- 6/14/2025
An underlying feature of life is metabolism which is using energy to drive the system.
According to Stephon Alexander, there was a previous universe which collapsed and then bounced out into a revived universe; this Big Bounce is part of a never-ending cycle of contraction and expansion. In 2012, Alexander stated that a neutrino can have a repulsive force that prevents crunching into a singularity.
The existence of animals and plants is because of a fine-tuned universe. Lee Smolin proposed cosmological natural selection as the answer for how the universe is fine-tuned to accommodate the life of humans.
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#throughthewormhole
#season3
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According to Stephon Alexander, there was a previous universe which collapsed and then bounced out into a revived universe; this Big Bounce is part of a never-ending cycle of contraction and expansion. In 2012, Alexander stated that a neutrino can have a repulsive force that prevents crunching into a singularity.
The existence of animals and plants is because of a fine-tuned universe. Lee Smolin proposed cosmological natural selection as the answer for how the universe is fine-tuned to accommodate the life of humans.
Thanks for watching. Follow for more videos.
#cosmosspacescience
#throughthewormhole
#season3
#episode3
#cosmology
#astronomy
#spacetime
#spacescience
#space
#nasa
#spacedocumentary
#morganfreeman
#universe
#istheuniversealive
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00From the smallest microbe to the tallest tree.
00:05We think we know life when we see it.
00:09But could life also exist on a vastly different scale?
00:17Where planets act like single cells,
00:20and black holes reproduce the DNA of space itself?
00:24Could the secrets of the cosmos lie not in physics, but in biology?
00:31Is the universe alive?
00:41Space. Time. Life itself.
00:48The secrets of the cosmos lie through the wormhole.
00:54What makes you and me alive?
01:09What makes us different from a rock or a robot?
01:14Is it the beating of our hearts?
01:16The thoughts that race through our heads?
01:19Or is it the fact that we are born, we grow, and we die?
01:24Now, some scientists think we might share these fundamentals of life
01:28with something much larger than ourselves.
01:31Could the entire cosmos be a single living organism?
01:37When I was a kid, on summer nights I would often look up and catch the drifting, flickering glow of fireflies.
01:49They were living points of light.
01:50Beyond them, I saw the stars, too, flicker in the dark Mississippi sky.
02:03Something about them also seemed living.
02:05To imagine a single living organism encompassing the entire universe, including vast stretches of empty space, appears to defy logic.
02:18But before you dismiss the idea, you have to ask yourself, what does it really mean to be alive?
02:26In fact, that question has no simple answer.
02:31What is life?
02:32There is no convincing definition that everybody agrees upon, but most people say, if it is alive, then it has to replicate itself, it has to evolve over time.
02:43However, there are technological devices that also replicate and evolve over time.
02:49For example, cars.
02:52Cars replicate in car factories, according to a set of instructions, a little bit like the DNA information that everybody carries in his cells.
03:01And it turns out that if you look at these definitions, then you will have to admit that even cars are alive.
03:10Juergen Schmidhuber is a professor of artificial intelligence in Lugano, Switzerland.
03:17His goal is to push our definitions of life to new frontiers.
03:21He believes that some robots should be considered alive.
03:25He also believes that a single living organism can be spread out over more than one body.
03:31This swarm of tiny robots is programmed to work together like ants in a colony.
03:38As a single entity whose collective brain is distributed among many separate bodies.
03:44A super-organism.
03:47Super-organisms can collectively solve problems that none of the individual ants could solve.
03:53And swarm bots like these, collections of robots, each being programmed according to very simple rules,
04:01they can collectively solve problems that none of the individual robots can solve.
04:06Ants find food and signal the presence of danger by secreting pheromones that change the behavior of other ants.
04:14Instead of chemicals, swarm bots exchange simple electronic messages.
04:20Whenever it comes close to some obstacle, then it shifts its rotation angle a little bit and moves away.
04:28And whenever two of these swarm bots collide or come close to each other, they exchange a bit of information.
04:35For example, you can make them collect in certain clusters, you can also make them clean rooms by pushing all the obstacles that you find in this room into a certain corner.
04:45So many, many simple rules can be thought of that form a complex emerging behavior that leads to rather amazing results.
04:55If the universe is alive, Juergen believes it also must be a super-organism spread out across the countless light-years of space like a cosmic colony of ants.
05:07But how big can a super-organism get?
05:08Professor Geoffrey West is a distinguished particle physicist at the Santa Fe Institute.
05:24He believes giant living beings are all around us. In fact, most of us live inside them.
05:30I think an essential feature of life is it's a complex system, which means it's made up of enormous numbers of components.
05:40But underlying all of that is this idea of metabolism, that you use energy resources to drive the system.
05:50And we see that reflected in cities.
05:53In much the same way that an organism like the human body is made of cells, bones, and blood vessels, a super-organism like the city of Los Angeles is made of people, highways, and power lines.
06:09And just like any biological organism, energy flows through the body of a city.
06:13CITIES HAVE MANY OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISMS.
06:16CITIES HAVE MANY OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISMS.
06:21THERE ARE NETWORK STRUCTURES LIKE ORGANISMS.
06:23YOU KNOW, THEY HAVE FLOWS IN THEM.
06:25EVERYTHING FROM AUTOMOBILES AND PEOPLE TO ELECTRICITY AND OTHER RESOURCES.
06:30JUST AS ORGANISMS DO, WE HAVE, OF COURSE, CIRCURIFY SYSTEMS AND RECERFY SYSTEMS AND SO ON.
06:37JEFFREY HAS SPENT THE LAST FEW YEARS WORKING OUT A MATHEMATICAL SYSTEM
06:41THAT PREDICTS HOW MUCH ENERGY MUST FLOW THROUGH A BEING FOR IT TO BE ALIVE
06:47AND HOW THAT ENERGY SHAPES ITS LIFE.
06:50IF YOU TELL ME THE SIZE OF A MAMMAL, I CAN TELL YOU ITS METABOLIC RATE.
06:55ITS HEART RATE, HOW LONG IT'S GONNA LIVE, HOW MANY OFFSPRING IT WILL HAVE.
07:01UNDERLYING ALL THIS IS THE MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS OF NETWORKS.
07:05SEEING LIVING CREATURES AS NOTHING MORE THAN NETWORKS THAT DISTRIBUTE ENERGY
07:11ALLOWS JEFFREY TO CALCULATE THAT AN ANIMAL THE SIZE OF A SMALL RODENT
07:16SHOULD HAVE A HEART RATE OF AROUND 500 BEATS PER MINUTE.
07:21WHEREAS A WHALLE HEART ONLY PULSES ONCE EVERY 10 SECONDS.
07:27A WHALLE IS ABOUT 100 MILLION TIMES AS HEAVY AS A SHREW.
