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Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, futurist, and professor at the City College of New York. He is the author of many fascinating books on the nature of our reality and the future of our civilization.

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What do you think is the mind of Einstein's god?

Do you think there's a why that we could untangle from this universe of strings?

Well, Steven Weinberg winner of the Nobel Prize once said that the more we learn about the universe the more we learn that it's pointless Well, I don't know I don't profess to understand the great secrets of the universe.

However, let me say 2 things about what the giants of physics have said about this question.

1 was the God of the Bible, the personal God, the God that answers prayers, walks on water, performs miracles, smites the Philistines.

That's the personal God that he didn't believe in.

He believed in the God of Spinoza, The God of order, simplicity, harmony, beauty.

The universe could have been messy, random.

We can write down all the known laws of the universe?

On 1 sheet of paper, Einstein's equation is 1 inch long, string theory is a lot longer, and so is the standard model, but you could put all these equations on 1 sheet of paper.

And so Einstein thought of himself as a young boy entering this huge library for the first time, being overwhelmed by the simplicity, elegance, and beauty of this library.

But all he could do was read the first page of the first volume.

Well, that library is the universe, with all sorts of mysterious, magical things that we have yet to find.

Galileo said that the purpose of science, the purpose of science is to determine how the heavens go.

The purpose of religion is to determine how to go to heaven.

So in other words, science is about natural law and religion is about ethics, how to be a good person, how to go to heaven.

As long as we keep these 2 things apart, We're in great shape.

The problem occurs when people from the natural sciences begin to pontificate about ethics and people from religion begin to pontificate about natural law.

You think they're fundamentally distinct, morality and ethics and our idea of what is right and what is wrong.

That's something that's outside the reach of string theory and physics.

If you talk to a squirrel about what is right and what is wrong, there's no reference frame for a squirrel.

And realize that aliens from outer space, if they ever come visit us, they'll try to talk to us like we talk to squirrels in the forest, but eventually we get bored talking to the squirrels because they don't talk back to us.

They come down to earth, they'll be curious about us to a degree, but after a while they just get bored because we have nothing to offer them.

So our sense of right and wrong, what does that mean compared to a squirrel's sense of right and wrong?

Now we of course do have an ethics that keeps civilizations in line, enriches our life, and makes civilization possible.

But it's not mandated by a law of physics.


Speaker 0: What do you think is the mind of Einstein's god? Do you think there's a why that we could untangle from this universe of strings? Why are we here? What is the meaning of it all?

Speaker 1: Well, Steven Weinberg winner of the Nobel Prize once said that the more we learn about the universe the more we learn that it's pointless Well, I don't know I don't profess to understand the great secrets of the universe. However, let me say 2 things about what the giants of physics have said about this question. Einstein believed in 2 types of God. 1 was the God of the Bible, the personal God, the God that answers prayers, walks on water, performs miracles, smites the Philistines. That's the personal God that he didn't believe in.

He believed in the God of Spinoza, The God of order, simplicity, harmony, beauty. The universe could have been ugly. The universe could have been messy, random. But it's gorgeous. It relates on a single sheet of paper.

We can write down all the known laws of the universe? It's amazing. On 1 sheet of paper, Einstein's equation is 1 inch long, string theory is a lot longer, and so is the standard model, but you could put all these equations on 1 sheet of paper. It didn't have to be that way. It could have been messy.

And so Einstein thought of himself as a young boy entering this huge library for the first time, being overwhelmed by the simplicity, elegance, and beauty of this library. But all he could do was read the first page of the first volume. Well, that library is the universe, with all sorts of mysterious, magical things that we have yet to find. And then Galileo was asked about this. Galileo said that the purpose of science, the purpose of science is to determine how the heavens go.

The purpose of religion is to determine how to go to heaven. So in other words, science is about natural law and religion is about ethics, how to be a good person, how to go to heaven. As long as we keep these 2 things apart, We're in great shape. The problem occurs when people from the natural sciences begin to pontificate about ethics and people from religion begin to pontificate about natural law. That's where we get into big trouble.

Speaker 0: You think they're fundamentally distinct, morality and ethics and our idea of what is right and what is wrong. That's something that's outside the reach of string theory and physics.

Speaker 1: That's right. If you talk to a squirrel about what is right and what is wrong, there's no reference frame for a squirrel. And realize that aliens from outer space, if they ever come visit us, they'll try to talk to us like we talk to squirrels in the forest, but eventually we get bored talking to the squirrels because they don't talk back to us. Same thing with aliens from outer space. They come down to earth, they'll be curious about us to a degree, but after a while they just get bored because we have nothing to offer them.

So our sense of right and wrong, what does that mean compared to a squirrel's sense of right and wrong? Now we of course do have an ethics that keeps civilizations in line, enriches our life, and makes civilization possible. And I think that's a good thing. But it's not mandated by a law of physics. You

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Michio Kaku: The Mind of Einstein's God | AI Podcast Clips