SmartLess - "Professor Brian Cox"

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

Put on your thinking cap: it’s Professor Brian Cox. We travel the galaxies of chit-chat — from black holes and cage dancing to a thousand Einsteins and the building blocks of space and time. “Yo...u can’t make progress if you think you know everything.” Our thoughts exactly. Welcome to SmartLess. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:04 Hi, hey. Hey, hi. I don't mean to bother you guys or anything, but I'm going to start a podcast. I'd love a little help. I don't know if you guys are busy, but... No, I guess I could jump in. What's the podcast called? Well, we just sit and talk and visit, you know?
Starting point is 00:00:21 What's it called? I love to visit. Well, I'm not bright, right? So, kind of... I'm thinking about unsmart. Oh, that's good. But it doesn't really roll off the... I'm without smarts.
Starting point is 00:00:34 So I'm... You don't have more smart. No, I'm less than smart. So what do you... Maybe... Maybe dumb out. Less smart. Let's come out with us later.
Starting point is 00:00:45 Let's do the show. We'll come out with later. Okay, great. Welcome to it all the new smart list. Smart. Less smart. Hey, Willie, did you just barely make it? Hold on.
Starting point is 00:01:10 We have... He's not out of breath. Will audio. Do we have Will audio? Oh, audio? Will audio. Will audio? I made it.
Starting point is 00:01:16 We got Will audio. I made it, I made it, I just ran out of the car, I made it. You guys, I made it, I was on the... You were on the freeway? I was on the LIE, guys. I was on the LIE, just keeping it real. You know, you're lying. Did you ever see that movie, by the way?
Starting point is 00:01:33 L.I.E. Brian Cox plays like a child molester? Incredible movie. What? I know I didn't see it, man. I didn't want to start with that, but... Wait, what are you talking about? There's some horrible story. Let's talk about it.
Starting point is 00:01:45 When did that come out? Oh, 20 years. years ago, I'll bet. Okay. Shani, I just narrowly missed seeing J.B. this morning. I'm so sad. Oh, are you guys okay? And last night, because he was working last night.
Starting point is 00:01:58 He's working splits. Now, tell Tracy what a split is, Sean. We take a banana. Jason. I'm in. Jason. A split is like when you start at noon, and then you end at midnight. So you can shoot some day scenes and some night scenes
Starting point is 00:02:15 all in the same 12 hours of work. And it's gonna fun, because you can avoid. avoid, you can avoid a full night shoot, which everybody dislikes. Yeah, it's not. It's not. And at our age, doing a night shoot. Also, it's summer because so the light is, it takes a long time to get dark.
Starting point is 00:02:32 Oh, explain that to us. You have a short, you don't have a lot of night hours, so it's not ideal. Sean, um, yeah, Johnny. Hi. How's everybody doing? It's so good. Sean, I haven't seen each other in a long time. I know. I mean, I've phacimedime to you a few days ago, but it's been a minute.
Starting point is 00:02:46 A minute. And Jay's working his balls on. Yeah. He worked them right? I heard he worked them clear off. Yeah. I gelded myself yesterday. Oh, no.
Starting point is 00:02:57 No. Wait, how was the first week, J.B.? Really, really good. I'm very, very happy. It was hard. It was a lot. It's a lot of work. God damn.
Starting point is 00:03:07 Yeah, it is. I mean, how long of the days? Like 12 hours? They're 12 hours. But, like, you know, you'd like, you raise your hand for the, you know, the position of, like, supposedly having the answers to everything.
Starting point is 00:03:17 it means you got to like try to think about everything and everybody looks at you like what's next yeah you can't just sit in your trailer and wait for them to say okay we're done we're ready for you come on come speak right right isn't that nice i know actors have it nice um we i went to my niece's wedding uh laura in iowa i've never been to iowa wait a second i've never been to iowa i know by the way there's no direct flights from los angeles to iowa so you have to go los angeles to chicago or dallas to iowa Anyway, on the way back, everything was canceled. It took 12 hours to get home.
Starting point is 00:03:51 Why? Because you had to do some driving? Yeah, because the weather. Then everybody changes their seats and then we got five. Then we're going to go to Cleveland and then that was delayed. And then we... Cleveland? We got a driver to drive us because there was no cars to rent when we landed to get there.
Starting point is 00:04:06 And it was four hour drive. Wait a second. But it was worth it. Hold on. It was worth it. Was it really? Yes. Who is this?
Starting point is 00:04:12 Who is my niece. My niece, Laura, and her new husband, Christian. Oh, but when's the last time you said? saw this niece? Last year, I think. So once a year... She came out to visit, right? She came out to visit in L.A.
Starting point is 00:04:23 No, this is a different one. I have a lot of them. Oh, Laura's never been invited. No, Laura's never... She'd never gotten a nod, okay. So you... Anyway, that's what happened. I know, but this whole sort of...
Starting point is 00:04:36 How... And then it was outside, which you would have hated. I didn't mind it. Really warm? It was bugs, humid, hot, and all that, under a tent. But it was nice. And you're wearing a suit? I was wearing a suit.
Starting point is 00:04:47 Yeah, by the way, which I borrowed. Do you guys ever do this? Do you ever borrow suits from the shoot you're doing whatever job you're on? Sure. Yeah, so I'm doing the morning show and I'm just like, can I have this suit to where to, they're like, sure, just bring it back. People are going to watch the show and go, hey. Hey, there's that Iowa. I was at a wedding.
Starting point is 00:05:03 I was at a wedding in Iowa and I think I. But what about, I'm so fascinated with everyone's family, feeling like family obligations because it's, it's, you know, usually the family that you. I know, here we go. I'm laughing before we start. The best days of the year, right? Yeah, yeah. Like holidays and things like that. You kind of, you have to spend with the people you never see.
Starting point is 00:05:30 You know what? What do you mean? I just, J.B, not only that, J.B., I'll take it a step further. I just said within the last week, I think that weddings on summer weekends should be outlawed. Yeah. But you're with your family.
Starting point is 00:05:44 You get a finite amount of stuff. summer weekends. Why do we got, let's do me in the winter, everybody's bummed down and got nothing to do. But we're older. We don't have school to go to in the fall. What are you talking about? Well, just for, in general, no, but the kids are off school.
Starting point is 00:05:59 And it's a time, you know, like, yeah, well, that's true. But when you're talking about finite number of weekends, talk about a rarity. What about Christmas or, you know, Thanksgiving. No, no, I'm just saying, like, you have these singular days or Thanksgiving is like a four-day weekend.
Starting point is 00:06:13 You don't want to spend those incredible moments, with the people that you have spent the 350-some days prior to that four-day weekend? You don't just want to, like... I mean, listen, love my family and all that stuff. And all that stuff. I just don't want to see him at Christmas.
Starting point is 00:06:30 No, I just like... I never get to see my family because I live in Los Angeles, everybody else is there, so it was great to be there. Right, but why not pick some times that are kind of off those moments to see each other? I'm saying, let's start filling January weekends up with weddings.
Starting point is 00:06:48 Yeah. You know what I mean? By the way, you know what the food was served at the wedding? Portillo's. Oh, really? Wow. Yeah. I mean, Sean.
Starting point is 00:06:55 It was amazing. Did you leave anybody for anybody else? Did you do some dancing, Sean? I did. I don't think I've ever seen you dance. Do you dance? I'll dance for you. How much you got?
Starting point is 00:07:05 No, seriously. Do you, are you a dancer at parties? Not really. I mean, I was when I was young. I didn't care. I danced like no one was watching. Yeah, but that was like on a pedestal, like inside a cage. like when you walked out in the club.
