Latest / Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe / Elinor Wonders About the Universe
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, do you think humans will eventually discover all
- 0:12Speaker 1: of the deep secrets of the universe? I guess I
- 0:15Speaker 1: think it depends on what you know. It depends on
- 0:17Speaker 1: how curious future generations are. If the kids growing up
- 0:21Speaker 1: today are curious enough, who knows what they might discover. Well,
- 0:25Speaker 1: that's why I give my kids plenty of vitamin C
- 0:28Speaker 1: so they'll have a strong immune system to survive the
- 0:30Speaker 1: next pandemic. Actually, I mean C for curiosity, so they're
- 0:34Speaker 1: not immune to amazing discovery as long as they don't
- 0:38Speaker 1: get a C in science. But see for catching it
- 0:40Speaker 1: all right, that's right. Hi am or Hey, I'm a
- 0:59Speaker 1: cartoonist and the career of PhD comments. Hi, I'm Daniel.
- 1:02Speaker 1: I'm a particle physicist, and I'm super curious about what
- 1:06Speaker 1: our kids will discover. Welcome to our podcast, Daniel and
- 1:09Speaker 1: Jorge Explain the Universe, a production of I Heart Radio
- 1:12Speaker 1: in which we ride that curiosity wave. We take the
- 1:15Speaker 1: power of your curiosity and we take it all the
- 1:18Speaker 1: way to the end of the universe and look backwards.
- 1:20Speaker 1: We try to understand the very big the very small.
- 1:23Speaker 1: We ask all the questions from the littlest ones to
- 1:26Speaker 1: the biggest ones, to the hardest ones, to the weirdest ones. Yeah,
- 1:29Speaker 1: because it seems to be part of human nature to
- 1:32Speaker 1: ask questions, you know, to ask questions about their surroundings
- 1:35Speaker 1: and even about the universe. It seems like we're all
- 1:38Speaker 1: curious at some basic level, that's right. And sometimes we
- 1:40Speaker 1: want to know the way things work around us for
- 1:43Speaker 1: practical reasons like wow, how fast can that leopard run?
- 1:46Speaker 1: Am I faster than it? And sometimes we just want
- 1:49Speaker 1: to know. We want to understand the context of our lives,
- 1:53Speaker 1: how should we live, what does it mean, where do
- 1:55Speaker 1: we all come from. It's a deep seated need to
- 1:58Speaker 1: understand the universe around us, and it's translated into a
- 2:01Speaker 1: pretty impressive set of knowledge about the universe and how
- 2:04Speaker 1: it works. But it's also shown us how much we
- 2:07Speaker 1: still have to understand. Yeah, and it's not just scientists
- 2:10Speaker 1: who have curiosity. It's kind of everyday people, right, it's everybody.
- 2:15Speaker 1: When I talk to people about what I do from
- 2:16Speaker 1: my job, their eyes light up. Well, first they say physics, Man,
- 2:20Speaker 1: I did terrible of physics in high school. And then
- 2:23Speaker 1: they go, oh, wait a second, I want to note
- 2:25Speaker 1: the answer to that question. What is the universe made
- 2:27Speaker 1: out of her? Where did it come from? Everybody is curious,
- 2:30Speaker 1: and on this show, we believe that wondering and curiosity
- 2:33Speaker 1: belongs to everybody. Nobody ever confuses you for a psychic
- 2:36Speaker 1: instead of a physics person. That's never happened, not even once.
- 2:44Speaker 1: They can read my mind, so they can tell that
- 2:46Speaker 1: I can't read theirs. Well, today we have a very
- 2:48Speaker 1: special episode because we are announcing the release of our
- 2:52Speaker 1: television show. I don't know how many of you out
- 2:54Speaker 1: there follow us on social media on our Instagram and Twitter,
- 2:58Speaker 1: but Daniel and I have made a television show for kids.
- 3:01Speaker 1: That's right. It's the next step in our adventure of collaboration.
- 3:04Speaker 1: We started with online videos and then wrote a book
- 3:07Speaker 1: together and we've been doing this podcast and the next
- 3:10Speaker 1: step is this TV show which celebrates and supports curiosity,
- 3:14Speaker 1: especially scientific curiosity in children. Yeah, it's a show called
- 3:17Speaker 1: Eleanora Wonders Why, and it premiers this week on PPS
- 3:21Speaker 1: Kids dot org and on the PPS Kids app and
- 3:24Speaker 1: also on the pus Kids YouTube channel and also on
- 3:28Speaker 1: Amazon Prime if you have the ppous Kids subscription. It
- 3:30Speaker 1: will dig into the details of what that show is about.
- 3:33Speaker 1: But basically It's about a bunch of curious kids asking
- 3:37Speaker 1: questions about the world they find themselves in and figuring
- 3:40Speaker 1: out the answers for themselves. It's a project that Daniel
- 3:42Speaker 1: and I are super excited about. We've been working on
- 3:45Speaker 1: it for years, kind of on the background of this podcast.
- 3:49Speaker 1: We're super excited to share with you and with all
- 3:51Speaker 1: of the kids in your lives, whether they are nieces
- 3:53Speaker 1: and nephews or grandkids or kids. So, if you're a
- 3:56Speaker 1: fan of science and you're a curious person, and you'd
- 3:59Speaker 1: like your kids or your friends kids to grow up
- 4:03Speaker 1: with a scientific mindset and explore the universe and answer
- 4:06Speaker 1: some of these deep questions that we all have about
- 4:09Speaker 1: the universe, maybe give it a try share with them.
- 4:13Speaker 1: And So the show is called Eleanor Wonders Why, and
- 4:15Speaker 1: it's based on our kids. But specifically, the main character
- 4:19Speaker 1: is called Eleanor, and she's the bunny rabbit in this
- 4:21Speaker 1: world of the show, but she's based a little bit
- 4:24Speaker 1: on my daughter Eleanor. And so today, to celebrate the
- 4:27Speaker 1: release of the show, we thought it'd be cool to
- 4:29Speaker 1: answer some questions that Eleanor has about the universe. That's right.
- 4:34Speaker 1: We were hoping in this show to model the way
- 4:35Speaker 1: that we talk to our kids about science. We answer
- 4:38Speaker 1: their questions, we reflect their questions back to them, but
- 4:41Speaker 1: also to tap into that curiosity that kids have in
- 4:45Speaker 1: its raw form. And those of you who have curious kids,
- 4:48Speaker 1: and I know many of you have written into the
- 4:50Speaker 1: show and sent in their questions, know that their questions
- 4:52Speaker 1: are wonderful because they asked the deepest but most basic
- 4:56Speaker 1: questions about the universe around us. Yeah, and it sort
- 4:58Speaker 1: of seems like once they can to school, a lot
- 5:00Speaker 1: of that curiosity gets sort of ground away or beaten
- 5:04Speaker 1: down a little bit. I don't want to say anything
- 5:07Speaker 1: negative about school or teachers, because they're having a hard
- 5:10Speaker 1: time these days, but it's true that that like joyful curiosity,
- 5:15Speaker 1: that wondering about the universe, there isn't always a place
- 5:17Speaker 1: for that in your normal, everyday school curriculum. And so
- 5:21Speaker 1: we were hoping this TV show would help supplement that,
- 5:23Speaker 1: would help inject that wonder and that excitement about the
- 5:27Speaker 1: very biggest questions and also just the world around Yeah.
