WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.480 --> 00:00:05.599 Welcome to the Core side Quantum Physics Podcast, an exploration 2 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:10.880 of the fundamental structure of reality, where quantum laws govern matter, energy, 3 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:16.239 and information. Here, uncertainty is a feature, not a flaw, 4 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:19.239 and understanding begins at the smallest scales. 5 00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:33.039 Hello, and welcome back to another exploration. I am genuinely 6 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:36.119 thrilled you are here today because we are tackling a 7 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:40.000 subject that sits right at the intersection of our wildest 8 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.479 science fiction dreams and well the hardest, coldest realities of physics. 9 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:45.359 It really does. 10 00:00:45.479 --> 00:00:47.759 We're looking at a stack of research today that I'll 11 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:50.200 be honest, it feels a bit like a roller coaster. 12 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:51.719 That's a perfect description. 13 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:54.280 It takes you up to this highest peak of excitement 14 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.640 and then it just drops you into a free fall 15 00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:59.840 of disappointment. But then, and this is the weird part, 16 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:04.000 it loops you around into something completely unexpected and frankly 17 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:04.920 much more profound. 18 00:01:05.159 --> 00:01:07.840 It really is a journey of good news, bad news, 19 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:10.599 and then weird news. We're dealing with the topic that 20 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:14.680 everyone thinks they understand because of you know, Hollywood. Oh absolutely, 21 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:17.640 but the actual physics behind it has just undergone a 22 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:21.200 massive shakeup. We're looking at a paper published just recently 23 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.680 in January twenty twenty six by Enrique gustain Yaga and 24 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:28.519 his colleagues, and it forces us to rethink the structure 25 00:01:28.519 --> 00:01:29.519 of the universe itself. 26 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:33.000 We are talking about wormholes, wormholes, the cosmic shortcut, the 27 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:35.760 Einstein Rosenbridge. You know the image You fold a piece 28 00:01:35.799 --> 00:01:37.680 of paper in half, plunch pencil through it, and suddenly 29 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:40.000 you can jump from Earth to the Andromeda Galaxy in 30 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:44.400 time for lunch. Right, It's the backbone of interstellar contact 31 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:47.480 star treks. I mean, basically, if you need to move 32 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:49.840 a plot faster than the speed of light, you use 33 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:51.159 a wormhole exactly. 34 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:54.439 It's the ultimate narrative device. It solves the biggest problem 35 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:57.000 in space travel, which is that space is just, you know, 36 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:01.760 annoyingly impossibly big. Yes, we want a subway system for 37 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:02.920 the stars. We do. 38 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:07.359 But and here comes the record scratch moment. There. This 39 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:11.599 new research suggests that this subway system is permanently closed. 40 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:14.800 Or maybe that it was never a subway system to 41 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:16.919 begin with. Right, that's the hard truth we have to 42 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.919 lead with. According to this new analysis, in the general 43 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:24.599 classical and quantum gravity, the traversible wormhole the kind Matthew 44 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:29.000 McConaughey fly as a spaceship through it. It likely does not exist. 45 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:29.960 It can't exist. 46 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:31.919 I have to say, when I first read the headline, 47 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:34.319 I felt a genuine pang of loss. 48 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:35.479 I get that. 49 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:39.120 There's something so hopeful about the idea of a wormhole. 50 00:02:39.719 --> 00:02:43.840 It makes the universe feel accessible. Losing that, yeah, it 51 00:02:43.879 --> 00:02:45.879 feels like we're being trapped in our own backyard. 52 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.240 I completely get that. It is a disappointment if you 53 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:51.080 look at the universe as a place to conquer or 54 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.520 travel through. But I want to pivot your perspective of 55 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:56.560 it because what Gustin Yaga is proposing is that while 56 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.400 we lose the shortcut, we gain an answer to a 57 00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:02.840 much more bigger question, which is the origin of everything. 58 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:03.240 Oh. 59 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:07.240 This research suggests that these structures aren't tunnels for spaceships. 60 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:10.719 They are mirrors for time, and these mirrors might be 61 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.000 the reason we're here at all. They might prove that 62 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:15.439 our Big Bang wasn't the beginning but a bounce. 63 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:20.199 Okay, mirrors for time and bouncing universes. That is a 64 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:22.639 lot to unpack. So our mission today is to figure 65 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:24.800 out how we got from sci fi tunnel to this 66 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:27.840 new theory. We need to understand why the old wormhole 67 00:03:27.879 --> 00:03:32.599 idea failed, what this mirror actually is, and why it 68 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:35.000 implies we might be living inside a black hole right now. 69 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:37.439 And we're going to see how this attempts to solve 70 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:41.879 the biggest headache in physics, the absolute war between gravity 71 00:03:42.039 --> 00:03:43.120 and quantum mechanics. 