though we 35 00:02:58,940 --> 00:03:05,260 Experience the world as solid and out there. Mm-hmm. A lot of it is actually being constructed inside our own heads 36 00:03:05,540 --> 00:03:09,020 Whoa, okay. I'm starting to see things a little differently already 37 00:03:09,380 --> 00:03:14,500 But if you think that's mind-blowing just wait till we start talking about Einstein. Oh, yeah 38 00:03:14,780 --> 00:03:20,420 He basically ripped apart our comfy ideas about time and space. He did he sure did until 39 00:03:21,340 --> 00:03:23,340 Einstein came along. Yeah 40 00:03:23,340 --> 00:03:26,920 Everyone pretty much assumed time and space were these fixed 41 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:33,440 Absolute things, you know, like a universal plot taking away for everyone at the same rate, right? 42 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,520 But Einstein's theory of relativity totally flipped the script 43 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:43,520 Yeah, one of our sources mentions this experiment from 2023 where astronomers actually measured time dilation 44 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:50,080 Distant quasars and you know what they found time ran slower in the early universe in that wild 45 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:55,240 Yeah, that's the thing about Einstein. He comes up with these wild ideas that seem impossible, right? 46 00:03:55,240 --> 00:04:00,200 And then decades later scientists find ways to prove him right. Yeah, it's incredible 47 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:06,160 So what we learned from Einstein is that even time something we think of as you know, this absolute thing 48 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,660 Yeah, relative to your perspective. It is. Yeah, your frame of reference 49 00:04:09,660 --> 00:04:15,720 So there's no universal now mine out could be different from your now depending on where we are and how fast we're moving precisely 50 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:22,800 There is no universal now. Wow, it's all relative. Okay, and it gets even weirder when you start to consider black holes 51 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:27,920 Oh boy, they're immense gravity warps space time so much that time 52 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:33,760 Practically stands still near the event horizon. Yeah, so imagine being close to a black hole 53 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:39,300 While someone else is far away time would be passing at drastically different rates for each of you 54 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,160 Hold on my brain needs a minute to catch up. I know I think I'm starting to get 55 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:47,720 We can't take anything for granted not even something as fundamental as time 56 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:53,240 And if that wasn't enough to shake up your reality, just wait till we dive into the world of atoms 57 00:04:54,600 --> 00:05:01,440 Okay, so we've gone from questioning the color of an apple to questioning the very nature of time, right now 58 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:06,960 We're going even smaller. Yeah to the building blocks of everything Adam to the building blocks 59 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:12,640 You know those tiny things we learned about in school turns out there even weirder than we thought. Oh, yeah way weirder 60 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,000 Think about the early 1900s. There was this 61 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:17,520 a 62 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:26,240 Scientist Ernest Rutherford, huh? And he did this experiment where he fired tiny particles at a thin sheet of gold foil 63 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:31,240 Okay, and guess what most of them went straight through like the gold was practically empty 64 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:37,620 Wait, what so it's like shooting a cannonball at tissue paper and having it pass right through basically. Yeah, but 65 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,720 We experienced the world is solid right. How does that even make sense? That's the wild part 66 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:48,040 Rutherford's experiment showed that atoms are mostly empty space 67 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:55,360 What we perceive as solidity is actually the result of forces between those tiny particles within the atom 68 00:05:55,360 --> 00:06:01,120 So my apple which feels so firm in my hand is basically a bunch of empty space held together by invisible forces 69 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,080 You got it. I'm telling you the more we learn about reality less 70 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:10,640 I feel like I understand anything but that's the beauty of it, right? There's always more to discover always another layer to peel back and 71 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaking of peeling back layers 72 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:19,840 Let's dive even deeper into the atom to the realm of electrons. You remember those little guys zipping around the nucleus 73 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:26,360 Yeah, they're like the planets orbiting the Sun, right? At least that's what I learned way back when well not quite 74 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:31,360 It turns out electrons don't behave like tiny planets at all. They're more like 75 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:39,920 Fuzzy clouds of possibility fuzzy clouds. Yeah, okay. Now you've really lost me. What's fuzzy about an electron? 76 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:44,320 This is where we enter this strange and wonderful world of quantum mechanics 77 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:48,840 Okay in the quantum realm things don't follow the same rules we're used to in the everyday world 78 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:53,200 Yeah, electrons for example exhibit something called wave particle duality 79 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:57,480 Okay, it's like they can be in multiple places at once spread out like a wave 80 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,520 Hold on. Are you saying an electron is both a particle and a wave? 81 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:05,480 Yeah, how is that even possible? Think about light. We know it acts like a wave, right? 