Starting point is 00:07:18 Yeah, that's with a gag ball and nipple touses. Sean and I... That was me danced on a box. Sean and I once had a dance off. Yes, on the Willing Grace program. Oh, on Willing Grace program, yeah. Willie, I don't think I've ever seen you dance at a party either. I was just talking about it on the way out here on the L.A.
Starting point is 00:07:36 I will dance, and I do a lot of... Mine's very suggestive. Yeah, mine's really suggestive. What does that look like? Mine's really suggestive, and it's a lot of, like... A lot of hands come hithery, you know what I mean. And you kind of turn your back to your partner and just kind of arch and offer? Yeah, I just...
Starting point is 00:07:53 Arch and offer. That's the name of your biography. That's a good name for like a bookstore or like a cafe. Hey, you guys, I'm just going to get a coffee from arch and offer. You can send me to want anything. Do you guys want anything? And it turns out it's my son Archie and my attorney Robert. offer.
Starting point is 00:08:16 Oh, yeah. There you go. Arch and offer. Oh, gosh. Speaking of, I don't know how to get in it. I can't wait to see if there's any relevance at all to Arch and Offer and your guest. There's zero transition. Other than I've been waiting for this and so so excited.
Starting point is 00:08:36 And Jason kind of already tipped it maybe. Today? Today already. Yeah, he already tipped who this might be or who this is. Okay, so I'm going to guess this real fast. My guest today grew up in Oldham, England, the son of two bank employees. In high school, he got a D in math, but then in college went on to graduate with honors in physics, earn a PhD, and work on the largest science experiment ever built.
Starting point is 00:08:59 Before all that, he played keyboards in a band that hit number one with a song that became the soundtrack to a British Prime Minister's election victory. He's broken the Guinness World Record for Biggest-selling Science Show four times in a row. It's the wonderful, brilliant physicist and professor, Jay, Brian Cox No Yes Brian Cox
Starting point is 00:09:19 No way The other one Hello Isn't that crazy It's the other one It's we Brian Cox Yeah Oh Brian I've watched so many of your videos
Starting point is 00:09:30 And you've confused me so much And also I can't wait to ask you everything I literally wrote I have over 60 questions Wow Really? Yeah
Starting point is 00:09:39 No way But we'll get to like four It's very good First of all Brian I'm sorry that we've lowered the bar here for you that you have to come and join us today so let me just say that right from the get-go what is your what is your area of expertise in science so it's a particle physics and cosmology particle physics and any question about the universe as a whole yeah any question about the universe
Starting point is 00:10:02 so should i should i give him the mirror question and see if he can give me an answer on that not yet no hold it hold it yeah we would jason was once we once had another episode where jason was confused about light travel The podcast, yeah. And I forget, oh, no, it was time travel. It was time travel. Anyway. Time travel.
Starting point is 00:10:20 We can do that. Anyway, yeah. Thanks for doing this. I know you're very busy. And like Will said, thanks for dumbing it for a day. That's a huge pleasure. I'm a huge fan. So, thank you, nice.
Starting point is 00:10:30 I am Starstruck. Brian, I honestly don't know where to start. I'm so like, exactly. You start with a pond there with Starstruck. I did. I did start with that point. So wait, before I start in everything, because then I'm, because this will launch us into what I want to talk about.
Starting point is 00:10:43 So first of all, did you really get a D in math and if that's true, what made you continue to explore interest in the thing that you weren't doing well in? I did get a D in math, and the reason was that, so I, as you said, grew up in Manchester, and New Order were doing a gig at the Hassee.
Starting point is 00:11:01 Wait, that's one of my favorite bands of all time. Yeah, so they were at the Hesienda the night before my math A-level. And I thought, well, it's more important to go and see New Order at the Hacienda because I thought it was going to be a musician, as you said. I thought,
Starting point is 00:11:13 and they're going to be a rock star. This stuff doesn't matter. So I went to see New Order instead and got a deep in Mad. I love that. I've never been to Manchester, but so many of my favorite bands are from there. And even I know about Hacienda as just this, yeah. Yeah, this mythical place to go and see all those great bands back in the Oasis,
Starting point is 00:11:34 as you say, New Order, the Smiths, everybody, right? Like that's just stone roses. Yeah, yeah. Wow. Yeah. And then, and actually the, so Peter Saville, who's the great designer who designed the Hacienda, and he designed a Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures album cover,
Starting point is 00:11:49 New Orders album covers. So he designed the T-shirts for my tour. You mentioned that I do these live shows. He designed the T-shirts. You guys, they're stadium shows. I mean, I can't wait to go to one. He's, yeah. We're in L.A. actually, next year.
Starting point is 00:12:03 Really? It'll be theater, I think. I'm going. Wow. Yeah. So Peter, he's famous for not putting the name or whatever on the album cover. you know, very famously, the Blue Monday 12-inch,
Starting point is 00:12:16 so it cost more to produce than it sold for, you know, and lost the money. So he did the T-shirts, and he just wrote, Existence, What Does It Matter? So that's the T-shirt. Whoa. So it doesn't say me. So if you'd like me to answer that, I'm welcome.
Starting point is 00:12:31 Yeah, yeah. So, Brian, what happens at your stadium shows? What do you do? They're basically big LED screens as much as we can get in. So, you know, 100 foot across kind of. LED. And the current show, I just got back yesterday, actually, from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, where we'd done some shows. And I basically start with the beginning of science. I talk about life in the universe, the origin of the universe, the evolution of the universe,
Starting point is 00:13:01 and the future of the universe, and discuss the Fermi paradox, the great silence. Pretty much everything, actually, and the meaning of existence. Oh, my God, I want it all. I know. That's my idea. Yeah. No. Let me just ask you right off the bat, why? Why is there a universe or why do the show? Yeah, well, you can start there. We can start there.
Starting point is 00:13:24 Simply why. It's a good question, right? So we don't even know if the universe had a beginning. But what about the Big Bang theory? So we know there was a Big Bang, which is that we know that the universe was hot and dense 13.8 billion years ago. Yeah. But whether that was an origin in time or whether that was something that happened in a pre-existing universe that could be eternal, we don't know. We don't even know what time is, actually.
Starting point is 00:13:57 Right. So it's very difficult to speak about a beginning. So the answer, the question why, well, it's a question to you really. Does that, if the universe is infinite and has always existed, is it possible to ask the question why? Yeah, yeah. We got to take a break. Brian, Brian, sorry, I just got to go empty my brain. But also the concept of like, what is the universe in?
Starting point is 00:14:23 You just can keep going back, back, back and back. At some point, you need to find something that contains all of it. And what is that boundary? There isn't anything. Jason, I would suspect, J.B., though, that that's something that we think that it needs to contain, that we can't possibly conceive of the idea of it not being contained. Because we want to form,
Starting point is 00:14:45 our brains want to make a formality. There are boundaries to everything, yeah. Yeah, because according to Einstein, it's space, time, so space and time, they don't exist in anything. You know, there isn't like a container that contains, it's like saying space, right? So like the room that you're in,
Starting point is 00:15:04 you don't imagine there must be a container that contains space. Yeah, yeah. But time definitely exists, Because we can all agree that this interview started in the past and the end of the interview is going to exist in the future. And so, sort of by definition, that contains time there, right? That's good.
