Einstein's thinking process explained | Edward Frenkel and Lex Fridman

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GUEST BIO:
Edward Frenkel is a mathematician at UC Berkeley working on the interface of mathematics and quantum physics. He is the author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality.

PODCAST INFO:

SOCIAL:

[LexClips]

Guest bio: Edward Frenkel is a mathematician at UC Berkeley working on the interface of mathematics and quantum physics. He is the author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality.

[allenrussell]

I read this about Einstein years ago and it works!!! Think, think, think, then walk away for a few moments and the answer comes.

[feynmanschwingere_mc]

Fun fact, Einstein was the first to predict the boson! (It really should be named after him) :)

Oh and Einstein created condensed matter physics/mesoscopic physics and was the first to predict the LASER (as codified in the Einstein A and B Coefficients).

Oh and Einstein re-created Statistical Mechanics & Thermodynamics from scratch before he was 25.

Oh and Einstein was the first to solve the Tea Leaf Paradox.

Oh and Einstein was the first to derive the correct equation for wave-particle duality in 1909, 14 years before De Broglie (based on ingenuous statistical arguments). In fact, De Broglie simply took Einstein's equation, which he had applied to photons, and applied them to electrons thus giving him matter waves.

Oh and Einstein also preceded Max Born in suggesting the interpretation of wave fields as probability densities for particles, photons, in the case of the electromagnetic field (as Born explicitly acknowledged after he received the Nobel Prize and in letters to Einstein). This also directly contributed to the formulation of what is now known as the Born Rule.

Oh and Einstein independently derived the Raleigh Jeans law (with a more rigorous accounting of it).

Einstein was the first to explain the specific heat of solids, beginning with diamond - and thus the first to account for the Dulong-Petit Law. This was one of the first seminal papers on quantum theory. What most people don't know is that between 1900 and 1910 virtually all the papers on quantum theory, with one exception, were written by Einstein - the only non-Einstein paper on Quantum theory between 1900 and 1910 was the famous Planck paper in 1900 that (as an "act of desperation") introduce H-bar.

Einstein was the first to conceive of quantum entanglement - it was buried within the equations of quantum mechanics, but none of the other geniuses of that era - Heisenberg, Bohr, etc - properly understood it (and its wider implications for a Theory Of Everything).

Einstein was the first to predict wormholes.

Einstein was the first to intuit a novel method of creating neutrons decades before LENRs were described (which is kind of mind blowing).

Einstein wrote the first paper on what happens when you fuse chaos theory (the 3 body problem/non-linear dynamics) and quantum mechanics, a paper 50 years ahead of its time.

Einstein was the first to quantize the radiation field.

Einstein was the first to predict gravitational waves.

Einstein was the first, albeit intended for different reasons, to gives us the correct equation for the cosmological constant.

Einstein even played a starring role in Schrodinger's formulation of the wavefunction (probably gets about 1/3 of the credit), as Schrodinger always admitted.

I could go on and on and on. He is to physics what Euler is to mathematics: omnipresent, ubiquitous, transcendental, talismanic.

Crazy how one dude could be so prolific and still be so original! It's no surprise why his name is synonymous with genius.

[Briae]

Can someone please put a cap on that bottle? 😂

[erebology]

The trick is to learn the puzzle ao well as to be able to hold the entire problem in your head at once. It takes uninterrupted time, long patience, and safety from distractions.

#erebology

[theguythatcoment]

I found that the best way to tackle a big problem is by making a set of symbols that describe the small parts, and i don't mean words, letters or drawings, they have to be their own contained language with it's own grammar. I do this every time I have more than one path to follow and don't want to get distracted in trying to prove to other people why it must be this way. It feels like speaking a second language in the way that you can't translate an idea word by word but sentence by sentence.

[donelmore]

I keep looking at Lex’s Coke bottle. Is it a prop or does he actually drink the Coke? I wonder how long it’s been sitting there with 3/8’s of an inch of Coke in it. If I just go out for a walk the answer might come to me.

[colonelkurtz]

Einstein made contributions to physics. His brother Frank made well he made a monster.

[Jim-mnyq]

I think in a small scale we’ve all experienced these insightful moments. For those of us who love crossword puzzles, how many times have u been stuck on a word that just won’t come. H finally back away, focus on something else and suddenly, without effort, the solution comes to u. I’m sure we’ve all had these kinds of experiences. Will AI ever be able to replicate that?

[NotJames]

I feel like all he did was explaining his life in 6 minutes.

[ElliotBrownJingles]

When he said "weekends, holidays" I got Kindergarten Cop vibes.

[nagarajuchukkala]

I agree with Edward on that 'You can't get ideas through will', because I think that free will is an illusion.

[ramonacevedo]

Smfh... yo lex, your questions change the course of history.

[andrewwhite]

"Like a thief in the night!"

[helpmechangetheworld]

It's funny, my experience is that I have to push for everything. Nothing just comes to me. Except perhaps song lyrics. I wonder why...