82 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:07,680 That's how we get things like rainbows and diffraction patterns 83 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:12,400 Yeah, but light can also act like a particle a photon. Okay electrons are similar 84 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:16,440 They can be a tiny point of matter or a spread out wave depending on how you observe them 85 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:22,500 So it's like if I look at an electron one way it's a particle, but if I look at it another way 86 00:07:22,500 --> 00:07:27,400 It's a wave. That's a good way to think about it. Yeah, that's seriously messing with my head 87 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:35,200 I know right quantum mechanics is full of these mind-bending concepts, but here's what's really crazy because electrons can act like waves 88 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:44,400 They can do things that seem impossible in the classical world like tunnel through barriers tunnel through barriers like teleport through wall 89 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,840 Kind of imagine you have a wall and you throw a tennis ball at it 90 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,680 Yeah, normally the ball would bounce back right, but if the tennis ball were an electron 91 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,000 There's a chance it could actually pass right through the wall as if it tunneled through it 92 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:02,720 Okay, that's just plain spooky. So you're telling me the atoms in my apple the ones that are mostly empty space are made of these fuzzy 93 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:10,560 Electrons that can teleport. Yeah, pretty much this apple is way more complicated than it looks it is and all of this strangeness led to some 94 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:17,040 Serious head scratching even among the greatest minds in physics. Okay, for example 95 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:21,080 Did you know that Einstein actually disagreed with some of the implications of quantum mechanics? 96 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:27,200 Really, I thought Einstein was all about bending the rules of reality. He was but even Einstein had his limits 97 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:29,760 He famously said God does not play dice 98 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:35,400 Because he couldn't accept that the universe could be fundamentally random as quantum mechanics suggests 99 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:41,680 So Einstein thought there had to be some underlying order. Yes some hidden variables that would make everything predictable again 100 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:47,520 Exactly. He believed that quantum mechanics was incomplete that there had to be more to the story 101 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:50,680 This led to some 102 00:08:50,680 --> 00:08:56,400 Fascinated debates with other physicists like Niels Bohr who championed the probabilistic interpretation 103 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,300 But didn't experiments eventually prove that Einstein was wrong? 104 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:06,280 At least on some of these points. Yes, one of the biggest sticking points was this concept of entanglement 105 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:12,340 Where two particles become linked in such a way that they share the same fate even when separated by vast distances 106 00:09:12,340 --> 00:09:15,800 So you're saying if I have two entangled particles and I do something to one of them 107 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,040 Yeah, the other one instantly reacts even if it's light years away 108 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:26,920 That's exactly right. Isn't that faster than the speed of light? That's exactly what bothered Einstein. He called it spooky action at a distance 109 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:31,240 He thought there had to be some hidden communication going on something 110 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,000 We weren't seeing because how else could they be in sync like that? 111 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,400 But the experiments they actually proved that entanglement is real and it does happen 112 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:45,920 Instantaneously regardless of distance. Yes, and this is where it gets really mind-blowing experiments including one called the cosmic belt test 113 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:51,680 Using starlight and quasars Wow confirmed that entanglement is a real phenomenon 114 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:57,320 It implies that the universe is non-local which means that things can be connected to influence each other 115 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:01,520 Instantaneously regardless of how far apart they are. Whoa, okay 116 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:07,040 So my apple with its atoms and its entangled particles is somehow connected to everything else in the universe 117 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:13,480 It seems that way. That's kind of a beautiful thought. Yeah, but also a little scary. Don't you think it's definitely a paradigm shift 118 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:18,880 Yeah, and it raises some profound questions about the nature of space time and reality itself 119 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:25,400 But before we get too lost in the cosmos, let's bring things back down to earth to something a little closer to home 120 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:27,880 What does it mean for you to be real? 121 00:10:28,680 --> 00:10:30,680 Now you're getting personal 122 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:36,400 I'm not sure I'm ready to question my own existence just yet, but I'm definitely intrigued 123 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:42,360 Where do we even begin with something like that? Well one way to approach the question of you is through this 124 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:45,920 Thought experiment called the ship of Theseus, okay? 125 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:51,840 Imagine a ship that gradually has all of its parts replaced over time. Yeah, is it still the same ship? 126 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,240 Hmm if every plank every sail every nail is eventually swapped out 127 00:10:56,400 --> 00:11:00,200 Does it fundamentally change the identity of the ship? That's a good one 128 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,880 It's kind of like that question, you know if you replace all the parts of a car, right? 129 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:05,480 Is it still the same car? Right? 130 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,680 I guess it depends on what you consider to be the essence of the car or the ship, right exactly 131 00:11:09,680 --> 00:11:14,960 And it gets even trickier when you apply it to humans. Yeah, our bodies are constantly replacing cells, right? 132 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:21,160 So are you still the same? Yeah, you from ten years ago, even though none of the physical matter is the same 133 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:27,160 Oh, that's heavy stuff makes you wonder what really matters the physical stuff or something more like 134 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,560 I don't know a pattern a soul an ongoing story 135 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:35,960 Yeah, our sources touch on this idea of consciousness, which seems like a key piece of the puzzle, right? 