Starting point is 00:15:25 It's one of the deep questions, actually. So there are ideas now from the study of black holes that suggest that space and time emerge from something deeper. So we're even starting to talk about building blocks of space and time. It's an emerge by, it means something like... Well, talk about the arrow of time. Hang on, hang on, what does that mean the building by... So what is that coming from?
Starting point is 00:15:50 Well, if you think of emerge... An example of something that emerges is consciousness, right? So we say, well, consciousness. It emerges from all these atoms in a particular pattern that's your head or your brain. And in the same way, people are beginning to speculate that space and time emerge from something,
Starting point is 00:16:12 some kind of building blocks. And we don't really know what they, well, we don't know what they are. But until we know that, it's difficult to talk about a beginning. Because you're right, Jason, that when you say time, then you're right,
Starting point is 00:16:28 that container is a good picture, isn't it? If you have a beginning and an end, it's that contains everything or brackets it. But we don't know that. But we also like, we know that stuff, happened, right?
Starting point is 00:16:41 Like I could go upstairs and I shut this door and I know that that happened a couple of minutes ago that I shut this door because it's shut, right? I have... But at the same time, I remember saying to somebody, you know, sort of trying to understand the conception of just now that we actually
Starting point is 00:16:57 potentially only have this moment that we're in. And I used to always say, you know, try to go and buy a lotto ticket, winning a lot of ticket from yesterday. You can't. Right? It's already happened. And therefore, in a lot of sense, it does not exist. It doesn't exist anywhere yesterday, right?
Starting point is 00:17:16 Do you know, so Einstein's picture, so relativity, back from 1905 and 1915, there's this idea called the Block Universe, which means that every moment is still there. It's like a map. So you could imagine drawing a map of the world now. So I could leave London and come and fly to Los Angeles. you wouldn't say that London has gone. You'd say somewhere. So in this case, in Einstein's picture,
Starting point is 00:17:48 all those moments, all your memories, all your past and your future exist somewhere in space time. And you just travel over the map. That's an idea called the Block Universe. But that sort of reminds me of like this. I'm on the wrong, gummy. That makes me think of that, the concept that I still can't sort of get my head around
Starting point is 00:18:09 is, you know, since we've all seen these pictures with these new powered telescopes where we have images of what that first separation was of the Big Bang, right? So that is, we are looking into the past there because presumably the Big Bang is what started, all those rocks came out of there and one of those rocks is the planet Earth, right?
Starting point is 00:18:36 So everything that we know is our, on that one rock. So everything that has happened since that rock was born is, so if we can already look back to when that rock happened, we've already looked way, way, way back. So we figure if we have a less powerful telescope, we can see less back in the past.
Starting point is 00:18:58 And we could see like eventually, if you had a really weak telescope, you could see yesterday. Like we already have a telescope that can see the beginning of time as far as Earth goes. So all of that, time, that's what I was trying to get at with that other scientists that we were talking about.
Starting point is 00:19:13 If we can already see back to the beginning of when the Earth started, then we should be able to see like four or five years ago, right? So the way to think about it, what's happening is, so light travels one foot per nanosecond. Or 186,000 miles per second? Yeah, is that right? It's one foot per nanosecond. So if you're now one foot away from your... computer screen, let's say,
Starting point is 00:19:41 then you're seeing it one nanosecond in the past. Right. Exactly. So it's in that sense that if you look at a galaxy, the most distance one we've seen at the moment is called Mom Z-14, M-O-M-Z-14. That's cute. And the light travel time
Starting point is 00:19:57 from that is 13 and a half billion years. Right. So you're seeing it as it was 13 and a half billion years ago. But that's just in the same sense. Yeah, it would be easier to see. Yeah. Well, like the heat we're feeling from the sun left the sun seven minutes ago. That's how long.
Starting point is 00:20:14 Eight minutes, yeah. So it's been traveling at 186,000 miles per second for eight minutes, and now it's finally hitting your cheek and you're feeling it. Yeah, so you're seeing the sun as it was eight minutes. You're looking in the past. So shouldn't we be able to see if we really dialed in our telescopes just right? We should be able to see what we were doing last week if you had that mirror up there. J.B. I tell you something, Brian,
Starting point is 00:20:40 J.B. has been hung up on this for five years, and you are going to answer him to his satisfaction. No, you're right. If you put a mirror where the sun is, then I guess you're right. You'd see a reflection of the earth as it was 16 minutes ago. Thanks for joining us today. Holy shit is right. That's the end of the interview.
Starting point is 00:21:00 He did it. He did it. He did it. Brian, thanks for being here. Jay, you've got to go on tour with Brian. I think the flaw in my math, though, is that it takes seven minutes, if we're doing the sun, it takes seven minutes to come down to our eye and seven minutes to go back up to the mirror. So we really could never catch up to seeing the past perfectly, I guess. I don't know. Well, you see, it's just in that sense that it's in exactly the same way that you're seeing your computer screen in the past.
Starting point is 00:21:26 Yeah. But it's only a nanosecond. Okay, we're going to move on from time. All right. Boy, I wish we'd go back in time and gather all that back. You know what I mean? J.B. is going to, until the day you die, it's going to be on your tombstone.
Starting point is 00:21:40 So if you had mirrors. I'm just going to take with me, Jason, you're right. He is right. That's what I'm going to take from this. Yeah, by the way. He is right. He is right. He is right.
Starting point is 00:21:49 So can I talk about, go away from the cosmos first? I can talk about science for just a bit. And you may not know these things, but I wrote them down because I wanted to ask you. So at preparing for you coming on, first of all, I'm so excited because I've wanted me for a long time. So this is a thought I had.
Starting point is 00:22:05 This is bizarre, and it's going to take a minute to get to my question. I'm sure I'm saying it wrong, but we started with symbols, drawings, hieroglyphics, right? And then language and writing, probably because it was faster than drawing everything. And then phones and texting. And then we got tired of typing full words and went back to shorthand and emojis. Are we kind of like weirdly heading back towards symbols just at a much faster speed? Does that mean the endpoint of all of this is like telephalipel? but the AI or some device where what we mean before we have to say it or type it,
Starting point is 00:22:38 people will understand. What is your opinion on that? Like vibe and all that stuff. Yeah. That is a legitimate form of communication. I feel like animals have that. Yeah. You know, like, they can start like, you know, you see how like those dogs,
Starting point is 00:22:52 they kind of like their nose to nose. And they don't say anything like, fuck you, fuck you. And then they start snapping into other. It's just like a vibe. And then they're communicating, you know, before. I feel like they know how to talk without speaking. That's what I'm saying. Thoughts on vibe.
Starting point is 00:23:08 Thoughts on vibe. I have absolutely no idea what that question means. Okay, fine. That's fine. What about like a flock of birds? A flock of birds. All these birds, they turn at exactly the same time. They're all corny.
Starting point is 00:23:22 There's no like signal. All right. Ready, one, two, three. Everybody go left. Left. No, I feel like they know how to talk without speaking. Right. But that might be out of your thing, Brian.
Starting point is 00:23:31 I just didn't know if you knew about like medical stuff. and like AI stuff. What about, show them your rash, Sean. We'll be right back. And now, back to the show. Let's talk about simulation theory, okay? Because that's fascinating to me. Well, is it real?
Starting point is 00:23:54 Meaning, like, are we living in a simulation? Is any of this real? Because if tomorrow we discover the universe was a simulation, what would be the first clue? And would anything look fake? But I've always heard talk about that and I've never really understood
Starting point is 00:24:07 what it means. Like there's somebody like watching up a mission control that this is all just sort of like a gag. Let's see what Brian says. Yeah, we did a radio show on this a few years ago now. And there's a guy called Nick Bostrom who thinks about this quite a lot in Cambridge.