- 5:30Speaker 1: And so we have two questions here today from the
- 5:33Speaker 1: real Eleanor. And these are questions that she totally just
- 5:37Speaker 1: came up out of normal conversation, like we were just
- 5:40Speaker 1: folding laundry and suddenly she had these She gave me
- 5:43Speaker 1: these two big questions about the universe. And she always
- 5:46Speaker 1: just like popping questions about the universe on you at
- 5:49Speaker 1: all times. Oh yes, did I mean? She inspired a
- 5:52Speaker 1: show called Eleanor Wonders Why. Those of you with curious
- 5:55Speaker 1: children will know what that's like. So we're happy to
- 5:58Speaker 1: answer Eleanor's questions today, and we hope that you and
- 6:02Speaker 1: or your kids have similar questions. Yeah, and if your
- 6:04Speaker 1: kid has questions about the universe, about planets, about Adams,
- 6:08Speaker 1: or anything related to science, please send them to us.
- 6:11Speaker 1: We'd be happy to try to answer them and maybe
- 6:14Speaker 1: even possibly answering them on the podcast. That's right, We
- 6:17Speaker 1: answer all of our listener questions, So write to us
- 6:20Speaker 1: with your questions. Two questions at Daniel and Jorge dot com. Alright,
- 6:24Speaker 1: Eleanor has two questions about nothing short of the entire universe, Daniel,
- 6:29Speaker 1: she has big thoughts. She's a little seven year old girl,
- 6:32Speaker 1: but somehow she had these questions about the universe, And honestly,
- 6:35Speaker 1: as a parent, I don't know where they where they
- 6:37Speaker 1: came from, Like I don't know what books she's reading,
- 6:39Speaker 1: what what videos are showing to her at school? But
- 6:45Speaker 1: she had these amazing questions about the universe. Clearly, you
- 6:47Speaker 1: have interacted with physicists too much, or she's thinking about
- 6:50Speaker 1: this maybe probably is there such a thing as too
- 6:54Speaker 1: much interaction with the obviously I think not. Alright, here's
- 7:00Speaker 1: Leonora's first question. Yes, E has two questions, one about
- 7:03Speaker 1: the multiverse and the other one about the shape of space.
- 7:08Speaker 1: How can I how can there be more than one
- 7:12Speaker 1: universe if the universe is probably infinite because I thought
- 7:18Speaker 1: the universe was everything that existed. That's a big question, though,
- 7:27Speaker 1: such as my brain, such a big question. I don't
- 7:29Speaker 1: even know how she knows about the multiverse, Like we
- 7:32Speaker 1: don't talk about it over dinner. Yeah. Well, and she
- 7:35Speaker 1: has the idea of the infinite universe, which is hard
- 7:38Speaker 1: enough for me to hold in my head. What do
- 7:40Speaker 1: you think she thinks of when she talks about infinity? Well,
- 7:43Speaker 1: that's a big question. I think I think she has
- 7:45Speaker 1: an understanding of like things that go on forever, like
- 7:48Speaker 1: they don't stop, you know, definitely they used in infinity
- 7:52Speaker 1: a lot, like you know, when they're When she's arguing
- 7:54Speaker 1: with her brother or something, you know, I want infinity
- 7:58Speaker 1: of these? Or how many cookies do want? For desert? Infinity? Infinity?
- 8:02Speaker 1: Yet it's definitely a concept she's familiar with. But what
- 8:06Speaker 1: do you think about her question? I think she's asking,
- 8:08Speaker 1: you know, how can there be more than one universe?
- 8:11Speaker 1: If the universe might be infinite? Like how, like where
- 8:15Speaker 1: are they? I think maybe she's sort of asking, like
- 8:17Speaker 1: where are these other universes if the universe is infinite? Yeah?
- 8:21Speaker 1: Or do you think she's gonna be just asking it
- 8:22Speaker 1: like a semantics question, like why how can you have
- 8:25Speaker 1: a universe and a multiverse? Wouldn't it it all just
- 8:27Speaker 1: be the universe? Yeah? Well, I think the answer there's
- 8:30Speaker 1: a scientific answer and a semantic answer there, because you know, originally,
- 8:35Speaker 1: I think the universe is designed to mean everything that
- 8:38Speaker 1: there is. It's just like, instead of saying the phrase
- 8:41Speaker 1: all the stuff and all of the space and all
- 8:42Speaker 1: the matter and everything, you want a more compact phrase,
- 8:45Speaker 1: and so we have universe. But then that sort of
- 8:47Speaker 1: came to define a set of ideas, and when you
- 8:50Speaker 1: want to expand on those ideas, then you need to
- 8:53Speaker 1: add a new word for a new meaning. So like
- 8:57Speaker 1: if universe is sort of semantically flexible and means like
- 9:00Speaker 1: our current understanding of everything that could possibly be. Then, yeah,
- 9:04Speaker 1: there's just one universe by definition. I guess you sort
- 9:07Speaker 1: of downgraded the definition of universe like youas mean everything.
- 9:10Speaker 1: But then because this were like maybe there's more to everything,
- 9:14Speaker 1: or where there's more everything everywhere else, and specifically we
- 9:17Speaker 1: had new ideas for how to get more everything or
- 9:19Speaker 1: where more everything could be, or in in other ways
- 9:23Speaker 1: you could have stuff, and so the sort of categorically
- 9:26Speaker 1: different kinds of stuff and places, and so that I
- 9:30Speaker 1: think is why we came up with a new word
- 9:32Speaker 1: for it. But maybe we should talk a little bit
- 9:33Speaker 1: about what it means to have more than one universe
- 9:36Speaker 1: or where that other stuff could be. Yeah, yeah, because
- 9:39Speaker 1: I think what's was sort of blowing her mind is
- 9:42Speaker 1: just this idea that there's everything and then there's other
- 9:45Speaker 1: Everything's like where are they? Are they next to the
- 9:48Speaker 1: other everything or are they on top? Or how does
- 9:51Speaker 1: that work? Yeah? And it's especially hard to understand if
- 9:53Speaker 1: the universe is infinite, because then how do you squeeze
- 9:56Speaker 1: all that stuff together? Right? And when people we'll talk
- 10:00Speaker 1: about universe, they often mean different things and so sometimes
- 10:04Speaker 1: it's just semantics. And sometimes when people say the universe,
- 10:06Speaker 1: they really mean the observable universe, like the part of
- 10:10Speaker 1: the universe that we can see, which goes out several
- 10:13Speaker 1: billions and billions of light years, right, And sometimes people
- 10:17Speaker 1: think of other universes as just like other observable universes.
