Carlo Rovelli: Time Is an Illusion and Relational QM Proves It

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Previously titled “Carlo Rovelli on Consciousness, the Illusion of Time, Loop Quantum Gravity, & Philosophy of Relational Quantum Mechanics” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026

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Recorded17 Dec 2021

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YouTube link: https://youtu.be/r_fUPbBNmBw Sponsors: https://brilliant.org/TOE for 20% off. For Algo's podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9IfRw1QaTglRoX0sN11AQQ and website https://www.algo.com/. Merch (until end of Dec 2021): https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch 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 LINKS MENTIONED (affiliate links for books): -The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli: https://amzn.to/3ISZYo7 -The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist: https://amzn.to/325VKso -Stephon Alexander's "Fear of a Black Universe": https://amzn.to/3seSpTb -Conversations on Quantum Gravity: https://amzn.to/3dXtafH -Quantum principle of relativity: https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.02780 TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:27 The relational interpretation of quantum mechanics 00:12:29 Why is there consistency in the world? 00:16:35 How can "relationships" be more fundamental than "things"? 00:24:05 Visualizing the relations 00:33:43 Philosophy and physics (why modern physicists are philosophobic) 00:45:11 Definition of the "Universe" (does physical law stand "outside" the universe?) 00:51:06 The problems with the concept of "Universe" 00:56:00 Many Worlds (why Carlo doesn't like this interpretation) 01:00:40 Mathematics alone isn't sufficient ("between reality and math, there's a gap") 01:06:13 It's not false to say the Sun revolves around the Earth 01:08:45 An ecumenical approach to understanding the Universe and religions 01:15:29 Anti-foundationalism has taken over philosophy 01:20:04 Entropic Time / Thermal Time (illusion of time) 01:38:18 Lee Smolin's view on time (that time is the MOST real quantity) 01:48:26 Julian Barbour's theory of time 01:56:00 Thoughts on Wolfram's model 02:05:08 Thoughts on Sean Carole's Many Worlds 02:14:08 Donald Hoffman (and briefly Eric Weinstein) 02:22:04 What do we mean by "real"? (Wittgenstein's language games) 02:28:09 Does there exist what lies outside your knowledge? 02:32:25 "Philosophy is a cure against wrong questions" 02:43:11 Information paradox is like "falling in love with holography" (based in dogma) 02:50:23 Does learning math / physics get easier with age or harder? 02:51:33 What Carlo would have done differently in developing LQG? 02:53:27 [Stephon Alexander] How does time play into Quantum Gravity? 02:55:48 [Bernardo Kastrup] How does Carlo's view of "relations" not lead to an infinite regress? 03:00:43 Idealism vs Materialism (science doesn't presume a metaphysic) 03:12:33 Hard Problem of Consciousness is a "confusion" 03:17:36 Forget about Philosophical Zombies -- Think Philosophical Babies 01:38:29 [Nikhil Ns] Quantum principle of relativity 03:23:53 [goodsirknight] Carlo's LSD experience and the satori moment's influence on LQG 03:34:25 [Aaron Heidari] Alfred North Whitehead 03:38:13 We don't need new ideas for quantum gravity * * * 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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