72 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:45.680 So let's rewind. Let's go back to the source. Most 73 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:49.759 people here Einstein Rosenbridge, and they assume Einstein sat down 74 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:52.240 in nineteen thirty five trying to figure out how to 75 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:53.400 travel faster. 76 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:56.319 Than light, which is completely wrong. We have to contextualize 77 00:03:56.360 --> 00:03:59.240 where Einstein was in nineteen thirty five. He wasn't thinking 78 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:04.400 about spaceship. He was thinking about particles. Specifically, he was frustrated, 79 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:09.080 frustrated with what with singularities in his theory of general relativity. 80 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:11.520 If you crunch matter down enough, you get a point 81 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.719 of infinite density singularity. 82 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:15.319 And that's where the math breaks. 83 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:18.959 The math breaks, it turns into nonsense. Einstein hated that 84 00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:21.920 he felt that nature shouldn't have divide by zero errors. 85 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:24.120 So a black hole is essentially a divide by zero 86 00:04:24.279 --> 00:04:24.560 error in. 87 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.240 The universe in the math of relativity. Yes, at the 88 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:30.319 very center. At the same time, you had this emerging 89 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:34.360 field of quantum mechanics dealing with electrons and protons, treating 90 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:38.439 them as point particle infinite density dots, and Einstein and 91 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:41.399 his colleague Nathan Rosen wanted to get rid of these points. 92 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:45.319 They wanted a geometry that was smooth everywhere, no sharp edges, 93 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:46.720 no infinities. 94 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:49.040 So they weren't building a tunnel. They were trying to 95 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:51.079 build a better electron exactly. 96 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:54.079 That is the part history often forgets. They propose a 97 00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:56.759 model where a particle isn't a solid dot, but a 98 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.720 tiny bridge connecting two sheets of space time. 99 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:00.879 Two sheets. 100 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:04.720 Yeah, imagine two parallel pieces of paper. The particle in 101 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:08.399 their model was a little tube connecting a point on 102 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:11.000 the top sheet to a point on the bottom sheet. 103 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:13.920 To them, the Einstein rosenbrids was a model for an 104 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:15.399 elementary particle. 105 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:17.759 So it was a way to have mass in charge 106 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:19.879 without having a singularity at the center. 107 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:23.360 Precisely, it smeared out the pointiness of the particle into 108 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:26.000 a smooth geometric structure that is wild. 109 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:28.639 So the original wormhole was microscopic. 110 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:31.199 It was intended to be. Yes, It was a mathematical hack, 111 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:34.199 a really clever one, to save physics from infinities. The 112 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:36.360 idea that you could scale it up and drive a 113 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:39.240 car through it. That didn't come until decades later. 114 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:42.000 So how did we get from math hack for an 115 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.759 electron to let's fly a ship through it? 116 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:48.279 That shift happens much later in the late nineteen eighties, 117 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:50.639 physicists like Kip Thorn. 118 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:53.000 The guy who consulted on Interstellar the very. 119 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:56.120 Same he and others started asking the what if questions. 120 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:59.560 They took the Einstein Rosen math and said, okay, forget particles, 121 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.000 so what if this structure was macroscopic? What if it 122 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:05.720 was huge? Could we send a signal through it? Could 123 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:06.839 we send a person? 124 00:06:07.079 --> 00:06:08.600 And that is when the sci fi dream was. 125 00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:12.160 Born, right, But almost immediately the math starts screaming no. 126 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:14.759 And this brings us to what we can call the 127 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:17.800 pinching problem. This is the part that kills the sci 128 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:19.839 fi dream. So we really need to understand it. 129 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:22.000 Okay, lay it on me. Why can't I fly my 130 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:23.519 spaceship through the bridge? 131 00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:26.920 Because the bridge is dynamic. It's not a static hallway. 132 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:28.879 It's not like the Lincoln Tunnel. 133 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:30.240 It's not just a hole in space. 