- 10:21Speaker 1: If you're somewhere really, really far away, you would have
- 10:23Speaker 1: a different observable universe because you would see a different
- 10:26Speaker 1: like patch of the infinite universe. I think that's kind
- 10:30Speaker 1: of lame, because we already have a phrase for that
- 10:32Speaker 1: observable universe, sub universe. Yeah, exactly. It makes our observable
- 10:37Speaker 1: universe is like a sub universe of the whole universe.
- 10:39Speaker 1: So technically that's in the category of multiverse. Some people
- 10:44Speaker 1: call it multiverse, but I think it's sort of silly.
- 10:47Speaker 1: I think more interesting is this concept like that our
- 10:50Speaker 1: universe could be infinite and yet there could also be
- 10:53Speaker 1: other universes, right yeah, because like, well, how do you
- 10:57Speaker 1: fit it all in? How do you fit it all
- 10:59Speaker 1: in exactly? And to fit it all in you have
- 11:01Speaker 1: to have like other kinds of space. Because remember that
- 11:05Speaker 1: what we think about is our universe is the space
- 11:08Speaker 1: we live in the space and all the matter and
- 11:11Speaker 1: and all that stuff, and that could go on forever, right,
- 11:14Speaker 1: But then also there could be variations on it. And
- 11:17Speaker 1: really the only way to reconcile having an infinite universe
- 11:20Speaker 1: and having multi verses is to go for the quantum multiverse,
- 11:24Speaker 1: the one where our universe is splitting into different possibilities
- 11:28Speaker 1: at every moment. So this is the idea that every time,
- 11:32Speaker 1: like a particle makes a decision, another universe pops out. Yeah,
- 11:36Speaker 1: exactly is to try to answer the question like when
- 11:39Speaker 1: the universe makes a seemingly random decision for quantum mechanics,
- 11:44Speaker 1: why is it that one and not another one? When
- 11:46Speaker 1: the electron has to decide do I go left or
- 11:48Speaker 1: do I go right? Then you know, why is it
- 11:51Speaker 1: go left? It seems weird, It seems arbitrary. And as
- 11:54Speaker 1: you know, physicis don't like beings the same art jury.
- 11:56Speaker 1: We want an explanation, kind of like chilled in right,
- 12:00Speaker 1: They always want to know why why can't I have
- 12:03Speaker 1: cookies at nine pm at night? What's what's going on?
- 12:06Speaker 1: The show is really called Physicists Wonder Why, But we
- 12:09Speaker 1: wanted to make a kid's ship. It seems arbitrary, then
- 12:11Speaker 1: it seems arbitrary. So we invent this other universe to say, well,
- 12:15Speaker 1: maybe it's balanced. You know, we're in the left direction,
- 12:18Speaker 1: but there's another universe where the electron went to the
- 12:20Speaker 1: right direction, and that somehow satisfies your need for symmetry,
- 12:24Speaker 1: for balance, to say that it's not just arbitrary that
- 12:27Speaker 1: it went left, because it went in every direction and
- 12:29Speaker 1: we just ended up in one of those right. And
- 12:32Speaker 1: the idea is that there weren't two universes before, but
- 12:35Speaker 1: once that particle makes a decision, whether it's been right
- 12:40Speaker 1: or it's been left, then now there are two universes.
- 12:42Speaker 1: So before there was one, now there are two. And
- 12:44Speaker 1: that happens every time a particle in all of existence
- 12:48Speaker 1: makes a decision. Yeah, and it's crazy, right, It's hard
- 12:50Speaker 1: to imagine because there's ten to the eight particles and
- 12:54Speaker 1: they're doing stuff every you know, nanosecond or whatever, and
- 12:58Speaker 1: so the number of universe it just becomes absurd very
- 13:02Speaker 1: very quickly. Plus the universe is billions of years old,
- 13:05Speaker 1: so like, how do you even fathom the number of
- 13:07Speaker 1: different universes in this scenario, It's like infinity to the
- 13:11Speaker 1: infinity to the head explosion power. You know, it's just
- 13:15Speaker 1: it's just the number. We can't even really think about.
- 13:17Speaker 1: It's more cookies than even your kids could eat, even
- 13:19Speaker 1: at nine pm. Even at nine pm, they'll happily take
- 13:22Speaker 1: the challenge. I'm sure you gotta take data right. You
- 13:25Speaker 1: can't just make assumptions. You've got to do the experiment.
- 13:28Speaker 1: Can put limits. Doesn't really answer her question right, like
- 13:31Speaker 1: say that that's true, say that's actually happening, that that's
- 13:34Speaker 1: our reality. Then where are those other universes? You know,
- 13:39Speaker 1: where are they in space? Right? And that's not easy
- 13:43Speaker 1: to answer. They're not really like anywhere. You know, we
- 13:46Speaker 1: have branched. We are in the left universe and not
- 13:49Speaker 1: in the right universe. It's not like the right universe
- 13:52Speaker 1: is one we can ever interact with. We can't like
- 13:54Speaker 1: send a message to that universe. We're not causally connected.
- 13:58Speaker 1: We're separated from that universe, so we can never interact
- 14:01Speaker 1: with it in any way. It can't influence us, we
- 14:04Speaker 1: can't send messages, it can't change us. So from our
- 14:08Speaker 1: point of view, it doesn't exist in our space at all. Well,
- 14:11Speaker 1: how do you know that, Daniel, I guess how do
- 14:13Speaker 1: you know there that there's no way that there we
- 14:15Speaker 1: can make a connection to them, because in sciences fection
- 14:17Speaker 1: you see it all the time, like spreaking the walls
- 14:19Speaker 1: between the different universes, and you can travel to a
- 14:22Speaker 1: different universe. Are you saying I saw this in a movie,
- 14:25Speaker 1: So how do you know it's not possible? Basically, I
- 14:30Speaker 1: also saw flying saucers and jet packs Daniel episode. We'll
- 14:33Speaker 1: get to those later. Well, it comes from the very
- 14:36Speaker 1: construction of the multiverse. Rights the multiverse. The other universe
- 14:40Speaker 1: is created when the universe splits, when you make a
- 14:42Speaker 1: different decision. So then our universe is inconsistent with that universe.
- 14:47Speaker 1: It's like a copy of our universe, but with a
- 14:49Speaker 1: different decisions. So the two have like the same history,
- 14:53Speaker 1: but now a different future. And so how did the
- 14:56Speaker 1: two even talk to each other? They have like an
- 14:58Speaker 1: inconsistent history for what has happened. It's like an alternative.
- 15:01Speaker 1: It's not like, you know, a different fork in the
- 15:04Speaker 1: path while I'll go left and you'll go right, and
- 15:06Speaker 1: maybe the paths will meet again. It's like you know,
- 15:09Speaker 1: once you decided to press the button, you can't unpressed
- 15:12Speaker 1: the button. All right? I think now I have a
- 15:15Speaker 1: lot of questions about this Daniel, and so let's get
- 15:19Speaker 1: into where these other universes might be. But first let's
- 15:23Speaker 1: take a quick break. All right, Today we're asking questions
- 15:38Speaker 1: from Eleanor, my daughter, who is also the inspiration for
- 15:41Speaker 1: our new kids television show called Eleanor Wonders Why, which
- 15:46Speaker 1: is all about getting kids interested and curious about nature
- 15:50Speaker 1: and all the amazing things in it, like animals and
- 15:53Speaker 1: bugs and lizards. Maybe mosquitoes actually came over from the
- 15:56Speaker 1: multiverse because I hate them so much, but I love nature.
