Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe - Choose your own physics adventure!

Episode Date: February 25, 2020

Which of these four physics adventures would you prefer? Visit the Quantum Realm See inside a Black Hole Travel faster than light Meet intelligent aliens Link if you'd like to contribute to the poll. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, terrorism. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System

On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone.

Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get fired up, y'all. Season two of Good Game with Sarah Spain is underway. We just welcomed one of my favorite people, an incomparable soccer icon, Megan Rapino, to the show. And we had a blast. Take a listen. Sue and I were like riding the line. Bikes the other day, and we're like, we're like, people write bikes because it's fun. We got more incredible guests like Megan in store, plus news of the day and more.

So make sure you listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. Hey, Daniel, if you could pick one physics puzzle for it to be solved, which one would it be? Oh, my gosh. Off the top of my head? Yeah, I mean, like if a physics genie suddenly pops up in front of you and offers you to answer one question about the universe, what would it be? Oh, wow, I should have been prepared for this. Maybe you should think about it.

In case, like, this actually happens to me, like there are physics genies. Yeah, maybe, maybe I'm a genie, Daniel, or maybe you'll meet aliens, or maybe I am an native. You never know. Maybe I'll ask the physics genie about whether there are aliens. Hi, I'm Jorge. I'm a cartoonist and the creator of PhD comics. Hi, I'm Daniel Whiteson. I'm a particle physicist, but I wish I was a physics genie. And welcome to our podcast, Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, a production of iHeard Radio. In which we take trips around the universe and explain to you all the amazing facts, the hard one, slowly learned things we've discovered about the universe, not through physics genies, but through hard-fought science.

Is that something that physicists really wish they could have, like a physics genie who could just answer all your questions with the snap of a finger or the rub of a laptop? I do sometimes fantasize about that because I feel like the answers are out there. Like, you know, there is a truth about the universe. All the questions we have about the universe have answers. And those answers in principle can be discovered, which means they're just sort of out there. And some days I just want to fast forward to figure it all out. And like, what are the answers to these questions? Just tell me, tell me, tell me.

And so I wish there was like a shortcut, you know, to getting secrets in the universe. You're right. It's all right there. In fact, it's like it's on our fingertips, right? It's literally around us, you know. Questions that ancient humans had about the universe, we have discovered answers to those questions literally by looking at the invisible radiation that surrounds us.

And so it might be that answers to questions we have are literally surrounding us in ways we can't yet understand. Yeah, they're right there waiting for us to discover them, to see them, to hear them. They're all just sitting there. Yep, and those people will look back at us and think, ha, ha, how silly they were. They didn't know. It was right on their fingertips. They just have to look at their finger.

And there was the answer to the universe. Or sometimes I imagine, instead of just like jumping instantaneously to the answer, which is cheating, I imagine, like, what if I went 500 years in the future and learned all that physics? How quickly could I rediscover that now? Like, what is the shortest number of experiments you need to do to discover the answers today? Because that's actually possible. Physics genius aside, if you knew exactly how to build these experiments, you could learn the secrets of the universe. universe. Yeah. So in this podcast, we talk a lot about all of the amazing things we can find out about the universe through physics, but we also sort of talk about all the ways that physics can

kill us. And we don't want to give you the impression that physics is a dangerous activity. Most people who went to physics survive just fine. Yeah, look at Daniel. I'm not sure which lesson you should draw from my experience, but it's sort of fun to think also about the positive side of physics, that physics doesn't just potentially squeeze you and burn you up on reentry. It also potentially delivers secrets of the universe. That's a real thing.

Yeah, physics can be a real adventure and a journey of discovery as well. That's right. And so on today's episode, we thought we would take a tour of some sort of potentially fun physics adventures that you might be able to take. And so this was a suggestion from a Twitter user

who sent out this question. He or she gave was four interesting physics adventures that you could potentially go on, you know, journeys into answering four basic questions that physicists have no idea about. And so today we're going to do something a little bit interesting, which is we're going to be running a poll. So Daniel, a few minutes ago, posted this poll on Twitter, and I think by the time that this podcast come out, you will still have the chance to participate in this poll. But in this poll, we're asking, we're posing four different physics adventures or discoveries or, you know,

answers that you can find out there. And we're asking which of these four would you prefer to know? And all of these are things that most physicists would be desperate to do, would scramble for an opportunity. And so one of the challenges here is like just picking one, because frankly, I'd like to do them all. You're like, I'll take answer four, five, all of the above. That's right. I'll do them in that order. Or I'll take, it's like when I see a dessert menu and I go, I'll take one of everything. Your answer is yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

And double for the last one. And so today on the podcast, we'll be tackling the question. Which of these four physics adventures would you prefer? And so we have here four interesting physics adventures, I guess. I guess their journeys you could take on that would basically answer a basic and core question about the universe that we don't know. Yeah, each one sort of pushes you past a threshold of human knowledge or takes you somewhere humans have not yet been able to visit and hopefully reveals a deep insight into the nature of the universe and what it means to be human. Yeah, and so the four physics adventures that we are going to be discussing today are number one, visiting the quantum realm. With or without Paul Rudd.

