Abstract: One of the great intellectual achievements of the twentieth century was the theory of quantum mechanics, according to which observational results can only be predicted probabilistically rather than with certainty. Yet, after decades in which the theory has been successfully used on an everyday basis, most physicists would agree that we still don't truly understand what it means. I will talk about the source of this puzzlement, and explain why an increasing number of physicists are led to an apparently astonishing conclusion: that the world we experience is constantly branching into different versions, representing the different possible outcomes of quantum measurements. This could have important consequences for quantum gravity and the emergence of spacetime.
Speaker:
Sean Carroll
Sean Carroll's official title is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins, and he is also Fractal Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He is interested in how the world works at the deepest levels, which leads him to do research in physics and philosophy. His current interests include foundational questions in quantum mechanics, spacetime, statistical mechanics, complexity, and cosmology, with occasional dabblings elsewhere.
This is lecture 3 of 3 in the 2026 Heilborn Lecture Series. Please visit our website for more information.
Keywords: Physics, Heilborn
Laura Nevins
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