- 16:00Speaker 1: Think they come from a dark, dark universe. I imagine, like,
- 16:02Speaker 1: who would suffer if we just deleted mosquitoes from the universe? Really,
- 16:07Speaker 1: nobody would be harm Can't we just all vote to
- 16:09Speaker 1: do that? You know, I think bads eat mosquitoes, Daniel,
- 16:12Speaker 1: so that would be bad news for bad, which, by
- 16:14Speaker 1: the way, is also a character in our show. So
- 16:18Speaker 1: Eleanor in the show is a bunny rabbit, and she
- 16:21Speaker 1: has two best friends, are a funny and very active
- 16:25Speaker 1: bad and also Olive, who who's an elephant. And all
- 16:28Speaker 1: of it's sort of based on your daughter, right, Daniel
- 16:30Speaker 1: Alive is partially inspired by my daughter, That's right, All
- 16:33Speaker 1: of the character in the show is a real reader
- 16:35Speaker 1: and likes words, and my daughter Hazel is like that. Yeah,
- 16:39Speaker 1: so she helped inspire us. And the curiosity of all
- 16:41Speaker 1: of our children and of all the children we've met
- 16:43Speaker 1: out there helped inspire us. I give sometimes lectures to
- 16:47Speaker 1: elementary schools about science, and my favorite bit is the
- 16:50Speaker 1: question period afterwards, when they ask any question they have
- 16:53Speaker 1: in their mind, and they're always like surprising, mind blowing,
- 16:57Speaker 1: and sometimes it's difficult to answer questions. Yeah, So if
- 17:00Speaker 1: you have young kids, or if you have friends with
- 17:02Speaker 1: young kids or nieces or nephews or grandkids, we would
- 17:04Speaker 1: really encourage you to tell them about the show. It's
- 17:06Speaker 1: called Eleanor Wonders Why, and it's available right now in
- 17:08Speaker 1: the US at PBS Kids dot org, slash Eleanor E
- 17:12Speaker 1: l I n O R and also the PBS Kids app,
- 17:16Speaker 1: which you can download for free and watch all these
- 17:18Speaker 1: episodes for free. They're also available on the PBS Kids
- 17:20Speaker 1: YouTube channel and also on the Amazon Prime PBS Kids subscription.
- 17:26Speaker 1: Those you can put on repeat, which we hear a
- 17:29Speaker 1: lot of parents are appreciative of. So today to celebrate that,
- 17:34Speaker 1: we are answering questions from Eleanor, the real Eleanor, and
- 17:38Speaker 1: she had a question about the multiverse. So, Daniel, we
- 17:40Speaker 1: were talking about the multiverse. If the multiverse is real,
- 17:43Speaker 1: where where are all these other universes at? So you're
- 17:47Speaker 1: saying we can't access them, we're not connected to them,
- 17:49Speaker 1: because it's more like we're different possibilities. Is that kind
- 17:53Speaker 1: of what what do you mean? It sounds very abstract,
- 17:55Speaker 1: like are you saying we're an abstraction in that theory
- 17:59Speaker 1: the multiverse where there's a different universe created every time
- 18:02Speaker 1: a quantum mechanical particle has to roll the dice, Then yes,
- 18:06Speaker 1: we are just one of those many many many many
- 18:09Speaker 1: many many many to the many power universes. And so
- 18:13Speaker 1: two people in or creatures in one of those other multiverses,
- 18:17Speaker 1: we are that abstraction. And that's the part of this
- 18:19Speaker 1: theory that I don't really like because it tries to
- 18:22Speaker 1: answer this question of why are we in this universe
- 18:25Speaker 1: and not in another universe where other random decisions were made.
- 18:29Speaker 1: Doesn't like randomness and tries to answer that by saying
- 18:31Speaker 1: every random decision is made. But to me, it doesn't
- 18:34Speaker 1: really answer it, because you know, I'm in this universe
- 18:37Speaker 1: and not in any other one, and so it's it
- 18:40Speaker 1: goes back again to that question of consciousness, like why
- 18:42Speaker 1: am I experiencing this universe and not those universes? So
- 18:47Speaker 1: to me philosophically, it's pretty unsatisfying. Plus, it's just hard
- 18:50Speaker 1: to think about, like where are all those other universes?
- 18:54Speaker 1: Eleanois question is a great one. You know, how do
- 18:56Speaker 1: you have multiple infinite universes? Where are they? And you know,
- 19:01Speaker 1: the best way to think about it is that we
- 19:03Speaker 1: have an infinite pocket of space to play in here,
- 19:06Speaker 1: our universe, our quantum slice of the universe, and those
- 19:10Speaker 1: other ones they have their own inefinite pockets of space
- 19:14Speaker 1: to play with, but they're not connected to ours. The
- 19:17Speaker 1: only way to answer the question where is something is
- 19:20Speaker 1: to think about their physical relationships, you know, like where
- 19:23Speaker 1: is your neighbor's house? It's next to yours, Because our
- 19:26Speaker 1: brains are sort of hard wired to think about space
- 19:28Speaker 1: like that, right, like spatially, Well, that's what space is. Remember,
- 19:31Speaker 1: there's no absolute locations anywhere. It's all relative. And so
- 19:36Speaker 1: if there is no relative position between this universe and
- 19:40Speaker 1: the other universe, then you can't put them in any
- 19:43Speaker 1: space together. So they really have their own spaces. So
- 19:47Speaker 1: I think what you're saying is that I should tell
- 19:49Speaker 1: eleanor that Daniel doesn't know. Daniel definitely doesn't know if
- 19:53Speaker 1: those universes exist and if they do, where they are.
- 19:56Speaker 1: But I'm pretty sure that if they exist, we can
- 19:59Speaker 1: never talk to them or interact with them, or even
- 20:02Speaker 1: prove that they exist. And a lot of people say
- 20:05Speaker 1: that makes this not a very scientific idea because if
- 20:07Speaker 1: you can't test it, how could you prove it's true.
- 20:10Speaker 1: And if you can't prove it's true, then it's really
- 20:12Speaker 1: just speculation and not even really science, right. Yeah, you
- 20:16Speaker 1: need to be able to formulate it, right, like as
- 20:18Speaker 1: a hypothesis, and be able to prove it or disproven
- 20:21Speaker 1: or a design a test to prove it or disprove it. Yeah,
- 20:23Speaker 1: a lot of people like Carl Popper's theory of falsifiability,
- 20:26Speaker 1: that is an idea is not scientific if it's not falsifiable,
- 20:30Speaker 1: And then some people think that's garbage. But I just
- 20:32Speaker 1: feel like, how are you going to pick an idea, Like, sure,
- 20:35Speaker 1: you have this idea of quantum ultiverse, somebody else has
- 20:37Speaker 1: another idea. If you have competing ideas, to me, the
- 20:40Speaker 1: way to pick between them is to do the experiment.
