Edward Frenkel: Infinity, Ai, String Theory, Death, The Self

Math professor Edward Frenkel discusses his work on the Langlands Program while reflecting on the profound themes of infinity, limits of computation / Ai, death, and self-understanding. He also talks about the failure of string theory.

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– Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE
– PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt
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– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e
– Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything
– TOE Merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch

BOOKS MENTIONED:
– Love and Math (Edward Frenkel): https://amzn.to/3ZiXyI1
– From Mathematics to Philosophy (Hao Wang): https://amzn.to/3ZkIcTD
– The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien): https://amzn.to/46bZnsw
– Works of Carl Jung (Carl Jung): https://amzn.to/44UKJF7
– Works of Marie-Louise von Franz (Marie-Louise von Franz): https://amzn.to/3sWWg9D
– Bhagavad Gita: https://amzn.to/3sTfrB8
– The Undecidable (Martin Davis): https://amzn.to/48njW7u
– The Emperor’s New Mind (Roger Penrose): https://amzn.to/44Zabcw
– Not Even Wrong (Peter Woit): https://amzn.to/44XJlBx
– The Trouble with Physics (Lee Smolin): https://amzn.to/3sXpmG6
– Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray (Sabine Hossenfelder): https://amzn.to/3Pna7xy

ARTICLES MENTIONED:
– Computing Machinery and Intelligence (Alan Turing): https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~dprecup/courses/AI/Materials/turing1950.pdf
– Solvable and Unsolvable Problems (Alan Turing): https://academic.oup.com/book/42030/chapter-abstract/355747732?redirectedFrom=fulltext

VIDEOS MENTIONED:
– Debate w/ Sabine Λ Bernardo on Superdeterminism: https://youtu.be/kJmBmopxc1k
– Podcast w/ Norman Wildberger TOE: https://youtu.be/l7LvgvunVCM
– Podcast w/ Dror Bar Natan on TOE: https://youtu.be/rJz_Badd43c
– Podcast w/ Lex Fridman and Frenkel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osh0-J3T2nY
– Podcast w/ Richard Borcherds on TOE: https://youtu.be/U3pQWkE2KqM (Part 2) and https://youtu.be/xu15ZbxxnUQ (Part 1)
– Podcast w/ Sabine Hossenfelder on TOE: https://youtu.be/walaNM7KiYA
– Podcast w/ Bernardo Kastrup on TOE: https://youtu.be/lAB21FAXCDE
– Podcast w/ Eric Weinstein on TOE: https://youtu.be/KElq_MLO1kw
– Angela Collier on String Theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kya_LXa_y1E
– Mike Wallace’s Interview of Aldous Huxley (1958): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alasBxZsb40

WEBSITES MENTIONED:
– Edward Frenkel’s Official Site: https://edwardfrenkel.com
– Edward Frenkel’s Soundcloud (DJ Moonshine): https://soundcloud.com/moonstein
– Twitter (Edward Frenkel): https://twitter.com/edfrenkel
– YouTube (Edward Frenkel): https://www.youtube.com/edfrenkel
– Instagram (Edward Frenkel): https://www.instagram.com/edfrenkel
– Peter Woit’s Blog: https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress

ARTICLES MENTIONED:
– AI Safety: A First-Person Perspective (Edward Frenkel): https://www.edwardfrenkel.com/ai-safety-first-person.pdf
– Computing Machinery and Intelligence (Alan Turing): https://www.edwardfrenkel.com/turing-intelligence.pdf
– Strominger’s Quote about String Theory: https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=11138
– Interview Extract with David E. Kaplan: https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=13108

NOT MENTIONED BUT SHOULD HAVE BEEN:
– Peak Math YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PeakMathLandscape | I can’t recommend this channel enough. It’s raised the bar for math content on YouTube!

TIMESTAMPS:
– 00:00:00 Introduction
– 00:03:40 The Langlands Program
– 00:09:23 Love and Math: An ode to mathematics
– 00:13:09 Art as a two-way street (reciprocal nature of artistic expression)
– 00:18:28 The Weil conjectures
– 00:24:53 Romantic side of math and the “Theory of Everything” as a process vs. a state
– 00:30:39 Paradoxes in math & axioms
– 00:33:57 Observer problem in mathematics
– 00:39:55 The debate on philosophy’s role in science
– 00:51:44 “You can’t get away from infinity.”
– 01:07:41 Are computers conscious? Can they “think”? Turing’s quotation
– 01:18:33 The limitations of computation and artificial intelligence
– 01:23:29 Blurring lines between truth & beauty (algebraic-geometric interplay)
– 01:33:48 The terrifying question of self
– 01:36:07 Childhood memories and personal growth (transformative power of pain)
– 01:49:30 The struggle for excellence & reconnecting with the past
– 02:17:26 Death is love exposed most bare
– 02:19:10 Function fields in higher dimensional algebraic varieties
– 02:25:12 Superdeterminism w/ Sabine Hossenfelder Λ Bernardo Kastrup
– 02:37:08 The human aspect in scientific theories
– 02:39:00 Even atheists reason backward from God to interpretations of quantum mechanics (Richard Hamming)
– 02:43:02 The unfulfilled promise of string theory
– 03:01:33 Credit and ethics in scientific fields (Eric Weinstein)