You are Paul Rudd in this scenario. In the quantum realm, everyone is Paul Rudd. That's right. Everybody looks good at 45 in the quantum realm. That's number one. And so number two. Number two is seeing the inside of a black hole. Bring a flashlight, I guess.

Number three, going faster than light. Or number four, visiting a planet with intelligent alien life. And so once again, we just posted this. poll on Twitter, so check it out and cast your vote. But at the end of this podcast, we are going to reveal the running totals for this poll, and I guess

I should tell us which one people prefer. And if you don't like the answer, I guess you should go on Twitter right now and follow us and submit your answer. We are crowdsourcing this question because, you know, Twitter tells the truth. And so as usual, Daniel couldn't wait, and so he was curious,

and so he went out into the streets and asked people on the street, which of these four adventures they would rather go on? Think to yourself for a moment. Which of these would you prefer and then listen to these answers? Would you prefer to visit the quantum realm, see inside of a black hole, go faster than light, or meet intelligent aliens? Here's what people had to say. Going faster than the speed of light seems pretty cool. Seen inside a black hole would be pretty interesting. I feel like it would be cool to see some aliens because I like to see how they would teach physics

or chemistry or whatever. If you travel faster in the speed of flight, you can travel back and forth in time as I would choose it. Black hole? Why is that? That's the one that interests me the most just because I feel like I don't know much about black holes or anything like that. Cool. Either one, I want to see what happens or I want to know what happens. You want to travel fast in the speed of light just to see what happens?

Yeah, we're the black hole one. Let's say faster the speed of light. Yeah. Just see what happens? Yeah, it just seems like the craziest one to me. Why? Because that seems like the most fun? I feel like Interstellar already tackled two, so like I'm not as interested.

Three is definitely, I think that would be the coolest, yeah. Intelligent alien. Yes. What would you talk to them about? Man, I don't even know. I'd probably just be like, can I even talk to them? That's the first thing. Can I have any kind of meaningful exchange of information?

If I could even do that, that'd be crazy. I think I want to see what's inside a black hole. Going to a planet to see alien life. All right, why is that? I think it would be amazing to think that there would be other living things in the universe. It's scary to think that there are others and it's scary to think that we are alone. I have no idea what the quantum realm even is, so I wouldn't necessarily choose that one. Intelligent life sounds pretty awesome, although it could be also a dangerous and hostile place.

But if I was guaranteed of some safety, that would be an interesting one. All right, not a lot of fans of the quantum realm. not that many they're like we saw that movie already there was a sequel it wasn't that good I don't want to go back and you know they did a pretty good job in that movie so maybe people feel like yeah that one sort of

scratched off the list I think the biggest takeaway from these is that people had a hard time choosing because they all did sound attractive people like what what what I have to choose one just one are you sure and that's sort of my reaction visit the black hole

going faster than light through the quantum realm with an alien next to me that is the dream come true or hey did i just make you did i just make you um popitate a little bit that's the deep fried banana sunday of options with with a snicker bar snickers bar inside you know there's this store i always remember in chicago which will deep fry anything for a dollar and oh really yeah you can bring um giving your iphone they'll fry it They will for a dollar. You could bring a Snickers bar, you could bring a pear stuffed in

Gorgonzola cheese or whatever you like. One dollar, they'll fry anything. All right, so we're going to talk about each of these four possibilities. Visiting the quantum realm, going inside of a black hole, going faster than light, or meeting intelligent aliens,

and then at the end, we'll reveal the running results of the Twitter poll. So number one, visiting the quantum realm. Daniel, first of all, why would you want to visit the quantum realm? Well, I think this one is attractive.

because quantum mechanics is so weird. And there's so many things about quantum mechanics, the way particles don't really have a path, they don't, like, fly through space, the way they can do things that balls and ships and planes can't do, that makes people want to go there and see it and visualize it. Right, because, I mean, we all live in a quantum universe, but those quantum effects don't really,

you can't really see them or experience them unless you are sort of at that size, really, really small. Yeah. So what do we mean by the quantum realm? You know, these rules about quantum mechanics, like you can't know the position of a particle and its speed at the same time, or particles can be on one side of a barrier and then all of a sudden on the other side without going through the wall. All these things apply only to the microscopic particles like electrons and photons and stuff like that. They don't apply to the things in our world. And so it feels like there's a different set of rules. So we call the quantum.