- 20:42Speaker 1: That's what experimental science is about, is a way of
- 20:45Speaker 1: cornering nature into revealing what's happening by constructing a situation
- 20:50Speaker 1: where different things happen based on the reality. You know,
- 20:53Speaker 1: the experiment, that particle goes left if it's this way,
- 20:55Speaker 1: or it goes right if it's that way and that way.
- 20:57Speaker 1: The universe gives you a clue. But if there's no
- 21:00Speaker 1: way to interact with the rest of the multiverse, there's
- 21:02Speaker 1: no way to prove it's there, then is it really there?
- 21:05Speaker 1: And if it is, doesn't really matter all right, Well,
- 21:08Speaker 1: it sounds like the answer is we don't know, but
- 21:11Speaker 1: we may never get to these other universes. And also
- 21:14Speaker 1: maybe the answer is a little bit like don't think
- 21:16Speaker 1: about it as these other universes being anywhere like on
- 21:21Speaker 1: top of us or next to us or below us,
- 21:24Speaker 1: But think about it more like there's just sort of
- 21:26Speaker 1: like there as well as us, right, Like it's it's
- 21:30Speaker 1: just there. They're just they're just like we are here.
- 21:33Speaker 1: But even the word there implies a space. You're like,
- 21:36Speaker 1: they're over there. Well, I would say they are what
- 21:40Speaker 1: they are and we are. Yeah, I would stop it
- 21:42Speaker 1: are not they are there? Just they are? They are?
- 21:45Speaker 1: We are they are? Where are there? We don't know?
- 21:48Speaker 1: All right, well, awesome question. We also have another question
- 21:51Speaker 1: from Eleanor here we're going to try to answer, and
- 21:53Speaker 1: it's about the shape of space that's hard to shape
- 21:59Speaker 1: and event like, oh, a giant wall that is like
- 22:04Speaker 1: curves and you can't come out of it. Alright, awesome questions.
- 22:08Speaker 1: She's asking about what the shape of space is, and
- 22:12Speaker 1: if it has the shape, what's at the edges of it? Like,
- 22:16Speaker 1: if if it has the shape, it must have an end,
- 22:18Speaker 1: and so what's at the end. Is it a curved wall,
- 22:20Speaker 1: is it a flat wall? Is it a stuckle wall?
- 22:24Speaker 1: Who knows? I think she's been stuck inside too long.
- 22:27Speaker 1: She's thinking about edges and boundaries. Oh boy, you know
- 22:32Speaker 1: another I think about it. I do kind of see
- 22:34Speaker 1: the inclings of these questions, where these questions that have
- 22:38Speaker 1: came from. Like I'm thinking back over like the last
- 22:40Speaker 1: couple of months or years, I've seen her sort of
- 22:44Speaker 1: formulate this question a little by little, Like she asked
- 22:46Speaker 1: a little bit about the universe, a little bit about space,
- 22:49Speaker 1: a little bit about this, and I think it all
- 22:51Speaker 1: just been sort of marinating inside of her head. Well,
- 22:53Speaker 1: it's awesome. As kids grow up, they understand more and
- 22:56Speaker 1: more about the world around them, and then they're sort
- 22:58Speaker 1: of mental context rose and they can imagine this city,
- 23:02Speaker 1: other cities, the country, the whole world, the solar system,
- 23:05Speaker 1: and eventually, you know, inside their minds, they're creating this
- 23:09Speaker 1: model of the whole universe. And that's when this awesome
- 23:12Speaker 1: thing happens that they have questions about it. They're like,
- 23:14Speaker 1: wait a second, this model in my head doesn't really
- 23:18Speaker 1: make sense or what do I put here? And that's
- 23:20Speaker 1: where these questions come from. And that's you know, that's
- 23:22Speaker 1: science in action, right, And it's pretty cool that she
- 23:25Speaker 1: just blurted out this question, like we're just folding laundry
- 23:28Speaker 1: and she just suddenly pops out this question like it's
- 23:30Speaker 1: been building up inside of her and she just had
- 23:31Speaker 1: to let it out. Like isn't that cool that? I
- 23:34Speaker 1: feel like as adults, we would just a lot of
- 23:36Speaker 1: us just keep it to ourselves, Like if you're a
- 23:39Speaker 1: dinner with the date, you wouldn't be like, you know,
- 23:41Speaker 1: talk about one thing and then suddenly be like, hey,
- 23:43Speaker 1: have you ever thought about the shape of the universe.
- 23:45Speaker 1: But then again, maybe I'm not a physicist because I've
- 23:48Speaker 1: done that. It depends on the kind of person you
- 23:50Speaker 1: want to date, that's for sure, But it also depends
- 23:53Speaker 1: on the kind of person you are. If you encourage
- 23:55Speaker 1: these kind of questions and your children, if you enjoy
- 23:58Speaker 1: exploring them with your kids, if having kids helps you
- 24:01Speaker 1: renew this like naive curiosity, which still is driving basic
- 24:06Speaker 1: questions in science. So I think it's wonderful to tap into.
- 24:09Speaker 1: And you know, that's what we try to tap into
- 24:11Speaker 1: for our show. A lot of the episodes for our
- 24:14Speaker 1: show come from real questions asked by real kids about
- 24:17Speaker 1: their universe. Yeah, and every episode in our show, Eleanor
- 24:20Speaker 1: Wonders Why. We try to think about a question that
- 24:22Speaker 1: kids would have and we try to answer it, like
- 24:25Speaker 1: why do birds have feathers? And why do lizards like
- 24:28Speaker 1: to sit out in the sun, and all kinds of
- 24:30Speaker 1: fun kids questions, And why does my dad not know
- 24:32Speaker 1: the answer to my physics questions? Why does he have
- 24:36Speaker 1: to ask his friend? Why does he have to ask
- 24:39Speaker 1: you know, hundreds of thousands of people out on the internet. Well,
- 24:42Speaker 1: let's try to give Eleanor an answer. Yeah, so she's
- 24:45Speaker 1: asking what is the shape of space, like the space
- 24:48Speaker 1: does the universe have a shape? Like, if you keep
- 24:50Speaker 1: going long enough, what happens? Do you run into a wall?
- 24:54Speaker 1: And what does that wall look like? Is it like
- 24:56Speaker 1: a physical barrier? Is it curved? Does have a texture?
- 24:59Speaker 1: The has it heard if you slam into it? What's
- 25:03Speaker 1: going on? Well, it's fascinating that she asked this question
- 25:06Speaker 1: just after she asked the other question where she's assuming
- 25:09Speaker 1: an infinite universe. Now she's wondering like could the universe
- 25:12Speaker 1: not be infinite? Right? How do you understand anything other
- 25:16Speaker 1: than infinity for a universe? Right? Well, this one was
- 25:18Speaker 1: kind of a follow up question, Like she asked the
- 25:20Speaker 1: first question and then she sort of thought about it
- 25:23Speaker 1: for a second, and then she has this one. So
- 25:25Speaker 1: I think maybe she's also grappling with this idea of infinity.