07:33AND YET BASICALLY WE'RE ALL THE SCALED VERSIONS OF THE SAME THING.
07:38SO IT'S A VERY NATURAL QUESTION THAT FOLLOWS FROM THAT IS, DOES ANY OF THIS WORK FOR CITIES?
07:46THE ANSWER, ACCORDING TO JEFFREY'S CALCULATIONS, IS YES.
07:51CITIES DISTRIBUTE ENERGY AROUND THEIR NETWORKS OF STREETS AND POWER LINES
07:55ACCORDING TO THE VERY SAME RULES AS BIOLOGICAL BEINGS.
08:00AND CITIES ARE SO LARGE THAT THEIR HEARTS PULSE ONLY TWICE A DAY
08:05WITH THE EBBING FLOW OF COMMUTERS.
08:08WE HAVE THIS EXTRAORDINARY ARTERY COMING THROUGH THE CENTER OF LOS ANGELES,
08:14THE HEART OF LOS ANGELES.
08:16AND INDEED, IF YOU LOOK UP, YOU SEE THESE EXTRAORDINARY BUILDINGS
08:21WHICH IN MANY WAYS ARE ACTING AS A HEART
08:23BECAUSE THEY REPRESENT WEALTH CREATION.
08:26AND THAT, OF COURSE, IS A PUMP WHICH HELPS PUMP A LOT OF THIS TRAFFIC.
08:33A CITY LIKE LOS ANGELES IS A LIVING ENTITY ON A COLOSSAL SCALE.
08:3840 MILES WIDE, SLOWLY PULSING WITH ENERGY.
08:42BUT NO CITY LIVES IN ISOLATION.
08:45OUR ENTIRE PLANET IS COVERED WITH THEM.
08:49THERE ARE, OF COURSE, MULTIPLE SCALES.
08:52YOU KNOW, WE CAN GO FROM THE SCALE OF CITY,
08:55TO THE SCALE OF A COUNTRY, TO THE SCALE OF THE PLANET.
08:59JEFFREY WEST HAS LEARNED HOW TO SEE LIFE ON MANY SCALES.
09:04WHEN LIVING BEINGS COME TOGETHER,
09:06NO MATTER WHETHER THEY ARE ANTS, HUMANS, OR ENTIRE METROPOLISES.
09:11WHAT THEY CREATE TAKES ON A LIFE OF ITS OWN.
09:15BUT CAN THIS CONCEPT MAKE THE LEAP BEYOND OUR PLANET?
09:19CAN A SUPER ORGANISM SPAN NOT JUST MOUNTAIN RANGES AND OCEANS,
09:24BUT ALSO VAST EXPANSES OF OUTER SPACE?
09:27ONE PHYSICIST THINKS IT MIGHT,
09:30AND HE BELIEVES HE HAS DISCOVERED THE HEARTBEAT OF THE COSMOS.
09:35ABOUT ONCE EVERY SECOND, OUR HEARTS TAKE A BEAT.
09:42WITH EACH PULSE, THEY DELIVER OXYGEN, FLUID, AND ENERGY TO OUR CELLS.
09:48IF THE UNIVERSE HAD A HEART PUMPING MATTER AND ENERGY INTO SPACE,
09:53COULD WE DETECT ITS PULSE?
09:56AND ENERGY INTO SPACE.
10:03STEPHEN ALEXANDER WAS BORN IN TRINIDAD AND RAISED IN THE BRONX.
10:08AS A SAXOPHONIST, HE LEARNED TO FIND THE MELODY THAT THREADS THROUGH THE CHAOTIC NOTES OF A JAZZ REFRAME.
10:15AND THROUGH THEORETICAL PHYSICS,
10:17STEPHEN BELIEVES HE IS LEARNING TO HEAR THE FUNDAMENTAL BEAT OF THE UNIVERSE.
10:22IT'S A WONDERFUL THOUGHT TO PONDER THAT THE UNIVERSE COULD BE A LIVING THING.
10:27I MEAN, EVEN IN BIOLOGY ITSELF,
10:29BIOLOGISTS ARE STRUGGLEING WITH THE DEFINITION AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ITSELF,
10:34BUT THERE SHOULD BE CERTAIN EXPERIMENTS THAT LOOK FOR PATTERNS
10:37THAT PERTAIN TO THE FUNCTION OF A LIVING THING.
10:46STEPHEN'S RESEARCH MAY BE LEADING US TOWARDS FINDING THOSE PATTERNS IN THE COSMOS ITSELF.
10:52WHILE MOST COSMOLOGISTS BELIEVE OUR UNIVERSE WAS CREATED IN AN EXPLOSIVE BEGINNING CALLED THE BIG BANG,
10:59STEPHEN BELIEVES THE BIG BANG WAS ACTUALLY A BIG BOUNCE.
11:04THE BIG BOUNCE MODEL IS SIMPLY PUT, A MODEL OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE.
11:10IN FACT, THERE WAS A PREVIOUS UNIVERSE THAT UNDERWENT COLLAPSE
11:15AND BOUNCED OUT INTO AN EXPANDING UNIVERSE, WHICH IS THE UNIVERSE THAT WE INHABIT.
11:21IN STEFAN'S THEORY, THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE IS JUST ONE PHASE IN A NEVERENDING CYCLE OF CONTRACTION
11:28AND EXPANSION, LIKE A BEATING HEART, OR LIKE THE FALLING AND RISING OF A BOUNCING HANDBALL.
11:36SO LET'S OBSERVE WHAT HAPPENS.
11:38I DROP THE BALL, GRAVITY IS GOING TO, OF COURSE, PULL THE BALL DOWN.
11:43AND WHAT HAPPENS IS THAT THE BALL BOUNCES UP.
11:49SO, LIKEWISE, THE BOUNCED UNIVERSE UNDER THE LAWS OF GRAVITY WILL DO A SIMILAR THING.
11:54IT CONTRACTS AND IT CAN BOUNCE BACK INTO AN EXPANDING PHASE.
12:00MOST OF STEFAN'S MODEL INVOLVES SIMPLE PHYSICS.
12:04THE EXPANDING PHASE WILL SOONER OR LATER RUN OUT OF STEAM OVERCOME BY THE ATTRACTIVE FORCE OF GRAVITY,
12:10WHICH EVENTUALLY PULLS EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE DOWN TO A TINY SIZE.
12:16BUT EXPLAINING WHY THE UNIVERSE BOUNCES BACK FROM THIS POINT IS FAR MORE COMPLEX.
12:22ONE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH THE BOUNCING COSMOLOGY IS THAT YOU STILL HAVE TO ASK THE QUESTION,
12:27WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BOUNCE? GRAVITY BECOMES VERY STRONG.
12:31OKAY, THE GRAVITATIONAL INTERACTION DOMINATES.
12:34THAT, IN FACT, WOULD DRIVE US INTO THE SINGULARITY.
