#370 – Edward Frenkel: Reality is a Paradox – Mathematics, Physics, Truth & Love

Edward Frenkel is a mathematician at UC Berkeley working on the interface of mathematics and quantum physics. He is the author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - House of Macadamias: https://houseofmacadamias.com/lex and use code LEX to get 20% off your first order - Shopify: https://shopify.com/lex to get free trial - ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod to get 3 months free EPISODE LINKS: Edward's Website: https://edwardfrenkel.com Edward's Book - Love and Math: https://amzn.to/40Bgxh0 Edward's Twitter: https://twitter.com/edfrenkel Edward's YouTube: https://youtube.com/edfrenkel Edward's Instagram: https://instagram.com/edfrenkel PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (05:54) - Mathematics in the Soviet Union (16:05) - Nature of reality (27:23) - Scientific discoveries (40:45) - Observing reality (56:57) - Complex numbers (1:05:42) - Imagination (1:13:33) - Pythagoreanism (1:21:28) - AI and love (1:34:07) - Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems (1:54:32) - Beauty in mathematics (1:59:02) - Eric Weinstein (2:20:57) - Langlands Program (2:27:36) - Edward Witten (2:30:41) - String theory (2:36:10) - Theory of everything (2:45:03) - Mathematics in academia (2:50:30) - How to think (2:56:16) - Fermat's Last Theorem (3:11:07) - Eric Weinstein and Harvard (3:18:32) - Antisemitism (3:38:45) - Mortality (3:46:42) - Love