- 25:28Speaker 1: Like you said, like infinite doesn't make sense to her,
- 25:30Speaker 1: There has to be an end to it. Actually, I
- 25:32Speaker 1: think the opposite. I think infinity is much more natural
- 25:35Speaker 1: than an edge, right, Like, as weird as infinity is,
- 25:39Speaker 1: it's hard to grapple with, but it seems sort of
- 25:41Speaker 1: natural because then you get to avoid edges and then
- 25:44Speaker 1: we don't have to explain the edge or the weird
- 25:46Speaker 1: shape of the universe because it just goes on forever.
- 25:49Speaker 1: But then you have to explain forever, Daniel, see how
- 25:52Speaker 1: this helps you. We'll have a very long answer for
- 25:55Speaker 1: why forever makes sense. It goes on forever. It just
- 25:58Speaker 1: goes on and on. This bit on, and then there's
- 26:00Speaker 1: that bit, and there's other bit and then yeah, this
- 26:03Speaker 1: is the longest podcast every but usually falsely before they
- 26:06Speaker 1: ask you for a follow up. And so to answer
- 26:09Speaker 1: her question, like one possibility, one very real possibility is
- 26:13Speaker 1: that the universe is infinite, that space is infinite, and
- 26:16Speaker 1: that it's always been infinite. The thing that's hardest for
- 26:19Speaker 1: people often to understand about the universe being infinite is
- 26:22Speaker 1: that they imagine the Big Bang having started the universe
- 26:25Speaker 1: from a point, so then how would stuff get that
- 26:28Speaker 1: far away? But instead, all you have to do is
- 26:30Speaker 1: imagine not just that our universe is currently infinite, but
- 26:33Speaker 1: that it always has been infinite. That the Big Bang
- 26:36Speaker 1: was just a period where the universe was denser and hotter,
- 26:39Speaker 1: and since then it's been expanding and becoming more dilute.
- 26:42Speaker 1: But it went from an infinite, hot universe to an
- 26:45Speaker 1: infinite cold universe. So that's one very real possibility, and
- 26:49Speaker 1: that's my sort of personal philosophical preference for which I
- 26:52Speaker 1: have no evidence. That's the Daniel interpretation of total guessing
- 26:57Speaker 1: about the universe. Total guessing is step one in science though, right,
- 27:03Speaker 1: all right, so that's one possibly. But I think she's asking, like,
- 27:06Speaker 1: what if instead of having an infinite universe, we have
- 27:09Speaker 1: a finite universe? And so if it's finite, what's the
- 27:13Speaker 1: shape of it? Like is it a big sphere? Is
- 27:16Speaker 1: in the shape of a duck? Is in the shape
- 27:19Speaker 1: of a giant squirrel? Is it a cube? You know?
- 27:23Speaker 1: And also like what's at the end? Like if you
- 27:26Speaker 1: keep going in one direction of the universe, what happens
- 27:29Speaker 1: when you hit the end of it? Do you stop existing?
- 27:32Speaker 1: Do you bounce back? What happens? Well, the basic idea
- 27:36Speaker 1: to get in your head before we get into the details,
- 27:38Speaker 1: is that space is not as simple as you thought
- 27:41Speaker 1: it was. Space is not just a place for matter
- 27:44Speaker 1: to be, like an emptiness you know, on which stuff happens.
- 27:48Speaker 1: Space itself can have shapes. And this is something we
- 27:51Speaker 1: already know because we see that space bends. Right. Our
- 27:54Speaker 1: understanding of gravity now is not a force between objects,
- 27:57Speaker 1: but the interaction of matter with space. Matter bends space,
- 28:02Speaker 1: and then space changes how matter moves. What that means
- 28:05Speaker 1: is that space can have a weird shape. It doesn't
- 28:08Speaker 1: just have to go on forever. It can curve, it
- 28:11Speaker 1: can bend. It has weird pockets in it. These things
- 28:14Speaker 1: space traps, which most of the rest of the community
- 28:16Speaker 1: calls black holes, are weird pockets of space where space
- 28:20Speaker 1: sort of has like a discontinuity and edge and like
- 28:23Speaker 1: a loop, right, Like in a black hole, you can't
- 28:26Speaker 1: you can't leave it because it's it's pulling on you.
- 28:28Speaker 1: You can't it's it's a you can't leave it because
- 28:31Speaker 1: space around a black hole is like loop right, Like
- 28:34Speaker 1: it's a doughnut kind of like a circle. Yeah, space
- 28:37Speaker 1: is one directional inside and black hole. So space can
- 28:41Speaker 1: do all sorts of really weird things. So first get
- 28:44Speaker 1: your sort of like mental idea of space be a
- 28:46Speaker 1: little bit you know, squishy and flexible, and so we
- 28:49Speaker 1: can fold and do weird stuff, and then we can
- 28:51Speaker 1: insert into your mind other ideas for the shape of
- 28:53Speaker 1: the universe and sort of The simplest is that the
- 28:56Speaker 1: universe is finite but it has no edge because it's
- 29:01Speaker 1: sort of constructed in a loop. Like if you just
- 29:03Speaker 1: keep going in one direction, eventually you'll come back to
- 29:06Speaker 1: where you were, right, kind of like a satellite in
- 29:09Speaker 1: orbit around the Earth. Or even if you just travel
- 29:12Speaker 1: on the Earth in one direction, you'll come back to
- 29:14Speaker 1: the same spot. Yeah. If you build a road around
- 29:16Speaker 1: the equator and you just keep driving on it, you'll
- 29:18Speaker 1: come back to where you started. And that's because of
- 29:21Speaker 1: the geometry of the Earth. Right on the surface of
- 29:23Speaker 1: a sphere, you can just keep going, you'll come back
- 29:25Speaker 1: to where you are. And you wonder where, Well, how
- 29:27Speaker 1: do you do that for three dimensions? Well, if space
- 29:31Speaker 1: is complicated, if space is a thing which can bend
- 29:34Speaker 1: and twist and be connected in weird ways, right like
- 29:37Speaker 1: around a black hole, then it can be connected in
- 29:40Speaker 1: this way so that one bit of space is now
- 29:42Speaker 1: connected to another bit of space on what would be
- 29:45Speaker 1: the other side of the universe. You can arrange space
- 29:48Speaker 1: in sort of a three dimensional equivalent of the surface
- 29:51Speaker 1: of a sphere, Like you can take a universe and
- 29:53Speaker 1: kind of wrap it around and connected to itself. Yeah,
- 29:56Speaker 1: and and then so you would have a shape. Yeah,
- 29:58Speaker 1: and the key thing to avoid is trying to understand
- 30:01Speaker 1: this by putting the universe into a higher dimension. Don't
- 30:04Speaker 1: think about the three D universe on some four dimensional sphere,
- 30:08Speaker 1: because I would create another dimension of space, which we
- 30:11Speaker 1: don't have any evidence to believe exists. Just think about
- 30:14Speaker 1: the relative connections between things in space. If this point
- 30:18Speaker 1: in space is connected to the next pointed space is
- 30:21Speaker 1: connected to the next point in space, and then just
- 30:23Speaker 1: imagine a ring of these points. Each one is connected
- 30:26Speaker 1: to one to the left and one to the right,
- 30:28Speaker 1: and together they construct a ring. And then imagine the
- 30:31Speaker 1: three D analog of that ring. Again, it's not like
- 30:35Speaker 1: on the surface of a three D sphere. It's just
- 30:38Speaker 1: about the ordering of the points relative to each other.
