This is a clip from a conversation with Leonard Susskind from Sep 2019. New full episodes every Mon & Thu 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=s78hvV3QLUE
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Leonard Susskind is a professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, and founding director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory and in general as one of the greatest physicists of our time both as a researcher and an educator.

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So what do you think of the recent first image of a black hole visualized from the Event Horizon Telescope?

In itself, the fact that there are black holes which collide is not a surprise.

And they seem to work exactly the way they're supposed to work.

But the kind of things we'll learn won't really be about black holes.

Why there are black holes in nature of that particular mass scale and why they're so common may tell us something about the structure, evolution of structure in the universe.

But I don't think it's going to tell us anything new about black holes.

But it's a triumph in the sense that you go back 100 years, and it was a continuous development, general relativity, the discovery of black holes, LIGO, the incredible technology that went into LIGO.

It is something that I never would have believed was going to happen, you know, 30, 40 years ago.

And I think it's a magnificent structure, magnificent thing, this evolution of general relativity, LIGO, high precision, ability to measure things on a scale of 10 to the minus

So you're just in awe that we, that this path took us to this picture.

You know, you've thought a lot about black holes.

And is the picture different than you realized it?

You know, it's a magnificent triumph to have confirmed a direct observation that Einstein's theory of gravity at the level of black hole collisions actually works is awesome.

You know, I know some of the people who were involved in that.

And the idea that they could carry this out, I just, I'm shocked.


Speaker 0: So what do you think of the recent first image of a black hole visualized from the Event Horizon Telescope?

Speaker 1: It's an incredible triumph of science. In itself, the fact that there are black holes which collide is not a surprise. And they seem to work exactly the way they're supposed to work. Will we learn a great deal from it? I don't know.

I can't, III, we might. But the kind of things we'll learn won't really be about black holes. Why there are black holes in nature of that particular mass scale and why they're so common may tell us something about the structure, evolution of structure in the universe. But I don't think it's going to tell us anything new about black holes. But it's a triumph in the sense that you go back 100 years, and it was a continuous development, general relativity, the discovery of black holes, LIGO, the incredible technology that went into LIGO.

It is something that I never would have believed was going to happen, you know, 30, 40 years ago. And I think it's a magnificent structure, magnificent thing, this evolution of general relativity, LIGO, high precision, ability to measure things on a scale of 10 to the minus

Speaker 0: 21.

Speaker 1: So, yeah.

Speaker 0: So you're just in awe that we, that this path took us to this picture. Is it different? You know, you've thought a lot about black holes. How did you visualize them in your mind? And is the picture different than you realized it?

Speaker 1: No, it simply confirmed. You know, it's a magnificent triumph to have confirmed a direct observation that Einstein's theory of gravity at the level of black hole collisions actually works is awesome. It is really awesome. You know, I know some of the people who were involved in that. They're just ordinary people.

And the idea that they could carry this out, I just, I'm shocked.

Speaker 0: Yeah, just these little homo sapiens.

Speaker 1: Yeah, just these little monkeys.

Speaker 0: Yeah, got together and took

Speaker 1: a picture of... Slightly advanced limers, I think.

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Leonard Susskind: Black Hole Image is Astonishing | AI Podcast Clips