Closer To Truth 2200s

Science & Philosophy
Producer: Getzels Gordon Productions & The Kuhn Foundation
Rights: Unlimited, 5/12/2023 to 5/31/2025 (Live Linear Streaming available)
10×30
High Definition

2201. Why is Mathematics True & Beautiful?

Why the claim that mathematics has two transcendent attributes: truth and beauty? What are truth and beauty in mathematics? What makes math true? What makes math beautiful? Are there different kinds of mathematical existence? How can math combine idealized perfection and explanatory simplicity?

2202. Is Mathematical Truth & Beauty Intrinsic or Imposed?

Mathematics works to describe our world. But what about mathematics itself? Can we say what math is, not just what math does? Is math intrinsic to existence, the building blocks of all that is? Or is math imposed on existence, constructs of human minds? The difference is fundamental.

2203. Why the ‘Unreasonable Effectiveness’ of Mathematics?

Why do abstract mathematical equations produce exquisitely accurate descriptions of concrete reality? The mathematical physicist Eugene Wigner called math’s usefulness “uncanny” — and he entitled his famous essay, “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences.” 

2204. What does “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics” Mean?

The astonishing usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences, especially in physics, seems bordering on the mysterious — and there seems no rational explanation for it. Our bafflement stimulates novel thinking. How to assess the meaning of math’s “unreasonable effectiveness?”

2205. What are Breakthroughs in Mathematics?

Call mathematics the purest form of knowledge; it is universal messaging that anyone, anywhere, can understand. For math to advance dramatically, there must be breakthroughs, which may seem like magic.

What are mathematical breakthroughs? How do they happen? How do they work?

2206. What is the Deep Meaning of Probability?

Consider three powers of probability: refining data, assessing theories, probing ultimate reality. Watch how these work in cosmology: confidence in precise measurements; adjudicating competing models; revealing how quantum fluctuations became galactic structures.

2207. Why do Power Laws Work so Widely?

Why are “power laws” — mathematical relationships expressed by exponents or logarithms — so powerful in describing the world? Why are power laws found everywhere, in vastly diverse complex systems that compose our biological and social worlds? How could such simple arithmetic have such explanatory potency?

2208. Can Mathematics Explain Biology?

If life is said to be a vast space of possibilities, then it is an open invitation for mathematics to engage with biology. Statistics are essential for analyzing biological data and mathematical models improve biological theories and reveal hidden commonalties. In addition, could the mathematics of biology touch fundamental realities?

2209. Can Mathematics Elucidate Evolution?

Evolution is the foundation of life on earth, and the mathematics of evolution teases out hidden mechanisms; for example, genetic distances between organisms and probabilities of traits dominating or dying off. But could the mathematics of evolution explain the origin of life? Could it adjudicate between pure randomness and inevitable outcomes?

2210. Roger Penrose: Mathematics & What Exists

Roger Penrose — mathematician, physicist, philosopher — was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. We speak with Roger about our favorite, fundamental questions. What things exist? What is math and why does it work? What’s fundamental in the cosmos?