Starting point is 00:24:23 And he managed to convince everybody that we probably were living in a simulation. The basic idea is just if you think about how computers are at the moment and how powerful they are and virtual reality and all those things. The question ultimately is, in principle, if you can imagine the most powerful computer,
Starting point is 00:24:41 even if it's a computer that we could only build in 100 years or a thousand years time, is it possible in principle for the simulation to be so good that you would not notice? That's the basic idea. And although it sounds completely mad, it turns out it's quite difficult to try to form an argument that says that we're not in the simulation. I don't think we are, but I was convinced after the end of the radio show that that was just me saying, I don't think that we are,
Starting point is 00:25:15 without any logical argument. I mean, yeah. How did that theory come about then? What evidence was presented? I mean, that's the thing. There isn't any evidence. It's just the idea that if you can you imagine, even simulating your experience, your experience,
Starting point is 00:25:35 your conscious experiment. She's mentioned in AI. So AI is getting very powerful now. Then there's debate about whether those things are actually conscious or whether they could be conscious or whether they could be considered living things. The idea is that if a computer can run a simulation of reality, it's so perfect that it even has, you know,
Starting point is 00:25:59 things that operate like human brains or AI's in it. I mean, think of an AI, for example, actually. You think of an AI, it's running all over the computer somewhere. But if it becomes conscious and intelligent, and we don't know whether they can, but if it did, then it's in a computer. Right. It is, so the question really is, are we that, I guess, basically, are we one of those? Well, it kind of goes to the issue of like, you know, is there a formula to a thought? Like is there is there a mathematical equation to an idea?
Starting point is 00:26:36 In other words, in your brain, you know, it's not like a series. It's not like a combination. Like in a computer, it's a combination of zeros and ones, right? In your, like that's literally like numbers and the combination of those and all the coding of that. Please say vibe. And in your brain, there obviously aren't numbers in there, but it's like a series of electronic impulses and a combination of all that and some blood and all that give you an idea to, you know, for me to ask this question. I like got the idea and then I then I spoke it. I don't think they figured out what that mathematical formula is for that idea to ask a question or that idea to walk outside or
Starting point is 00:27:15 that they're all different equations that give you different ideas. And as soon as they figure out what that, what that equation is, then perhaps that like in other words, how do they give AI consciousness, how does it become thinking on its own instead of just dealing with prompts? Have you heard of Alan Turing? Yes, of course.
Starting point is 00:27:38 So Alan Turing had an idea called a Turing machine, a universal Turing machine. And that was basically the idea that all computers that have some kind of basic functionality are equivalent to each other. So that they can
Starting point is 00:27:56 all do the same thing. So even this thing that he imagined with a little paper tape going through sort of this 1930s kind of picture of what a computer might be, could, if given enough time, do everything that the computer on our desktops can do now, or everything that all the computers that are running all the AIs and chat GBT and everything in the world, they're all equivalent to each other. And so the question just becomes, is our brain a universal touring machine? and many people think it is and a few people think it isn't I would say most people think it is
Starting point is 00:28:27 so all you're saying really is that a sufficiently powerful computer could do precisely what you are doing now in fact that's the idea but we are informed by and JB this kind of goes to it too part of what you
Starting point is 00:28:41 inspired you to ask a question for instance and as the example was informed by years of your living on this planet, years of trauma, exhilaration, sadness, joy, all those things, emotion. A lot of trauma and a lot of sadness. I know.
Starting point is 00:29:01 And so, right. And then that becomes the question, like, how, those are the things that, that's the information on an emotional level that potentially maybe AI could have, but can a computer ever understand those, you know, the compounding, not just those emotions, but the compounding of them in various ways. The piling on, the stripping off, all of that stuff forms the basis of who you are and why you woke up the way you did today. Yes, but if you think about your brain, what is it?
Starting point is 00:29:36 Then it's just a collection of atoms, which is a remarkable thing to say, actually. Going back to what we were talking about earlier, the origin of the universe, the end point billion years ago, there's just hydrogen and helium and the generations of stars and they build carbon and oxygen. And those atoms have come together in a pattern, temporary pattern, which is you and me. But if your brain is just that,
Starting point is 00:30:02 and I would say it is, right? So it's just a collection of atoms, a very complex collection. Then the idea is that it's I can't conceive of anything it could be other than a computer. It's got a lot of data in it. You're talking about your memories there in there.
Starting point is 00:30:18 And it's processing them. So I don't see, if you want to, if anyone wants to say, well, there's a real fundamental difference, you have to say what it is. And I don't see that anything it could be. It's a load of atoms in a remarkable pattern. Yeah. What are you most excited for AI to possibly accomplish? Is there one thing you really have your fingers crossed on? I mean, it's, it's, there are enormous questions in science. We talked about one, the origin of the universe. There's what happens inside a black hole. We don't know about that. There are all the questions that you mentioned about biology, the way the human brain works. To me, if AI can be powerful enough to answer those questions, if it can be
Starting point is 00:31:10 like not only a single Einstein or Stephen Hawking, but it can be a thousand Einstein's, which is not beyond the realm of possibility. We could get answers to the... But it's limited to all of the questions we've already answered, right? You upload all of those answers and then its ability to kind of merge and combine all of those answers to maybe formulate a new answer to a question we haven't even asked yet. That's a possibility, right?
Starting point is 00:31:39 I read the other day, I can't remember who said it, but I said, imagine that you could restrict it. So it only knew stuff to, let's say, 1904, right? So it only knew the whole data. The only data it could have is to 1904. Would it invent Einstein's theory of relativity? Interesting. She published in 1905.
Starting point is 00:32:00 That is an experiment you could actually do. Would it be able to predict all of this since 1904, even in a bigger sense? That's a question about free will, isn't it? another day. Yeah, exactly. Brian, what was the, as you started, as you began your sort of study
Starting point is 00:32:18 and got into your field, was there, when you were a younger man, was there one big question or idea that really captured your imagination that took you in this direction? Was there one thought? Do you remember having a moment like that?
Starting point is 00:32:34 Yeah, one of them, and I still have it, the question, is, is their life beyond earth in the soul? system? Yeah. Is there life beyond Earth in the Milky Way galaxy? Uh-huh.
Starting point is 00:32:47 I hesitate to say the universe because there are two trillion galaxies in the observable universe, each with hundreds of billions of stars. And so it's kind of... Observable is the key there. Sorry, sorry. Yeah. It's a good... I was careful with my language because we don't know whether it's infinite.
Starting point is 00:33:06 And a lot of people don't... A lot of people don't know that when you say galaxies, right, is... So the Milky Way is a galaxy, and in the galaxy is our solar system, and how many solar system in each galaxy-ish? Yeah, so the Milky Way, 400 billion stars, so 400,000 million suns, just in our one galaxy. I mean, it's mind-law. Yeah, in our island is stars.
