Abhay Ashtekar: Loop Quantum Cosmology Replaces the Big Bang

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Previously titled “Abhay Ashtekar on Gödel Universes, Buddha's Poison Arrow, Time Travel, and Loop Quantum Cosmology” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026

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Recorded01 Aug 2022

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YouTube link: https://youtu.be/03ReIvXKrrU Sponsors: -Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/TOE for 20% off -Get Exclusive NordVPN deal here ↣ https://nordvpn.com/theories It’s risk- free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee! -Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code [EVERYTHING20] at Manscaped.com. That’s 20% off with free shipping at manscaped.com and use code [EVERYTHING20]. -Sign up through wren.co/theories to make a difference in the climate crisis, and Wren will plant 10 extra trees in your name! -Trade Coffee is offering our listeners a total of $30 off your first order plus free shipping at drinktrade.com/everything. -Sign up today at butcherbox.com/THEORIES to get two, 10 oz New York strip steaks and 8 oz of lobster claw and knuckle meat FREE in your first order. Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802 Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything Merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch LINKS MENTIONED: - Physics and Consciousness Contest: https://youtu.be/V93GQaDtv8w - Dialect's video on Newton's Bucket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz3mOlUOGoY - Brian Roberts (physicist and philosopher): https://personal.lse.ac.uk/robert49/ - The Monk and the Philosopher: https://amzn.to/3Bva2mf - More on the Gödel Universe: https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/15/1/013063 TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:00 Inner World (conscious experience) vs. Outer World (physics) 00:05:35 Buddha's Parable of the Poison Arrow 00:11:05 Philosophy and Physics should be merged 00:13:33 No one wants to say that the Buddha was wrong 00:19:30 Scientifically studying "enlightenment" 00:23:29 When to stop taking psychedelics ("when you get the call, hang up!") 00:25:17 What is Loop Quantum Gravity? 00:36:39 Wheeler DeWitt equation 00:44:48 Self Dual and Anti Self Dual 00:48:16 Hodge Dual and the Metric 00:52:06 Linearized Gravity 00:55:32 Quantum Gravity 01:03:22 Einstein vs. Schrödinger (the behind the scenes scuffle) 01:09:24 Technical details of quantizing geometry 01:13:41 What is Yang Mills theory? 01:20:52 Tetrads and Vierbeins 01:24:26 Roger Penrose's approach to quantum gravity (Twistor Theory) 01:26:44 Einstein's "Hole argument" 01:40:48 Mach's Principle 01:49:04 Singularities and Black Holes 02:12:18 Quantum Bounce (the "Ashtekar Bounce") 02:23:07 Pure and Mixed Quantum Mechanical States 02:26:38 Black Holes and Event Horizons 02:42:09 ADM Decomposition 02:43:55 The Gödel Universe, Time Travel, and Closed Timelike Curves 02:52:38 Salvatore Pais asks about the Superforce 02:56:13 The universe before the Big Bang 03:01:44 String Theory vs. Loop Quantum Gravity 03:17:31 Ed Witten disses Loop Quantum Gravity and Ashtekar responds 03:21:14 Duality between String theory and LQG? 03:25:20 The Philosopher and the Monk * * * Just wrapped (April 2021) a documentary called Better Left Unsaid http://betterleftunsaidfilm.com on the topic of "when does the left go too far?" Visit that site if you'd like to watch it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.