Physics & Philosophy with Sean Carroll

**Chuck Nice** (0:00)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:54)
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**Neil deGrasse Tyson** (1:31)
Hey, StarTalkians, Neil here. You're about to listen to an episode specially drawn from our archives to serve your cosmic curiosities. The archives run deep. If you enjoy this, take a peek at the full catalog on your favourite podcast platform. There's a lot there to tickle your geek underbelly. Check it out.
Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now.
I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist.

**Lindsay Nix-Walker** (2:21)
And I'm Lindsay Nix-Walker, senior producer of StarTalk. And Neil and I just co-authored a brand new StarTalk book coming out September 12th.

**Neil deGrasse Tyson** (2:29)
Yeah, this is the third in a series of collaborations with National Geographic Books. And this one is titled To Infinity and Beyond. And it's available for pre-order from the StarTalk website, startalkmedia.com, slash, books. If you do pre-order the book, you have a special access to a conversation that I'll be having with Lindsay Walker. She's been my senior producer for years.
She's behind the scenes in practically every StarTalk episode you've ever seen or heard. I look forward to doing a live stream for our audience. And they'd be able to submit questions in advance. So we'll see you there. We'll see you then. startalkmedia.com/books.
This is StarTalk. Neil deGrasse Tyson here. You're a personal astrophysicist. I got with me my co-host, Chuck Nice.

**Chuck Nice** (3:25)
Hey, what's happening? All right.

**Neil deGrasse Tyson** (3:27)
Always good to have you there, man. Especially when we have Cosmic Queries.

**Chuck Nice** (3:31)
Fan favorite.

**Neil deGrasse Tyson** (3:32)
Oh, yeah. Fan favorite. We love them.
You get to ask a question with sort of entry-level participation in our Patreon program, just $5 a month.

**Chuck Nice** (3:42)
That's it.

**Neil deGrasse Tyson** (3:42)
And we collected them. And you know in advance what you're asking about, because today's topics involve physics and philosophy. Oh, oh.
People love just talking about stuff for which there is no answer.

**Chuck Nice** (3:57)
Well, of course. You know why? Because it makes them feel like they have a stake and a say.
Nobody has the answer, so I'm just as right as you are, right?
No, you're not. You're still an idiot. Okay? See, I have a PhD in philosophy and physics. I have what's called an informed opinion. You, on the other hand, went on the internet, saw somebody on Joe Rogan's show say something about something else, and now you think you're an expert. Shut up. Shut up.

**Sean Carroll** (4:30)
All right.

**Chuck Nice** (4:31)
Sorry.

**Neil deGrasse Tyson** (4:31)
Okay, that's the end of our show. Well, we're bringing into this an old friend and colleague, Sean Carroll. Sean, welcome to StarTalk.

**Sean Carroll** (4:43)
Hey, thanks for having me on, Neil.

**Neil deGrasse Tyson** (4:44)
Well, welcome back to StarTalk, I should say.
You've been on at least four or five times. You are one of the world's experts on not only physics, being a physicist, but you're also that subcategory of a physicist who cares about philosophy and have engaged philosophers on the frontier of our understanding of physics. So it's great to have you for this Cosmic Queries. And dare I say, we crafted this Cosmic Queries around your expertise. So you are the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Johns Hopkins University right there in Baltimore, and you have a joint appointment at the Santa Fe Institute. Now, that Institute, everything I know about it, those are deep thinkers about things that is like, what? Like you twist your head like a dog hearing a high pitch. It's like, what? And you're the fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. And your expertise in quantum physics, space time, cosmology, love it. Emergence, entropy, dark matter, dark energy, symmetry, the origins of the universe.