12:37A SINGULARITY IS A PLACE OF INFINITE DENSITY.
12:41A PLACE WHERE GRAVITY BECOMES SO STRONG THAT IT CRUSHES ALL MATTER INTO A SINGLE POINT,
12:47ALLOWING NOTHING TO ESCAPE, NOT EVEN LIGHT.
12:52THOSE COSMOLOGISTS WHO BELIEVE IN THE BIG BANG THEORY BELIEVE IT WAS A SINGULARITY.
12:59AND THEY HAD TO INVENT A NEW FORCE CALLED INFLATION TO ALLOW THE UNIVERSE TO EXPAND OUT FROM IT.
13:06STEFAN, ON THE OTHER HAND, THINKS THE BIG BOUNCE UNIVERSE NEVER SHRINKS DOWN TO A SINGULARITY.
13:13AS THE UNIVERSE APPROACHES THE BOUNCE POINT, IT HAS TO, OF COURSE, AVOID THAT BIG BANG SINGULARITY.
13:20SO WE HAVE TO AVOID THAT PROBLEM.
13:22THE SOLUTION STEFAN BELIEVES IS PROVIDED BY A TINY PARTICLE FAR SMALLER THAN AN ATOM KNOWN AS THE NEUTRINO.
13:30NEUTRINOS, WHICH ARE SOME OF THE STRANGEST PARTICLES KNOWN IN PHYSICS, COULD PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN UNDERSTANDING THE BOUNCING UNIVERSE SCENARIO.
13:42A NEUTRINO CAN JUST AT THAT MOMENT HAVE A REPULSIVE FORCE THAT PREVENTS YOU FROM CRUNCHING INTO THE SINGULARITY AND BOUNCE OUT.
13:52NEUTRINOS HAVE ALMOST NO MASS, AND THEY PASS THROUGH ORDINARY MATTER UNDETECTED.
13:5950 TRILLION OF THESE GHOSTLY PARTICLES MOVE RIGHT THROUGH EACH OF OUR BODIES EVERY SECOND WITHOUT OUR EVER KNOWING IT.
14:08EVERY STAR IN THE UNIVERSE SPEWS OUT A CONSTANT STREAM OF NEUTRINOS.
14:14IN FACT, THE UNIVERSE IS CHOCK FULL OF THEM.
14:18AND THEY MAY BE WHAT GIVES THE LIVING UNIVERSE ITS STEADY PULSE.
14:23STEFAN HAS CALCULATED THAT UNDER THE IMMENSE PRESSURE OF A CONTRACTING UNIVERSE, THIS COSMIC SEA OF NEUTRINOS WOULD BECOME SO TIGHTLY SQUEEZED TOGETHER, THEY TRANSFORM INTO A SPECIAL STATE OF MATTER CALLED A SUPERFLUID.
14:41OUR SUPERFLUID STATE IS WELL KNOWN TO US.
14:45LIQUID HELIUM IS AN EXAMPLE OF A SUPERFLUID.
14:48ONE OF THE STRANGE PROPERTIES OF A SUPERFLUID IS THAT IF YOU TRY TO CONTAIN IT, IT WILL STILL FLOW OUT OUT OF THE EDGES OF THE CONTAINER.
14:56IT DOESN'T LIKE TO BE CONTAINED.
14:59AND THIS TENDENCY FOR THE NEUTRINO TO NOT BE CONTAINED CAUSES A REPULSE OF PRESSURE AND CAUSES THE UNIVERSE TO BOUNCE AND EXPAND.
15:09IF STEFAN'S IDEA IS RIGHT, OUR UNIVERSE HAS BEEN GOING THROUGH CYCLES OF EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION FOR TRILLIONS OF YEARS.
15:24AT EACH BAUSE, MOST OF THE MATTER, INCLUDING ANY STARS OR GALAXIES, IS CRUSHED AND THEN SPAT OUT IN COMPLETELY NEW FORM.
15:34BUT NEUTRINOS SURVIVE UNSCATHED.
15:37THIS INVISIBLE SEA OF PARTICLES IS THE LIFE BLOOD OF THE UNIVERSE, THE FLUID THAT DRIVES ITS PULSE.
15:44OR IF YOU PREFER, NEUTRINOS PROPEL THE COSMOS FROM ONE PHASE OF ITS LIFE CYCLE TO THE NEXT.
15:51A GOOD ANALOGY FOR THE BIG BOUNCE IS LIKE A CATERPILLAR BECOMING A BUTTERFLY.
15:58YOU HAVE THE CATERPILLAR THAT EMERGES AS A BUTTERFLY THAT LOOKS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BUT HAS THE SAME GENETIC CODE AND IS MADE UP OF THE SAME STUFF.
16:09SO IN THAT SENSE, THE ANALOGY FROM BIOLOGY OF METAMORPHOSIS I THINK IS QUITE APPLICABLE HERE AND WORTH PURSUING.
16:18STEFAN'S BIG BOUNCE MODEL PORTRAYS OUR COSMOS AS A DYNAMIC EVOLVING ENTITY, SOMETHING THAT COULD BE ALIVE.
16:27AND ANOTHER SCIENTIST HAS TAKEN THIS IDEA ONE STEP FURTHER.
16:32HE THINKS OUR UNIVERSE HAS GIVEN BIRTH TO A WHOLE FAMILY OF COSMIC OFFSPRING.
16:37UNIVERSES THAT LAY HIDDEN BEHIND THE DARK HORIZONS OF BLACK HOLES.
16:47ALL LIVING THINGS SHARE ONE COMMON FEATURE.
16:51THEY'VE ALL COME FROM SOMETHING.
16:54THE OAK TREE RISES FROM THE ACORN WHICH FELL FROM ANOTHER OAK.
16:59THE HUMAN FAMILY TREE DATES BACK MANY THOUSANDS OF GENERATIONS.
17:04IF OUR UNIVERSE IS ALIVE, DOES IT HAVE AN ANCESTOR?
17:09AND COULD IT GIVE BIRTH TO OTHER UNIVERSES?
17:14LEE SMOLIN CONDUTS RESEARCH AT THE PERIMETER INSTITUTE FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS IN WATERLOU, CANADA.
17:24LEE THINKS ABOUT THE LAWS OF PHYSICS AT THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL.
17:27HE'S TRYING TO UNDERSTAND HOW OUR UNIVERSE ENDED UP WITH THE PARTICULAR LAWS OF PHYSICS IT HAS.
17:34THE LAWS OF NATURE APPEAR TO BE FINE-TUNED SO THAT THE UNIVERSE IS HOSPITABLE TO LIFE.
17:41IF YOU CONSIDER WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU CHANGE THE LAWS OF NATURE EVEN SLIGHTLY,
17:46AND THE UNIVERSE WOULD CEASE TO BE FRIENDLY TO LIFE.