Starting point is 00:33:28 Right, so we look up in the sky, those little white dots up there, each one of those is a sun, right? Those are stars, that's a sun, right? Yeah. They're not planets. Well, they could be planets, yeah, because they give off light. actually think that virtually all of them will have planets, which is a beautiful thing in itself, actually. The other answer to your question was that it was astronomy that really captured
Starting point is 00:33:51 my imagination. And when you think about it, when I was growing up in the 70s, we haven't discovered any planets beyond the solar system, beyond our solar system. In the starting in the 1990s, we're discovering them. So what that means is you go outside tonight when you've listened to this and you look at the night sky and if you see the stars, all of them will have planets around them. So solar systems, every one of those points are light. And that's one of the things that I think is so the most beautiful thing about astronomy is then your imagination can wander. You can look at any of those points of light and say what do those worlds look like? Are they ocean world? Right. But sometimes they say when you look up in the sky, one of the white dots is like
Starting point is 00:34:33 Jupiter or Mars sometimes has like a little, but they look exactly like all the other little white dots which are suns as well, right? Like our sun is a star. The Earth is not a star, correct? The Earth is a planet. But I wonder, like, so then planets. Why do we call them stars? Yeah, but why do they look white as well?
Starting point is 00:34:54 Because they're not emitting light. So it's a good question. I think that also influences also diminish stars too because there used to be real stars and now it's just... Right, legitimate stars. Legitimate stars. The big movie stars. Sorry.
Starting point is 00:35:08 So, yeah, the planets, solar system you're right so you can see Jupiter Venus is often very bright in the morning or evening sky you'll see Mars Saturn um so those are just reflecting the light of the sun okay so that's why you see them they don't emit their own light but they but they often look like exactly like like like like other suns slash stars yeah although you know you get a really small telescope or and you look at them and then you will see even with a small telescope you'll see the clouds of Jupiter, you'll see the rings of Saturn with a small telescope. So they're nearby and they're just reflecting the sun's light.
Starting point is 00:35:44 We are every other thing that isn't a planet, every other point of light. So the overwhelming majority of them are the stars. By the way, I had, maybe I talked about this once, I had somebody say to me once, trying to understand the infinite or the vastness of the universe and the potential infinite nature of it. He said, imagine a library. And in that library was a book on every imaginable subject, right? Even a book about me describing this on this podcast, a book about your thinking about me talking,
Starting point is 00:36:24 asking this question on this podcast, every possible subject, right, about my relationship to the door that I talked about closing and in books. And then imagine libraries, right, that like that, stacked in every direction going off forever. And I was like, fuck, man,
Starting point is 00:36:44 that blew my brain out. Well, what was that? I can't even imagine, as Sean said, a single galaxy, the Milky Way. I mean, 400,000 million stars. It takes light 100,000 years to cross the Milky Way.
Starting point is 00:36:59 It's not possible to imagine. It takes light 100,000 years. Light years. Light years to cross the Milky Way. 100,000 years. Yeah. Traveling at that speed. At the speed of light.
Starting point is 00:37:12 And that's just one galaxy. Yeah. So I have... Guys, I'm out. No, that's it for me. If there's this... You know, we talk about the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, right?
Starting point is 00:37:26 Wow. And that's swallowing up everything, right? Everything is going in it. So why... No, it's just, everything's just going around it. Oh, around it. It's not sucking it in. Don't black holes suck it all in?
Starting point is 00:37:37 No, if you turn the sun into a black hole. Yeah. Now, by the way, it would be only about two miles in radius if you did that. So it'd be really small. But everything just carries on going around. So the earth would just carry on going around the black hole. Oh, I thought black holes suck everything like the light and everything around it. Okay.
Starting point is 00:37:59 So I'm going to do like, I'm going to do what is it called, rapid fire, right? Right. Will we ever figure out how to travel faster than light? Or is that just, no? No. Okay. I'm going to confidently say no. Really?
Starting point is 00:38:14 Will we ever be able to travel at the speed of light? No. So as far as we know, this is Einstein. It's been known for 100 years. You can't travel. If you've got any mass at all, unless you're light, which has no mass. You can get really as close as you want to the speed of light, but you can't travel at it or faster than it.
Starting point is 00:38:41 And that's as far as we know. But we can travel faster than the speed of sound. We've done that. So I wonder then what is the limit of the speed that the body can travel at? I mean, like, will our matter start to break up? Because all of our atoms somehow stay together. I wonder if you travel at too many Gs or whatever, does the skin start to fall apart?
Starting point is 00:39:09 This is a great question. So there's two things. There's acceleration. There's acceleration. You said G's, you know, and that's right. You know, anyone who's, if anyone's been lucky enough to be in a fighter plane or something like that and gone at 7G or 8G, you know, it hurts. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:27 So that's acceleration. But speed, you can travel at any speed that you want. And a good example, this is what, so the example is if you're on a plane, right? If you're on an aircraft, it feels like you're not moving. Right.
Starting point is 00:39:41 So it might be going at 500 miles an hour or whatever it is, but you can't tell. And we're all traveling at about 1,000 miles an hour anyway because the planet is spinning at about 1,000 miles an hour, right? Is that what it is? Yeah. It's 24 hours to make a full rotation, and it's about a 25,000 mile around Earth.
Starting point is 00:39:59 What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning right now? We'd hit the wall. Yeah, because you'd accelerate. It would be the end of everything, right? Well, if it just stopped, if it slowed down gradually, then you'd be stuck in night or day or whatever it is. Right. But you wouldn't, if it just suddenly stopped,
Starting point is 00:40:23 then we'd, yeah, we'd accelerate and you'd get thrown against the wall. So we're spinning, let's say we're spinning from left to right a thousand miles an hour, and if you get on a plane and the plane only goes 500 miles an hour, and you're also going left to right on the plane, in theory, you'd never reach your destination. In fact, the earth would be spinning twice the speed that you're traveling, so your destination would actually come up behind you, and then you just sort of settle back down again, you'd finally get there. But the reason that we're all sort of traveling at the, you feel the 500 miles an hour,
Starting point is 00:40:56 you get progress in the traveling that direction is because everything within three miles, right, Isn't it that the atmospheric sort of bubble around the earth, that as long as you stay only three miles off the planet, no higher than that, you're traveling in relatively the same speed. And that's what enables our spacecrafts to whatever speed they're traveling when they leave that atmosphere, they can shut off their engines and maintain that speed because there's no gravity up there.
Starting point is 00:41:22 Is that right? No, there's gravity. There's no air. So there's no friction. Oh, right. So they just carry on going at whatever speed. they're going at. And they don't run out of fuel.
Starting point is 00:41:32 There's loads of gravity. Right. And Superman used to go again. He'd go the opposite way. Remember? He made the Earth turn the other way. Well, he'd go back in time. Yeah, they got that wrong.
Starting point is 00:41:43 Yeah, they got that wrong in the comic book? It's not a documentary. Wait a second. Oh, wow. Wait a second. Okay, so what, okay, wait, I got it. So wait, oh, we talked about the universe expanding. my mind. I read this like, if
Starting point is 00:42:02 the universe is expanding at this incredible speed very, very, very far in the future, will it be probably it'll probably be a real fact that who's ever living on a planet like Earth we won't be able to see anything else so we won't even know anything else exists
Starting point is 00:42:18 will just see darkness. Yeah, that's right. So all the galaxies beyond... We'll be so far apart that we won't even be able to see them. Wait, because of why? Because the universe is still expanding. It's expanding and expanding faster and faster. Well, why won't our stars stay with us as we're expanding? Because they're moving away from us.
Starting point is 00:42:38 But why aren't the stars expanding, why aren't they in the same expansion as the planets are? That's a great question as well. That's four. You are doing well. Jeez. That's four. It's the distant galaxies that go away.
Starting point is 00:42:53 So they disappear beyond what's called the horizon. It's amazing. But the gravity in our galaxy keeps our galaxy together. So we don't think the universe is going to expand in such a way that rips everything apart. It could do that there are ideas where it could do in the real distant future.
