Podcasts · Science · Society & Culture

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Theories of Everything

300 episodes

Exploring theoretical physics, consciousness, Ai, and God in a technically rigorous manner. If you'd like to support this endeavor, then please visit the Substack https://curtjaimungal.com as you get ad-free extras. 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.

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. Scott Aaronson: “I Heard That a Robot Solved the Math Problem You Worked On”

    · 1 h 30 min

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  2. Hirosi Ooguri: Could AI Find Physics We Can’t Understand?

    · 2 h 10 min

    SPONSORS: - Go to https://www.plaud.ai/curt and use the promo code "CURT" to get a Plaud device today - Our listeners get up to 30% off their entire order at https://undrdog.com Every episode days early, ad-free, plus…

  3. Philip Mannheim: Dark Matter and General Relativity Explained FROM SCRATCH

    · 2 h 17 min

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  4. Jonathan Gorard: The Physicist Revolutionizing Physics With AI

    · 2 h 14 min

    SPONSORS: - Don’t sleep on [@ultrapouches]. New customers get 15% Off with code TOE at http://takeultra.com! #UltraPouches #ad Every episode days early, ad-free, plus my essays: https://curtjaimungal.com Math has a…

  5. Olaf Dreyer: This One Number Explains the Beginning

    · 2 h 32 min

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  6. Jim Al-Khalili: The (Unsettling) Reason Time Only Runs One Way

    · 1 h 47 min

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  7. She Says Spacetime Points Are Just Where Fields Meet

    · 1 h 33 min

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  8. Tanya Luhrmann: The Experience Is Real. But Is God?

    · 1 h 09 min

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  9. Tim Maudlin: Quantum Nonlocality Explained FROM SCRATCH

    · 3 h 19 min

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  10. Adrian Owen: Awake. Aware. Unable to Move.

    · 1 h 33 min

    SPONSORS: - Visit https://mod.com for a free consultation and get 10% off your first order PLUS free shipping with promo code TOE. There are three questions people ask about consciousness: what it is, how to explain…

  11. Peter Godfrey-Smith: This Scientist Found Earth’s “Alien” Minds

    · 1 h 48 min

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  12. Jacob Tsimerman: The Last Generation of Mathematicians

    · 1 h 31 min

    Ten days after winning the Fields Medal — math's highest honor — Jacob Tsimerman joins to explain why he's leaving academia temporarily for OpenAI's AI safety team, and why he's grieving even as he does it. The…

  13. Becca Tarnas: The Unsettling Link Between Jung’s Red Book and Tolkien

    · 1 h 54 min

    SPONSORS: - Nobody likes a call center — ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs fixes that with voice AI that sounds human and works 24/7 in 30+ languages. Try it: elevenlabs.io/TOE This podcast explores the uncanny link between…

  14. Tim Maudlin: Quantum Mechanics Explained FROM SCRATCH

    · 3 h 03 min

    This is a careful lecture that can be followed with zero background knowledge. Einstein thought he'd caught quantum mechanics in an act of spookiness — this podcast asks whether he was even worried about the right…

  15. Emily Adlam & David Wallace: The Quantum Interpretation That Divides Physicists

    · 1 h 16 min

    SPONSORS: - Go to https://www.plaud.ai/curt and use the promo code "CURT" to get a Plaud device today This is a podcast all about parallel universes, and whether we have any right to believe in them. David Wallace,…

  16. Ginestra Bianconi: The Physicist Who (Unexpectedly) Derived Gravity From Entropy

    · 59 min

    Ginestra Bianconi thinks gravity can be derived from entropy — and that gravity itself is fundamentally anti-reductionistic, since it's about geometry rather than isolated particle interactions. In this episode, the…

  17. Curt Jaimungal: Reality Is Bloody Terrifying

    · 9:26

    What does it mean to investigate the "nature of reality"? In this episode, we break down the term across philosophy, physics, mathematics, cognitive science, and theology: exploring questions of metaphysics,…

  18. Philip Mannheim: No Big Bang. No Inflation. No Dark Matter.

    · 2 h 36 min

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  19. Curt Jaimungal: What is Existence, Exactly?

