Episode 28: Roger Penrose on Spacetime, Consciousness, and the Universe

Sir Roger Penrose has had a remarkable life. He has contributed an enormous amount to our understanding of general relativity, perhaps more than anyone since Einstein himself -- Penrose diagrams, singularity theorems, the Penrose process, cosmic censorship, and the list goes on. He has made important contributions to mathematics, including such fun ideas as the Penrose triangle and aperiodic tilings. He has also made bold conjectures in the notoriously contentious areas of quantum mechanics and the study of consciousness. In his spare time he's managed to become an extremely successful author, writing such books as The Emperor's New Mind and The Road to Reality. With far too much that we could have talked about, we decided to concentrate in this discussion on spacetime, black holes, and cosmology, but we made sure to reserve some time to dig into quantum mechanics and the brain by the end.

[dabanmohamad]

Sir Penrose just won Nobel Prize in physics. Congratulations! 🏆

[M.-.D]

So incredible to see Professor Penrose win the Nobel Prize.

One of the greatest minds.

[david]

I had a tear come into my eye when I heard that RP had won the Nobel prize 55 years after his paper on gravitational collapse. Glad it wasn't too late.

[zero]

This is the first time I've wished a podcast came with an overhead projector and some transparencies.

[michellediamond]

Sean, I love your podcasts! Thank you so much for all this democratization of information. Your tone is so gentle, neutral, humble, patient and caring, it really comes through on your podcasts and talks. Thank you 🤍

[VaidyanathanPurushothaman]

I never feel tired in my mind, when I listen sir Penrose because he brings in so much clarity and simplicity to the discussions so normal people like me can follow even the complex subject.

[donfox]

Given his genius, a remarkably humble human being.

[DanielFoland]

28 Episodes Later: good show, Dr. Carroll. Mindscape has become one of my favorite corners of the internet.

[Alistair_Spence]

Incredible. What a privilege to be able to hear this discussion. Thank you.

[tombombadyl]

I appreciate your capacity for letting the interviewee speak. So many interviewers these days can’t seem to shut up. I imagine it’s easier when you have guests like Roger Penrose. Good job.

[deansundquist]

As someone who recently found this channel, I’m enjoying exploring all these previous episodes. Thanks Sean your work is very deep and forever a trove of content on YouTube.

[brent]

I could listen to Sir Penrose all day long. Thank you Dr. Carroll

[murraywebb]

Freakin love both these geniuses. They are both so brilliant and grounded, humble, yet all powerful simultaneously.

[joyecolbeck]

We are so looking forward to listening to this. Sir Roger, a knight of the realm in conversion with our favourite thinker. A great birthday treat for my hubby, we'll listen and eat cake. Perfect. Thanks

[hubrisbliss]

I still remember the moment I comprehended Gödel's incompleteness theorem as well. It was one of the most memorable moments I had at University, both wonderfully meta and terrifyingly nihilistic.

Watching Sir Penrose on Joe Rogan's podcast left me wondering if his and Dr. Carroll's relationship would be adversarial. Corrigibly, Dr. Carroll once again renews my hope in humanity.
Mindscape quickly became my favorite podcast. "Hello everyone" brightens my day every time.

[PhillipYewTree]

This conversation was enlightening and inspiring. Thanks to both gentleman for recording it.

[notexactlyrocketscience]

Thank you. This is some very high quality content you put out here for free. Excellent interview, don’t think it could have been done any better.

[mattblack]

Literally the top person on my list for people i'd want to hear talk to you.

[continentalgin]

I love listening to all of you cosmologists and astrophysicists, even if I don't understand everything. What I do manage to get a glimpse of is full of wonder. Thanks for all you do.

[papa]

I have been 'saving' this video since (JANUARY 7TH?) and it not only met by wildly exceeded (no blew away) my expectations.

My two favorite Cosmologists ...

Of course, I have the latest book. I think I have almost all popular books each as written.

And folded in the back of Penrose's book is a print out ( version four) of his ArX iv paper.

I have downloed many of their ArXiv papers and have read them.

ONLY TWO THINGS TO SAY NOW:

[1] Thank you Professor Carroll
[2] Thank you Professor Penrose