Portal:On the quest for the theory of everything (YouTube Content)

On the quest for the theory of everything was a discussion with Sabine Hossenfelder, Eric Weinstein, Brian Greene, and Michael Shermer, moderated by Catherine Heymans on The Institute of Art and Ideas.

Description
Sabine Hossenfelder, Eric Weinstein, Brian Greene and Michael Shermer discuss whether it is possible to find a theory that explains it all.

Philosophy has often been seen as a hunt for a theory of everything, a single grand narrative that explains it all. In recent times science has had its own supporters for a theory of everything. Yet no theory of everything in philosophy or science has been forthcoming. And is it even possible? It would after all, have to include itself. Can we conceive of a universe that also includes its causes and laws? Can a universe have no before and after, no 'outside'? And isn't a theory of everything itself bounded by its particular culture, language and mode of thinking?

Should we abandon the dream of a theory of everything and see it as an illusion born of hubris? Is the mistake not with the idea of a full explanation, but with the idea of 'everything', or as the Greeks would have said 'the One'? Or is it just possible that as Stephen Hawking once believed a theory of everything is just round the corner?

World-leading string theorist Brian Greene, famed historian of science Michael Shermer, ground breaking particle physicist Sabine Hossenfelder and radical mathematical physicist and podcast host Eric Weinstein lock horns over whether it's possible to find a theory of everything. Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Catherine Heymans, hosts.