134 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:32.920 No, it's a structure made of space, time and space 135 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.000 time is governed by gravity, and gravity, you know, is 136 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:38.519 an attractive force. It wants to pull things together. 137 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:39.240 So it wants to close. 138 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:44.040 It wants to collapse, and inside this bridge, the gravitational 139 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:50.199 forces are immense. The math shows that it collapses basically instantaneously. 140 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.560 Define instantaneously, like I open the door and it shuts 141 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:54.800 in one second. 142 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:57.439 Faster, much much faster. It shuts faster than the speed 143 00:06:57.480 --> 00:06:57.759 of light. 144 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:00.879 Wait, hold on, I thought nothing move faster than light. 145 00:07:01.079 --> 00:07:03.319 You can't just say faster than light and get away 146 00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:04.680 with it. That's like rule number one. 147 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:08.160 Good catch, And you're right. Nothing travels through space faster 148 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:11.560 than light. But space itself space can do whatever it wants. 149 00:07:11.639 --> 00:07:12.639 Ah the loophole. 150 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:16.000 The loophole, Space can expand or contract at any speed. 151 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:18.519 It's the fabric, not the things on the fabric. So 152 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:21.399 imagine you open this wormhole. You're standing at the entrance. 153 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:23.399 You see the light from the other side, let's say 154 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:24.680 the Andromeda galaxy. 155 00:07:24.759 --> 00:07:27.279 Okay, I see the pretty spiral galaxy on the other side. 156 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.160 You take one step forward. But the tunnel, the space 157 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:32.800 time of the bridge itself is collapsing so fast that 158 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:36.279 the ceiling and floor meet in the middle and pinch off. Okay, 159 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:38.519 and this happens before the light that was at the 160 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:41.240 threshold can even reach the middle of the tunnel, so. 161 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:44.759 You can't even get halfway through before it's gone. 162 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:48.040 You can't even get started. You literally get crushed into 163 00:07:48.120 --> 00:07:52.720 a singularity before you can cross. The bridge disconnects itself 164 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:54.800 from the universe before it can be traversed. 165 00:07:55.079 --> 00:07:57.279 So it's a trap. It's not a bridge. It's a 166 00:07:57.279 --> 00:07:58.560 cosmic mouse trap. 167 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:03.079 In its natural state. Yes, it's designed to fail unless 168 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:04.680 unless you prop it open. 169 00:08:04.839 --> 00:08:07.160 And this is where the sci fi writers say activate 170 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:11.360 the shields or use the dark matter or some other technobabble. 171 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:14.160 They usually say exotic matter. And this is a real 172 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:17.120 term in physics, but it is often misused. To keep 173 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:20.480 that throat open against the clushing weight of gravity, you 174 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:23.759 need something that pushes back. You need anti gravity. 175 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:25.639 Anti gravity. I mean that sounds pretty exotic to me. 176 00:08:25.720 --> 00:08:29.319 Effectively, Yeah, you need matter that has negative energy density. 177 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:32.559 I am going to stop you there. Negative energy. That 178 00:08:32.600 --> 00:08:35.519 sounds like a mood, not a physics TERMO. How energy 179 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:37.879 is its heat, it's light, it's motion. How can you 180 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:39.480 have less than zero energy? 181 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:41.879 It is a brain bender? I mean it's one of 182 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:45.039 the weirder concepts out there. Think of empty space as 183 00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:48.440 having a baseline energy, the vacuum energy. We usually just 184 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:52.440 call that level zero, okay, the floor right. Positive energy 185 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:56.519 is anything above that floor, a planet, a star, a battery. 186 00:08:56.759 --> 00:08:56.840 You. 187 00:08:57.879 --> 00:09:00.480 Negative energy would be a region where the energy is 188 00:09:00.519 --> 00:09:03.080 lower than the vacuum state. It's a dip in the floor. 189 00:09:03.399 --> 00:09:05.480 Is that even possible or is this just a number 190 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:07.320 on a spreadsheet that makes an equation work. 191 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:10.600 Well, we have seen hints of it. We've created tiny, 192 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:13.480 tiny amounts of it in labs using something called the 193 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:18.080 Casimir effect. Basically, you squeeze two metal plates so close 194 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:20.919 together that you squeeze out some of the vacuum fluctuations 195 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:21.559 between them. 196 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:23.519 So you create a little patch of less than. 197 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:25.399 Nothing, a little patch of less than nothing that creates 198 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:29.080 a tiny attractive force. But to hold a wormhole open, 199 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:32.600 the human sized one, you would need Jupiter sized amounts 200 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:33.440 of this stuff. 201 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:35.519 And we don't have a Jupiter sized bucket of negative 202 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:36.559 energy lying around. 