Starting point is 00:43:12 But we don't think that's what's happening. Okay, so aliens. First you said that they might, you used to be a believer, and now you're not so much. Is that fair to say? No, I can't believe it took you this long to get to aliens. If I'm being honest. I have 12 questions on aliens.
Starting point is 00:43:28 It depends what you mean, right? Because we're looking for and getting, we haven't got absolute evidence yet, but we're getting more and more circumstantial evidence that there might be life on Mars. Right, microbes, though, microbes. Yeah, but what about, I thought you were going to say all the photo and video evidence that's come from.
Starting point is 00:43:45 Oh, no, no, no, no, I'll get to that. But so microbes, I would not be surprised if they're on Mars, if they're on Jupiter's moon, or Opa, places where there are oceans in the solar system, and there's several moons where we think there are oceans below the surface. So that'd be microbes. Complex life. So I'll give you one idea that if you look at the history of life on Earth, then we know that life began around 3.8 to 4 billion years ago. So it's pretty much as soon as the Earth had formed, then you see microbes on it. Let's say
Starting point is 00:44:19 4 billion years ago. But you see nothing more complex than a single cell back beyond about a billion years ago. So three billion years of the four billion years of life on Earth was single cells, just slime, basically. It's only the last sort of little four. Three, for the first three billion years. That's how long it took for us to get where we are. So it took four billion years to go from the origin of life to us on this planet, that which is one third of the age of the entire universe. So many people, and I would put myself in this camp, if you had said guess how many civilizations are there in a galaxy like the Milky Way, I'd say, on average, less than one, which is a guess.
Starting point is 00:45:08 But it's a guess based on what the only observation that we have. We've got two observations, right? One is we haven't seen anything. So an astronomer's called that the Great Silence, and we could talk about that. It's kind of a surprise. I'll talk about that in a sec. But so that's one observation. And the other one is it took four billion years for us to evolve.
Starting point is 00:45:28 Right. Now, many stars don't live for four billion years. So what we're saying is this little planet, Earth, remained safe and stable enough to support an unbroken chain of life for one third of the age of the universe, which is what it took to produce us. Wow. And when you do it like that, even though there are hundreds of billions of place, planets in the Milky Way galaxy. But I often say that people say, well, surely there must be
Starting point is 00:45:57 loads of civilizations, but a very big number multiplied by a very small number, which is the chances that things are, is not necessarily a big number, right? A really big number multiplied by a really small number can actually be a really small number. So that's the first thing. The other thing I would say that the other bit of evidence that I'm really persuaded by is something call the Fermi paradox. Yeah, what is that? Which is that imagine, so we've seen that today as we're speaking, right, SpaceX have just done their thing on the stock market and all those things.
Starting point is 00:46:32 And so, you know, we're building rockets. We have two spacecraft that are in interstellar space that we're still in touch with, the voyages spacecraft after 50 years in space. Yeah, are we still getting information from that? We are, yeah. And they're in interstellar space. So in about, most people would say modern science, has been around for about 400 years, right, give our take, from Galileo and people like that.
Starting point is 00:46:55 So in 400 years, we've gone from basically inventing modern science to building interstellar spacecraft. So imagine what we would look like in the Milky Way galaxy if you let us have another thousand years. Or actually, let us have another million years at this rate of progress. We haven't been around our species for that long, but give us another million years. Imagine what we would look like. Surely we would have gone out to the stars and anyone, else in the Milky Way galaxy would see us. We'd have written the evidence of our existence across
Starting point is 00:47:25 the sky. But we've seen no evidence that any civilization has done that in the 13 billion year history of the Milky Way galaxy. So that's the Fermi paradox. But what if those folks out there don't look like us and in fact have figured out a way to separate themselves into such small matter and are able to travel in that small matter such that we can't see it in the same way that all the information on your phone is traveling in and around us, we can't see it.
Starting point is 00:48:02 Like that incoming phone call that's coming to your phone right now? On the satellite? No, no, just like if you called me right now, whatever those little particles are that lights up my phone and makes it go ring, ring, ring, I don't see that traveling
Starting point is 00:48:14 and I don't see it going into my phone. And so, like, maybe they figured out how to just, like, be, really tiny and come back together and form a body with those almond eyes when they want to. But at other times, they're just, they're zapping around as quick and as, yeah. J.B. J.B., didn't we talk to that guy, that idea of them living, what we were considered to be. That was his suggestion. His suggestion is that they do exist. They are, they are here. They just exist in a space that we can't see, much like your radio frequencies.
Starting point is 00:48:46 But even, even, it's a, it's a very good point. And it could be. Let's just really simply Imagine that the little spaceships are as big as their phone Like you said, it could be That they've got little spaceships all over the place They're as big as a phone They're orbiting around the earth We wouldn't see them
Starting point is 00:49:03 That is a possibility Right There are ways out of the Fermi paradox All we can say Is that we've kind of looked We have this thing called SETI The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence And we use radio telescopes
Starting point is 00:49:15 And we have a look We haven't seen anything We haven't heard As soon as he said SETI, I thought you got real close. Oh, my God. He started when he said hot and dense at the start of the show because it reminded him of his first boyfriend. Setti almost finished you off.
Starting point is 00:49:35 We've done black holes as well. Yeah, black holes. Oh, please don't. I got the blood flowing. And we will be right back. And now back to the show. But I will say this, Brian. And I saw this, not to bring it up, I saw this, you know, this,
Starting point is 00:49:57 I don't know if you guys have ever listened to the telepathy tapes. There's a wonderful podcast that talks about these nonverbal people who are able to seemingly, seemingly communicate with each other hundreds and if not a thousand miles away from each other in ways that are very sort of provable. And I've since seen a cut of this documentary that is absolutely stunning. that actually shows that and that they are able to communicate in a way that we can't understand
Starting point is 00:50:30 not even like that we can't comprehend meaning that with all of our reason we can't seem to accept that they're able to do this and so people say no it's bullshit and yet they are communicating and that's what I meant about this other dimension Brian that potentially exists
Starting point is 00:50:47 that we don't appreciate there is an argument against that is, if I did it, about 30 seconds, is that the particles out of which we are made. So each of us, we're only made out of three things, actually. Two things, an up quarks, down quarks and electrons. Yeah. Donuts. So three particles.
Starting point is 00:51:10 And we understand in massive detail how they interact with each other, how they, the forces of nature that stick them together. We try, we look for other forces of nature. I worked at the Large Adron Collider at CERN in Geneva. It's a 27, well, 16 miles circumference thing. I want to talk about that. We're looking for anything that's a different, a new force of nature, new particles. And we haven't seen anything. So what most scientists would say in response is that we understand perfectly how particles
Starting point is 00:51:47 interact, how the particles that make of our bodies. in the conditions that we find ourselves, which are these conditions here on Earth. So I think your use of the word seemingly was excellent. Right. I like that. That was the correct hedge. And so you don't think it's possible that humans are aliens from another world,
Starting point is 00:52:11 that whole theory? It is, that's called panspermia? Is that another one? Yeah, yeah. Penspermia. I'm going to set you answer as well. So there is... Penspermia.
Starting point is 00:52:23 So there is an idea that, you know, we know that there are Martian meteorites on Earth, for example. There are bits of Mars that have fallen on Earth, bits of Earth will have fallen on Mars. So there are people who thought, well, could it be that life began on Mars and then got transferred to Earth on a meteorite or something? Most...