17:49SO THERE'S SOMETHING, THERE'S A MYSTERY ABOUT WHY THE UNIVERSE IS SO HOSPITABLE,
17:53WHY IT'S SO FRIENDLY TO BIOLOGY.
17:56COSMOLOGISTS HAVE LONG WRESTLED WITH THIS PUZZLE, WHICH THEY CALL FINE-TUNING.
18:02IF ANY OF THE FORCES OF NATURE WERE STRONGER OR WEAKER BY A FRACTION OF 1%,
18:08STARS AND GALAXIES WOULD NEVER FORM.
18:11EVEN ATOMS MIGHT NOT EXIST.
18:14TO SOME, THIS IS A SIGN THAT OUR UNIVERSE WAS CAREFULLY CRAFTED BY THE HAND OF A CREATOR
18:21WHO TAILORMADE IT TO SUPPORT HUMAN LIFE.
18:25BUT LEE WANTED A MORE SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION.
18:29AND HE FOUND ONE.
18:31NOT ROOTED IN PHYSICS, BUT IN THE BIOLOGICAL THEORY OF EVOLUTION.
18:37IN NATURAL SELECTION YOU EXPLAIN HOW ALL THE INTRICACY AND STRUCTURE OF LIFE ARISES PROGRESSIVELY.
18:44YOU HAVE SOMETHING WHICH IS VERY IMPROBABLE.
18:46THERE'S A METHOD TO EXPLAIN IT.
18:49EVOLUTIONISTS BELIEVE THAT CREATURES AS COMPLEX AS HUMANS
18:54DID NOT JUST MIRACULOUSLY POP INTO EXISTENCE,
18:58BUT RATHER EVOLVED THROUGH COUNTLESS STEPS FROM EVER SIMPLER ORGANISMS.
19:04LIKWISE, LEE WONDERED WHETHER OUR IMMENSELY COMPLEX UNIVERSE WAS ALSO SHAPED BY A COSMIC VERSION OF BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION.
19:13COULD THE UNIVERSE HAVE A HISTORY? COULD IT HAVE ANCESTORS?
19:18AS IT EVOLVED THROUGH ITS HISTORY, COULD THERE HAVE BEEN RANDOM VARIATION OF LAWS,
19:25AND THEN SELECTION OF THOSE LAWS, SELECTING THOSE THAT INTRODUCE THE MOST STRUCTURE, THE MOST COMPLEXITY?
19:31SO I ASK MYSELF THAT AS A QUESTION.
19:33AND COSMOLOGICAL NATURAL SELECTION IS ONE ANSWER TO IT.
19:37IT'S THE BEST ANSWER TO IT SO FAR I KNOW.
19:41BUT IN ORDER FOR LEE'S THEORY OF COSMOLOGICAL NATURAL SELECTION TO WORK,
19:46THERE HAS TO BE A MECHANISM BY WHICH AN ENTIRE COSMOS CAN REPRODUCE AND UNDERGO MUTATION,
19:52THE WAY DNA DOES FROM PARENT TO CHILD.
19:55SO YOU NEED A MODE OF REPRODUCTION.
19:58YOU NEED VARIATION.
19:59YOU NEED SOMETHING THAT DETERMINES THEIR PROPERTIES TO VARY FROM INSTANCE TO INSTANCE,
20:04FROM ANCESTOR TO CHILD.
20:06AND THEN YOU NEED SELECTION.
20:08SO WHAT COULD BE THOSE ELEMENTS IN COSMOLOGY?
20:12THE ANSWER TO ALL THESE QUESTIONS, LEE BELIEVES,
20:15LIES IN THE HIDDEN HEARTS OF BLACK HOLES,
20:19WHERE THE KNOWN LAWS OF PHYSICS BREAK DOWN
20:22AND THE AS YET UNKNOWN LAWS OF A THEORY CALLED QUANTUM GRAVITY TAKE OVER.
20:28WHEN A GIANT STAR EXPLOSES,
20:31OUR CURRENT THEORIES PREDICT THAT ITS CORE SHOULD COLLAPSE DOWN TO A SINGLE POINT
20:36AND BECOME INFINITELY DENSE.
20:38BUT LEE'S PIONEIRING EFFORTS TO UNDERSTAND QUANTUM GRAVITY SUGGEST IT DOES NOT,
20:44AND THAT INSTEAD, THIS IS THE MOMENT AN ENTIRE NEW UNIVERSE IS BORN.
20:50THE STAR THAT FORMED THE BLACK HOLE IS COLLAPSING,
20:53AND JUST BEFORE IT WOULD BECOME INFINITELY DENSE,
20:56IT BOUNCES AND BEGINS EXPANDING AGAIN.
20:58AND YOU CAN EVOLVE NEW REGIONS OF SPACETIME,
21:01STILL WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE HORIZON OF THE BLACK HOLE.
21:05BUT THIS REGION COULD GROW AND BECOME LARGE LIKE OUR UNIVERSE DID AFTER THE BIG BANG.
21:13THE DIMENSIONS OF SPACE AND TIME OF THESE NEW UNIVERSES
21:17BRANCH OFF FROM OURS INSIDE THE BLACK HOLE.
21:21THE LAWS OF PHYSICS CHANGE WHEN THAT HAPPENS AT THIS VERY VIOLENT EVENT,
21:25SO THAT THE PARENT RESEMBLES THE CHILDREN,
21:29AND THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN RESEMBLE THEM, BUT THERE ARE SMALL CHANGES.
21:33IT WORKS JUST LIKE BIOLOGY.
21:35YOU HAVE A POPULATION OF UNIVERSES.
21:38THEY GIVE RISE TO PROGENY THROUGH BLACK HOLES,
21:42AND IF YOU ASK WHAT LAWS ARE MOST SUCCESSFUL,
21:46THOSE ARE THE LAWS THAT LEAD TO UNIVERSES THAT HAVE THE MOST BLACK HOLES.
21:50SO WHAT YOU GET GENERATION BY GENERATION
21:53IS SELECTION FOR THE TENDENCY TO MAKE AS MANY BLACK HOLES AS POSSIBLE.
21:57OUR UNIVERSE MIGHT EXIST ON AN EVER-GROWING COSMIC TREE OF LIFE.
22:09BUT THIS IS NOT THE MOST REMARKABLE ASPECT OF LEE'S THEORY OF COSMOLOGICAL NATURAL SELECTION.
22:15AS HE EXPLORED WHICH LAWS OF PHYSICS ALLOW A BABY UNIVERSE TO PRODUCE MORE OFFSPRING,
22:22HE DISCOVERED AN UNCANNY CONNECTION BETWEEN THE COSMIC TREE OF LIFE AND OUR OWN BIOLOGICAL ONE.
