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Reality Has No Foundation — Carlo Rovelli

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VIDEO NOTES

Carlo Rovelli, an Italian theoretical physicist, is known mainly for his contributions to research in the field of quantum gravity. He is a found of loop quantum gravity, and writes extensively on the physics and philosophy of time, quantum mechanics, and ultimate reality.

Continue reading “Reality Has No Foundation — Carlo Rovelli” | >

X and Y chromosomes as determinants of aging and disease

Sex differences have traditionally been attributed to gonadal hormones, but accumulating evidence shows that sex chromosomes exert distinct, cell-autonomous effects on health, aging, and disease. XX and XY complements alter gene dosage, epigenetic programming, immune signaling, metabolism, and cellular stress responses, which shape aging and disease trajectories in women and men. This Review integrates mechanistic advances in sex chromosome biology—including escape from X chromosome inactivation, X reactivation, parent-of-X-origin, X-skew, X-and Y-linked gene functions, and Y loss—with aging, neurologic disease, immunity, cancer, and cardiometabolic disease.

Scientists may have found a “unifying theory” of chronic fatigue

Scientists found that five seemingly unrelated conditions, including longCovid, ME/CFS, and PTSD, may disrupt many of the same biological networks involved in immunity, metabolism, and cellular energy. The findings could help explain their shared symptoms and may open the door to new blood tests and treatments.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia and Oxford BioDynamics have identified a possible biological connection that could help explain why profound exhaustion appears across conditions as different as long Covid and PTSD.

The new study, published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, points to striking similarities in the biology associated with five major illnesses that have traditionally been treated as largely separate disorders.

How Big Could Human Civilization Get?

How big could human civilization become? From trillion-person worlds to Dyson swarms, galaxy-spanning cultures, and digital minds, we explore just how far humanity could scale.

Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur.
Checkout Gods \& Monsters: https://nebula.tv/curiousarchive/gods… SFIA Merchandise: https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall… 🌐 Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net ❤️ Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur ⭐ Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… 👥 Facebook Group: / 1,583,992,725,237,264 📣 Reddit Community: / isaacarthur 🐦 Follow on Twitter / X: / isaac_a_arthur 💬 SFIA Discord Server: / discord Credits: How Big Could Human Civilization Get? Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic Stellardrone & Chris Zabriskie Graphics: Jeremy Jozwik, Sergio Botero, Udo Schroeter Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Chapters 0:00 Intro 2:54 Earth, Planets, and the Classic Human Future 10:05 The Galaxy as a Human Family Tree 16:53 Using Space Properly 23:41 Stars, Galaxies, and Kardashev Civilizations 30:32 Gods & Monsters 31:35 When Humans Stop Being Baseline.

🛒 SFIA Merchandise: https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall…
🌐 Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net.
❤️ Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur.
⭐ Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a…
👥 Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264
📣 Reddit Community: / isaacarthur.
🐦 Follow on Twitter / X: / isaac_a_arthur.
💬 SFIA Discord Server: / discord.
Credits:
How Big Could Human Civilization Get?
Written, Produced \& Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic.
Stellardrone \& Chris Zabriskie.
Graphics: Jeremy Jozwik, Sergio Botero, Udo Schroeter.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.

Chapters.
0:00 Intro.
2:54 Earth, Planets, and the Classic Human Future.
10:05 The Galaxy as a Human Family Tree.
16:53 Using Space Properly.
23:41 Stars, Galaxies, and Kardashev Civilizations.
30:32 Gods \& Monsters.
31:35 When Humans Stop Being Baseline

Civilizations at the Galactic Center: Thriving in the most extreme energy fields of the Milky Way

Could the most dangerous part of the Milky Way also be its most valuable? We explore civilizations at the galactic center, where dense stars, extreme radiation, black holes, and vast energy could fuel a cosmic metropolis.

Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur.
Checkout Space Money and our Space Industry Collection: https://nebula.tv/isaacarthur/space-i… SFIA Merchandise: https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall… 🌐 Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net ❤️ Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur ⭐ Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… 👥 Facebook Group: / 1,583,992,725,237,264 📣 Reddit Community: / isaacarthur 🐦 Follow on Twitter / X: / isaac_a_arthur 💬 SFIA Discord Server: / discord Credits: Civilizations at the Galactic Center – Thriving in the most extreme energy fields of the Milky Way Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Graphics from Jeremy Jozwik & Ken York Music Courtesy of Stellardrone & Chris Zabriskie Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:12 Where Is the Galactic Center, Really? 4:40 An Environment Turned Up to Eleven 9:249 How Dangerous Is the Radiation, Really? 14:03 Why Would Anyone Live Here? 15:47 Buried Worlds: Surviving the Galactic Furnace 17:50 Dyson Swarms of the Inner Bulge 20:58 Space Industry 22:00 Birch Planets at Sagittarius A*

🛒 SFIA Merchandise: https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall…
🌐 Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net.
❤️ Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur.
⭐ Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a…
👥 Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264
📣 Reddit Community: / isaacarthur.
🐦 Follow on Twitter / X: / isaac_a_arthur.
💬 SFIA Discord Server: / discord.
Credits:
Civilizations at the Galactic Center – Thriving in the most extreme energy fields of the Milky Way.
Written, Produced \& Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Graphics from Jeremy Jozwik \& Ken York.
Music Courtesy of Stellardrone \& Chris Zabriskie.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.

Chapters.
0:00 Intro.
0:12 Where Is the Galactic Center, Really?
4:40 An Environment Turned Up to Eleven.
9:249 How Dangerous Is the Radiation, Really?
14:03 Why Would Anyone Live Here?
15:47 Buried Worlds: Surviving the Galactic Furnace.
17:50 Dyson Swarms of the Inner Bulge.
20:58 Space Industry.
22:00 Birch Planets at Sagittarius A*.

SciFi Author PJ Manney on the New Mythos and (Con)Science

Four years ago I asked PJ Manney a question I still can’t shake: what happens when the story we tell ourselves about who we are stops working?

PJ wrote for Hercules and Xena before she became a Philip K. Dick Award-nominated novelist. She has spent her career inside the machinery of narrative, so when she says we need a New Mythos, she’s not speaking metaphorically. She means it as a survival requirement.

Back in early 2022, we spent two hours on story, science, and the gaps between them. Jonah Sachs calls those gaps “myth gaps,” the moments when the old narrative collapses, and nothing has replaced it yet. We were already living in one. Then generative AI arrived and started producing stories at industrial scale.

So the question got sharper, not softer. If machines can write the stories, who writes the Story?

PJ has an answer. So does Teilhard de Chardin, oddly enough. I’m not sure they agree, and I’m not sure I agree with either of them.

This is the second conversation in my series on #storytelling and what I call ReWriting the Human Story. PJ also explains why something “yucky” today becomes “yummy” tomorrow, and why #sciencefiction is how that happens. That alone rewired how I think about #AI adoption.

Continue reading “SciFi Author PJ Manney on the New Mythos and (Con)Science” | >

Exclusive with Fields Medalist Maxim Kontsevich

A Fields Medalist gave AI the text of his mathematics lecture.

He didn’t ask it to solve a problem.

But the AI agent unexpectedly suggested a better mathematical definition.

Maxim Kontsevich, winner of the 1998 Fields Medal, says the experience astonished him.

In a new interview, he describes how AI is beginning to contribute not just calculations and proofs, but ideas about how mathematics itself should be formulated.

#ArtificialIntelligence #mathematics

Continue reading “Exclusive with Fields Medalist Maxim Kontsevich” | >