Sean Carroll

So to me, that's like hopefully a very good starting point for exactly what you're thinking about, the biggest ideas in the universe. Leonard Susskind also has a series of books, The Theoretical Minimum. It's a little more straightforwardly course-like laid out. In the biggest ideas, I try to sort of mix and match things.

So to me, that's like hopefully a very good starting point for exactly what you're thinking about, the biggest ideas in the universe. Leonard Susskind also has a series of books, The Theoretical Minimum. It's a little more straightforwardly course-like laid out. In the biggest ideas, I try to sort of mix and match things.

I don't go in the traditional order because I'm very, very explicitly not teaching a course, right? It's about— people picking up the books and reading them. So it's a slightly different angle, but a very similar spirit of showing you the equations and helping you learn about them. None of those books are quite at the level of a textbook. So ultimately, if you really want to learn this stuff,

I don't go in the traditional order because I'm very, very explicitly not teaching a course, right? It's about— people picking up the books and reading them. So it's a slightly different angle, but a very similar spirit of showing you the equations and helping you learn about them. None of those books are quite at the level of a textbook. So ultimately, if you really want to learn this stuff,

Well, what do you mean by really want to learn this stuff, right? If you want to learn it at the level of a professional physicist, you have to start at the beginning. You have to learn classical mechanics and calculus and differential equations and waves and E&M and basic quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics and then on your way up.

Well, what do you mean by really want to learn this stuff, right? If you want to learn it at the level of a professional physicist, you have to start at the beginning. You have to learn classical mechanics and calculus and differential equations and waves and E&M and basic quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics and then on your way up.

There is a famous slash infamous web page put up by Gerard de Tuft, who is a Nobel Prize winning brilliant physicist, called How to Be a Good Theoretical Physicist. And he lists – I've always thought maybe I should do a – my own version of this because it lists every course you need to take.

There is a famous slash infamous web page put up by Gerard de Tuft, who is a Nobel Prize winning brilliant physicist, called How to Be a Good Theoretical Physicist. And he lists – I've always thought maybe I should do a – my own version of this because it lists every course you need to take.

And he points to specific resources, both online and textbooks that will take you all the way up through quantum field theory and particle physics and condensed matter physics and so on. But he also has all the steps along the way, including things like foreign languages and the mathematics and so forth. The problem is that a Tufts idea of what you need to know is rather expansive.

And he points to specific resources, both online and textbooks that will take you all the way up through quantum field theory and particle physics and condensed matter physics and so on. But he also has all the steps along the way, including things like foreign languages and the mathematics and so forth. The problem is that a Tufts idea of what you need to know is rather expansive.

So it's incredibly intimidating. Like you look at the list and you're like, I'm never going to get through all this. And, you know, maybe that's what you need to be in a Tufts level theoretical physicist, but maybe some of us want to just aim at being a, a working class hack theoretical physicist, and that would be good enough.

So it's incredibly intimidating. Like you look at the list and you're like, I'm never going to get through all this. And, you know, maybe that's what you need to be in a Tufts level theoretical physicist, but maybe some of us want to just aim at being a, a working class hack theoretical physicist, and that would be good enough.

So you can maybe pick and choose a little bit, but ultimately, yeah, you're going to have to buy some textbooks, I think. Maybe buy is the wrong word, because at this point, there's so much stuff online, whether it's online courses, which I really am a fan of, or online lecture notes or whatever. I don't have specific recommendations there, but go to edX and Coursera.

So you can maybe pick and choose a little bit, but ultimately, yeah, you're going to have to buy some textbooks, I think. Maybe buy is the wrong word, because at this point, there's so much stuff online, whether it's online courses, which I really am a fan of, or online lecture notes or whatever. I don't have specific recommendations there, but go to edX and Coursera.

These are online course sites. Or go to Khan Academy or whatever and just find courses you can sign up for. And many of them are archived, so the videos are there. You don't need to take them at some specific pace. You can just do it whenever you want, which is great.

These are online course sites. Or go to Khan Academy or whatever and just find courses you can sign up for. And many of them are archived, so the videos are there. You don't need to take them at some specific pace. You can just do it whenever you want, which is great.

Christoph Radomski says, in Space Time in Motion, you mentioned that you, being a science consultant in Marvel's Thor, had something to do with Jane Foster's mention of an Einstein-Rosen bridge. Are you also responsible for Tony Stark's mentioning quantum fluctuations at Planck scale triggering Deutsch proposition in Avengers Endgame? No, that one was not mine.

Christoph Radomski says, in Space Time in Motion, you mentioned that you, being a science consultant in Marvel's Thor, had something to do with Jane Foster's mention of an Einstein-Rosen bridge. Are you also responsible for Tony Stark's mentioning quantum fluctuations at Planck scale triggering Deutsch proposition in Avengers Endgame? No, that one was not mine.

There were other science consultants on Endgame. I think, I'm not 100% sure, but I think that former Mindscape guest Clifford Johnson was one of them, and it might be from him. I mean, that particular statement of Tony Stark's is kind of word salad nonsense. All the individual terms make sense, but the particular way they are arranged in order doesn't, which is, that's fine. You know, it's just...

There were other science consultants on Endgame. I think, I'm not 100% sure, but I think that former Mindscape guest Clifford Johnson was one of them, and it might be from him. I mean, that particular statement of Tony Stark's is kind of word salad nonsense. All the individual terms make sense, but the particular way they are arranged in order doesn't, which is, that's fine. You know, it's just...