realm for me, what it means is the place where those different rules apply. And that's fascinating because I'm a physicist. I want to understand how the universe works. And so if I can go visit a place where the different rules apply and sort of like get an intuition for it, that would be totally fascinating. Because intuition is something we really lack when it comes to the quantum realm. Right. But I guess my question is, what does it mean to visit the realm? Is it like you shrink down like Antman and you're like seeing an electron in front of you, the size of your own size? Or doesn't mean like, you know, existing, your mind existing in that sort of same sort of quantum fuzziness where you're sort of multiple things are happening at the same time.

Sounds like you want to go to the quantum realm and figure it out. Sounds like I should just smoke something and I'm sure it'll be a similar experience. That's a different realm, I think. But it's not even really clear. The question makes sense if you want to be strict about it. Because how do you experience the quantum realm? How do you go down there and become. part of that world because you are a macroscopic object, you are a big collection of 10 to the 30

protons and stuff. How could your consciousness exist at that scale? What would it be like to experience it? I think that's why I think the heart of the question really is to get an intuition for the quantum realm to like see its inner workings and have it makes sense. To me, that's what going to the quantum realm means. I don't know how you do that or if it's actually possible or if humans will ever do that ever outside of Marvel's cinematic universe, but it certainly is appealing. Right. So to you it means sort of like existing in that quantum state,

like you were in multiple realities at the same time? Yeah, I'd like to live, I'd like to have an experience of being in a universe where the quantum rules apply. And the large scale. Yeah. Well, either I'm shrunk down to the quantum realm or blow the quantum realm up to make it apply to big stuff.

You know, like I have an intuition for what happens when I throw a ball in the air. I have that intuition, not my physics knowledge, my intuition because I've done it, right, I've seen what happens. And as a kid, you throw a ball into air a thousand times, and you know what's going to happen. I don't have that same intuition for what happens

when electrons bounce around, around hydrogen atoms, because I haven't seen it. I haven't experienced it. I've only calculated it. So I'd love to spend time with an electron enough to, like, get familiar with it. So I, like, have a sense for what the rules are, and they make sense to me.

You want to ride an electron. You want to be like next one and be like, hey, wait, it's over here. No, it's over there kind of thing. Yeah, you just proposed the world's smallest amusement park, right? Standard line for my hydrogen item. It already has an amusement park name, the electron. Hydrogen Mountain. Yeah, I want to ride an electron.

I want to get down in there. I want to see what it's like. I want to really understand it so that when we talk about quantum mechanics, I can feel like, oh, yeah, I've been there. I know how that works. That totally makes sense to me. Oh, I see. Because this idea of like the cat being a dead and alive at the same time in Schrodinger's box is sort of counterintuitive and it doesn't jive with our experience of the physical world.

So you want to be in a world where you can experience the cat being alive and dead at the same time. Yeah, I want to live in that world. So I get used to it. So that it doesn't sound crazy to me when we do these calculations. Because currently the way we grapple with quantum mechanics is we just sort of follow the map. math. We've found these rules that apply to quantum mechanics, quantum field theory and quantum mechanics, and we can turn the crank and say, if you do this experiment, this other thing is going to happen, but it's not like you can really understand it. You just sort of follow the math

and believe it and say, well, the universe follows this math. So I guess that's correct. And we can test it. We do the experiments. But it's not like it still makes sense to me in any reasonable way. Right. But I thought you hated cats, Daniel. I love cats. It's just that my daughter's allergic. All right. Well, let's see how visiting the quantum realm is doing on our Twitter poll. Hold on. All right. Right now, visiting the quantum realm is in third place. Third place. All right. What's the percentage of response? We've got 18% of people are into visiting the quantum realm.

Currently, number one is meeting intelligent aliens up at 36% of Bernie Sanders levels. So quantum realm not doing so good. Less than 25% I want to go visit the quantum realm. Yeah, quantum realm is sort of the Tom Steyer physics options. Oh, no. All right, well, let's get into visiting inside of a black hole and traveling faster than light and talking to aliens. But first, let's take a quick break.

the holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, at 6.33 p.m., everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Apparently, the explosion actually impelled metal, glass. The injured were being loaded into ambulances, just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, and it was here to stay. Law and Order Criminal Justice System is back. In season two, we're turning our focus to a threat that hides in plain sight.

That's harder to predict and even harder to stop. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously. suspicious. Well, wait a minute, Sam, maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now, he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now, hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally

inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor, and they're the same age. And it's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hola, it's Honey German, and my podcast, Grasasas Come Again, is back.

