Does beauty deceive physics? | Michio Kaku, Sabine Hossenfelder, Max Tegmark, Juan Maldacena

Come and see Micho Kaku and Sabine Hossenfelder LIVE next weekend at HowTheLightGetsIn London (23rd-24th September). They'll be debating topics from the Standard Model to gravity and time, at the world's largest philosophy and music festival.

Sabine Hossenfelder, Michio Kaku, Juan Maldacena and Max Tegmark debate beauty, fantasy, faith, and physics.

We think that we pursue the sciences solely for knowledge and truth. But is this a mistake? Untestable ideals like beauty have been baked into theories throughout the history of science. Paul Dirac, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, proclaimed "it is more important to have beauty in one's equations than to have them fit experiment." And recently, Roger Penrose described string theory as a 'fashion', quantum physics as a 'faith', and cosmic inflation a as 'fantasy', arguing that scientists suffer from the very same prejudices that affect the rest of us.

Do we pursue science for a pure desire for the truth? Or should we accept that some beliefs, especially in the foundations of physics, are akin to religious beliefs dressed in mathematical language to give our theories meaning? Or would seeing science as simply another theology undermine the field and the progress made over the past few centuries?

#michiokaku #sabinehossenfelder #physics

00:00 Introduction
03:06 Michio Kaku pitch
06:22 Sabine Hossenfelder pitch
08:32 Max Tegmark
11:07 Juan Maldacena
13:34 Is beauty more important than experimental data?
23:36 Are some assumptions in physics akin to religious tenets?
47:37 Will physics be undermined by untestable criteria?

Sabine Hossenfelder is a theoretical physicist and science communicator who researches quantum gravity. She is the author of Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray.

Michio Kaku has spent his career inspired by the search for a grand unifying theory of everything – carrying on Einstein’s quest to unite the four fundamental forces of nature. His latest book is Quantum Supremacy.

Juan Maldacena is the Carl P. Feinberg Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study. Due to his field-defining contributions to the foundations of string theory and quantum gravity, Leonard Susskind has called him “the greatest theoretical physicist of his generation.”

Max Tegmark is a pioneering physicist, cosmologist, computer scientist, philosopher, and public intellectual based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tegmark is the author of Our Mathematical Universe, which argues that reality is fundamentally a mathematical structure.

Hosted by Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Professor of Religion and Science in Society at Wesleyan University.

[TheInstituteOfArtAndIdeas]

Next weekend, Micho Kaku and Sabine Hossenfelder will be coming to speak at HowTheLightGetsIn London (23rd-24th September). Come and see them live, debating topics from the Standard Model to gravity and time, at the world's largest philosophy and music festival.

[colinbrash]

I have an idea for another video: put Sabine and Michio together to talk about what they agree on! I’d watch the whole 10 seconds!

[gabor]

Sabine was the only one who respected the 2-minute mark every time. She's also the most based.

[chekote]

I love watching Sabine’s expression wherever Micho speaks 😂

[Doozy_Titter]

Michio Kaku just does marketing for his books at this point, he is like a robot or sth 😂

[robertlamantin]

The first speech of Michio Kaku, saying that you can't critic a theory if you don't bring up a better one at the same time, is a joke : so, if you don't like a movie, you can't tell nor explain why, unless you're a movie maker ? In a restaurant, you can't dislike a plate because you're not a cook yourself ? And if you're not a writer, you have to love bad books ? That's a really poor statement.

[CAThompson]

Hossenfelder & Kaku both on board, I should've made popcorn for this.

[longhoacaophuc]

I believe that Sabine can defeat me in any "try not to laugh" challenge

[atmanbrahman]

Sabine😂 trying to casually hide her outrage against Kaku's claims with German self-control 😂 so funny to see

[abdouabdel-rehim]

I think it is not fair to have Sabine vs other 3 physicists who follow these ideas of mathematical beauty. I don’t think it is true that the cosmological constant was added to make the equations more elegant. It was added to avoid a practical problem that Einstein thought exist with his initial equation.

[bikewriter]

Micho is the world's brightest used car salesman, except that he does not have to sell cars to make a living. The secret to being a good string theorist is to know how to get grand money year after year, which Is Micho's forte.

[benk]

So disappointing to hear such a prominent science communicator as Michiu Kaku say people should "shut up" and not point out issues with String Theory unless they have a better alternative. That's the worst kind of appeal to authority. Throughout all of history, people challenged the assertions of strict religious groups even though the scientific method had not yet been established and they didn't know the answers... but under Muciiu's idea of the world, everyone should "shut up" unless they have a better theory. Pathetic.

[-Gorbi-]

The key to physics is moving on from the String Theory cul-de-sac, it’s been 40 years guys

[Crawdaddy_Ro]

I'm here for Sabine and Max. I love their work. I became disillusioned with Kaku a bit before I did with Tyson - very intelligent, however they're best at talking.

[jantonisito]

Love the way Sabine is giving Michie a Dirty Harry stare

[fakhruddinnalawala]

Kaku is too used to speaking to people with little if any experience in physics, when speaking on a panel like this, he comes off as a bit too condescending and aggrandising...

[jamesmiller]

Max puts real heart and love into his physics.

[xyzero]

Sabine calls out String Theory Cultists as "staring a a pretty wall and getting nowhere". Immediately after, Micho shows his wall and how pretty it is, and magically thinking of how the wall will disappear one day.

[mycount]

if someone believes in a theory... they likely will call it beautiful. So, the question is: What comes first? Do we like beautful things or do we find beauty in things we like?

[draxiedru]

I wonder if Micho Kaku’s pride will ever allow him to try and save himself by abandoning the Titanic.