The Basement: Eric Wargo | The Block Universe, UFO Time Machines, and Precognitive Dreams
episodePreviously titled “639: Basement #009: Eric Wargo | The Block Universe, UFO Time Machines, and Precognitive Dreams” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
Transcript
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What is discussed at the start of this section?
Today, I'm sitting down with Eric Wargo. He's an anthropologist and science writer, but that's not why he's here. Eric has spent the last decade researching one of the most taboo ideas in science, the possibility that the future can influence the present.
Taboo? I've been saying this for years. Every time I get married, I get the feeling it's a bad idea.
What is precognition and how does it relate to the future influencing the present?
Then boom. This isn't time travel in the sci-fi sense, something more profound. He calls it precognition, and he argues it's grounded in Einstein's black universe. The evidence comes from quantum physics experiments, lab studies that seem to prove retrocausation, dreams that come true years later, artists who paint disasters before they happen.
Every year I dream I'm going to get audited by the IRS.
Then boom. Eric has five books on the subject. His work bridges hard science and consciousness research. And this conversation gets out there. We talk about time loops, precognitive dreams, the science of synchronicity, and how the future might be pulling us towards specific outcomes. I think you're going to like this one. Let's go down to the basement. Dr. Wargo, welcome to the basement. I'm excited. I'm excited for this. I'm excited too. Before we get started, tell me why on God's green and glorious earth would anyone own a monitor lizard? Why? Yeah. Well, my, okay. So, uh, my oldest daughter, Emily, uh, is really into reptiles and lizards and she has been wanting, you know, she watched all the reptile influencer videos on, on YouTube and just really wanted a certain kind of monitor lizard.
And Initially, it was like, yeah, yeah, we'll get you one when you're 13.
What evidence supports the concept of precognition?
You know, we'll get you one when you're 13. And then, but it never, you know, it never went away. And then, you know what? I kind of started wanting one too. Really? Yeah. Monitor lizards are the coolest. When I was a kid, monitor lizards were just the coolest animals on earth. You know, Komodo dragons are the monitor lizards, you know. And so... Uh, you know, my father-in-law said he'd help out, you know, financing, financing the vivarium. Uh, and, uh, yeah. So last April we got a baby, uh, spiny tailed monitor lizard and he's grown into a lovely, you know, two foot long, um, little cat. creature that we love dearly. It's been a wild, very interesting experience learning about, you know, reptile husbandry and having a pet in my life, in our lives, that is not a typical pet.
You know, I mean, we have cats and of course I love my cats, but And I grew up with dogs, but reptiles are very different. What's his name? His name is Sunflower. Okay, she named him. She named him. Are you feeding like live mice or? Live insects. Live insects? Yeah, yeah. Okay.
What personal experiences does Eric Wargo share about precognitive dreams?
Yeah. But he's delightful. He's delightful. They're very, you know, they're very intelligent in their own way. They're not, you know, it's not the same as like a mammal, but they, you know, he's very chill. You know, we handle him and pet him and- And- So you walk around the house? No, he needs, unfortunately, the difficulty with lizards and especially monitor lizards is they require very high temperatures. So he has, you know, he has like a basking rock that's like 110 degrees and, you know, bright lights in his enclosure. But no, he's awesome. And they're fascinating. It's just fascinating to bond with another kind of animal. It's fascinating enough to bond with a cat or any other kind of mammal, but to develop a bond with a reptile is really, it's another...
level if you're an animal person, which everyone in my family, we're all animal people. Same. So it recognizes? Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, sure. Sure. Yeah. No, he totally trusts. It takes a lot longer to develop that bond. It took a few months, you know, to get him comfortable with us and comfortable with us being around him first of all, and then eventually handling him and so on. It's not like a kitten or something like that, but no, he's, he's, he's great. And he, you know, looks forward to seeing me every morning when I'm recruiting you at the door. Yeah, no, he, uh, he's, uh, he's really cool.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is discussed at the start of this section?
0:00–0:19
2
What is precognition and how does it relate to the future influencing the present?
0:19–1:54
3
What evidence supports the concept of precognition?
1:54–3:16
4
What personal experiences does Eric Wargo share about precognitive dreams?
3:16–1:25:33
5
What precognitive connections exist between Philip K. Dick and Morgan Robertson?
1:25:33–1:26:51
6
How does precognition manifest in the lives of artists?
1:26:51–1:27:46
7
What is the significance of microtubules in relation to consciousness?
1:27:46–1:31:26
8
How does the bootstrap paradox illustrate time travel concepts?
1:31:26–2:48:03
Speakers
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