This season, we're going even deeper into the world of music and entertainment with raw and honest conversations with some of your favorite Latin artists and celebrities. You didn't have to audition? No, I didn't audition. I haven't audition in, like, over 25 years. Oh, wow. That's a real G-talk right there. Oh, yeah.

We've got some of the biggest actors, musicians, content creators, and culture shifters, sharing their real stories of failure and success. You were destined to be a start. We talk all about what's viral and trending with a little bit of chisement, a lot of laughs, and those amazing vibras you've come to expect.

And, of course, we'll explore deeper times. dealing with identity, struggles, and all the issues affecting our Latin community. You feel like you get a little whitewash because you have to do the code switching? I won't say whitewash because at the end of the day, you know, I'm me. Yeah. But the whole pretending and code, you know, it takes a toll on you. Listen to the new season of Grasasas Come Again as part of My Cultura Podcast Network on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. All right, Daniel, we are going down through our list of physics adventures that people might choose to go on or not.

And so the next adventure we have here is seen inside of a black hole. Again, Daniel, why would you want to do that? Why wouldn't you want to do that? Oh, my gosh. But wait, do I get to come back out? I guess it's my question. Hey, this is a one-way fare, okay? Return trips are not guaranteed.

Oh, I see. So maybe we should have a caveat, like, see inside of a black hole. and never leave again and have that be the last thing you ever see I think it would probably be less popular. No, this is not for trick questions. I guess what's the point of going inside a black hole

if you can't then come back out and win five Nobel prizes because of your discovery of quantum gravity. Tell your friends about it. Yeah. Yeah, so I guess return trips should be guaranteed. All right, so we get to go inside of a black hole, have that experience, look around, see

what the physics are like, and then come back out. Yeah, and to me, that's fascinating. because black holes are, they're like a hidden little secret corner of the universe. They hold the answers to some of the deepest questions in physics, but they're frustratingly impossible to penetrate. Well, it's not like they're hiding it. It's just that inside of a black hole are conditions which sort of like break all of our physics laws, right? And so you want to go in there and see what's going on.

Yeah, like let's say I devised an experiment that would reveal the deepest nature of the universe all the way down to the smallest elements. And then I locked it in a room and threw away the key. And I said, oh, yeah, the answers, they're in there, but nobody can ever go inside. That's basically what's going on with the black hole. You know, like if you went in there, would you able to, there's not like you would find a paper with the answers to the universe

or it'd be written on the walls of the black hole. It'd be like a whole bunch of crazy stuff going on in there. Would you even, like, be able to piece it together? Yeah, you'd have to do some experiments. But you might have to do some science. Yeah, just like in our universe, you know, the laws of the universe are not just written on the walls. The physics is an actual job, you know, and so you'd have to do some experiments. But very quickly, you could learn some things.

For example, you know, we have two different theories of how the universe works, and they disagree deeply about what's happening inside a black hole. For example, most people are probably familiar with the description of the inside of a black hole that comes from, Einstein's theory of general relativity that says that there's like a singularity at the heart of a black hole, a point of infinite density. Wouldn't you like to see that? Like if that's true, if that's real, if Einstein was right, what would that look like? And so if you entered a black hole, you could, boom, you'd be there with it. You could hang out with the singularity. You could ask it what it had for lunch.

Oh, I see. You want to go in there and actually, like, go up to the center of it and see, it's like, oh, it is a singularity. It's not a little fuzzy blob as quantum mechanics would imply. If I'm going all the way inside a black hole, I'm not going to be shy to go to the core. You know, I'm going all in. Yeah. Yeah. If you're visiting the house of your favorite science fiction author, you're not just staying in the living room.

You're going all the way inside. I'm sleeping in their bed. Yeah. No, exactly, because quantum mechanics and general relativity, these two pillars of physics, they disagree about what happens when gravity gets really strong. And the only place where gravity is strong enough to reveal what actually happens, when gravity gets really strong, is inside a black hole, which is frustratingly impossible to visit,

except on the mental journey of this podcast. Well, I guess my question is, so I guess it would tell you whether general relativity or quantum mechanics is right, or whether there's something else going on. And you would learn also about quantum gravity, right? Whether or not it's possible. Yeah, we think that probably gravity is a quantum theory,

but you know, we don't know is gravity of force that transmits quantum particles. And we can't tell because it's so weak that we can't see those particles. Or is it not? Is it just a curvature of space in time and you quantize it by quantizing space itself, like making a little space pixels?

