Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | November 2024

Welcome to the November 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!

#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture

[frankallen]

Truth, clarity, and freedom. Stop the attack on science by MAGA. Keep Sean Carrol voice alive. Vote red, white and blue for Waltz and Harris 2024 🔥💙🌊🇺🇸

[d_s_x]

Finally, intelligent words to stop my brain from rotting.

[JanOlavSjåvik-tl]

Loved the first 15 minutes! Thank you for taking a stand. I hope the election gives us the result that is best for America.

[nathanaelsmith]

I think the most powerful job role on the planet should have some applicant requirements.

[tomfiedor]

On this election eve I ponder that the universe is accelerating away from us- and who can blame it really?

[nicholaspoulos]

The Republican Party in the mid 2000s seriously tried to force teaching intelligent design in science classrooms, and now they’re working very hard to eliminate books relating to LGBT and minorities in libraries. Eggs were too expensive so they elected a fascist who won’t lower the price of eggs. I guess democracy is at least better than living under a dictatorship in Russia but it sure feels like a shit box sometimes. Hopefully the republicans are correct that Trump can’t do the things he promised to do and smart people will constrain his insanity, but more likely they were lying and always supported him doing what he wants for revenge and installing Project 2025.

[akumar]

Lovely to hear your views on the election, very refreshing and clear thinking.
I really hope Kamala wins.

Re- listening this again after the election outcome was announced. Yours is a voice of calm and reason.

[dukeallen]

Devastating that so many don’t care about democracy.

[___x]

Thank you for raising the importance of our democracy here in America! And looking forward to reading your recent paper on emergence and your video to come on the topic.

[MarkGingrass]

Thanks for the intro. Sadly, it’s past the election and the results were not favorable.

[jayvincent]

As long as Corporations are allowed to anonymously contribute to campaigns, and the electoral college exists we will never have a president elected by the people.

[aidenmurphy]

People don't care about truth, or learning, or context, or nuance. Maybe I've been naive this whole time, but no one cares and I'm so tired

[virkotto]

Trump won the second i finished listening this podcast.

[frankallen]

In times like these, where collective thought becomes unsynchronized, society faces an intense struggle between competing narratives—truth versus illusion, democracy versus authoritarianism, unity versus division. This schism has the power to shape not only the future of one nation but, the very future of democratic principles worldwide.

[jonwesick]

Imagine if FDR or Churchill said, "Nothing lasts forever, even democracy, " while Hitler was tearing across Europe.

[Getexposedddddd]

Babe wake up, Sean Carroll ama dropped and pizza is here

[StarsNstripesBeatHammerNsickle]

Hello, @sean,
I dont know whether you will read this,
but first of all thanks for this small politics section in the beginning.
Im not a US Citizen myself, however, I would still like to share my views on the 2024 election and the left/right in general, because I think you dont mention some arguments on the conservative side.

Im currently a physics undergraduate in germany ( in my 3rd Semester) and I noticed very early at the beginning of my time in College, that universities are incredibly left-wing.
In Göttingen there are posters everywhere quoting Marx and the communist manifesto.
Everything is full with all sorts of left wing ideology to the extend that you have to hide being a conservative in order not to run into trouble.
I even had to change university because radical left-wing students wanted to kick me out.

Conservaties are treated very poorly in universites and frankly, I am very worried about freedom of speech both on Campus and under left-wing governements.

Just look at all the conservatives in universities that were kicked out and ran into all sorts of trouble.

The brother of Eric Weinstein was kicked out by left-wing students, then there's of course Jordan Peterson who received unimaginable backlash for really doing nothing wrong and is about to lose his psychological license and forced to undergo reeducation (!?) training for his political views.

Its terrifying to me how much freedom of speech is under attack by the left.
Then there's all these comments by the left like "No freedom for hate speech and misinformation"

Freedom of speech is probably the single most important right in a democracy because freedom of speech means freedom of thinking.
You cant think without freedom of speech; which everyone knows who read 1984 and is familiar with the tools tyrants use to seize control.
It always starts with banning and redefining words to prevent people to think critically.

You have talked about democracy beeing under attack and that it needs protection and I 100% agree, but at this point I think its necessary to vote conservative/republican in order to save democracy.

Another reason for me to vote republican is Israel.

I began to notice a lot of antisemitism in universities during protests that are always - somewhat euphemistically - described by our media as pro palestine.
However, they are rooted on a hate of our western world and find Israel to be some sort of " colonialiatic Apartheidstate" ( words of Greta Thunberg)
they shout slogans like " go Hamas we love you"
and crimes that are motivated by antisemitism have increased dramatically sincs Oct 7th.

As a german it is sad and heartbreaking to see a
rise of antisemitism after less than 80 years since the end of Hitler.

This antisemitism is coming from the left, Kamala boycotts speeches by Netanyahu by not showing up
and the republican party is the only one to support Israel.

Israel is the only democracy in a part of the world where otherwise tiranny and the rule of dictators are the norm.
Its a prime example of how far a democracy is willing to go in order to protect itself from the rule of tyrants.
And they deserve our admiration and support for having brought democracy to this part of the world, so that Israel can become an even better democracy ( because obviously it has it problems)

But the path the left has chosen which is to condemn every one of their actions is not the right way and frankly is a huge dealbreaker for me not to vote democrat any time soon.

I would like to add a lot more - because I have thought about my views very thourougly - about gender theory of course and the leftist attack on biology, the compelling of pronouns, the stereotype that republicans in rural areas are low information voters and this contributing to even more division and hate between the parties, which only damages democracy even more but I have have already written too much.

To conclude, I think you miss a lot of points about conservatives and the justification for their views.

However, I definitely agree in your assessment that Trump is not the right candidate.
I would much rather have another republican candidate myself.
But still, I prefer Trump over a democrat just because the left has pushed so hard with all this wokeness that I would prefer anyone who's not woke.

Trumps success is a consequence of the pushing of the left.
People would not endorse the breaking of taboo as trump does, if they didnt have enough of the left and their radical agenda.

Thats something many democrats dont understand unfortunately.

Thanks for reading!

[ajs]

We have functionally not been a democracy for over 200 years. It hasn't even been 60 years since the voting rights act. We're amateurs at this, and I agree there's no guarantee it will last forever, or even another lifetime

[bnightm]

2:03:00 I think the question (since it comes from a 6 year old child) is asking what the literal temperature is inside a black hole.
Presumably the child has heard about the extreme temperatures deep inside of planets (caused by pressure and fission) and deep inside stars (pressure and fusion) and wondering what it would be like inside a black hole where the thermometer isn't (presumably) surrounded by magma or plasma.