Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality | A Conversation with Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek 

As a 70 year old who was never able to go to college, and lacking math skills beyond basic Algebra, I get a morale boost when a nugget of knowledge tweaks a synapse or two in my ancient noggin. Thanks.

Just couple of generations ago, the average curious person would have to struggle a lot to afford education. You would have to be born in a noble or rich family to be able to study what interests you. The wonders of nature were reserved for those blessed with a wealthy background. Nowadays, literally anybody can open their web browser and watch great minds discussing great questions. These great minds stand on very frontiers of human understanding. Unimaginable amount of money and resources goes into this, and it's all available for free to an average Joe. What a time to be alive.

Dr. Wilczek I have ordered and read your book. I’m a social worker With MA in Social Welfare Policy, BA/BSW in Poli Sci and social work. Target audience hit I would say. I’m reading it twice then passing it on to one of our docs.....now I don’t feel so dumb from a Science perspective so thanks for that. Greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much Brian Greene for providing the humanity with this amazing video

To speak on Brian’s question at the 20:00 mark of the conversation. I grew up in rural Bible Belt United States raised by a loving wonderful family who happened to be deeply religious and believe things such as the world being only about 20,000 years old etc……the books, lectures, and info given to me by scientists such as Dr Greene and others have enlightened me in indescribable ways…I’m now a science lover and strongly considering attending university for physics so thank you to all that try to empower and encourage those who are interested in the true nature of reality

Down to earth Nobel laureate . Doesn’t have the airs one would anticipate.Simple soul.

Notifications for these always give me something to look forward to. Thanks Dr. Green, your contribution to the education of the masses is greatly appreciated.

The point of kids listening to this rings so true. I wish when I was a kid (36 now!) I had YT available. Conversations like this would have been wondrous and made me push through dyscalculia to do the maths.

brian greene flys high with knowledge higher than 99 percent of us less educated ppl.. but he talks so every one can understand whats going on, like an advocate of unknown and i love him

Its been three weeks without a new episode. An extra week really makes you miss Brian Greene's communication skill. I'm learning so much during the pandemic watching the Live Streams and trying to keep up comprehending the mathematics.

Thank you Dr. Brian. You simply can't stop amazing us. I absolutely love your material, in all formats..

Frank is just a treat to watch and listen to.

Great show! Thank you Dr. Greene and Dr.Wilczek. My favourite saying is, it's always impossible until someone does it.

Thank-you for taking the time to put these videos together for everyone.

Brian Greene and Frank Wilczek are great physicists!

Grandmaster Frank Wilczek . Thank you so much. It was great broadcast 👏

This was amazing. Watched this at 4am during Covid lockdown. What an amazing guy

Thanks for a wonderful, uplifting talk!

Thank you for such amazing interviews and explanations. 👍

Wow! very human, warm, fuzzy, and mind expanding, great comfortable synergy on a quantum level. thank you Brian, and Frank...Sounds like everything is really connected, strings, rubber bands, paperclips, conservation of energy and mass....blessing to love and truth, the continuum....some great chat questions, enjoyed. tyvm

I'm not a student, nor even versed or learned in mathematics or physics ~ just a 68 year old person that is fascinated by science. Thank you for this interesting session~!! I do wish I understood more, but I'll take heart from what Frank said giving 'advice' ~ "don't insist on understanding everything before you understand anything." Good advice. I just listen to these type discussions and watch videos in the hopes that some of it sinks in and eventually I will be able to at least put a few things together. Tonight I understood for the very 1st time, what at least one of the Haldron Collider's purposes was, from Brian. Yay, me~! It is all so very awesome~!

Thank you.both of you.

Thank you for sharing this interesting and inspiring conversation! Another favorite quote: “when we’re looking at the sky, remember that we’re looking into the past”.

Great interview, great discussion. Thank you both.

My first introduction to physics was Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe," and I've been hooked ever since. I'm so grateful that he takes the time and makes the effort to help us less talented folks get a glimpse into the wonders of the universe. Thank you, Mr. Greene!

Excellent!!! Very inspiring. Thank you.

Beautiful snowy landscape outside your windows. Thanks for sharing.

Really appreciate your time in making these great videos.

So love these streams !! Thanks so much for doing!

Thank you Dr. Greene. You are appreciated.

A lively and thought-provoking conversation, on a wide variety of topics, between two very well-informed and intelligent individuals.

Favorite quotes: “The work will teach you how to do it”. “Yesterday’s sensation is today’s calibration”

Thank you Brian these talks help me get through this whole virus thing. Keeps my brain busy ✌

Wonderful conversation, thank you for this!

