Nathan Myhrvold: Working with Hawking, NASA's Errors, and Innovation

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Previously titled “Nathan Myhrvold on NASA's lies, Theories of Everything, working with Hawking, and COVID lockdowns” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026

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Recorded29 Jan 2021

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YouTube link: https://youtu.be/YUXHLTlx9DA Patreon for conversations on Theories of Everything, Consciousness, Free Will, and God: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal Help support conversations like this via PayPal: https://bit.ly/2EOR0M4 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt 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 Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Id3k7k7mfzahfx2fjqmw3vufb44 iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802 * * * 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:08 Curt's story of becoming interested in Nathan Myhrvold 00:05:04 How does Nathan remain so productive? (daily habits?) 00:08:49 The difficulty in taking pictures of large storms, waves, birds, and meteors 00:11:54 What problems are outside Nathan's ken? (nuclear power, etc.) 00:15:22 Working with Stephen Hawking (practically, how does one do so?) 00:17:41 Comparing Hawking to Einstein 00:22:24 Newton's contribution to the minting of coins (the ridges are because of him) 00:23:46 What's holding theoretical physics back (since the 80's)? 00:28:43 General relativity and quantum mechanics combine in a candle flame 00:30:21 String theory, Weinstein's Geometric Unity, Wolfram's computational model, and Supersymmetry 00:50:04 Our ideas of "simplicity" in math is wrong 00:50:48 "Laser cooking" and modernist cuisine 00:52:50 Reasons why Curt fasts 00:53:40 About "simplicity" in math and physics, continued 00:54:49 How does Nathan learn a new domain, quickly? 01:00:16 How would Nathan "solve the problem" of COVID? 01:03:18 RNA viruses replicate haphazardly and we're lucky COVID hasn't mutated more 01:10:17 Current lockdown is worse than doing nothing 01:13:20 The WHO suggesting masks were ineffective / counter-effective 01:14:53 The scientists are at fault because... 01:17:10 Was it China's authoritarianism that curbed the numbers or another factor? 01:23:04 What was different about South Korea, in response to COVID? 01:24:30 Herd immunity 01:30:53 COVID compared to the ordinary flu 01:38:34 On the "new strain" 01:42:45 No evidence for COVID being "only seasonal" and same with the common cold 01:46:58 Why did NASA analyze their asteroid as spherical (giving abjectly incorrect data)? 01:50:38 Solutions coming from outside the academy and established institutions 01:52:18 We've underestimated the danger of asteroid collisions because of NASA's data 01:56:27 NASA violated basic physical law, unethically 01:59:20 What's the alternative to trusting mainstream science, when not everyone can investigate an issue on their own? 02:06:28 How do you know what to trust in science without looking into the research yourself? 02:11:10 Food myths: Margarine vs Butter, Olive oil vs bacon oil 02:14:10 Health food advocates have killed people 02:15:19 It's dangerous to physically take someone's temperature before allowing them to enter 02:20:25 Why don't we talk more about geo-engineering solutions to global warming? 02:27:53 Global warming has become capitalism vs. something else 02:30:15 The best solutions global warming via geo-engineering 02:32:03 Myth: You need "fresh" ingredients for the best tasting food 02:34:53 How were the pyramids built? 02:35:26 Opinions on UFO's and Bob Lazar 02:36:03 On the Hard Problem of Consciousness and materialism Subscribe if you want more conversations on Theories of Everything, Consciousness, Free Will, God, and the mathematics / physics of each. * * * I'm producing an imminent documentary 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 contribute to getting the film distributed (early-2021). 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.