WEBVTT 00:00:02.669 --> 00:00:06.669 This week, math is on trial. Today, we're accusing 00:00:06.669 --> 00:00:10.330 math of making claims about things that no one 00:00:10.330 --> 00:00:13.750 has ever seen. It's almost like math can see 00:00:13.750 --> 00:00:17.309 the future. Now, that may sound a little reckless. 00:00:17.550 --> 00:00:21.410 I mean, how can marks on a page tell us something 00:00:21.410 --> 00:00:24.629 exists when there is no physical evidence for 00:00:24.629 --> 00:00:29.489 it? And yet, it has happened many times. For 00:00:29.489 --> 00:00:32.990 example, in the early 1800s, astronomers noticed 00:00:32.990 --> 00:00:35.950 that Uranus was not moving exactly according 00:00:35.950 --> 00:00:39.490 to Newton's mathematics. Its orbit seemed off 00:00:39.490 --> 00:00:43.649 a bit. Well, this unexpected result could have 00:00:43.649 --> 00:00:47.710 been dismissed as bad data. Instead, mathematicians 00:00:47.710 --> 00:00:50.509 wondered if the strange orbit might be caused 00:00:50.509 --> 00:00:53.329 by the gravity of another planet, one that no 00:00:53.329 --> 00:00:57.070 one had seen. Well, using math, they calculated 00:00:57.070 --> 00:01:01.090 where this unknown planet should be. And in 1846, 00:01:01.409 --> 00:01:04.650 astronomers pointed a telescope towards that 00:01:04.650 --> 00:01:08.609 part of the sky, and voila, they found Neptune. 00:01:09.030 --> 00:01:13.489 The math had located a planet before the telescopes 00:01:13.489 --> 00:01:18.909 did. Wow. Well, another example. James Clerk 00:01:18.909 --> 00:01:22.269 Maxwell developed equations that connected electricity 00:01:22.269 --> 00:01:30.959 and magnetism. even though no one had seen them 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:34.480 yet. And years later, experiments showed that 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:38.920 the waves were real. And today they make radio 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:42.340 and television and Wi -Fi and much of our modern 00:01:42.340 --> 00:01:46.659 communication possible. There are countless other 00:01:46.659 --> 00:01:51.120 examples. And this is one of the most mind -boggling 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:55.219 things about math. We can follow a chain of logic 00:01:55.219 --> 00:01:58.510 on paper. and end up finding something hidden 00:01:58.510 --> 00:02:03.069 in the universe. Sometimes an unexpected result 00:02:03.069 --> 00:02:06.769 is an error. We do make mistakes. But sometimes 00:02:06.769 --> 00:02:10.090 the problem isn't the result. The problem is 00:02:10.090 --> 00:02:16.090 that our picture of reality is too small. Well, 00:02:16.110 --> 00:02:18.370 let's face it. From a human perspective, the 00:02:18.370 --> 00:02:21.469 future is uncertain. And as I get older, there 00:02:21.469 --> 00:02:24.370 are times when it feels like the world is spinning 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:28.210 out of control. But I think there is evidence 00:02:28.210 --> 00:02:31.849 that points in another direction. I believe we 00:02:31.849 --> 00:02:34.389 have arrived here on planet Earth for a reason. 00:02:34.610 --> 00:02:37.150 Now, I do not know exactly what the reason is, 00:02:37.229 --> 00:02:40.530 of course, but I believe it is leading towards 00:02:40.530 --> 00:02:43.889 something good. I've thought a lot about this, 00:02:43.909 --> 00:02:47.550 so try to hear me out here. Mathematics has led 00:02:47.550 --> 00:02:50.490 us beyond what was visible, and it has helped 00:02:50.490 --> 00:02:53.409 us to discover parts of reality that were there 00:02:53.409 --> 00:02:57.330 all along. So it just makes me wonder if the 00:02:57.330 --> 00:03:00.569 future may also contain order and possibility 00:03:00.569 --> 00:03:06.810 that I cannot see today. Math cannot prove that 00:03:06.810 --> 00:03:10.490 the future is good, but it does give me a reason 00:03:10.490 --> 00:03:14.750 not to assume that what I see today is all there 00:03:14.750 --> 00:03:19.969 is. So on the charge of being mind -boggling, 00:03:20.069 --> 00:03:24.800 mathematics is guilty. Math continues to show 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:29.680 us beyond what we can see today. So our question 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:33.699 to end is what disruption in your life might 00:03:33.699 --> 00:03:37.379 be evidence that your current understanding is 00:03:37.379 --> 00:03:37.960 too small?