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Sean Carroll

What Sean Carroll thinks about physics

@sean-carroll · 20 positions · 0 changes of mind

Theoretical physicist at Johns Hopkins University, Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy, host of the Mindscape podcast and author of Something Deeply Hidden.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

Sean Carroll did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

5 dated positions, 2024, in their own words. Our reading of what Sean Carroll has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingThe story that Einstein could not keep up with quantum mechanics is almost exactly backwards: his philosophical objections were correct and should have been taken far more seriously.

    quantum mechanics

    Their wordsI think that that story about the latter part is completely wrong, almost 180 degrees wrong. I think that Einstein understood quantum mechanics as well as anyone, at least up through the 1930s. I think that his philosophical objections to it are correct. He should actually have been taken much more seriously about that.

    ↗Sean Carroll: General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Black Holes & Aliens | Lex Fridman Podcast #428youtube.com 1st of 20 in this recording

  3. Our readingThe singularity of a black hole is not a place at its centre but a moment in your future: falling in, you run out of time rather than out of room.

    Their wordsRemember space and time are parts of one unified space-time, the location of the singularity in the black hole is not the middle of space, but our future. It is a moment of time. It is like a big crunch.

    ↗Sean Carroll: General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Black Holes & Aliens | Lex Fridman Podcast #428youtube.com 5th of 20 in this recording

  5. Our readingThe Copenhagen interpretation taught to physics students is a God-awful mess; many-worlds is beautiful because it needs fewer ingredients and one equation.

    quantum mechanics

    Their wordsIf you think about how we teach quantum mechanics to our students, the Copenhagen interpretation, it’s a God-awful mess. No one’s going to accuse that of being very beautiful. I’m a fan of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, and that is very beautiful in the sense that fewer ingredients, just one equation, and it could cover everything in the world.

    ↗Sean Carroll: General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Black Holes & Aliens | Lex Fridman Podcast #428youtube.com 7th of 20 in this recording

  7. Our readingThe largest contribution physics can make to AI is energy efficiency: computers waste heat hilariously worse than brains do, and nobody has seriously tried to fix it.

    energy

    Their wordsI think this is one of the biggest things that physics can help with, and it’s an obvious kind of low-hanging fruit situation where the heat generation, the inefficiency, the waste of existing high-level computers is nowhere near the efficiency of our brains. It’s hilariously worse, and we haven’t tried to optimize that hard on that frontier.

    ↗Sean Carroll: General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Black Holes & Aliens | Lex Fridman Podcast #428youtube.com 14th of 20 in this recording

  9. Our readingEinstein's equation is much smarter than Einstein was: it knew about black holes, gravitational waves and the Big Bang while he did not.

    Their wordsAnd the punchline is the equation is much smarter than Albert Einstein because Albert Einstein did not know about the Big Bang, he didn’t know about gravitational waves, he didn’t know about black holes but his equation did.

    ↗Sean Carroll: General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Black Holes & Aliens | Lex Fridman Podcast #428youtube.com 19th of 20 in this recording