LUAR - Life, The Universe and All the Rest

EN: Does understanding life need a new kind of science? In this episode we talk to Stuart Kauffman, a pioneer of complexity science applied to life’s origins and evolution. We argue that life sets itself apart due to its nonreductive nature and asks for new ways of thinking about the limits of modeling based on traditional physical systems. PT: A compreensão da vida precisa de um novo tipo de ciên...

EN: Mysterious Minds: what we know and don't know about consciousness We kick off the season with the perfect guest: Michael Pollan — author, journalist, and someone who has spent years asking uncomfortable questions about the human mind. This conversation goes deep. We talk about consciousness — what it is, where it lives, and why science as done today still can’t fully explain it. We talk ab...

EN: This first episode of the new season is more than a comeback. It's a reset. We sit down to talk about what changed, why the show has a new name, and what this season is actually going to be about. Science, yes — but bigger, stranger, and more honest than before. If you've been here from the beginning, welcome back. If this is your first time, you picked the right moment to start. The u...

EN: Physics, Reality, and Consciousness. In this episode, we talk to philosopher of science Michel Bitbol about the nature of consciousness, quantum Bayesianism, and how science beyond the blind spot requires keeping the active role of the scientist front and centre in our thinking about nature. PT: Física, Realidade e Consciência. Neste episódio, conversamos com o filósofo da ciência Michel Bitbo...

EN: In this episode Adam, Marcelo, and Evan, engage in a deep conversation with philosopher Harald Wiltsche on the differences between analytical and continental philosophy, the ideas behind the Phenomenology school of philosophy, and how it brings a fresh approach to the thorny issue of the interpretation of quantum physics. Harald A. Wiltsche isProfessor and Head of Division for Philosophy at th...

EN: From Ancestral Wisdom to Our Planetary Future: A Conversation with Dr. Yuria Celidwen In this episode, Evan and Marcelo talk to Dr. Yuria Celidwen, who researches Indigenous forms of contemplation, examining self-transcendence and its embodiment in prosocial behavior. Yuria is of Nahua and Maya descent and brings forth a unique combination of Mexican ancestral wisdom and modern Indigenous scho...

EN: A Conversation with Kim Stanley Robinson In this episode Adam and Marcelo talk to best-selling scifi author Kim Stanley Robinson, author of The Ministry of the Future, the Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars series, New York 2140, and many other books. The amazing conversation ranged widely, from imagining new futures to the craft of writing fiction, to space travel and colonization, ETs, and...

EN: Let’s Talk About Aliens! In this episode Adam and Marcelo discuss the possibility of alien life in the galaxy. Starting with the mysterious 3I/A interstellar object (it is a comet folks!) they dive deeply into what we know and what we don’t know about alien life, visits to Earth, interstellar travel, and what would these other creatures would possibly look like, if they exist. PT: Vamos Falar...

EN From the Space Race to the Multiverse: Science x Religion It may seem surprising, but religious thinking hides in the strangest of places, even in those labeled as very scientific and technological. With our guest prof. Mary-Jane Rubenstein, we dive deep into the hidden relationships between cutting-edge ideas in theoretical physics — in particular the multiverse - and in the ideology behind th...

EN: The Planet and The Planetary. In this episode we talk with philosopher Lukáš Likavčan about how human culture will respond to a climate changing planet. PT: O Planeta e o Planetário.. Neste episódio, conversamos com o filósofo Lukas Likavčan sobre como a cultura humana responderá a um planeta em mudança climática.

EN: Searching for the Meaning of Quantum Theory: From the Many Worlds to QBism. In this conversation, guest Jacques Pienaar and Marcelo Gleiser discuss the implications of quantum theory and the many-worlds interpretation to our understanding of physical reality. What does quantum physics tell us about the world and our place in it? Pienaar introduces the concept of the Everett telephone, a theore...

EN: Some Like It Hot: Heat Is a Form of Motion In this episode we discuss the basic physics of heat, from its beginnings in the experience of hot and cold to Boltzmann’s H-theorem and its shortcomings and its role in the industrial revolution. With the study of heat probabilities come into physics for the first time, changing the game in deep ways, connecting the physical of the very small with hu...