22:29TO MAKE BLACK HOLES YOU NEED VERY MASSIVE STARS.
22:33YOU NEED STARS OF 20 TIMES THE MASS OF THE SUN OR MORE.
22:37AND TO MAKE THESE YOU NEED BIG CLOUDS OF GAS AND DUST THAT ARE COOLED.
22:43SO THE COOLENT TURNS OUT TO BE CARBON MINOXIDE.
22:47AND SO YOU NEED CARBON AND YOU NEED OXYGEN,
22:50WHICH ARE THE TWO ATOMS THAT YOU NEED MOST PLENTIFULLY FOR LIFE.
22:53AND IN FACT THE UNIVERSE HAS LOTS AND LOTS OF CARBON AND LOTS AND LOTS OF OXYGEN.
22:59SO THE EXPLANATION FOR WHY THE UNIVERSE IS BIOFRIENDLY
23:03IS A SIDE EFFECT OF THE UNIVERSE BEING VERY FRUITFUL IN TERMS OF ITS OWN REPRODUCTION.
23:11AND I FIND THAT VERY ENDEARING.
23:14IF LEE IS CORRECT, THE LAWS OF PHYSICS WE KNOW HAVE BEEN FINE-TUNED
23:18IN ORDER TO KEEP THE COSMOS PERTILE FOR ITS OWN REPRODUCTION.
23:24THOSE SAME LAWS ALSO HAPPEN TO MAKE OUR UNIVERSE
23:28A PLACE WHERE CARBON-BASED LIFE CAN FLOURISH.
23:33OUR UNIVERSE MAY BE JUST ONE MEMBER OF A GIANT FAMILY TREE OF COSMOSES.
23:40SINCE WE CAN'T SEE OUTSIDE OUR UNIVERSE, THIS IDEA WILL LIKELY REMAIN HARD TO PROVE.
23:46BUT THERE IS ONE OTHER WAY WE COULD DETERMINE WHETHER THE UNIVERSE IS ALIVE.
23:53WE COULD FIND ITS BRAIN.
24:00WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO THINK?
24:03INSIDE MY HEAD IS A NETWORK OF SEVERAL BILLION BUZZING NEURONS.
24:09IN A COMPUTER, ELECTRICAL PULSES SCURRY ACROSS A MAZE OF MICROSCOPIC CERCUITS.
24:15NOW, SOME SCIENTISTS ARE BUILDING COMPUTERS OUT OF ATOMS, DERIVING LOGIC FROM THE LAWS OF QUANTUM MECHANICS.
24:25SINCE THOSE LAWS APPLY TO THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, WHY COULDN'T THE UNIVERSE THINK?
24:34AT MIT, SETH LLOYD WELCOMES US INTO THE WEIRD AND WONDEROUS WORLD OF QUANTUM COMPUTING.
24:41THIS IS A MACHINE THAT CALCULATES IN A WAY THAT WILL ONE DAY LEAVE OUR CURRENT COMPUTERS IN THE DUST.
24:48IT IS BASED ON THE IDEA THAT ATOMS AND EVERY SUBATOMIC PARTICLE CAN THINK.
24:55EVERY ATOM, EVERY ELEMENTARY PARTICLE STORES BITS OF INFORMATION.
25:00SO, YOU KNOW, ELECTRONS SPINNING LIKE THAT IS ZERO, ELECTRONS SPINNING LIKE THAT IS ONE.
25:05AND EVERY TIME TWO PARTICLES COLLIDE, THOSE BITS GET FLIPPED AND PROCESSED.
25:10THE KEY TO A QUANTUM COMPUTER'S POWER IS THAT IT CAN THINK MORE THAN ONE THING AT A TIME.
25:17BUT TO UNDERSTAND HOW THAT CAN BE, WE NEED TO COMPREHEND THE STRANGE SCIENCE OF QUANTUM MECHANICS.
25:24THE KEY THING TO REMEMBER ABOUT QUANTUM MECHANICS IS THAT QUANTUM MECHANICS IS WEIRD.
25:29THIS IS A TECHNICAL TERM.
25:31IT MEANS FUNKY, COUNTERINTUITIVE.
25:33IT'S LIKE THE JAMES BROWN OF SCIENCES.
25:36YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON OR WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT.
25:40FOR THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS, AS SCIENTISTS HAVE STUDIED NATURE AT THE MICROSCOPIC LEVEL,
25:46THEY HAVE NOTICED THAT PARTICLES CAN ACTUALLY EXIST IN MORE THAN ONE PLACE AT THE SAME TIME.
25:51AND WHILE THEY HAVE STRUGGLED TO EXPLAIN WHY THIS SHOULD HAPPEN,
25:55SETH AND HIS COLLEAGUES IN QUANTUM COMPUTING HAVE SIMPLY ACCEPTED IT AND USED IT TO THEIR ADVANTAGE.
26:02I WILL NOW USE THE SOPHISTICATED LIGHT BRIGHT DEVICE
26:05TO DEMONSTRATE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLASSICAL COMPUTERS AND QUANTUM COMPUTERS.
26:10SO IN ANY COMPUTER, CLASSICAL OR QUANTUM, A BIT CAN BE REPRESENTED BY ELECTRON OVER HERE.
26:16NOW, IN A CLASSICAL COMPUTER, THE ELECTRON IS EITHER OVER HERE, ZERO, OR OVER THERE, ONE.
26:27IT IS DEFINITELY NOT ZERO AND ONE AT THE SAME TIME.
26:32BUT IN A QUANTIC COMPUTER, ELECTRONS VERY HAPPILY ARE BOTH ZERO AND ONE AT THE SAME TIME.
26:38TO SEE HOW THIS AFFECTS COMPUTATION, LET'S SUPPOSE THE ELECTRON OVER HERE SAYS
26:45DO THIS. LET'S TELL ALL THESE OTHER BITS TO MAKE SOME INTERESTING PATTERN.
26:53AND NOW YOU SEE WHAT WE HAVE IS WE DON'T JUST HAVE ONE BIT THAT IS DOING THIS AND THAT AT THE SAME TIME.
27:02WE HAVE MANY, MANY BITS THAT ARE DOING THIS AND THAT AT THE SAME TIME.
27:09SO THE QUANTIC COMPUTER IS DOING TWO COMPUTATIONS IN SOME FUNKY QUANTUM SENSE AT THE SAME TIME.
27:17AND, HEY, THERE'S NO REASON TO STOP THERE.
27:19THE QUANTIC COMPUTER IS COMPLETELY HAPPY DOING A HUNDRED OR A THOUSAND OR A BILLION
27:25OR AS MANY THINGS AS THERE ARE ELEMENTARY PARTICLES IN THE UNIVERSE ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
27:31THE MORE THE MERRIER.