- 30:41Speaker 1: All right, well, let's I have questions about that, and also, Daniel,
- 30:46Speaker 1: let's get into maybe a little bit more of the
- 30:47Speaker 1: specifics and also maybe think about the alternative that maybe
- 30:51Speaker 1: space space is flat. What are the possibilities there? So
- 30:54Speaker 1: let's do that, But first let's take a quick break.
- 31:10Speaker 1: All right, we're answering questions from Eleanor, my daughter, who
- 31:14Speaker 1: is the inspiration for like one of the characters in
- 31:16Speaker 1: the show Eleanor Wonders why, which is our new kids
- 31:19Speaker 1: showing that is out right now and we're celebrating its
- 31:21Speaker 1: release this week. And so Eleanor had a question about
- 31:25Speaker 1: the shape of space, and Danna you were saying that
- 31:27Speaker 1: maybe space is bendable, and well, it is bendable, but
- 31:33Speaker 1: maybe the shape of spaces that it loops around onto
- 31:36Speaker 1: itself like it's wrapped around itself. Yeah, And that's more
- 31:39Speaker 1: like the topology of space than the shape of it.
- 31:42Speaker 1: It's like about how the points are connected to each
- 31:44Speaker 1: other rather than like, you know, how it's bent by
- 31:47Speaker 1: mass in any sort of local configuration. It's sort of like,
- 31:51Speaker 1: you know, how you put the whole thing together, And
- 31:53Speaker 1: that I think is sort of the easiest one to
- 31:55Speaker 1: understand because it lets you have finite space, like it
- 31:58Speaker 1: doesn't go on forever without having any sort of edges,
- 32:02Speaker 1: because people feel weird about the edge, Like, you know,
- 32:04Speaker 1: you can't imagine that coming to a brick wall with
- 32:06Speaker 1: a sign on it. This is like the universe ends here,
- 32:09Speaker 1: because then you wonder like, well, what's on the other
- 32:11Speaker 1: side of the brick? Right? Yeah, Well, yeah, I think
- 32:14Speaker 1: you know, that's a little bit of where her mind
- 32:16Speaker 1: is coming from, and that you know, she's probably not
- 32:20Speaker 1: aware of these ideas about bending of space, So to her,
- 32:23Speaker 1: space is just sort of like this infinite emptiness. And
- 32:27Speaker 1: so is that a possibility? Could it be that maybe
- 32:30Speaker 1: space is not curved but it does have an edge, right,
- 32:33Speaker 1: because I think we know that space is not generally curved.
- 32:37Speaker 1: We think it's flat. Our local part of space at
- 32:39Speaker 1: least is flat, and we think there's enough stuff in
- 32:42Speaker 1: the universe to make space generally flat. But yeah, space
- 32:45Speaker 1: could be flat, and it could be finite, and it
- 32:49Speaker 1: could have an edge. And we don't like the idea
- 32:52Speaker 1: of an edge because it's a discontinuity. We have to
- 32:55Speaker 1: explain it. What would it be like? But it's not impossible, right,
- 32:59Speaker 1: Space can do really weird things and and have edges,
- 33:02Speaker 1: Like you know, the event horizon of a black hole
- 33:04Speaker 1: is basically like a boundary of space, and so you
- 33:08Speaker 1: could come to some boundary and you know, it wouldn't
- 33:11Speaker 1: be some like weird thing with like flashing lights and
- 33:14Speaker 1: blue stripes or whatever is they would put it in
- 33:16Speaker 1: a movie. It would just be like, you know, space
- 33:19Speaker 1: does something weird here, so like there just isn't any
- 33:21Speaker 1: more space to go into, like you know, the way
- 33:24Speaker 1: in a black hole, you can't just move in any
- 33:26Speaker 1: direction you want, because space has a single direction you
- 33:29Speaker 1: can go in. It could be you come to a
- 33:31Speaker 1: point in space where there just is no more space
- 33:34Speaker 1: in that direction. It's like coming to the north pole.
- 33:37Speaker 1: There is no more northiness to go to. So that
- 33:41Speaker 1: is the possibility, is that space could be kind of
- 33:44Speaker 1: flat and its curving nows meanings has kind of a volume,
- 33:48Speaker 1: and that it does have an edge to it like
- 33:51Speaker 1: it does it does end like a blob. It's a possibility.
- 33:54Speaker 1: It's not a frequently discuss possibility or a popular possibility
- 33:58Speaker 1: among like current cost oologists. There's no like reason for
- 34:02Speaker 1: space to have an edge, and so it's not something
- 34:05Speaker 1: you need to add to your theory. It's much more
- 34:07Speaker 1: natural to just say every point in space is the same,
- 34:10Speaker 1: and therefore the universe should be infinite. But it's not
- 34:13Speaker 1: against the laws of physics as far as I'm aware,
- 34:15Speaker 1: and you know, we imagine the universe having an origin
- 34:18Speaker 1: in time. There was a moment in time when things
- 34:21Speaker 1: were created and then inflation dot dot dot dot, and
- 34:25Speaker 1: so it's not that outlandish to imagine a discontinuity or
- 34:29Speaker 1: an edge. Also in space well, and and then her
- 34:32Speaker 1: question was sort of like, what's the shape of it? Like,
- 34:35Speaker 1: if it is like this and it does have borders,
- 34:38Speaker 1: do you think it'd be like a sphere like a potato?
- 34:41Speaker 1: Like I think it'd be like a huge question mark,
- 34:45Speaker 1: question mark? What would be in the dot? I'll read
- 34:47Speaker 1: the dot, Daniel. We're in the dot. We're the dot.
- 34:52Speaker 1: That's right, that's my philosophy. No, we have no idea,
- 34:56Speaker 1: we have no idea of space as an edge, and
- 34:58Speaker 1: if it had an edge with that shape would be
- 35:01Speaker 1: I mean, your intuition would say it should be a sphere,
- 35:03Speaker 1: because that's the simplest thing, right, But we were just
- 35:07Speaker 1: really we're just really don't know how awesome would that
- 35:09Speaker 1: be though, to discover the universe had an edge and
- 35:12Speaker 1: to map it out and to understand it. You know,
- 35:15Speaker 1: if it's not a sphere, then probably it would be
- 35:17Speaker 1: like a randomly shaped blob controlled by some like early
- 35:20Speaker 1: quantum fluctuations or something crazy. I'm gonna go with banana.
- 35:23Speaker 1: I bet it's shape like a banana, and then I'll
- 35:26Speaker 1: be justified in all of these discussions about bananas, Daniel,
- 35:30Speaker 1: because you knew it the whole time, it wasn't just
- 35:32Speaker 1: a random guess that was later proven out to be true.
