Sabine hossenfelder
13 articles-
Talking Pop Science with Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder
As abstract as it is, physics enriches your life.Image via Sabine Hossenfelder / YouTube Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Science without the gobbledygook.” That’s the name, and promise, of Sabine Hossenfelder’s YouTube show. The German theoretical physicist, whose main gig is as a Research Fellow at the Frankfurt […] -
The End of Reductionism Could Be Nigh. Or Not.
Quantum mechanics seems to have a problem with the order of time, which might signal the need for an entirely new type of law.Illustration by Ekaterina Kulaeva / Shutterstock Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . The history of science so far has been a triumph of reductionism. Biology can […] -
How to Talk Like a Physicist
Theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder, who probably is the smartest person on her block, has fun in her latest video skewering the scientific braggart.Photograph by Francisco De Legarreta C. / Unsplash Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . The other night I was out on our street with the neighbors for […] -
Do We Need a Theory of Everything?
I get constantly asked if I could please comment on other people’s theories of everything. That could be Garrett Lisi’s E8 theory or Eric Weinstein’s geometric unity or Stephen Wolfram’s idea that the universe is but a big graph, and so on. Good, then. Let me tell you what I think about this. But I’m […] -
It’s the End of the World and This Physicist Feels Fine
It’s week three of COVID lockdown here in Germany. Schools are closed, my institute is closed, my husband’s workplace is also closed. Half of the shops in the city are closed. Everything, it seems, has been canceled. Playgrounds are deserted. The police are cruising the streets to prevent people from gathering outside. It’s eerie. Nautilus […]
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How to Make Sense of Quantum Physics
Superdeterminism, a long-abandoned idea, may help us overcome the current crisis in physics.
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Electrons Don’t Think
If a philosopher starts speaking about elementary particles, run.Pinterest Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . I recently discovered panpsychism. That’s the idea that all matter—animate or inanimate—is conscious, we just happen to be somewhat more conscious than carrots. Panpsychism is the modern elan vital. When I say I “discovered” panpsychism, […]
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Physicists Say Google’s Quantum Computer Is Still Far From Practical
Google and company claim that their quantum computer can do in 200 seconds what it would take a supercomputer 10,000 years to do.Illustration by plotplot / Shutterstock Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . News on the quantum physics grapevine, Frankfurt Institute theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder tells me, is that […]
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Mind the Gap Between Science and Religion
Scientists should respect the limits of their discipline. Photo illustration by Triff / Shutterstock Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Have you heard that we may be living in a computer simulation? Or that our universe is only one of infinitely many parallel worlds in which you live every […]
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The Real Differences Between Human and Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence, it seems, is now everywhere. Text translation, speech recognition, book recommendations, even your spam filter is now “artificially intelligent.” But just what do scientists mean with “artificial intelligence,” and what is artificial about it? Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Artificial intelligence is a term that was […]
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When Beauty Gets in the Way of Science
Insisting that new ideas must be beautiful blocks progress in particle physics.
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When Gravity Breaks Down
Theoretical physicists have known since the 1930s that quantum gravity is necessary to bring order into the laws of nature, but 80 years on, a solution isn’t anywhere in sight.Photograph by Andrea / Flickr Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity is more than […] -
The Present Phase of Stagnation in the Foundations of Physics Is Not Normal
The problem is loads of wrong predictions from theoretical physicists.