27:36SETH HAS SPENT THE LAST TWO DECADES MAKING THIS ORDERED REARRANGEMENT OF QUANTUM BITS WORK IN A REAL DEVICE.
27:44ONE THAT CAN DO REAL CALCULATIONS.
27:48THE HEART OF THIS QUANTUM COMPUTER IS CHILLED WITH LIQUID HELIUM AND CONSISTS OF A SMALL SUPERCONDUCTING ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT KNOWN AS A CUBIT.
27:58THIS CUBIT IS A LITTLE TINY THING.
28:01IT SITS IN A TINY LITTLE GOLD PACKAGE LIKE THIS.
28:05AND IN THE MIDDLE OF IT THERE'S A TINY LITTLE CIRCUIT WHICH A SUPERCURRENT CAN GO AROUND LIKE THIS FOREVER OR IT CAN GO AROUND LIKE THAT FOREVER.
28:13SO WE CALL SUPERCURRENT GOING AROUND LIKE THIS, ZERO.
28:18AND SUPERCURRENT GOING AROUND LIKE THAT, ONE.
28:22AND SUPERCURRENT GOING AROUND THIS WAY AND THAT WAY AT THE SAME TIME, ZERO AND ONE AT THE SAME TIME.
28:29ALL THIS RACK OF EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT HERE IS DESIGNED TO TALK TO THE QUBIT BY SENDING MICROWAVE SIGNALS TO IT, TO TICKLE IT AND MASSAGE IT.
28:41MY JOB AS A QUANTUM MECHANICAL ENGINEER IS KIND OF LIKE A QUANTUM ATOMIC MASSEUR.
28:47WE, LIKE, MASSAGE THESE MOLECULES IN A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT WAYS.
28:51AND IF YOU MASSAGE THE MOLECULES IN THE RIGHT WAY, YOU CAN GET THIS WIGGLING AND JIGGLING SO THAT IT'S ACTUALLY PERFORMING A COMPUTATION.
28:59SO THE MOLECULES, AS IT RELAXES AND SIZES, OH, THAT FEELS SO GOOD, SAYS, OH, OH, IF YOU REALLY WANT ME TO MULTIPLY THREE TIMES FIVE, I'LL DO IT FOR YOU.
29:08QUANTUM COMPUTING IS STILL IN ITS INFANCY.
29:14IN FACT, MULTIPLYING THREE TIMES FIVE IS THE MOST COMPLEX COMPUTATION SETH'S MACHINE HAS EVER DONE.
29:21BUT SETH ARGUES THAT HIS COMPUTER PROVES THAT SUBATOMIC PARTICLES CAN THINK,
29:27AND THAT THE UNIVERSE, WHICH IS ENTIRELY BUILT FROM SUCH PARTICLES, MUST ALSO BE A QUANTUM COMPUTER.
29:34IT PROCESSES AND STORES INFORMATION AT THE MICROSCOPIC LEVEL ON EVERYTHING WE SEE AROUND US.
29:40AND IF THE UNIVERSE IS PROCESSING INFORMATION, THEN IT MUST BE THINKING.
29:46AND IT MUST BE ALIVE.
29:49THE UNIVERSE IS NOT ALIVE.
29:52IT'S MORE THAN ALIVE.
29:54IT CONTAINS LIFE.
29:55IT DOES ALL THE THINGS THAT LIVING THINGS DO.
29:58IT PROCESSES INFORMATION.
29:59IT MOVES ENERGY FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER.
30:01THE DIFFERENT PIECES OF IT CAN REPRODUCE EACH OTHER.
30:04BUT THE UNIVERSE AS A WHOLE CAN DO MUCH MORE THAN JUST WHAT LIVING THINGS CAN DO.
30:09THE HUMAN BRAIN CAN PERFORM ABOUT 10 TO THE POWER 16, OR 10 MILLION BILLION COMPUTATIONS IN A SECOND.
30:18IN THE SAME TIME, SETH BELIEVES THE UNIVERSE PERFORMS ABOUT 10 TO THE POWER 106 COMPUTATIONS,
30:26WHICH MAKES THE UNIVERSE IMPOSSIBLY SMARTER THAN WE CAN EVER IMAGINE.
30:31IF THE UNIVERSE IS BEHAVING LIKE A GIANT QUANTUM COMPUTER, AND LET'S FACE IT, IT IS,
30:37THEN IT'S CAPABLE OF ANY KIND OF COMPLEX BEHAVIOR WE CAN IMAGINE.
30:44NOT JUST CREATION OF STARS AND PLANETS, THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE.
30:50IT'S ALSO CAPABLE OF BEHAVIOR THAT WE PROBABLY WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO COMPREHAND.
30:56THE UNIVERSE COULD BE THE ULTIMATE INTELLIGENT ORGANISM.
31:02AND IF THE COSMOS REALLY DOES THINK LIKE A QUANTUM COMPUTER,
31:07THEN JURGEN SCHMIDHUBER IS READY TO TAKE THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP,
31:12TO READ ITS MIND.
31:15SOME SCIENTISTS NOW BELIEVE OUR UNIVERSE IS AN ENORMOUS QUANTUM COMPUTER,
31:28PROCESSING INFORMATION ON A SCALE THAT DWARFS HUMAN THINKING.
31:33IF THAT IS THE CASE, IS IT POSSIBLE TO DISCOVER WHAT IT HAS ALREADY COMPUTED
31:39AND SEE INSIDE THE MIND OF THE COSMOS?
31:45FOR CENTURIES, GREAT MINDS LIKE NEWTON AND EINSTEIN
31:49HAVE TRIED TO DISCOVER THE UNDERLYING PHYSICAL LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE.
31:53BUT SEEING THE COSMOS AS A COLOSSAL COMPUTATION
31:57OPENS UP A NOVEL WAY TO UNDERSTAND IT.
32:04BACK AT THE SWISS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LAB,
32:07JURGEN SCHMIDHUBER IS NOT ONLY PREPARING TO UNLEASH HIVES OF SWARM ROBOTS,
32:12HE HAS ANOTHER, FAR MORE AMBITIOUS AGENDA.
32:16HE WANTS TO RECREATE THE UNIVERSE IN A COMPUTER.
32:20COULD IT BE THAT THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE,
32:23EVERYTHING THAT WE SEE AROUND US,
32:25IS MAYBE JUST FOLLOWING VERY SIMPLE RULES.
32:27THE RULES OF PHYSICS, WHICH ARE PARTIALLY ALREADY KNOWN,
32:30BUT WHICH MIGHT ACTUALLY BE PROGRAM LIFE,
32:34AS IF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS JUST A HUGE VIDEO GAME.
32:39JURGEN BELIEVES THAT EVEN THOUGH THE SIZE OF OUR VIDEO GAME UNIVERSE IS IMMENSE,
32:44THE PROGRAM THAT CREATES IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE COMPLEX AT ALL.