And so we could see that if we were near enough the center of a black hole to understand. Like, you know, is general relativity correct and space itself is quantized? Can we see gravitons inside the black hole? Like people have been looking for theories of quantum gravity that actually work for since we've had quantum mechanics and since we've had gravity. It's been about a hundred years, which is a long time in physics.

You don't just want to go in there and experience it yourself. You want to go in there with a whole like lab and grad students and like instruments. I want to build a lab inside a black hole. Yeah. That is my lab. You know, like at the particle collider, we have created on purpose conditions that don't exist anywhere else, smashing particles together very high and because those are the conditions that are going to reveal the secrets of the universe. And so a black hole is like that to the bejillionth power. And so, yeah, that's where you see what's right and what's wrong. I guess the question is, how could you even do it?

Because if you try to get near a black hole, you kind of get shredded two pieces, right? So is this even possible or is this totally wishful thinking? I think it's pretty much totally impossible. I mean, if you get anywhere near a black hole, then the, tidal forces will tear you apart because gravity is so strong, but its strength depends on the distance. And so when you get close to a black hole, gravity is tugging on your feet much more strongly, for example, than it's tugging on your head, which means that it's literally pulling your head off of your body. And that's not a good thing. I mean, I don't know who you are,

which a doctor recommends. I frown upon that kind of thing happening to me. And the closer you get to the black hole, the stronger that effect is. So anything that gets near the black hole just gets shredded. And then, of course, if you actually do somehow arrive at the event horizon, you're just going to be squished by the incredible forces. But we did, I mean, I want to leave a thread, a tendre of a possibility here. We did once talk about whether you could destroy black holes. And there was this idea that if you added enough spin to the black hole, you might delete the event horizon while leaving the singularity in there. And that's not going inside it, but it's sort of like exposing it, opening it, opening a window into a black hole.

Yeah. So that can be fascinating, but that wouldn't really be a black hole. You'd be deleting the event horizon and revealing a naked singularity, which would be awesome and fun and probably really dangerous, but not technically going inside a black hole. So this one's on the wish list, but the probably not ever actually possible list. Well, let's see how going inside of a black hole is doing on our Twitter poll.

It says inside of a black hole is a, that's 17% of a respondent. So 17% of people are picking, going inside of a black hole. Also, not doing so well. Not doing so well. It's surged ahead of quantum realm by points since we last talked about it.

Maybe people are listening to the podcast through time traveling. Maybe they're inside of black hole and they get to do better they want. Exactly. Because, you know, an interstellar when you go inside a black hole, time is a dimension. You can talk to your children from beyond the grave.

D. Dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. Nonsense. Well, so far we have 344 votes, which is a lot of just having posted it a few minutes ago. And again, a reminder, if you're listening to this podcast, the poll is probably still open. And you can go check it out and place your vote. You can sway the results because, you know, one of these things, Jorge will actually fund this to happen, depending on whatever it means. Yeah. I will, I will actually do it. And this will be the last episode of Daniel and Jorge, explain the universe. The Farewell Tour. All right. Well, the third option in our poll. is to travel faster than light.

And so we had a visiting the quantum realm, seen inside of a black hole, and going faster than light. And this one is doing pretty good on the pool. A lot of people are picking this one. And, you know, this one surprises me a little bit because to me, this one is the least appealing. Really?

Yeah. I mean... This is my favorite. This is your favorite? Okay, well, let me flip it around on you. Why do you want to go faster than the speed of light? Is it because you want to make whoosh noises and say, warp speed nine?

Make it so. Well, I guess. you know, it goes to that, you know, desire to travel and visit other planets, you know? Like right now, the problem is that everything's too far away, right? And so it'd be cool to like, you know, get on a spaceship, fly out of the galaxy and look at the Milky Way. So is it that you want to get places that you can't get right now because of the speed limit or you actually want to have the experience of going fast in the speed of light? Would you prefer a wormhole or FTL travel?

I really just want to travel places. And so if you have a wormhole, sure, I'll take that, but also travel and fast thing faster than light. It just sounds cooler, you know? I think a lot of people reacted to that. It just sounds cool. Like, they want to see what it feels like, and it feels illegal and super zoomy. And so they want to go out there and, you know, stick their head out the window while going fast in the speed of light and see what it feels like. Probably as good as going into a black hole, I imagine.

Probably hands in the vehicle, people. Keep your hands in the vehicle. So you think there's something illicit about going fast. faster than light, like, that appeals to people. Yeah, I guess it sounds exciting. But I can't really imagine what it would, that would be that exciting because, you know, traveling really fast in a airplane does feel that exciting.

You know, it feels kind of boring. I've flown at 600 miles an hour from here to Hong Kong or whatever. It's not super exciting. I'm not sticking my head out the window and going, Wee. But imagine where you would be, you know, if you could travel to Hong Kong and in less than a, second, that would be kind of cool.

