What Creates Time? A Challenge to Scientific Orthodoxy - Understanding the Nature of Time and Entropy

Overview

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Join a fascinating 91-minute World Science Festival discussion where scientist and author Julian Barbour challenges conventional scientific understanding of time, entropy, and cosmic origins in conversation with moderator Brian Greene. Explore unconventional perspectives on fundamental physics concepts, from Einstein's theories to quantum mechanics, as Barbour presents his revolutionary ideas about the nature of time. Delve into detailed explanations of point particles in space, entropy's role in universal development, the arrow of time, and the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. Learn how complexity emerges in the universe and examine human perception of time through a scientific lens. The discussion, part of the Big Ideas series supported by the John Templeton Foundation, offers a comprehensive journey through theoretical physics that questions established scientific orthodoxy about time's fundamental nature.

Syllabus

0:00:00 - Introduction
0:00:52 - Welcome to Julian Barbour
0:02:07 - Barbour's background
0:07:00 - Barbour's thinking on the Nature of Time
0:14:37 - Barbour talks about Einstein
0:15:34 - Barbour illustrates the idea of point particles in space
0:22:42 - Could Newton have done a better job describing Space and Time?
0:29:15 - How to characterize Entropy and the unfolding of the Universe
0:37:44 - The Arrow of Time
0:49:59 - Past Hypothesis and Newtonian Physics
0:57:41 - Newton's Theory and General Relativity
1:01:28 - Quantum Mechanics
1:04:40 - The Wheeler-DeWitt Equation
1:10:10 - Barbour's view of how complexity arises in the Universe
1:19:35 - Barbour's view of human perception of time
1:29:35 - Conclusion
1:30:03 - Credits