32:49JUST AS IN ART, A FEW BASIC CURVES CAN CREATE A PATTERN OF GREAT COMPLEXITY.
32:54THERE IS A VERY SHORT PROGRAM THAT MAKES THIS PATTERN,
32:59AND I CAN REUSE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN TO MAKE THIS SLIGHTLY MORE COMPLEX PATTERN.
33:05ONLY VERY FEW OF THESE CIRCLES ARE USED TO DEFINE EVERY LITTLE DETAIL OF THIS DRAWING,
33:16WHICH MEANS THAT THE FINAL DRAWING, THIS ONE HERE,
33:19CAN BE ENCODED BY A VERY SIMPLE PROGRAM THAT CAN BE WRITTEN DOWN IN THREE OR FOUR LINES OF CODE.
33:27THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS NOTHING MORE THAN A PATTERN OF ATOMS.
33:32SO IF WE COULD FIND A SIMPLE PROGRAM THAT RECREATES THAT SHAPE IN A SIMULATION,
33:37Juergen BELIEVES WE COULD UNDERSTAND ALL OF PHYSICS AND THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE COSMOS.
33:44SO IF WE HAVE THIS SHORT PROGRAM THAT COMPUTS THIS UNIVERSE,
33:48THEN OF COURSE WE COULD REPLICATE EVERY SINGLE EVENT THAT EVER HAPPENED WITHIN IT.
33:53ESPECIALLY WE WOULD, IN PRINCIPLE, BE ABLE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED
33:57IN THE BIG BANG AND THEN AFTERWARDS.
34:04BUT AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT, THIS IS NOT A TRIVIAL PROJECT.
34:08BECAUSE TO TEST ANY PROGRAM YOU MIGHT WRITE,
34:12YOU HAVE TO LET ITS CALCULATIONS RUN THROUGH A FEW BILLION YEARS OF COSMIC TIME
34:17AND THEN COMPARE ITS SIMULATION WITH HOW OUR UNIVERSE ACTUALLY LOOKS.
34:23THE MAIN PROBLEM IS THAT TO RUN THIS CODE AGAIN, WE NEED A BIG COMPUTER,
34:29BUT IT WILL BE MUCH SMALLER THAN THE UNIVERSE ITSELF,
34:32WHICH MEANS THAT IT WILL TAKE A LONG, LONG TIME
34:35TO REPLICATE WHAT THE UNIVERSE HAS COMPUTED WITHIN 14 BILLION YEARS.
34:42BUT JURGEN ISN'T THROWING IN THE TOWEL JUST YET.
34:46HE'S PUTTING ALL HIS STRENGTH AND ENERGY INTO BUILDING STRONGER, FASTER, MORE INTELLIGENT MACHINES.
34:53WHEN I WAS A BOY, I WANTED TO BECOME A PHYSICIST.
34:57HOWEVER THEN I REALIZED THERE IS SOMETHING EVEN MORE PRODUCTIVE THAT I COULD DO.
35:02I COULD TRY TO BUILD A PHYSICIST OR A SCIENTIST IN GENERAL THAT IS MUCH SMARTER THAN I COULD EVER HOPE TO BE.
35:10AND THEN I CAN LET THIS GUY DO THE REMAINING WORK.
35:14THAT'S WHY I WOULD LIKE TO BUILD AN OPTIMAL SCIENTIST.
35:18WE CAN ALREADY BUILD ROBOTS THAT ARE STRONGER THAN US.
35:21ASSUMING OUR COMPUTERS KEEP GETTING FASTER AT THE CURRENT RATE,
35:25IT WILL NOT BE LONG BEFORE WE CAN ALSO PROGRAM ROBOTS TO BEAT US IN ANY MENTAL CONTEST.
35:31AT SOME POINT WE WILL HAVE ROBOT BRAINS AND COMPUTERS THAT ARE NOT ONLY AS POWERFUL AS A HUMAN BRAIN,
35:38BUT AS POWERFUL AS ALL HUMAN BRAINS TAKEN TOGETHER.
35:42IT MIGHT SEEM FAR-FETCHED THAT A SWARM OF FUTURISTIC ROBOTS WILL DEVOTE THEMSELVES
35:47TO THE TASK OF FINDING THE PROGRAM OF THE UNIVERSE.
35:50BUT JUST THINK WHAT FINDING THE ANSWER WOULD MEAN.
35:54IF WE KNEW THE SHORTEST CODE OR THAT SHORT PROGRAM THAT COMPUTS THIS UNIVERSE,
36:00THEN WE WOULD HAVE ANSWERED THE ESSENTIAL QUESTION OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS,
36:06NAMELY, HOW DOES THE WORLD WORK?
36:08SO WE WOULD SOLVE THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION OF PHYSICS.
36:13UNDERSTANDING THE FUNDAMENTAL RULES OF PHYSICS FROM WHICH THE UNIVERSE IS BUILT
36:18HAS DRIVEN SCIENCE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
36:21IT INSPIRED GREAT MINDS LIKE NEWTON AND EINSTEIN.
36:25IT DROVE US TO VENTURE INTO SPACE.
36:28AND IT IS THE GOAL OF ENORMOUS ATOM-SMASHING PROJECTS LIKE THE LARGE HADRON COLIDER IN GENEVA.
36:35BUT JURGEN SCHMIDT, WHO WAS WORKING COMPUTATION AND ROBOTICS,
36:39INSPIRED BY THE IDEA THAT THE COSMOS IS A LIVING, THINKING MACHINE,
36:44MAY BE THE ONLY WAY TO TRULY MAKE SENSE OF THE UNIVERSE.
36:49OR, ALL OF THESE EFFORTS MAY BE A WASTE OF TIME.
36:56BECAUSE ONE RENEGATE SCIENTIST BELIEVES WE'VE GOTTEN IT ALL TURNED AROUND.
37:01WE DON'T NEED TO FIND THE MIND OF OUR UNIVERSE.
37:05THE ENTIRE COSMOS IS NOTHING MORE THAN A FIGMENT OF OUR IMAGINATION.
37:17HOW CAN I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON INSIDE YOUR MIND?
37:22HOW DO I EVEN KNOW THAT YOU ACTUALLY EXIST AT ALL?
37:26IT IS POSSIBLE THAT YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN THE PRODUCT OF MY IMAGINATION.
37:32IN FACT, YOU AND I COULD BOTH BE IMAGINING EVERYTHING WE SEE AROUND US.
37:38COULD WE EACH BE DREAMING OUR OWN PRIVATE UNIVERSE?
37:47DR. ROBERT LANZA HAS ALWAYS BEEN ON THE CONTROVERSIAL SIDE OF SCIENCE.
37:52HE WAS THE FIRST STEM CELL RESEARCHER TO ACTUALLY CLONE AN EARLY STAGE HUMAN EMBYO.
