The Limits of Knowing with Elise Crull
Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Chuck Nice talk with philosopher of physics Elise Crull about the historical and contemporary relationship between physics and philosophy. They trace how natural philosophy split into specialized disciplines, how foundational concepts like space, time, and objectivity shaped classical and modern physics, and why questions raised by quantum mechanics-such as entanglement and non-locality-force a reevaluation of those concepts. The conversation also explores academic specialization, the role of philosophy in guiding cutting-edge physics, and Neil's nuanced critique of modern academic philosophy.
Things You Thought You Knew - Quantum Cat
Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Chuck Nice explore three classic concepts from astrophysics and quantum physics: death by black hole, Schrödinger's cat and the observer effect, and quantum tunneling. They explain tidal forces and spaghettification near black holes, clarify what the quantum observer effect really means, unpack the idea of superposition in Schrödinger's cat and qubits in quantum computing, and show how quantum tunneling enables nuclear fusion inside stars at temperatures lower than classical physics would predict.