I liked this conversation a LOT because, for once, it seemed that Brian was asking questions HE was interested in knowing the answer to (as opposed to just asking things he thought the audience should know). ie. This therefore made the conversation WAY more interesting in its content than usual. The discussion had more of a flavour of 'listening to a real chat between Brian and Frank as they ate lunch' (minus the mathematical content part, of course 😉). As to suggestions for future guests..Gerard 't Hooft, Raphael Busso, Nima, Juan.

Very interesting conversation. Thanks for making these available!

Our species needs more conversations like this.

I am thoroughly enjoying this discussion.

Giants of the mind. Utmost respect and gratitude!

Great programing. Thank you for taking the time to explain different concepts. I so appreciate it. My mind doesn't function at the speed of light like yours and so many of your guests. Looking foward to your next projects. RMM

Yes thanks again for the inspiring brainstorm. ♥

Great conversation and great book (just finished it)...Thanks Brian and Frank!!!

Just brilliant. Thank you Profs. Greene and Wilczek. Perhaps our reality emerges out of an existing multiverse and not the other way around. Who knows. : )

Great conversation and discussion. Not understand all of it but like the way Brain explaining complex matters in an animated way.

HOW LUCKY AND WONDERFUL IT MUST BE TO BE CONSCIENCE AND AWARE AT A YOUNG AGE OF THE POSSIBILITIES AND CHOICES AVAILABLE TO ONES SELF WHETHER IT BE SCIENCE OR ART OR SOME OTHER CORSE OF STUDY.

Brian's illustration at 17:23 is just epic!!!

wonderful conversation, thanks

SUGGESTION: How about an episode on Quantum Gravity - String Theory vs Loop Quantum Gravity with Professor Carlo Rovelli?

26:25 -- Mr Greene words on how fragile our democracy is depends on the the num-nuts rebumpkins we put into power, is worded so elegantly .. I've said the same thing but not so cleverly... Then, Mr. Wilczek answer to Mr Greenes' observation is just as great ... Great words from 2 highly intelligent men.

Following you all the years in different ways. Thank you for educating us with understandable words. It’s not easy.

really fantastic conversation. Best wishes from Europe.

First of all, thank you for these. If I could make a small request, could we get timestamps for the topics in the video?

It is good to know people are interested more on the impacts of science, than in science itself. Interesting.

Love this channel

Great Video. Great Minds ! Thanks

Thank you to all ,

Thanks for sharing. Wow

My trustworthy ISP failed me right on 15th Jan :( I was looking forward to trying to attending the session. For what it's worth, I would think Dr. Wilczek is to get second of those Nobel things for anyon. So, pardon my presumptuousness, Congratulations in advance Dr. Wilczek :)

such a nice discussion...i wish i knew this kind of math

Always natural, awesome, open minded ...Brian, and his college Frank

Thanks guys. Super interesting

Please more live sessions or start a Brian Greene podcast

Great conversation...

Ty for the discussion bys

reality, physics... never mind them, because the things can be infinitely big and small, but our ability to see them are always limited. These guys (scientists) are only making a living telling stories but are never getting to the bottom of it. The bright side is that these guys are creating more and more funs for us, but always within the boundary of a sandbox.

I read Fundamentals. I liked reading it, the vast net it casts to place the different pieces together.

I would love to see WSF team bring on kip throne in upcoming conversations with noble laureates. By the way, The WSF is dong a great job by brining on such an amazing content.

So this quark/strong force dilemma reminds me of how the physical act of stretching an electric arc raises it's voltage potential/energy level. The idea that some have as an explanation for this effect in electric arcs in gases is that of "electron avalanche"- ionized electrons or photons smash into other molecules, releasing even more electrons, in a chain reaction (like the a bomb). Could this be the Casimir force of the "quantum foam" pushing back on the quark separation- until they reach a distance sizeable enough to allow the wave functions of local spacetime to "go around them", collide/interfere and produce the new pair of quark/antiquark?

Wonderful geniuses 👍

This is one of those videos that was put on to fill a space in the background then became interesting enough to focus on, watch and enjoy. I only heard of Axions a few weeks ago and they could have got lost in the sea of theories but now it seems they might be a more serious a contender for the next way forward. The universe is like a maze that we keep finding dead ends and so many openings which we don't yet know if they lead anywhere. But so far we haven't reached the end of every possibility. It could still have an overall solution, which is wild and exciting.

Great conversation. Thank you

Ty!!!

Heroes! Frank is fantastic. Read the book. Great. In talks he is also great and very funny from time to time.

I can't wait for the next wsf in nyc

'complimentarity' - word of the year. A bit of validation for lateral theorists.