- 35:35Speaker 1: You knew because the universe was speaking to me. It
- 35:37Speaker 1: was crying out for, you know, some sort of recognition
- 35:40Speaker 1: of its banana. Yeah, and you know, there is another
- 35:43Speaker 1: sense in which the universe kind of does have an edge,
- 35:46Speaker 1: and that's again just back to like our observable universe.
- 35:49Speaker 1: There's only a portion of the universe that we can see.
- 35:52Speaker 1: And so if you think about the universe is like
- 35:55Speaker 1: the stuff that we can see, everything that's around us
- 35:57Speaker 1: that really does have an edge because there's parts of
- 35:59Speaker 1: the universe that are so far away that light hasn't
- 36:02Speaker 1: had chance to reach us from them, and so we
- 36:05Speaker 1: haven't seen them. And because the universe is expanding and
- 36:09Speaker 1: that expansion is accelerating faster than the speed of light,
- 36:13Speaker 1: we may never see them. And so this sort of
- 36:15Speaker 1: like a spherical wall past which we cannot see and
- 36:20Speaker 1: past which we may never be able to see or go. Right, Yeah,
- 36:23Speaker 1: but that's part of a philosophical wall, isn't it. Or
- 36:27Speaker 1: do you think maybe it's the same thing, And let's
- 36:29Speaker 1: not get philosophical on the podcast, right, Gosh forbid, we're
- 36:33Speaker 1: talking about the universal questions. No, I mean it's not fundamental, right,
- 36:37Speaker 1: Like you can imagine that there's a point out there
- 36:39Speaker 1: in space beyond which we cannot see, and if we
- 36:42Speaker 1: look at that point, we're seeing like the early universe
- 36:45Speaker 1: because light is taken forever to get here from there.
- 36:49Speaker 1: But it's sort of unsatisfying because there's something recent happening
- 36:52Speaker 1: at that point right now. You know, we see old
- 36:55Speaker 1: light coming from that point, but you know, stuff's been happening.
- 36:58Speaker 1: There's things going on. Alex Scenes are forming alien civilizations,
- 37:02Speaker 1: hopefully are inventing cool podcasts. So what we're seeing in
- 37:06Speaker 1: that direction, it's always happening now, so we think the
- 37:08Speaker 1: universe continues on even though we can only see this aging,
- 37:12Speaker 1: observable shell that surrounds us. So in that sense, it's
- 37:15Speaker 1: it's observation more than philosophical. All right, Well it sounds
- 37:18Speaker 1: like that again. The answer for Eleanor is Daniel doesn't know.
- 37:23Speaker 1: Nobody knows, Daniel doesn't know, the new name for our podcast,
- 37:26Speaker 1: Daniel doesn't know things. Daniel doesn't know. Basically, nobody knows, right,
- 37:30Speaker 1: I feel like we don't know at a very fundamental level,
- 37:32Speaker 1: Like it could be infinite or it could not be infinite,
- 37:35Speaker 1: and there's a big difference between infinity and non infinity.
- 37:38Speaker 1: And that's the joy of these questions. That the questions
- 37:40Speaker 1: that children ask, the very basic questions, the first questions
- 37:44Speaker 1: that come into your mind when you hear about these ideas,
- 37:47Speaker 1: those are questions scientists are still asking. So if you're
- 37:51Speaker 1: six years old or you're sixty years old and you're
- 37:53Speaker 1: on the forefront of cosmology, you're asking the same questions.
- 37:57Speaker 1: And that's what makes physics shockingly accessible. I would say
- 38:01Speaker 1: that our cluelessness, our lack of progress, makes us accessible.
- 38:05Speaker 1: Or if you're six years old and an alien and
- 38:08Speaker 1: do have the answers to these questions, please let us
- 38:10Speaker 1: know so I can tell eleanor what the answer is.
- 38:14Speaker 1: But that's one of the reasons why we wanted to
- 38:16Speaker 1: make this show is that we felt like this kind
- 38:18Speaker 1: of curiosity is wonderful and it powers scientists in their career,
- 38:22Speaker 1: and also it powers children. And we see it in
- 38:25Speaker 1: the very youngest children, and we want to nurture it,
- 38:27Speaker 1: we want to protect it. Sometimes it feels a little
- 38:30Speaker 1: bit fragile, and so in our show, we wanted to
- 38:33Speaker 1: encourage this kind of curiosity by showing kids on screen
- 38:36Speaker 1: how curious kids can ask questions and how they can
- 38:39Speaker 1: find the answers for themselves. And that's why we love
- 38:42Speaker 1: the show. That's why we love the show. And if
- 38:43Speaker 1: you like a mix of science and kind of corny
- 38:47Speaker 1: dad jokes, then hopefully you'll also like the show. Yeah,
- 38:51Speaker 1: so help us celebrate the release and the premiere, at
- 38:53Speaker 1: least the US premiere, and we're still trying to get
- 38:56Speaker 1: the show in other countries. But help us celebrate the
- 38:58Speaker 1: US premiere of Eleanor. There's why the show that Daniel
- 39:01Speaker 1: and I co created. It's for kids. It's about a
- 39:04Speaker 1: cute bunny rabbit and her friends about and an elephant
- 39:08Speaker 1: and this really beautiful and gentle but also curious and
- 39:13Speaker 1: funny world. And it's out now on PBS Kids dot org,
- 39:17Speaker 1: slash Eleanor, E l I and o R and also
- 39:20Speaker 1: the PBS Kids app, and also on Amazon Prime ppious
- 39:24Speaker 1: Kids subscription, and also I think they're posting episodes on
- 39:28Speaker 1: the ppous Kids YouTube channel, So there are plenty of
- 39:31Speaker 1: ways for you to watch the show, and it's all free,
- 39:34Speaker 1: and please help us celebrate and tell your friends, your
- 39:37Speaker 1: nieces and nephews and grandkids about the show. We think
- 39:40Speaker 1: they'll really enjoy it. That's right. It's a world we
- 39:42Speaker 1: created filled with people who are curious, who ask questions,
- 39:46Speaker 1: and who find answers to those questions. So if you
- 39:49Speaker 1: want to spend half an hour in a gentle world
- 39:52Speaker 1: filled with curiosity, please go check it out. Yeah, and
- 39:55Speaker 1: we hope you enjoyed Eleanor's questions today about the multiverse
- 39:58Speaker 1: and about this shape of space at really kind of
- 40:00Speaker 1: stretches your mind, right, Daniel, it definitely does. And you know,
- 40:03Speaker 1: just because the question comes from a young kid doesn't
- 40:06Speaker 1: mean it's easy to answer. As we ran today, those
- 40:09Speaker 1: are my favorite questions. We invite Eleanor to a seminar
- 40:12Speaker 1: at you see your vines physics department, she'll stump. They're
- 40:17Speaker 1: open to the public, so come on in. All right, Well,
- 40:20Speaker 1: thanks for joining us, see you next time. Thanks for listening,
- 40:30Speaker 1: and remember that Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe is
- 40:33Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio or more podcast from
- 40:37Speaker 1: my Heart Radio visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
- 40:41Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.