The REAL Reason Scientists Know Reality Is An Illusion

Professor Brian Greene, theoretical physicist at Columbia University and one of the world's leading string theorists, explains why the odds say you are almost certainly not real, and why the deepest truth about what you are made of is stranger than anything you were taught in school. He starts by explaining string theory in the simplest possible terms. You know matter is made of molecules, which are made of atoms, which are made of electrons and quarks. But is that the end of the story? String theory says no. If you zoomed in with a powerful enough microscope, inside every electron and every quark you would find a tiny vibrating filament, a string. Just as a violin string produces different musical notes depending on how it vibrates, these strings produce different particles depending on their vibration pattern. So at the deepest level, everything (including you) is just energy vibrating in different patterns. He is honest that string theory is unproven. We don't have particle colliders powerful enough to see the strings directly. The ideas come from mathematics: when you combine the equations of quantum mechanics and general relativity inside the math of string theory, everything fits together harmoniously, and physicists follow where the math leads. The conversation then turns to the idea that unsettles most people. Steven asks whether reality could be a simulation. Greene says he cannot prove that it isn't. He explains the argument popularized by philosopher Nick Bostrom: if any advanced civilization ever develops the ability to run conscious, high-fidelity simulations of their ancestors, they would run millions or billions of them. Those simulated realities would vastly outnumber the single real universe. So statistically, any conscious being asking whether they're real is almost certainly living inside a simulation rather than base reality. As Greene puts it, the odds are that anyone who thinks they're real is not. Discover: • What string theory actually is, explained as simply as possible • Why you, at the deepest level, are just vibrating energy • The simulation argument and why the odds say you're not real • Why Greene cannot prove we are not living in the Matrix • Why he believes all human emotion is just electrical impulses • Whether ChatGPT or Claude could ever be truly conscious • Why he thinks humans will blend with AI into a new life form • Why he is at peace with the end of humanity as we know it 📺 Watch the full episode here -    • Professor Brian Greene: The Threat of AI, ...   ❤️ Subscribe to our main channel -    / thediaryofaceo   Get your hands on exclusive Diary of a CEO products: https://thediary.com/collections/all?... #thediaryofaceo #doac