EN: Is Earth Alive? Gaia and Systems Thinking In this episode we discuss the famous Gaia Hypothesis (or theory). After a bit of history for context,we consider what scientists really mean when they use the term Gaia to refer to Earth’s complexgeophysical-biochemical feedback mechanisms which are profoundly affected and determined by the presence and specific properties of life here. Earth’s histor...

EN: Buddhism, Science and Mind. In this episode, we’re joined by Buddhist scholar professor John Dunne of the University of Wisconsin. He takes us on a fascinating deep, dive into exactly what Buddhism says about the nature of mind and what that may tell us about a science of consciousness. PT: Budismo, Ciência e Mente. Neste episódio, recebemos o estudioso do budismo, professor John Dunne, da Uni...

EN: Mind, Life and Intelligence. What is intelligence and who has it? In this episode Evan and Adam explore the links between life and intelligence. Topics include why bacteria make sense of their world but Artificial Intelligence doesn't and more. PT: Mente, Vida e Inteligência. O que é inteligência e quem a possui? Neste episódio, Evan e Adam exploram as conexões entre vida e inteligência. O...

EN: Why is Quantum Physics So Weird? In this episode Adam and Marcelo set the stage to explore the weirdness of quantum mechanics. Taking a historical approach, they start from the beginning, experiments in the late 1800s and how they forced physicists like Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger a propose a very strange and successful theory of the very sm...

ENG: Why science can’t figure out consciousness? In this conversation we explore this question by exposing some of the flaws of thinking about consciousness as something that can be modeled in some sort of mechanistic sense- science gets stuck when we try to think about thinking from the outside in — When we can’t escape the fact that we can abstract mind from within mind. PT: Por que a ciência nã...

EN:What is the world made of? In this episode we dive deep into the history of what philosophers call “ontology”, the study of being or. more colloquially, of what is there in reality. Starting in Ancient Greece with the pre-socratics, we explore how the very transitional nature of what we know exists tells us about how science works, and it’s deep dependence on what we can know of the world. PT:D...

EN: In this episode, Adam and Evan go deep into the nature of life — what we know and what we don’t know about it. It turns out we know much more about what life does than about what life is. And the usual models, based on mechanistic and reductionistic thinking, fail badly when they try to explain life as a machine. The episode also explores Evan’s fascinating life and career, which began at his...

EN: In this episode, Adam and Marcelo dive deep into the details of the physics and the philosophical assumptions behind Superstring Theories, including supersymmetry and extra spatial dimensions. Why are they beautiful but also why are they very problematic in so many different ways. PT: Neste episódio, Adam e Marcelo mergulham fundo nos detalhes da física e nas suposições filosóficas por trás da...

EN: The Problems with Cosmology and Unified Theories: In this episode we dive deeper into the success and the challenges of the big bang model but also go into String Theory and supersymmetry and their shortcomings and challenges. These challenges reveal a lot about the sociological undercurrents in the world of high energy physics and cosmology and are an excellent illustration of the blind spot,...

ENG: In this episode, we dive into the fascinating history of modern cosmology. Starting with Einstein and his 1917 model of a static universe, we advance to the Steady State and Big Bang models of post Second World War, all the way to the confirmation of the Big Bang model in 1965: the universe is expanding and had a hot and dense infancy, when the first particles and atomic nuclei were forged, d...

EN Episode 3: What is Time? Part II - The Arrow of Time and Time in Relativity In this episode, we dive deeper into the nature of time, discussing the famous "arrow of time"—why does time always flow forward? We explore how this concept introduced microscopic thinking into physics and its connection with the notion of models in the field. We examine the relationship between thermodynamics and life...

EN Episode 2 – What Is Time? In this episode, we dive deep into the nature of time. What does physics really tell us about it? How does philosophy challenge the mathematical definitions of time? And what does our perception of time — and death — have to do with it all? When we try to understand time, we realize that something so familiar is, in fact, incredibly complex. PT Episódio 2 – O que é o t...

EN In our first episode we will present some of our key ideas and goals and explain why we must go beyond the blind spot in order to make sense of the world. PT No primeiro episódio, apresentamos algumas das nossas principais ideias e objetivos e explicamos por que é necessário ir além do ponto cego para compreendermos o mundo.