215 | Barry Loewer on Physics, Counterfactuals, and the Macroworld
October 24, 2022
1 hr 34 min
215
Full
244 of 432
Episode 215 · October 24, 2022
215 | Barry Loewer on Physics, Counterfactuals, and the Macroworld
0:00 / 1:34:30
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
Sean Carroll Episodes Around October 24, 2022
Episode 244 of 432 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
1:34:30This episode215 | Barry Loewer on Physics, Counterfactuals, and the Macroworld
Summary
<p>The founders of statistical mechanics in the 19th century faced an uphill battle to convince their fellow physicists that the laws of thermodynamics could be derived from the random motions of microscopic atoms. This insight turns out to be even more important than they realized: the emergence of patterns characterizing our macroscopic world relies crucially on the increase of entropy over time. Barry Loewer has (in collaboration with David Albert) been developing a theory of the <a href="https://sites.rutgers.edu/barry-loewer/wp-content/uploads/sites/195/2019/06/Loewer-The-Mentaculus-Vision.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mentaculus</a> — the probability map of the world — that connects microscopic physics to time, causation, and other familiar features of our experience.</p> <p><em>Support Mindscape on </em><a href="https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Patreon</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p>Barry Loewer received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford University. He is currently distinguished professor of philosophy at Rutgers University. His research focuses on the foundations of physics and the metaphysics of laws and chance.</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://sites.rutgers.edu/barry-loewer/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Web page</a></li> <li><a href="https://philpeople.org/profiles/barry-loewer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">PhilPeople profile</a></li> <li><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=n_RTOwO00oEC&hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Google Scholar publications</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Loewer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ABarry+Loewer&s=relevancerank&text=Barry+Loewer&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amazon author page</a></li> </ul> <p><br /></p>
Episode details and artwork are published by the show’s own feed. Sentinel plays short cited excerpts and links every episode back to its publisher.