    · 23 min

    Does Batman exist? Not really—but proving he doesn't turns out to be a logical minefield. This episode tackles negative existentials: why saying "X doesn't exist" seems to require referring to X in the first place. We…

  20. Simon Saunders: The Unsettling Mysteries of Time

    · 1 h 46 min

    SPONSORS: - Go to https://www.plaud.ai/curt and use the promo code "CURT" to get a Plaud device today - Accelerate your efficiency. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at http://shopify.com/theories This…

  21. Neil Turok: A Route to Quantum Gravity (Without Strings)

    · 1 h 55 min

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  22. Roman Yampolskiy: We're Simulated. AI Is Conscious. And We Can't Win.

    · 2 h 01 min

    SPONSORS: - Accelerate your efficiency. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at http://shopify.com/theories Roman Yampolskiy has spent two decades being right about things people wished he wasn't — and…

  23. Harvey Friedman: The Genius Who Invented Reverse Mathematics

    · 1 h 39 min

    SPONSORS: - Go to https://www.plaud.ai/curt to get a Plaud device today - Go to https://shortform.com/toe for a free trial and an exclusive $50 OFF on your annual subscription Harvey Friedman — the youngest professor…

  24. Janna Levin: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Klein Bottle

    · 2 h 05 min

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  25. Juan Maldacena: Geometry as Entanglement, and the Emergence of Spacetime

    · 1 h 48 min

    SPONSORS: - Go to https://shortform.com/toe for a free trial and an exclusive $50 OFF on your annual subscription Juan Maldacena wrote the most cited paper in theoretical physics, birthing AdS/CFT and realizing…

  26. Slavoj Zizek: “Buddhism Can’t Explain This”

    · 1 h 35 min

    SPONSORS: - Accelerate your efficiency. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at http://shopify.com/theories - Go to https://shortform.com/toe for a free trial and an exclusive $50 OFF on your annual…

  27. Curt Jaimungal: Consciousness, Irreducibility, and the Local to Global

    · 1 h 00 min

    Why can't local agreement scale to global truth? At the Mind at Large consciousness conference, hosted by the Center for Process Studies, I make the case using sheaf theory and physics — breaking down consciousness,…

  28. George Ellis: Hawking's Co-Author on Why Reductionism Is Dead

    · 1 h 35 min

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  29. Aephraim Steinberg: The Physicist Who Measured Negative Time

    · 2 h 27 min

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  30. Curt Jaimungal: Why You Are Brighter Than You Think

    · 16 min

    SPONSORS: - Go to https://shortform.com/toe for a free trial and an exclusive $50 OFF on your annual subscription The intellectual world is designed to erode your confidence — through rejection rates, delayed feedback,…

  31. Curt Jaimungal: What Is Infinity, Actually?

    · 17 min

    For much of history, many mathematicians—following thinkers like Aristotle—viewed infinity as a never-ending process rather than a completed object. In the late 19th century, Georg Cantor revolutionized this view by…

  32. Emily Riehl Makes Infinity Categories Elementary

    · 2 h 50 min

    Emily Riehl, one of the world’s leading category theorists, shares her vision for making infinity category theory something undergrads can actually learn. In this talk, she breaks down how rethinking the foundations of…

  33. Renato Renner: Quantum Mechanics Contains Its Own Contradictions

    · 3 h 26 min

    Renato Renner (ETH Zurich) proves quantum mechanics has logical contradictions that undermine its foundations. Quantum theory may be history's most successful theory — yet it can't consistently describe itself. Not a…

  34. Jenny Wagner: What If We've Been Wrong About Dark Matter For Decades?

    · 2 h 38 min

    Every episode days early, ad-free, plus my essays: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe Jenny Wagner on the inverse problem: mapping dark matter without assuming what it is. What if 85% of the universe's matter…