203 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:39.080 We haven't found a single ounce of it in nature 204 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:42.919 on that scale. It is purely conjectural. It's a theoretical requirement, 205 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:45.960 but there's no evidence that exists in the quantities needed. 206 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:49.120 So the final verdict is no scaffolding. 207 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:53.679 No scaffolding without the negative energy, the bridge snap shut instantly. 208 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:55.759 The subway is closed permanently. 209 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:58.200 Okay, so the door is slam shut, the subway is 210 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:00.919 out of order. And usually this is where we would 211 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:04.840 pack up and go home. Stories over. But Gastanga and 212 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.960 his team looked at this broken bridge and said, wait, 213 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:09.240 we're looking at this all wrong. 214 00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:11.879 This is the pivot. This is the brilliant part. They said, 215 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:16.320 if general relativity forbids travel, maybe the bridge isn't for travel. 216 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:19.480 Maybe it's serving a different function in the universe. It's 217 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:20.840 not a bug, it's a feature. 218 00:10:21.159 --> 00:10:22.960 And this brings us to the mirror concept. 219 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:25.799 Yes, they stopped looking at the bridge as a connection 220 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:29.279 between place A and place B. They started looking at 221 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:33.039 it as a connection between universe A and well. 222 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:34.600 A reflection, the reflection in time. 223 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:37.440 Correct. And to get this we have to talk about symmetry. 224 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:41.279 Physics at its absolute core is just obsessed with symmetry assessed. 225 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:43.960 How what do you mean, Well, look at the fundamental laws, 226 00:10:44.360 --> 00:10:49.960 Newton's laws, Einstein's relativity, even Schrodinger's equation. In quantum mechanics, 227 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:53.080 if you look at the raw equations, none of them 228 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:55.200 have a preferred direction for time. 229 00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:59.120 What do you mean? Time definitely has a direction. I 230 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:01.320 am older than I was ten minutes ago. My coffee 231 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:04.240 got cold, it didn't spontaneously get hot again. 232 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:08.200 That is your macroscopic experience talking. And you're right. In 233 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:11.840 our big, messy world, time has an arrow. We call 234 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:12.639 that entropy. 235 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:15.080 Right. The universe gets more disordered. 236 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:17.799 Over time, Exactly, things get messier. You break an egg, 237 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:20.440 it scrambles, it never unscrambles itself and goes back into 238 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:22.720 the shell. That's the arrow of time we experience, right. 239 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:25.960 But zoom in, weigh in. Look at a single atom 240 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:29.879 mumping into another atom, a single billiard ball collision. If 241 00:11:29.879 --> 00:11:32.039 I recorded that on video and played it backward, would 242 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:32.399 do you know? 243 00:11:32.679 --> 00:11:34.639 I know, I guess not. It would just look like 244 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:36.279 another bound, so that the physics would. 245 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:39.720 Look the same exactly At the microscopic level. The fundamental 246 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:43.000 laws of physics are time symmetric. They work equally well 247 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:45.480 forward and backward. There is no arrow of time in 248 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:48.879 the fundamental equations themselves. The arrow only emerges when you 249 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:51.639 have billions and billions of particles interacting. 250 00:11:51.799 --> 00:11:54.240 Okay, I accept that for atoms, but how does that 251 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:56.759 apply to the wormhole, this giant structure. 252 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.320 Gusta Yuga's team argues that the Einstein Rosenbridge is the 253 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:03.639 place where this fundamental symmetry becomes physically relevant on a 254 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:06.840 large scale. It's a structure that connects two regions where 255 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:08.480 time flows in opposite directions. 256 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:12.440 Okay, hold on, time flows backward. I hear those words, 257 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:15.519 but my brain rejects them. What does that actually mean? 258 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.600 Are people walking backward? Is the rain falling up into 259 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:19.200 the clouds. 260 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:22.639 It's not about movies playing in reverse. That's a common misconception. 261 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:25.120 It's more fundamental. Think of it as a balance sheet 262 00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:27.440 for the universe. To make the math work, to keep 263 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.279 the energies balanced, and the quantum symmetry is intact, you 264 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:32.039 need a counterbalance. 265 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:33.600 A yin and the yang, a yin and a yang. 266 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:37.279 The wormhole isn't a tunnel to a new location. It 267 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:40.759 is the hinge point. It's the joint. On one side 268 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:43.960 of the hymn, you have our universe where entropy increases 269 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:47.759 and what we call time moves forward. Okay, our side 270 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:50.600 on the other side of the hinge. Mathematically, there has 271 00:12:50.679 --> 00:12:54.519 to be a complementary state, a state where from our perspective, 272 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:58.440 entropy is decreasing, where time flows in the reverse direction 273 00:12:58.639 --> 00:12:59.559 relative to us. 274 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:02.159 Is a mirror universe in a temporal sense. 