Starting point is 00:52:43 We don't think that. We've got no evidence for that, but it's not absolutely impossible. So, yeah, So it's possible that we're Martians. It's unlikely. And did you see the movie? You saw the movie Contact, right?
Starting point is 00:52:56 I love it. Carl Sagan is one of my... That's another answer to Will's question about why I got into science. One of them is Carl Sagan's cosmos. So if you remember... Remember with Jody Foster? So in the movie, they're interviewing...
Starting point is 00:53:13 Remember? They're interviewing. they're interviewing scientists about what's the one question they are going to ask these alien beings when they get there and what would be the question you would ask Does planet Earth make me look fat?
Starting point is 00:53:36 Right. Like what would you want to know? I... The first thing is I'd be relieved that there were any aliens. I'd really say thank God for that because I'm very
Starting point is 00:53:51 I'm worried that imagine you go back to what we said earlier if we're the only intelligent life for thousands or millions of light years in every direction let's say in the Milky Way galaxy if we are
Starting point is 00:54:05 imagine the responsibility that we have so I would be pretty relieved if somebody else also had that responsibility to carry the torch for intelligence and therefore meaning in the galaxy Right, right, right, right. So I'd say, I'm relieved about this. You'd take a vacation, and you'd immediately go on holidays where you're saying.
Starting point is 00:54:23 Well, you'd say, yeah, we can just relax. And then, but I'd like to know how they got through these problems that we have. You know, at the moment we, you know, we talk about AI, and we talk about the threat, and we've still got nuclear weapons and those things. So we've got all these problems to navigate before we make it to the stars. So I actually would say, how did you not blow yourselves up? How did you not mess it? up before you became an interstellar civilization.
Starting point is 00:54:50 That's a good question, yeah. It is amazing that if we are made of just what those three elements. So it's all sort of science and various combinations and recipes of all these little elements in the atmosphere that made this intelligent life form. It's amazing that nowhere else in the entire universe has a combination of various elements come together to create another sort of living, breathing, thinking thing that might not look like us. Because it seems somewhat arbitrary that just, you know, based on like just sort of cooking
Starting point is 00:55:25 and a recipe that those little three elements came together and out of the slime, out of the algae over the years of evolution, we became like that that didn't come together and in some other forms somewhere else too. Oh, yeah. I agree with you. I'm sure even in the universe we can see with those two trillion galaxies in it. I'm sure it's happened, you know, out there. Right, right, right.
Starting point is 00:55:48 The question really is how far do we have to go to see another world where it happened? And you're right, what you said, actually, you could turn it around. Because you're right, is these three particles. And over 13 and a half billion years, that somehow these particles have got together in a pattern that can have a conversation. that's quite a big ask you put it like that so that's the other way to look at it you talked about you
Starting point is 00:56:22 I only have a few minutes left of your time and God bless you for hanging in there with us I love it I could chat to you I love it too I seriously could talk to you for hours let me see what's a scientific fact
Starting point is 00:56:38 you know is true but still find impossible to emotionally process Oh, there's almost all of it, you know, we've talked about a lot of it. I mean, just that idea, as we said earlier, the billions of stars. But also, you know, I got a friend who's a physicist who I work with a lot of the university at Manchester. And he said to me, the most incredible thing of all is that anything exists. Right. So ultimately, it's the fact that, I mean, it's obviously an age-old philosophical question.
Starting point is 00:57:11 Right. But it astonishes me that anything exists. It really astonished me what Jason said a few minutes ago, that these little particles have managed to get together into patterns that can have conversations and bring meaning to the universe in a very real sense. That amazes me as well. How do you keep from getting, like if I was in your line of work, which is basically probing for answers to questions,
Starting point is 00:57:34 I personally would have sort of this looming sort of angst and potential depression, that I know I'm in a field that I'm never, ever going to know the answers to all of it. And it's just like somebody who, like, specializes in the afterlife. Well, you're never going to really know what happens until after you die. And then it's too late to come back and let us all know. That is my next question, I swear to God.
Starting point is 00:58:01 It's the key that is the key to science this. So, you know, at the end of my live show, actually, I say that what's the key? what's a progress. So first of all, progress, you have to admit, you have to admit that you don't know things by definition, right? You can't make progress if you think you know everything. So people who think they know everything are going to be a barrier to progress, right, first. But secondly, I say, we have to stand on the edge of the known and look out into the unknown, not with fear, but with delight and excitement. Because it's the delight and excitement of not knowing.
Starting point is 00:58:41 That's the key to science. So you turn it around and you're excited about looking out into the darkness because of the things that you might find, the treasure that's buried somewhere in the darkness. And you get comfortable with the fact that you'll never reach the end of that line of questions. Yeah, because then it would be, in some ways, because it's so wonderful and delightful to not know things and to have things to find out, it would be, the greatest fear might be that we, end up knowing everything because then it would be utterly pointless. Yeah, you need a reason to get out of bed. So tell me what in your sign...
Starting point is 00:59:20 Remember when Jody Foster? Just remember that moment? I love that film. It's one of my favorite films of all. No way, no way. Sean, what? You see it? It is, though.
Starting point is 00:59:33 Everything about that film is brilliant. Brilliant, right? What? So in your scientific opinion, what happens? when we die, which is kind of what Jason just touched on. Oh, boy. I mean, my view is that we die. So it's like...
Starting point is 00:59:49 And that's it. It goes back to what we said earlier. If the brain is just this somehow... I don't mean just right. It's a remarkable computer that's evolved over four billion years, but it's a computer. Maybe you turn the computer off. You don't ask what's happening inside the computer. We know what's happening inside the computer.
Starting point is 01:00:08 It's nothing. So it goes back to all the questions we would disqualify. discussing. So otherwise, I suppose you have to imagine there's something else other than the particles out of which we're made, call it a soul or whatever you want to call it, but there's something else that we've not detected any evidence for. There's something else. That's what you have to... Yeah, it's like a... It's like Jason going back. It's kind of like a Biza at the end of the summer, like the party's done, but the vibe continues on. Like the vibe, the fine keeps going you know what i mean but then but then what's the most thing that is i don't find it
Starting point is 01:00:45 frightening though i find it wonderful i mean in in a sense it means that we have this finite time in which to enjoy ourselves and explore the universe and live right so i think that's enough i find that uplifting do you live for tomorrow or do you live for today knowing that that's a good question one one one surely good for you will you got on the board Surely both, don't we? It goes back to that question. I was thinking about this either day. Imagine you know everything.
Starting point is 01:01:18 That's what we were just talking about. If you know everything, it means you know what's going to happen. So what kind of a life is that? If you knew what was going to happen tomorrow, I think our existence might be pointless. In fact, that's what I think. The key to our enjoyment of the universe is our enjoyment of life is not knowing what's coming.
Starting point is 01:01:40 If you knew, what would you do? How would you live if you knew? That's why I like to believe that whatever our eternal battery is, like whatever keeps our, we don't have gasoline or battery power inside our body, but somehow our heart keeps beating. Yeah, that blows my mind. So whatever is fueling us, and I like to think that it's sort of a friend of or part of our consciousness.
Starting point is 01:02:04 Our consciousness is like this thing that it's sort of, it's in the ether. and that when our vehicle runs out of fuel, dies, our body dies, runs out of time, that consciousness, those thoughts, those feelings, that it can travel and maybe either occupy another body or a dog or a tree or whatever, that it keeps, there's this perpetual sort of loop that this consciousness does and it advances
Starting point is 01:02:33 each time it goes through a body or a being or an object or something. Well, I like to think that it kind of dissipates into the, you know, that we're all connected. Combines. Yeah. Yeah. And then at a certain point, it becomes sort of our turn.
