EP5 Lee Smolin – Quantum Foundations and Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution



Lee Smolin is a theoretical physicist who has been since 2001 a founding and senior faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. His main contributions have been so far to the quantum theory of gravity, to which he has been a co-inventor and major contributor to two major directions, loop quantum gravity and deformed special relativity.

Lee also contributes to cosmology, through his proposal of cosmological natural selection — a falsifiable mechanism to explain the choice of the laws of physics. He has also contributed to quantum field theory, the foundations of quantum mechanics, theoretical biology, and the philosophy of science and economics. He is the author of more than 150 scientific papers and numerous essays and writings on science.

Lee also has written four books which explore philosophical issues raised by contemporary physics and cosmology. These are: Life of the Cosmos (1997), Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (2001), The Trouble with Physics (2006), and Time Reborn (2013). Most recently, he coauthored The Singular Universe and The Reality of Time with Roberto Mangabeira Unger.

  1. Introduction to Lee Smolin and The Perimeter Institute 4 minutes
  2. Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution 20 minutes
  3. The Pilot Wave Theory 8 minutes
  4. Quantum Physics after Bohm 10 minutes
  5. The Multiverse and the Many-Worlds of Murray Gell-Mann 12 minutes
  6. Quantum Foundations 6 minutes
  7. The Life of the Cosmos and the Fermi Paradox 10 minutes
  8. Entanglements, Noise and The Completion 10 minutes

Transcript of The Jim Rutt Show featuring Lee Smolin