275 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:05.240 Yes, it is the necessary other half of the equation. 276 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:07.399 It's not a place you can visit. It's the other 277 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:09.759 side of the coin that makes the coin exist. 278 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:11.080 And we don't see it because we're stuck on our 279 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:11.720 side of the coin. 280 00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:14.279 Exactly. We only see the forward half because we live 281 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:17.919 in a big, high entrpy world. But near a black hole, 282 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:21.440 near that extreme gravity, where the bridge exists, the structure 283 00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:24.679 becomes relevant. The bridge is what stitches the two arrows 284 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:27.200 of time together into one complete system. 285 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:28.480 So the wormhole is the scene. 286 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:31.519 Yes, it is the scene between the forward time reality 287 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:35.799 and the backward time reality. Without both, the physics is incomplete. 288 00:13:36.039 --> 00:13:38.879 That is deeply abstract. But I want to ground this 289 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:43.039 because the research says this actually solves a massive practical 290 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:46.519 problem in physics, the black hole information paradox. 291 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:49.480 Oh, this is the big one. This is the forty 292 00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:53.919 year long war in theoretical physics. This is the issue 293 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:55.840 that kept Stephen Hawking up at night. 294 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:58.679 Set the scene for us. Why is this a paradox. 295 00:13:58.720 --> 00:13:59.480 What's the problem. 296 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:02.919 Okay, So in the nineteen seventies, Stephen Hawking did this 297 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:07.480 incredible calculation. He combined quantum mechanics in general relativity near 298 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:10.279 a black hole's edge, and he realized that black holes 299 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:14.600 aren't perfectly black. They radiate Hawking radiation Hawking radiation. They 300 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:17.360 glow with a faint heat, and because they're radiating energy, 301 00:14:17.399 --> 00:14:21.080 they're losing mass. Over trillions upon trillions of years, they 302 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:24.679 lose all their mass, and eventually they evaporate. They disappear 303 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:27.200 completely in a final poof of radiation. 304 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:30.279 Okay, so the trash can of the universe eventually empties itself. 305 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:31.399 Why is that a problem? 306 00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:33.600 Because of what was inside the trash can. Let's say 307 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:36.559 I write a diary, all my deepest secrets, the complete 308 00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:39.080 information about my life, and I throw it into a. 309 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:41.440 Black hole, very secure disposal. 310 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.240 The most secure. But according to a fundamental rule of 311 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:49.000 quantum mechanics, information is never lost. The universe is unitary. 312 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:52.039 Unitary it means that if you had a super supercomputer 313 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:55.279 and you could track every single photon and particle in 314 00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:59.600 the universe, you should, in principle, be able to rewind 315 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:03.480 the clock and reconstruct my diary from the ashes, like putting. 316 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:05.360 A shredded document back together. If you have all the 317 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:06.639 pieces exactly. 318 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:10.679 The information is scrambled, but it's not gone. But Hawking's 319 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:14.159 math showed that when the black hole evaporates, the radiation 320 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:17.919 that comes out is random. It's thermal gibberish. It contains 321 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:22.080 no information about my diary. The information is gone, erased, 322 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:23.759 deleted from the universe. 323 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:26.039 And quantum mechanics says, you can't do that. 324 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:30.559 Quantum mechanics screams illegal move yeah, but relativity says, sorry, 325 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.279 the black hole is gone. This is the paradox, one 326 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:35.840 of them, one of our two best theories of reality 327 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:36.799 has to be wrong. 328 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:39.360 And physicists have been trying to fix this for decades 329 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:40.440 with all sorts. 330 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:43.840 Of complicated, bizarre ideas. But here's how the time mirror 331 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:48.240 fixes this. It's just so elegant. It redefines the event horizon. 