Starting point is 01:02:48 And then it sort of, it does all into the rest of the universe. Yeah, I feel connected to the universe. I feel like I'm removing the magic if I say that, Sean answered the question. When he said, what's fueling us? I just thought, donuts. Yeah. You said it earlier.
Starting point is 01:03:03 So that is actually technically shocked. Sean, what did you have breakfast for breakfast today? I haven't eaten yet. What? I know. But what do you think it will be? I'm probably going to have eggs and toast today and also maybe like a yogurt drink.
Starting point is 01:03:15 That's it, though. That's what's fueling us. And then the answer to the question about what happens. Obviously, it's a wonderful question, is it? But the thing is, it's like saying what happens to zoom when we turn the computer off. We keep zooming. I don't think we did.
Starting point is 01:03:37 though. I think when you turn the computer off, Zoom stocks. Will's going to love this and then we're going to let you go. You are a season ticket at Oldham Athletic soccer team, right? Yeah. Well, I was. Oh, I thought you still were. No, I used to be. It's my local club, my local football club. Oh, wow. How about that? Who do you support now?
Starting point is 01:03:57 Oldham. Oldham. Yeah. And that's it. We're famous. Oldham Athletic are famous for being the only club in history to have been in the Premier League. So we're in the Premier League with Man United and Liverpool and that. And then we got relegated
Starting point is 01:04:12 out of the entire football league. Wow, all the way down. All the way down. But last year, and I was at the game, we got promoted back into the Football League again. Wow. So now we're in the lowest division of the football league. Which is what?
Starting point is 01:04:26 Four divisions? Eight? Yeah. Eight? Wow. We went all the way down into what we call non-league. So that's kind of our claim to fame.
Starting point is 01:04:35 But we're on our way back. J.B., that's your nickname. Isn't it? Oldham? Bride, thank you so much for being here. You know, he spelled Old Ham. Old Ham? That's how he spelled, you know? Also my name.
Starting point is 01:04:50 I know you just got back from Australia. You've probably got to be exhausted. Thank you for being here. And the next tour, it's called Emergence right now, your tour? Yeah. And I really, is that the one that's going to come to Los Angeles? Yeah, yeah, I'll be in L.A., you know. across America towards the end of this year and three next year.
Starting point is 01:05:07 I can't wait. Can't wait for that. You're very kind to speak to us today. Thank you for putting up with our questions. Yeah. Yeah. Have we got anywhere though? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:18 We never do. We never get anywhere. We're smart more. We're smart more today. Yeah. Thanks, Brian. Thanks so much. It was such a pleasure to meet you.
Starting point is 01:05:28 Thank you very much. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Brian. See you later. Thanks, bye. Wow. He's like the guy now. now. Like he's the guy everybody talks to. He's always in my feed and I'm like stop and I listen
Starting point is 01:05:39 to what he says, you know, my Instagram feed. I'm really interested to see what the format of his show is. He says there's a big screen there, which I guess is, you know, supports some of the answers that he's talking about with some pictures and things like that. Yeah. Wouldn't it be cool to go? Yeah, let's do it. Let's get all gummed up and get there. Yeah, I would love that. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I guess I'm driving. I would love it. I also wanted to ask about CERN, which I didn't get to, you know. Wait, are we allowed now to bring on academics now? Because I've got some ideas for like, you know.
Starting point is 01:06:12 Of course. Some smarties like that again. I felt like we kind of like went away from that. And it was like, um, celebs only. But like, yeah, let's let's bring in some like some brain food. Yeah. I love that. Which is not to say our celebrities are not smart people.
Starting point is 01:06:28 No, no, no, no. We're not suggesting that. Yeah. But I like, I like this. I'll bring on some artists. and some... I love it. Yeah, I love...
Starting point is 01:06:35 I could talk to that guy all day long. The, um... Did you guys know... His nightmare is you talking to him all day long, by the way. I'm sure. He looks on his phone that just somehow just rang.
Starting point is 01:06:48 So we never got to tattooing. Is it real? Yeah, I know. We should have him back once we all get a chance to see Disclosure Day, you know? Yeah, I'm seeing it right after this. No way, really?
Starting point is 01:06:57 I'm hanging up with you guys. I'm seeing it. Yeah. Oh my God. A matinee. I love it. Just so you can't be, just so no one bothers you,
Starting point is 01:07:03 That's exactly right. You'd be alone in the theater? Yeah, I love it. What are you gonna eat at the theater? Yeah. I'm probably gonna have some popcorn. I'm gonna eat good. I have to start eating better.
Starting point is 01:07:11 Why? You got a big, big, sex scene coming up? No, I feel like my blood is creme brulee. I texted that to you. And I think it is. Yeah, it's all as fat and sugar and salt. What is your go-to at a movie theater?
Starting point is 01:07:25 You have popcorn and then do you buy some candy and you like sprinkle it on top? If I could, I'd get pretzel bites with cheese. I'd dip the pretzel bites in the cheese. Geez. Yeah. That's the best. That answer was so quick.
Starting point is 01:07:38 Yeah. Do you put, you, do you, one of those guys that likes a few pumps of butter sauce on your, on your popcorn?
Starting point is 01:07:43 Few pumps. Butter sauce, I think was your handle in high school, right? A few pumps. Butter sauce. Hey, guys,
Starting point is 01:07:55 look who's coming down the hogs, butter sauce. Here comes old butt sauce. Hey, do you, do you, what is it what's your what's your go to when you when you like fucking stomach up to the the old counter there
Starting point is 01:08:07 hey hi if i could hey guys it's buts us can i get you know what i get i went to i went to the movies by myself for the first time in a long time a few weeks ago i went so i went saw the project oh yeah yeah i'm mary why didn't you talk about that with brian cox well because we were talking about it wasn't it good yeah so good and and uh and uh and uh and uh and uh and uh i'm old uh brine gosling did a great job brian gosling did a great job and uh he's so good i like that guy he's amazing he's so good and then uh and it's our buddies phil lord and chris miller who made the movie shout out to those guys we love those guys but i went to the theater by myself to see it and i got a large popcorn with a peanut emmps and i put them in the popcorn the thing yeah that's what i get that now and then so did you did you kill that large popcorn i sure did and and can i can i can i can i can i can i ask you if the if the
Starting point is 01:09:01 if your morning routine the next day was the same? Were you okay? I was okay. Yeah, I was okay. I felt it when I woke up. I felt it when I got out. I felt super... What do you mean?
Starting point is 01:09:13 Just the sugar and the crash of all that garbage and a large soda and I just felt crummy and I went home and I went to bed. And then I woke up and I... Jay, did you usually just bring a bowl of nuts with you to the theater? I do. Sure.
Starting point is 01:09:30 It's a true. trail mix. It's a Ziploc bag with some trail mix. Yeah, that Amanda organized for you. No, I enjoy the popcorn. I just can't have a lot of it because then it wrecks my routine in the morning, if you know what I mean. I don't really, just elaborate.
Starting point is 01:09:44 Yeah, well, it's a binder is what it is. Okay, got it. Got it. Yeah, yeah. It's a binder. But, oh boy, I like that guest. Thank you, Sean. Yeah, yeah, I love it too. And speaking of, what does popcorn do to you? What is it? It's a real binders.
Starting point is 01:10:01 Smartless is 100% organic and artisanly handcrafted by Bennett Barbico, Michael Grant Terry, and Rob Armjarf. Smartless.

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