Jim Gates (S James Gates Jr.) is a theoretical physicist and professor at Brown University working on supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory. He served on former President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He is the co-author of a new book titled Proving Einstein Right about the scientists who set out to prove Einstein’s theory of relativity.

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Episode Links:

Proving Einstein Right (book)

Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

00:00 – Introduction

03:13 – Will we ever venture outside our solar system?

05:16 – When will the first human step foot on Mars?

11:14 – Are we alone in the universe?

13:55 – Most beautiful idea in physics

16:29 – Can the mind be digitized?

21:15 – Does the possibility of superintelligence excite you?

22:25 – Role of dreaming in creativity and mathematical thinking

30:51 – Existential threats

31:46 – Basic particles underlying our universe

41:28 – What is supersymmetry?

52:19 – Adinkra symbols

1:00:24 – String theory

1:07:02 – Proving Einstein right and experimental validation of general relativity

1:19:07 – Richard Feynman

1:22:01 – Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

1:30:20 – Exciting problems in physics that are just within our reach

1:31:26 – Mortality