The Wright Show - Robert Speaks w/ Lawrence Krauss on "A Universe from Nothing"

On this week's episode of The Wright Show, Robert Wright speaks with physicist Lawrence Krauss about his most recent book, A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing.

Here is the publisher's description of the book:

“WHERE DID THE UNIVERSE COME FROM? WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE IT? WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING? AND FINALLY, WHY IS THERE SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING?”
 
Lawrence Krauss’s provocative answers to these and other timeless questions in a wildly popular lecture now on YouTube have attracted almost a million viewers. The last of these questions in particular has been at the center of religious and philosophical debates about the existence of God, and it’s the supposed counterargument to anyone who questions the need for God. As Krauss argues, scientists have, however, historically focused on other, more pressing issues—such as figuring out how the universe actually functions, which can ultimately help us to improve the quality of our lives.

Now, in a cosmological story that rivets as it enlightens, pioneering theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss explains the groundbreaking new scientific advances that turn the most basic philosophical questions on their heads. One of the few prominent scientists today to have actively crossed the chasm between science and popular culture, Krauss reveals that modern science is addressing the question of why there is something rather than nothing, with surprising and fascinating results. The staggeringly beautiful experimental observations and mind-bending new theories are all described accessibly in A Universe from Nothing, and they suggest that not only can something arise from nothing, something will always arise from nothing.

It's an interesting dialogue - and of course, the Higgs Boson is part of the discussion.

The Wright Show

 

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero) and Lawrence Krauss (A Universe from Nothing, The Physics of Star Trek)

• Lawrence tries to get Bob to understand the Higgs boson   7:19
• Is the universe an accident?   4:08
• Why Lawrence was betting on the Higgs not existing   7:51
• Is the Higgs a particle or a field (or both)?   11:08
• How mass gets its mass   5:44
• Can the human mind truly comprehend reality?   3:23

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Links Mentioned

• Lawrence's book, A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing
• Bob on the Higgs Boson, part 1
• Bob on the Higgs Boson, part 2
• Bob on the Higgs Boson, part 3
• Lawrence in the NYT on the Higgs Boson
• Lawrence's book, "Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science"
• Bob on Feynman on quantum mechanics