Oh, yeah. I mean, not right now, maybe, but. Totally. If the question was, would you like to teleport to an arbitrary place in the universe? Totally. I would do that at the second, and I got a list of places I want to go. Right. But do I really want to go there at some super high speed?

I don't even go skiing. I'm not like a fast driver. I'm not that into speed. I see. You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Why would you even want to go that fast? I don't want to go at the speed of light. Why would you want to go faster than the speed of light?

Exactly. And, you know, I don't like roller coasters, and so I guess that's what this one doesn't appeal to me from this sort of adventure excitement point of view either. But you would want to travel to another star if it was convenient and easy. Sure. I want to go visit other stars. I want to go see what other planets are like. I want to walk on the surface of other planets and moons. You just want to see it on your TV, not actually go there. I want other people to figure out how to get there, figure it out, make it safe. And then, yeah, I want to teleport there while eating snacks. But I guess my question is, you know, you're going faster than light, which the universe says is impossible. So would weird things happen to you while you're sitting on that plane going faster than light?

Like, would time go backwards maybe? Or would things just go all wonky and break the universe? So that, I think, is the interesting bit, right? It's not the excitement of seeing the needle going all the way to 300 million meters per second. It's, I guess, the excitement is seeing what breaks. And you're right. You can't go faster than the speed of light. according to our understanding of the laws of physics.

And, you know, people say, oh, time would go backwards and stuff. But that's just sort of nonsense. It's another way of saying you can't do it because nonsensical stuff would happen if you tried. This is one reason why you can't do it because it would require, you know, things that don't make sense to happen. So what do you think would happen? Would time go backwards inside of a, like I would get on the plane and then I would get there? and it was before I got on the plane? Wouldn't that be weird?

I think the simulation that is our universe would crash and somebody would have to restart it. Or would I de-age? Like, would time run backwards inside of that airplane and then I would get off younger? Well, you know, if you extend our understanding of special relativity, time always moves forward for you.

And your clocks change based on other people's observations of your speed. So if you're moving fast in the speed of light, then I would look at your clock and it would look like it was running backwards to me, but to you, time would be moving forward. So if I'm looking at your spaceship, you would be de-aging, I guess, on the spaceship.

But to you, time is always just moving forward at one second per second. So it sounds like weird stuff would happen, but it's also impossible, you're saying. I think it's totally impossible. So that part doesn't excite me too much. But I guess, you know, if somebody said, all right, I've built this machine,

it can take you fast in the speed of light. It actually does work. then yeah, you know what, I would get in it. And I would go for a ride. I see, you'd be like, go on. Turn it on. Let's see what happens. I would like to know what it's like to go fast in the speed of light.

All right, I've changed my mind. It is exciting. Well, a lot of people seem to agree. It's pretty popular in our poll right now. A lot of people would choose to go faster than light. And so we have one more scenario here, which is to talk to aliens. And so we'll get into that and we'll see what people think about that. But first, let's take a quick break.

December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, at 6.33 p.m., everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Apparently, the explosion actually impelled metal, glass. The injured were being loaded into ambulances, just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, and it was here to stay. Terrorism.

Law and Order Criminal Justice System is back. In Season 2, we're turning our focus to a threat that hides in plain sight. That's harder to predict and even harder to stop. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Well, wait a minute, Sam, maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon.

This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now, he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now hold up, isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor and they're the same age. It's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them.

I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hello, it's Honey German. And my podcast, Grasias Come Again, is back. This season, we're going even deeper

into the world of music and entertainment with raw and honest conversations with some of your favorite Latin artists and celebrities. You didn't have to audition? No, I didn't audition. I haven't audition in, like, over 25 years. Oh, wow. That's a real G-talk right there.

Oh, yeah. We've got some of the biggest actors, musicians, content creators, and culture shifters, sharing their real stories of failure and success. You were destined to be a start. We talk all about what's viral and trending with a little bit of chisement, a lot of laughs,

and those amazing Vibras you've come to expect. And, of course, we'll explore deeper topics dealing with identity, struggles, and all the issues affecting our Latin community. You feel like you get a little whitewash because you have to do the code switching? I won't say whitewash, because at the end of the day, you know, I'm me.

But the whole pretending and code, you know, it takes a toll on you. Listen to the new. The new season of Grasas Has Come Again as part of My Cultura Podcast Network on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Absolutely. Oh, wow. You were trying to break it. I was trying to solve it. Those are puzzles. Well, my son recently got into those and I read them again. I was like, these are kind of dark. Like, you die a lot. You die a lot. But there's always another path in which you win, right?