  35. Curt Jaimungal: I'm Worried About Us

    · 6:11

    Every episode days early, ad-free, plus my essays: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe Curt Jaimungal argues writing reveals something deeper than output—what LLMs expose about human purpose. Curt Jaimungal…

  36. JB Manchak: Time Travel in Physics and What We Still Don't Know

    · 2 h 18 min

    Every episode days early, ad-free, plus my essays: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe Curt Jaimungal examines why physicists still can't resolve whether time travel is possible or forbidden. What if you…

  37. Curt Jaimungal: Why General Relativity Is Not Deterministic

    · 22 min

    Curt Jaimungal explains why Einstein's general relativity isn't actually deterministic: how Cauchy horizons and closed time-like curves break predictability, and why math and physics don't always guarantee a set…

  38. John Donoghue: We Have Already Quantized Gravity (And It Works)

    · 1 h 07 min

    Professor John Donoghue explains why quantum physics and gravity actually work perfectly together. He tackles quadratic gravity, effective field theory, and random dynamics, arguing that grand unification and…

  39. Nir Lahav: What If Consciousness Follows the Rules of Relativity?

    · 3 h 09 min

    Every episode days early, ad-free, plus my essays: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe Physicist Nir Lahav proposes a relativistic theory of consciousness: subjective experience as a genuine physical property…

  40. Curt Jaimungal: Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Gets "Belief" Wrong

    · 17 min

    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…

  41. David Bessis: The Mistake We All Make About Mathematics

    · 2 h 19 min

    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…

  42. Erik Verlinde: Gravity Is Not Fundamental, It Is Entropic

    · 1 h 59 min

    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…

  43. Vitaly Vanchurin: The Universe Is a Neural Network That Learns

    · 1 h 59 min

    What if physics is the universe learning? Professor Vitaly Vanchurin argues the cosmos isn't merely modeled by neural networks, it literally is one. He calls to unify QM, GR, and observers. Every episode days early,…

  44. Rob Spekkens: Why the Quantum Wave Function Is Not Real

    · 2 h 48 min

    Perimeter Institute's Robert Spekkens on quantum foundations. His 2004 classical toy theory makes maximum knowledge always incomplete, and out pops no-cloning, teleportation, and interference Feynman deemed impossible…

  45. Subir Sarkar: Why Dark Energy Is a Local Illusion

    · 2 h 04 min

    Hot off the press, Professor Subir Sarkar makes the case that dark energy doesn’t exist (and he’s not being provocative for its own sake). He’s the former head of Oxford’s particle theory group, serves on the Particle…

  46. Stuart Kauffman: “If I’m Right, There Is No Theory of Everything”

    · 1 h 28 min

    Stuart Kauffman, one of the founders of complexity theory, invented random Boolean networks at 23 and helped establish the Santa Fe Institute. Now 86, he makes a striking claim: there is no theory of everything.…

  47. Timothy Williamson: The Logician Who Says Vagueness Has Exact Answers

    · 1 h 57 min

    Timothy Williamson (Oxford) challenges modal logic, epistemic possibility, and the nature of philosophical knowledge. Every episode days early, ad-free, plus my essays: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe…

  48. I’m Giving Away $5,000 to Explain Hard Physics (and AI)

    · 10 min

    Host Curt Jaimungal launches #CORE1, a competition seeking high-level video explainers for physics, AI, and philosophy. If you're a researcher or student, you'll have a chance to win part of the $5,000 prize pool by…

  49. Bas van Fraassen: Why Science Does Not Reveal the Truth

    · 2 h 17 min

    Bas van Fraassen argues science doesn't deliver literal truth, so unobservable physics is a model. The self isn't a thing, logic permits free will, and he keeps faith in God without metaphysics. Every episode days…

  50. Roger Penrose and Ivette Fuentes: A Bold New Test of Gravity

    · 1 h 14 min

    Sir Roger Penrose and Professor Ivette Fuentes analyze the Ron Folman T-cubed experiment and whether the equivalence principle holds in quantum mechanics. SPONSORS: - Thank you Nolah for sponsoring! Click here…

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