37:58DESCRIBED BY HIS PEERS AND THE PRESS AS A RENEGADE THINKER,
38:03ROBERT IS NOW PUSHING ON A NEW FRONTIER.
38:06HE SAYS THE UNIVERSE IS UNQUESTIONABLY A LIVING THING, BUT WITH A SHOCKING TWIST.
38:12YES, THE UNIVERSE IS DEFINITELY ALIVE.
38:16IT'S NOT AN OBJECT. IT'S AN ACTIVE PROCESS THAT ACTUALLY INVOLVES OUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
38:20SO IF YOU LOOK AT THE TREES OF THE SKY, THE TRUTH IS EVERYTHING YOU SEE AND EXPERIENCE
38:24IS A WORLD OF INFORMATION OCCURRING IN YOUR MIND.
38:29ROBERT FIRMLY BELIEVES THAT THE UNIVERSE BEGINS AND ENDS IN THE MIND OF THE OBSERVER.
38:37THAT THE UNIVERSE IS NOTHING MORE THAN THE VIVID IMAGINATION OF OUR BRAINS.
38:43HE CALLS HIS THEORY BIOCENTRISM.
38:47IN THE EXTERNAL WORLD, THERE'S A RANGE OF ELECTROMINETIC RADIATION.
38:52AT ONE SPECIFIC POINT, WE'LL SEE RED, OR TO A CERTAIN BIRD, IT MAY FLORESTS ORANGE.
38:58OR TO SOME ANIMALS, THEY CAN ACTUALLY SEE RADAR OR ULTRA-VIOLENT.
39:04SO ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE NOT DETERMINED BY THE EXTERNAL WORLD.
39:09THEY'RE DETERMINED BY US.
39:10SO IT'S OUR MIND THAT ACTUALLY MAKES THAT SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE.
39:15SO BIOCENTRISM IS THE ONLY RATIONAL WAY TO EXPLAIN THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE.
39:20ROBERT'S RADICAL THEORY STEMS FROM PUNDERING ANOTHER STRANGE THEORY THAT IS WIDELY ACCEPTED.
39:26QUANTUM MECHANICS.
39:28IN QUANTUM THEORY, PARTICLES CAN BE IN MULTIPLE PLACES AT ONCE.
39:33UNTIL THE MOMENT YOU MAKE A MEASUREMENT, WHEN THE PARTICLE MUST END UP IN ONLY ONE OF THOSE LOCATIONS.
39:39WHICH MEANS NOTHING IS CERTAIN UNTIL AN OBSERVER MAKES A MEASUREMENT.
39:49ROBERT THINKS WE MUST APPLY THE RULES OF THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD TO OUR EVERYDAY EXPERIENCES.
39:56SINCE EVERYTHING WE SEE, HEAR, AND TOUCH IS MADE UP OF MICROSCOPIC PARTICLES.
40:03WHICH LED HIM TO WONDER WHAT REALLY HAPPENS WHEN A TREE FALLS IN THE WOODS.
40:10SO WHEN A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST, IT CREATES AN AIR PRESSURE DISTURBANCE.
40:15ACCORDING TO SIMPLE SCIENCE, THAT OCCURS WHETHER OR NOT ANYONE IS THERE TO OBSERVE IT.
40:19BUT WE KNOW FOR A FACT THAT WITHOUT THE OBSERVER THAT NOT A SINGLE PARTICLE IN THE TREE OR THE AIR ITSELF EXISTS WITH DEFINITE PROPERTIES.
40:26SO UNLESS SOMEONE IS ACTUALLY OBSERVING THE TREE FALLING, THERE ARE NO PARTICLES THERE TO MAKE THE NOISE.
40:32SO WITHOUT YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS, THERE'S NO SOUND, INDEED THERE'S NO TREE.
40:38THE PHYSICAL WORLD AROUND US IS ALL AN ILLUSION, CREATED BY OUR MINDS.
40:45AND WHEN WE CLOSE OUR EYES, SPACE AND TIME SIMPLY DISSOLVE AWAY.
40:52WELL, IT'S ACTUALLY US, THE OBSERVER, WHO CREATES SPACE AND TIME, AND THAT'S WHY YOU'RE HERE NOW.
40:56REALITY BEGINS AND ENDS WITH THE OBSERVER.
40:59ROBERT LANZ'S BIOCENTRISM IS A RADICAL SPIN ON THE UNDENIABLE STRANGENESS OF QUANTUM MECHANICS.
41:08QUANTUM COMPUTATION EXPERT SETH LORD SEES A DIFFERENT CONNECTION BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND THE UNIVERSE.
41:15ONE THAT IS LESS CONTROVERSIAL, BUT JUST AS MIND-BLOWING.
41:19HE BELIEVES THAT EVERY SINGLE THING THAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THE BIG BANG
41:24IS PART OF A COLOSSAL COMPUTATION THAT THE UNIVERSE IS STILL MAKING.
41:30AND WITHIN THE UNIVERSE'S VAST ARRAY OF ATOMIC ZEROS AND ONES
41:35EXISTS WHAT COULD BE ITS CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT, BIOLOGICAL LIFE.
41:41SO THE UNIVERSE IS CONSTANTLY GENERATING LITTLE RANDOM BITS OF INFORMATION.
41:47NOW EVERY NOW AND THEN, ONE OF THESE LITTLE RANDOM FLUCTUATIONS WILL TAKE HOLD
41:52AND GET AMPLIFIED TO A LARGE SCALE AND START TO HAVE REALLY MASSIVE CONSEQUENCES IN THE UNIVERSE.
41:58YOU COULD SAY THAT WHEN LIFE CAME ALONG AND CREATED DNA
42:02THAT THERE WAS ALREADY AN ONGOING COMPETATION GOING ON
42:06AND LIFE FIGURED OUT HOW TO HACK IN TO THAT ONGOING COMPETATION
42:11TO MAKE A PIECE OF IT DO SOMETHING NOVEL AND DIFFERENT.
42:16TO THINK OF THE UNIVERSE AS A SINGLE LIVING THING
42:22STRETCHES OUR IMAGINATIONS QUITE A BIT.
42:26THE COSMOS COULD BE DRIVEN BY A HEARTBEAT
42:29THAT PUMPS OUT CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES ONCE EVERY TRILLION YEARS.
42:34WE COULD BE THE CHILD OF ANOTHER UNIVERSE
42:37AND BE SPAWNING COUNTLESS MORE.
42:39OR THE COSMOS COULD BE A GIANT COMPUTATION
42:43INFECTED BY A COMPUTER VIRUS CALLED BIOLOGICAL LIFE.
42:49AND WE CAN'T TELL WHO IS MORE ALIVE.
42:53THE UNIVERSE OR US.