YC
Leonard Susskind on Richard Feynman, the Holographic Principle, and Unanswered Questions in Physics
@ Y Combinator
12/07/18
Takeaways
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
I am very mainstream; I am not at all an alternative thinker. This misconception about me is not true.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
My physics has been extremely mainstream, and while some ideas may have seemed outlandish at first, they quickly caught on.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
I spent a lot of time thinking about conflicts of principle, where things were not fitting together properly, and concluded that sometimes you have to change things or break the mold a little bit.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
The reputation of being a radical physicist is a myth; I consider myself the most conservative physicist imaginable.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
Freeman Dyson is a contrarian who enjoys running against the grain, but he has a high probability of being wrong.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
Richard Feynman was about as mainstream as you can be, but he had his own very special scientific personality.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
The connection between quantum mechanics and gravity is a major focus in theoretical physics right now, as there are inconsistencies between the two.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
The dark energy puzzle is not about why it exists, but rather why it is so small compared to what we would expect.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
Almost all the information in the universe is in the form of black holes; they contain significantly more information than anything else.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
The holographic principle suggests that the information falling into a black hole can be thought of as both falling in and being stored on its horizon.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
The universe itself may be a hologram, with our interior representation being mirrored at the boundary, similar to a black hole's horizon. The holographic principle is a tool in physics that represents information stored on the surface of a black hole rather than in three dimensions, allowing for predictive and mathematical value.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
The information that falls into a black hole is stored on its horizon in a way that cannot be easily reconstructed, resembling a hologram rather than a photograph.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
To reconstruct the information from a black hole's horizon, one would need to shine the right kind of light on it, similar to how a hologram works, but this process is not straightforward and requires advanced technology.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
The idea that we live in a simulation doesn't add anything meaningful; the laws of nature themselves can be seen as a computer program that governs our reality.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
Richard Feynman disliked certain styles of philosophy that were full of jargon and lacked clarity, yet he was deeply philosophical in his own way, focusing on simple and clear explanations.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
Feynman was troubled by his involvement in the development of nuclear weapons and worked hard for nuclear disarmament, contrasting with his more detached approach to physics.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
Feynman believed that improving the world comes from discovering what the world is, emphasizing the importance of understanding nature over the potential misuse of scientific discoveries.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
Quantum teleportation cannot be used for faster-than-light communication; it requires classical information to be sent simultaneously, which limits its speed to that of light.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
Quantum mechanics has already shaped technology significantly, and the exploration of massive entanglement in quantum systems will lead to advancements that classical computers cannot achieve.
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Leonard Susskind
12/07/18
@ Y Combinator
Teaching physics to the public is not only enjoyable but also essential for formulating new ideas, as explaining complex concepts helps deepen one's understanding.