This is a clip from a conversation with Sean Carroll from Nov 2019. Check out Sean's new book on quantum mechanics titled Something Deeply Hidden: https://amzn.to/2C6aCaf New full episodes once or twice a week and 1-2 new clips or a new non-podcast video on all other days. You can watch the full conversation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNqqOLscOBY
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Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist at Caltech and Santa Fe Institute specializing in quantum mechanics, arrow of time, cosmology, and gravitation. He is the author of several popular books and is a host of a great podcast called Mindscape.

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So 1 interesting philosophical point that quantum mechanics bring up is that you talk about the distinction between the world as it is and the world as we observe it.

So staying at the human level for a second, how big is the gap between what our perception system allows us to see in the world as it is outside our mind's eye, sort of not at the quantum mechanical level, but as just these particular tools we have, which is the few senses and cognitive abilities to process those senses.

Well, that last phrase, having the cognitive abilities to process them, carries a lot, right?

I mean, there is our sort of intuitive understanding of the world.

You don't need to teach people about gravity for them to know that apples fall from trees, right?

That's something that we figure out pretty quickly.

So 3 dimensionality of space, even if we don't have the mathematical language to say that, we kind of know that it's true.

On the other hand, no 1 opens their eyes and sees atoms, right, or molecules, or cells for that matter.

We got to understanding that there are atoms and cells using the combination of our senses and our cognitive capacities.

So adding the ability of our cognitive capacities to our senses is adding an enormous amount.

And I don't think it is a hard and fast boundary.

You know, if you believe in cells, if you believe that we understand those, there's no reason


Speaker 0: So 1 interesting philosophical point that quantum mechanics bring up is that you talk about the distinction between the world as it is and the world as we observe it. So staying at the human level for a second, how big is the gap between what our perception system allows us to see in the world as it is outside our mind's eye, sort of not at the quantum mechanical level, but as just these particular tools we have, which is the few senses and cognitive abilities to process those senses.

Speaker 1: Well, that last phrase, having the cognitive abilities to process them, carries a lot, right? I mean, there is our sort of intuitive understanding of the world. You don't need to teach people about gravity for them to know that apples fall from trees, right? That's something that we figure out pretty quickly. Object permanence, things like that.

So 3 dimensionality of space, even if we don't have the mathematical language to say that, we kind of know that it's true. On the other hand, no 1 opens their eyes and sees atoms, right, or molecules, or cells for that matter. Forget about quantum mechanics. But we got there. We got to understanding that there are atoms and cells using the combination of our senses and our cognitive capacities.

So adding the ability of our cognitive capacities to our senses is adding an enormous amount. And I don't think it is a hard and fast boundary. You know, if you believe in cells, if you believe that we understand those, there's no reason

See all Lex Fridman transcripts on Youtube

Sean Carroll: Perception vs Reality