136 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:39,640 But what even is consciousness? Yeah, that's the million dollar question, right? 137 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:43,480 Is it just a byproduct of all those neurons firing in our brains? 138 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:48,480 Oh, huh, or is it something more fundamental and maybe even separate from the physical world? 139 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:56,600 Some scientists believe that consciousness could emerge from any sufficiently complex system, even artificial ones 140 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:00,800 So you're saying a computer if it gets sophisticated enough. Yeah, could 141 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:06,160 Actually become aware like have its own thoughts and feelings. That's the idea behind emerging consciousness 142 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:09,120 And it's pretty wild to consider on the other hand 143 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:13,840 There's this idea called mind-body dualism which goes way back to philosophers like Descartes 144 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:17,720 Okay, they argued that the mind is a totally separate entity from the body 145 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:23,800 So like our bodies are physical machines, right? But our minds are something else entirely maybe even non-physical 146 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:28,600 That's starting to sound a little like I don't know ghosts in the machine 147 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:35,520 I know it's a tough one to wrap your head around, but here's where things get really interesting. Okay ready for a mind-bender. Yeah 148 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:43,240 Some people think our entire reality might be a simulation wait a simulation like we're all just living in the matrix exactly 149 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:44,880 That's the simulation hypothesis 150 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:52,080 The idea is that our universe could be a giant computer program created by some super advanced civilization 151 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:55,000 Okay, everything we experience our thoughts our feelings 152 00:12:55,000 --> 00:13:02,160 Our entire reality would just be lines of code. Okay, that's either the coolest or the most terrifying thing 153 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:05,160 I've ever heard so if we are in a simulation 154 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:09,200 Yeah, does that mean free will is an illusion and what about the meaning of life? 155 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:14,360 Does any of it even matter? Those are some of the big questions the simulation hypothesis raises 156 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,360 It makes you wonder who are the programmers? 157 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:20,360 What's their purpose in creating our simulated world and are they watching us right now? 158 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:26,960 Okay, now I'm definitely getting creeped out, but one of our sources takes this idea even further talking about the mathematical universe hypothesis 159 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:34,600 Oh, yeah, what's that all about? That's a truly mind-blowing concept. Yeah, it suggests the universe isn't made of physical stuff at all 160 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:42,600 Instead it's pure mathematics wait so instead of atoms and particles were made of equations and formulas. Is that what you're saying in a way? 161 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:47,800 Yes, it's like the universe itself is a giant mathematical equation playing itself out 162 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:55,240 Yeah, and if that's the case it means there could be an infinite number of other universes each representing a different mathematical possibility 163 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:57,920 Infinite universes my brain is officially fried 164 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:05,400 But there's one last concept our sources touch on that I have to ask you about this idea of Boltzmann brains. Oh, yeah 165 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,880 They sound kind of terrifying. They're definitely a bit unsettling 166 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:11,840 Boltzmann brains are 167 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:18,400 Hypothetical conscious entities that could spontaneously pop into existence in a random fluctuation of energy 168 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:24,520 Even in the vast emptiness of space like a disembodied brain just suddenly appears with thoughts and memories 169 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:30,200 Vanishes again pretty much. That's both amazing and terrifying and the really wild part is that 170 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:39,080 Statistically speaking it might be more likely for a Boltzmann brain to exist than a whole universe like ours really so there's a chance that we're all 171 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:44,600 Just temporary fluctuations in the cosmic void. Okay, that's officially too much for me to process 172 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:49,680 I think I need a break from reality for a while. I hear you. It's been quite a journey, hasn't it? 173 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:55,680 We started with a simple apple and ended up questioning the very fabric of existence. Yeah, but 174 00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:58,960 Even though we may not have all the answers one thing's for sure 175 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:04,720 The universe is a far stranger and more wondrous place than we ever imagined. Absolutely 176 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:10,000 We've explored color time atoms consciousness simulations even disembodied brains 177 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:14,280 We've been everywhere and while it's mind-blowing. I wouldn't have it any other way me neither 178 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:15,880 So as you go about your day 179 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:20,180 Yeah, take a moment to look around and appreciate the mystery of it all 180 00:15:20,180 --> 00:15:23,860 It's all a mystery that solidity you feel that sense of self that flow of time 181 00:15:23,860 --> 00:15:30,760 It's all a lot more complex and amazing than we realize really is and who knows what incredible discoveries are waiting for us 182 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:36,280 Just around the corner. We'll be back soon to dive into another fascinating topic until then stay curious