Listen to Matthew Blacker's thoughts below:
"At some point along the way, we stopped caring about the world, and we started caring more about the maths."
So much of human history has been about combatting a series of seemingly imminent and visceral crises, such as war, hunger, and disease. But, as people have learned to stave off these physical threats, they have had opportunities to think through more abstract, philosophical questions about why the world is the way that it is. Would it not be ironic, then, if in that questioning we were to stumble into another crisis—this time, an existential one about what kinds of abstract questions we’re asking? And would that crisis even matter?
Matthew Blacker [2022] is doing a PhD in Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics. Through his work, he seeks to understand the most fundamental forces in our universe. In this creative audio piece, Blacker shares his conflicting thoughts on a few of the questions that have occupied many theoretical physicists for the last several decades—and why he wonders if some in his field have gone astray in their pursuit of truth, instead finding themselves studying a world that might not exist.
Music credits:
Silver Maple | "This Delicate Place" | courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
Silver Maple |"Incandescence"| courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
Gabriel Parker | "Fractions"| courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
Sound effects courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
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