The human mind of astronaut-scientist Jack Schmitt suddenly spotted the orange soil on the moon and it was the human that took over from the computer because astronaut-pilot Armstrong understood the rocky landing site was not sound. I'd agree with the cyborg hypothesis. As usual a unique brilliant presentation. Thank you Prof Greene

Four months, ago, Matt O'Dowd on PBS space time RU-vid channel explained the options for proving and studying supersymmetric particles: better colliders or high energy particle detection from space. The high energy particles from space are rare while billions are needed, so the colliders are the only viable option.

Dr. Greene, I'd like to suggest that you ask persons who's opinions you value whether moving your camera back about 10-30 percent of what it is currently set at? Thank you for your consideration.

Very interesting video.

Suggestion? Hi Dr. Greene, How about Justin Khoury or Shamit Kachru? Dark Energy or String Theory. Loved Hidden Dimensions from the WSF a few years back. Dark matter and dark energy are cool too.

Great !

Excellent content! Just make sure to laugh with him and bask in his humor when he jokes rather than ignoring the joke and rushing to the next topic. That would make it feel more organic convo rather than an interview, I know you have a lot of topics you want to get thru, just a viewer perspective

Suggestions: I would really enjoy a session with Michio Kaku. Or Edward Witten. Or Abhay Akshetar. Or Kip Throne

Well, the behavior of quarks creating a quark anti-quark pair does remind of the behavior of the magnetic force when a magnet is cut in half: both pieces of the magnet will still have a north and south pole.

Even the highly intelligent cant accept that free will is just a human concept like religion, that strokes the ego of the accomplished, justifies the pain of the losers of society and motivates us all to be our best version of our selves and at the same time gives us a certain feeling of being in control. But the simple reality is, that if you believe in logic and empirical evidence there is no real free will in what we believe to be our reality as of now. There is just our genetic code and our experiences through life that determain our choices. Like philosophers have said hundreds of years ago. If an entity could know everything there is to know right now and were not limited in any capacity, that entity could predict everything that would happen and every choice everyone would make untill eternity. The decision people make is a simple formula of their genetics and their experiences and in theory could be predicted perfectly. Only because life and the personal experience of life is highly unpredictable, makes that predicting once choices and future is complex. Even watching a youtube video, reading a comment, the food you eat, every encounter no matter how insignificant changes a person permenantly. The thing that most people call free will or a choice, is just a reaction to an impulse manipulated by genes that have been manipulated by other impulses and actions and the environment through time. When you look at choice as a reaction, which I dont see any other way logically how one could look at it. Every choice is just a reaction manipulated by prior actions and reactions and I dont think the implication that people have with the idea of choice actually coincides with being on a track determained by genetics and experiences out of our own control. I think choice implies actually being able to do different things on our own volition than what one does and there is just no logical argument to be made that is based on emipirical evidence as of now that could prove free will or choice as it is seen now actually exists.

How do we get that symmetry

"cast a wide net, don't try to understand everything before you understand anything, pay attention to the foundation, learn calculus soon as possible, be curious and have fun" 1:52:41. advice for the ages, ta Frank.

Hi Dr. Brian, I am always amazed to listen to your all presentation, very poignant and soul reaching. Wondering if you have ever thought of gravity including other (unknown/ yet to discover) elementary forcefield was present before big bang? There are some indications in holy scripture (Quran)? Best regards.

A question perhaps worth a discussion: If QM and its interpretations are true, aren't us, and the universe we live in, the stochastic end of many collapsed or decohered quantum events,-- still in progress-- and if so, how can it be explained in the context of the initial 2 raised to power n (very large number ) particles, which could be in all sorts of partial, and total superpositions and or various degrees of entanglements dictated by the initial close proximity?

I'd say after Carl Sagan, Brian Greene has been my mentor.

Brian you are the best

Could some one explain for me the laugh and "thank goodness" to do with "strange" versus " curious" in a Gell-Mann paper? 1:00:40

What would the world we live in today be like if people of this caliber were the leaders of our world?

I like Brian's bit about math being most interesting when applied to the natural world. I wasn't interested in math until I got ahold of applied math and engineering material like SIAM journals. I felt it was a little more tangible. I still stink at math of course...

Conciousness is the part of the subconcious that optimizes the subconscious via consciousness.

Please get Lee Smolin or Peter Woit in the interview too!

The chat was broken last 30 minutes of the session. The time in the iCal invite was shifted by 2hrs, probably due to a wrong timezone.

Interesting the Quark genesis idea. Sounds like the charge parity of virtual particles.

Meaning is the evaluation of the predictability of a scenario. Thats it. You can derive all arguments about meaning.

great