So there's like a liberation there for the writer gets to explore darker scenarios than otherwise because they can just balance it out with positive endings. I guess if you do go to the quantum realm, that's the kind of book you would want to take. because then you could read all the possibilities at the same time. Maybe those were written in the quantum realm, and that's why they're so weird. All right, well, our last scenario here that we are polling people to choose is whether you want to talk to aliens or meet intelligent aliens. And by this, you mean like, go to them or they come to you or you call them or they happen to be your neighbor. What do you mean, Daniel? I don't mean you Skype them because then you spend the first 10 minutes being like, can you hear me?

What? What? Your picture's frozen. And that's not the way to have the first conversation with intelligent aliens. Get up there and fist bump them or give them a hug. No, I think the question is visit their planet. Like go to a planet with intelligent alien life. And to me, this one is fascinating.

This is absolutely my number one choice by far. No surprise, Daniel. I'm not surprised at all. And not just because it would be awesome. You've had your hand over the alien button next to you. This whole hour we've been talking. You're like, can I press it? No.

Yeah, I accidentally elbowed it a couple of times. And not just because meeting aliens would be fascinating on its own, but also because, hey, maybe they've solved some of these other problems. So maybe you could like do the all the above, right? Oh, I see. They could tell you what it's like inside of a black hole or to go faster than light without you having to do it. Yes, precisely. Or maybe they give you a ride on their faster than light black hole quantum realm roller coaster.

And then you get the answers to all these problems. I guess you're assuming that if we meet an alien civilization, they would be more advanced than us. Well, that's a good question. If they come to us, I think it's fair to assume that they are more advanced than us because we can't currently do that. If we go to them, if we meet intelligent aliens on their planet, then you're right. There's no guarantee that they have technology that's advanced further than us. But at the very least, they've advanced differently from us. They have a different way of looking at the universe and thinking about the universe, and that already will be insight.

right there'll be unique experience and unique ideas and unique science right that would be good for the biologists right but maybe not for the physicists no i think also for the physicists i think for example even if you just like ran the human experiment over again from scratch um up to this year you would get different physics every time because you'd have different people having different ideas um and you would think about the world differently so i think the way we have thought about the universe depends not just on being humans and how the human mind works, but on the particular human minds we've had. And so if you met other intelligent aliens who were just as advanced as us or nearby,

they would have had different ideas, and that would be fascinating. Well, I see you want to talk to the alien philosophers, too. Yeah, of course. Alien philosophers, alien physicists. I mean, don't you want to meet the alien cartoonists and think. I want to be like, how do you make democracy work? They're like, oh, yeah, we outlawed Twitter years ago. Yeah, that's the key.

That's a milestone in any civilization. Internet, shining down the Internet. That's the next step. The singularity outlawing Twitter. No, I think it would be fascinating. You'd learn so much about what it's like to be intelligent. For example, do they even use mathematics? What kind of mathematics do they use?

Do they count? Are integers special to them? of so many questions, just about the very basics of the way their minds might work. You think some of the things we think are fundamental, like numbers and integers, are maybe not that fundamental. Maybe there's another way to think about math and the universe. Yeah, because this is the only way we've ever thought about it, because it's the only way we can. And so seeing a new perspective, a new way of thinking about things will tell us exactly that. It's like when you go on a trip and you discover, oh, people don't eat cereal for breakfast

everywhere around the world. I thought that was a core part of the human experience. Nope. Turns out, you know, croissants are more fundamental than checks, you know, in the human experience. And so you learn about that. The croissant is a famous French particle, right? Quastonino, actually. Cool.

So this is your favorite scenario. This is definitely my favorite. Talking to aliens. Yeah, but, you know, I sing its praises. I make it sound like we'd show up and we'd learn the secrets of the universe by early afternoon and we'd be sipping alien espresso and then you'd be out of there be like that's enough talking to other living beings i am an introvert after all i'd be like can i get a break from all this conversation um but the reality i think would be much more difficult

even if you assume that they're intelligent and they're alien which means they're similar in a biological way and an in an intellectual way for us to recognize their intelligence they would still be huge hurdles to like basic communication before we got to talking about mathematics and particle physics and all sorts of cool stuff. And I guess unlike the other scenarios here today, this one could actually happen. It might happen. This one will happen. Absolutely.

Will happen. Oh, my goodness. Yes. Unless we kill ourselves and, you know, or fry our planet before we can manage it, I'm totally confident that eventually humans will walk on a planet with intelligent alien life. Eventually, I guess. Eventually. Without having to travel faster than light.

