Into the Impossible With Brian Keating
Into the Impossible With Brian Keating
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Is the Universe Random or Deterministic, or Neither? Andrew Jaffe - #536
1 hour 11 minutes Posted Jan 12, 2026 at 4:30 pm.
–01:13 — Science and life rely on building models.
–03:35 — Models of people and reality are often wrong and revised.
–06:01 — Observation depends on prior theories.
–07:32 — Models can’t be escaped, only improved.
–08:57 — No single scientific method exists.
–11:25 — Science uses induction, not pure proof.
–13:22 — Induction isn’t certain, only probabilistic.
–15:36 — Induction works because nature is regular.
–19:08 — Big Bang emerges from well-tested models.
–21:15 — Current cosmology is stressed, not broken.
–30:36 — Probability gives meaning to models.
–41:11 — Randomness often reflects limited knowledge.
–45:00 — Quantum physics is fundamentally probabilistic.
–50:04 — Inflation awaits decisive observational tests.
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1:11:36
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Get My NEW Book: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN8DH6SX
Andrew Jaffe Book: The Random Universe: https://www.amazon.com/Random-Universe-Models-Probability-Cosmos/dp/0300250509
Is the universe intrinsically random? In this conversation, we dive deep into why the universe may be fundamentally, intrinsically random. Whether inflation on life support, the truth behind the Hubble tension, and whether cosmology is approaching the event horizon, limits beyond which humans can never know. Today we're joined by one of the architects of modern cosmological inference, Professor Andrew Jaffee, author of a new book called The Random Universe that argues that every observation in science is shaped by the models we bring to it, biases and all.
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