Lawrence Krauss and Donald Rumsfeld?
Lawrence Krauss joins me today on The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast
It’s safe to say Lawrence Krauss is a liberal, if not actively on the left. He’s said the following about Donald Trump: “thanks to Trump, the Doomsday Clock advances toward midnight” and that “the Clock is closer to midnight than it’s ever been in the lifetime of almost everyone in this room”.
So it might shock you to learn Lawrence is a big fan of at least one Republican named Donald — Donald Rumsfeld — or at least he appreciates Rummy’s concept of “known unknowns” which refers to things that we know we don’t know. This concept was famously used in the context of the 2002 US invasion of Iraq where Rumsfeld spoke about “unknown unknowns” which are things we don’t know that we don’t know.
In fact, Known Unknowns is the title of the U.K. version of Lawrence’s latest book. In the USA it’s simply called “The Edge of Knowledge”.
But we barely spoke about the Late Donald Rumsfeld. Instead we focused on the biggest picture topics in all of science, including:
- General relativity and the humility that comes with encountering something grander than oneself
- Theoretical physics versus experimental physics and the need for caution in the implementation of #artificialintelligence
- The unknown nature of consciousness and exploring questions for the sake of #science
- Quantum computing, misconceptions about quantum mechanics, and the potential impact of #AI on humanity
- #Education, free speech, and the importance of acknowledging what is not known
- The difficulty of studying #consciousness and the value of not knowing in science
- The relationship between physics, chemistry, and biology, and the challenges of understanding subjective experiences
- Concerns about the danger of AI and machine learning in controlling nuclear weapons and the lack of progress in fusion energy research.
Science, nature, geology, or geography often encounter a universe or geography that’s much grander and more significant than themselves, leading to humility. Theoretical physicists find it intimidating to believe that nature will obey what they write down, while experimental physicists actually build things.
We also explored the best phrase to learn to succeed in science, the importance of saying “I don’t know” — as it drives science and allows for unexpected discoveries.
The episode touched on AI’s potential for the future, but also highlighted the need for proper management to avoid concentration of wealth and economic chaos. #highereducation was another topic discussed, with the speaker expressing concern about a lack of free speech and constant questioning in higher education.
We also explored the danger of AI in controlling nuclear weapons and the little practical progress in fusion energy despite 25 years of promise.
Notable Krauss Quotes from this Episode
The Search for the Unknown: “Saying I don’t know is central to science. It’s what drives science.”
The Significance of Science: “The universe isn’t made for us. We all need to feel that way, I think, on a daily basis, just to get out of bed. But science reminds us that that feeling is myopic, and we have to be reminded.”
The Joy of Solving Puzzles: “I think people are hardwired to want to solve puzzles. You can imagine all sorts of evolutionary reasons for that. […] It’s that notion of solving puzzles that makes it exciting. And I think if you were doing a jigsaw puzzle, if you imagine unraveling, the world is like a jigsaw puzzle, right? If it was obvious which piece went where, it wouldn’t be fun to do the puzzle.”
The Sad State of Higher Education: “Questioning stops when you’re afraid to question. And it’s that fear that scares me the most.”
#quantumcomputing : “There are many things that quantum computers will be good at if they can achieve even a small fraction of the hype that they get. One is of great interest to physicists and to Feynman. They will be wonderful at solving quantum mechanical, quantum mechanics problems and giving us insight into the behavior of quantum mechanics because they utilize quantum mechanics in the calculation.”
Language and Consciousness: “Language isn’t for communication at all. It’s an internal process, and it’s a central part of our cognitive being. But communication was really secondary, that language isn’t developed for communication.” Krauss has been influenced by my past guest Noam Chomskywho argues that language is not primarily for communication, but rather an internal cognitive process.
The Hard Problem of Consciousness: “But qualia is exactly that problem of consciousness that your subjective experience to the world, which we all wonder, does everyone see in the same red as we do when we see red?”
“The Dangers of AI and the Control of Nuclear Weapons”: “If you ask me about the dangers of AI, or at least machine learning, control is the control of nuclear weapons…and so one can imagine a machine learning algorithm.” — This quote highlights the complexity and potential dangers of using machine learning algorithms to control nuclear weapons, emphasizing the need for human decision making in such critical situations.
PS. Rumsfeld said in a 2002 press briefing that “there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know”.
At the forefront of science, we deal with basic questions that motivate everyone. My goal is to inspire young people to participate in the future of science and bridge science and culture.
What’s your favorite ‘known unknown’? Let me know in the comments.
And here’s a link to some Chat GPT resources from this episode.
Have a M.A.G.I.C. week!
Prof. Brian Keating