Yes. eventually doing a lot of work there because it might take hundreds of years or thousands of years for us to get off this planet and get to neighboring solar systems. But I can't imagine a galaxy in which it's not just chalk filled with intelligent alien life. And so I really hope, I guess it's a hope. I don't really know. I really hope that some human someday has that experience of putting their foot down on a planet with intelligent alien life.

I really believe that of these options. And then getting eaten digested by that alien. But hopefully not. Hopefully not. And at least if they do, I hope they have a nice alien espresso to follow it up with. Well, according to our Twitter poll,

this is also everyone's favorite option of our four physics scenarios. It's got the highest number of votes on our Twitter poll. Good job, Tweeps. I'm proud of you. Yeah, 37% of people would rather talk to alien. I wonder if they're just trying to please you, Daniel.

If so, they've done it. But it seems like it is sort of like a basic human curiosity. I mean, more than any of the other things, which sound cool too, people want to talk to aliens. Who doesn't want to talk to aliens? I mean, I think a lot of people think that aliens exist and for a good reason. I mean, not that we've been visited or that Area 51 is real or any of those silly conspiracy theories like Bob Lazar, but that they're out there. And in that same way, you know, if they're out there, if they're real, if there are aliens out there right now having lunch, then I'm desperately curious to know about them.

And it's frustrating to imagine there's this barrier between us and this knowledge, this knowledge which would change the way it feels to be human and what it means to be human. It's frustrating. Well, I have to say, it's not my favorite, but it does sound pretty cool. So you'd be willing. If this was the only option available, you would sign up for the trip. I would, yeah, all the other options are filled up. I would go visit something.

I see. You overslept. and by the time you showed up for the physics adventure cam. I had to take this one. You know, I have enough trouble avoiding real humans. It seems like I don't need more things to talk to. Well, maybe you're an alien, and this would be like going home for you. There you go.

Finally, a planet where everybody just stays home and doesn't talk to anybody. Well, I think it's interesting to think about all of these possibilities and to think about which one you would like to go on because it sort of tells you a little bit about, you know, what we wish for deep down as humans. you know, go places, look inside of a hole that's a mystery, you know, experience things that are totally different and talk to things that are in aliens that are totally different. It's sort of a basic human response. Yeah, absolutely. I think that that's why the universe is so fun to study

because it has these mysteries and those mysteries have answers. You know, these are not like questions like, does heaven exist or what is the afterlife or things that we might not possibly ever know the answer to. These are questions that have real answers that we will eventually figure out. And so that's why these mysteries are fascinating because they're right there at our fingertips. And we never know when the big breakthrough will happen. Maybe it'd be tomorrow, maybe in 100 years. But some human will know the answers to a lot of these deep open questions about the universe. Yeah. And hopefully we'll be alive at that point. That's right. So we can sit in our couch eating snacks and read all about it. Reading choose your own adventure books. Well, I just looked

at the Twitter poll again, Daniel, and it looks like faster than light just went up a point and visiting aliens went down a point. So who knows, maybe by the time this podcast comes out, it will be totally different. Or maybe I can, maybe by us talking about it, we're influencing the poll.

Quantum causality violation poll. Wait, Daniel, are you saying you're going to give a dollar for every vote that talking to aliens get? Is that true? Really? Wow, that's so generous of you. I will give a plank dollar. Well, I guess if it sways anyone, I would have to say if you can go faster than light,

you might be able to visit aliens on your travel. So it's like you can get both maybe if you choose faster than light. All right, that's a pretty good argument. I'll take it. All right. Well, the Twitter poll is going to be up for a week. So if you are listening to this podcast and you've thought about it and you are maybe interested in casting a vote, go to our Twitter page or Twitter account.

it's at Daniel and Jorge and follow us and cast your vote. And let us know which of these adventures you would most like to sign up for and be quick because some of them are filling up fast. We hope you enjoyed that. See you next time. Thanks for tuning in. If you still have a question after listening to all these explanations, please drop us a line we'd love to hear from you.

You can find us at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, Daniel and Jorge, that's one word, or email us at Feedback at danielandhorpe.com. Thanks for listening and remember that Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe is a production of IHeartRadio. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal, just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, terrorism. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious.

Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Oh, hold up. Isn't that against school? policy, that seems inappropriate. Maybe find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast

and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get fired up, y'all. Season two of Good Game with Sarah Spain is underway. We just welcomed one of my favorite people, an incomparable soccer icon, Megan Rapino, to the show, and we had a blast. Take a listen. Sue and I were like riding the lime bikes the other day. And we're like, we're like, we're like, people ride bikes.

We got more incredible guests like Megan in store, plus news of the day and more. So make sure you listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. This is an IHeart podcast.