332 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:51.200 We usually think of the event horizon as the point 333 00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:54.120 of no return, a cliff edge. You fall off, you 334 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:57.799 get crushed, your information is lost in the hole forever, right, 335 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:00.399 But if the bridge at the center is a time mirror, 336 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:04.240 the event horizon isn't a cliff It is the entryway 337 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:08.759 to the bridge. The information your diary crosses the horizon, 338 00:16:09.159 --> 00:16:12.480 but instead of being destroyed in a singularity, it passes 339 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.200 through to the mirror side, where time runs backward. 340 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:19.799 Wait, so the information doesn't vanish, It just exits stage 341 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:20.799 left into the past. 342 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:23.639 It continues to exist and evolve, but in the reverse 343 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:26.360 timeframe it flows into the other side of the symmetry. 344 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:29.440 This means the information is conserved. It's still in the 345 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:32.120 total universe, the bi universe system, you could say. 346 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:33.639 So quantum mechanics is happy. 347 00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:37.039 Quant mechanics is happy, but it has left our observable 348 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:40.320 region of forward flowing time. So general relativity is also happy. 349 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:41.960 The paradox just dissolves. 350 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.519 That is incredibly elegant. Feels like a magic trick. Is 351 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:46.399 the rabbit in the hat nos in the other hat? 352 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:48.120 You just need to know there was a second hat. 353 00:16:48.200 --> 00:16:51.200 That is often how physics advances. You realize you were 354 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:53.799 only looking at half the system. The solution was there 355 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:56.480 all along, hidden in the symmetry of the equations. 356 00:16:56.519 --> 00:16:58.799 Okay, so we fixed black holes. That's a Nobel prize 357 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:02.840 right there. But the source material goes way bigger. It 358 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:06.319 takes this mirror idea and applies it to the whole enchilada, 359 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:07.200 the Big Bang. 360 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:12.119 This is where we move from interesting physics to existential crisis. 361 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:14.359 I'm a ready bring on the crisis. 362 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:18.160 If the universe loves symmetry, and if black holes act 363 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:21.119 as these time bridges, then what does that say about 364 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:24.119 the moment everything began? The ultimate singularity? 365 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:27.160 The standard story is fourteen billion years ago, there was 366 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.359 a point of infinite density the Big Bang. Time starts 367 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:33.920 at zero. Everything explodes out of that singularity. 368 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:37.279 Right another singularity, another divide by zero error that physicists 369 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:40.720 have never been comfortable with. But this theory suggests what 370 00:17:40.759 --> 00:17:43.160 if the Bang wasn't the beginning? What if it was 371 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:49.119 a bounce. Imagine a universe before ours apparent universe. Maybe 372 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:52.039 it expands for a while, but eventually gravity wins. That 373 00:17:52.119 --> 00:17:56.119 universe stops expanding and starts collapsing. It crunches down all 374 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:59.359 the matter, all the stars, everything squeezes into a tiny 375 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:00.119 hot day. 376 00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:03.759 The big crunch, And normally that is where we think 377 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:06.119 it all ends, a final singularity. 378 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:08.960 And if this bridge mechanism is real, it doesn't end. 379 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:11.359 It doesn't hid an infinity. It hits that maximum density 380 00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:15.200 crosses the symmetry point that the mirror and reverses, that 381 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:19.240 collapse turns into an expansion. Time reflects, the implosion becomes 382 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:20.480 an explosion. 383 00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:21.839 And that explosion is our Big Bang. 384 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:25.960 Precisely, we are the exhale of a previous universe's inhale. 385 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:28.559 That is a beautiful image. It makes the universe feel 386 00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:32.200 like a lung breathing and breathing out potentially forever. 387 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:35.559 It removes the need for a creation moment out of nothing, 388 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:38.279 which has always been a philosophical sticking point. It implies 389 00:18:38.279 --> 00:18:41.000 an eternal chain of universes, each one giving birth to 390 00:18:41.079 --> 00:18:41.519 the next. 391 00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:43.759 But there's just a specific detail in the report that 392 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:46.279 made my hair stand up. It says, and I'm quoting, 393 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:49.319 our universe might be the interior of a black hole 394 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:51.359 formed in another parent cosmos. 395 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:54.720 Yes, this is the nesting doll theory of the cosmos. 396 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:58.000 Explain that how can we be inside a black hole? 397 00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:00.559 I look up the night sky and I the stars. 398 00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:01.599 I don't see a ceiling. 399 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.880 Think about the geometry from both sides. From the outside. 400 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:09.359 In the parent universe, a giant star collapses, It forms 401 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:12.440