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Lawrence M. Krauss

The Origins Podcast features in-depth conversations with some of the most interesting people in the world about the issues that impact all of us in the 21st century. Host, theoretical physicist, lecturer, and author, Lawrence M. Krauss, will be joined by guests from a wide range of fields, including science, the arts, and journalism. The topics discussed on The Origins Podcast reflect the full range of the human experience - exploring science and culture in a way that seeks to entertain, educate, and inspire. lawrencekrauss.substack.com 

lawrencekrauss.substack.com

The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss

I had the privilege of welcoming my friend Jeffrey Sachs back to the podcast. Jeffrey joined me earlier this year, and given the unfolding crises around the world, I thought it was a good time to sit down again and talk current events. I expect our conversation will generate disagreements from many listeners. Open discussion of sensitive issues however is important and one of the things that both Critical Mass and The Origins Project Foundation defend and promote.

Jeffrey is one of the most incisive thinkers I know. His career has spanned academia, global governance, and public advocacy, and his work has had a profound impact on economics and diplomacy. As one of the youngest tenured professors in Harvard’s history, he established himself as a brilliant scholar early on. But he didn’t stay confined to academia. For nearly two decades, he was a senior advisor to the UN Secretary-General, tackling some of the world’s most complex challenges.

Our conversation this time focused on two hot-button topics dominating headlines: Ukraine and Gaza. On Ukraine, Jeffrey traces the roots of the conflict back to the U.S.’s decision to expand NATO eastward—a move he argues broke assurances given to Russia in the early 1990s. He described how this decision sowed mistrust and led to today’s crisis. Jeffrey believes diplomacy is the only viable solution and floated a bold idea: a direct negotiation brokered by none other than Donald Trump, to secure Ukraine’s neutrality and end the bloodshed. I presented to him the concerns of a Ukrainian journalist who has asked me to present Jeffrey with various questions. the concern that a diplomatic solution will embolden Russia to more dramatic land grabs is certainly real in the Ukraine.

On Gaza, Jeffrey’s criticism was equally sharp. He views the Israeli government’s policies toward Palestinians in the occupied territories as untenable and unjust, likening them to apartheid. He insists that a two-state solution, grounded in international law, is the only way forward—a sentiment shared by much of the international community but ignored by Israel’s leadership, which he argues is using the United States as its handmaiden to perpetuate policies designed to create an Israeli state encompassing much or all of the territory in dispute.. For Jeffrey, the failure to pursue this path perpetuates unnecessary suffering and cycles of violence.

We didn’t agree on everything. I’m skeptical about the practicality of some of his solutions, and the basis of some of his arguments about the obstacles to peace. Nevertheless, we agree on two things. Diplomacy is always preferable to war, and a two-state solution is the only solution that might, in principle provide long term stability in the Middle East—even if the practical route to get there and ensure Israeli security in the process is rife with obstacles . Whether we agree or disagree, our conversations are always rich, nuanced, and thought-provoking. Jeffrey’s willingness to address hard truths, even when they provoke controversy, is one of the reasons I value his perspective so much. That and his encyclopedic knowledge of history and economics.

In a world so polarized, reasoned dialogue is more essential than ever. My discussion with Jeffrey reaffirmed that respectful dialogue is not just possible but necessary if we are to make progress on the complex issues of our time. Once again, that is one of the purposes of our Foundation, and this podcast. I hope you find this conversation as stimulating as I did.

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.
 

Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

Jeffrey Sachs on Diplomacy, Conflict, and the Path to Peace

A year ago, John Richards the head of the Atheist UK approached me about the idea of celebrating Christopher Hitchens with a Hitchmas event, near Christmas, and on or about the anniversary of Christopher’s death, on Dec 15, 2011. I realized that to do it right would require time and organization, and the proper panelists. I was thrilled that Christopher’s friends and mine, Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins, and Douglas Murray agreed to be part of the event, and that the HowTo Academy, which organizes wonderful events in London, several of which I had done before, agreed to coordinate the logistics with The Origins Project Foundation. A year later, the sold-out event happened, and we decided in advance to record it appropriately, with 5 cameras, and to have Gus and Luke Holwerda, who directed and filmed The Unbelievers, and with whom I began The Origins Podcast, edit the final product.

As a special Holiday gift, we are making the advert free video version available to both paid and free subscribers here on Critical Mass. This post has the audio version for those who prefer that. If you want to watch the video, open the other Critical Mass post we are releasing this morning. Our YouTube channel will also host the video, and I encourage you to subscribe to that channel as well if you wish. No matter how you watch it, or listen to it (we will make the audio available on iTunes etc), we hope you find this set of reminiscences and the ensuing discussion a wonderful reminder of a remarkable man, and that it inspires you as much as Christopher inspired us. Happy Holidays to you all. 

Lawrence M. Krauss
 

Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

A Hitchmas Gift For All -Audio Version

Jennifer Doudna changed the world. She didn’t do it intentionally. She pursued her curiosity about the structure and functioning of RNA as a research scientist, one who had been trained by some of the most impactful geneticists at the time, including two Nobel laureates. In the process, however, she and her collaborators discovered a genetic tool that has dwarfed all others for its potential to change both the human condition, but also what it may mean to be human. I am referring of course to CRISPR, the tool that Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier helped develop and for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize. 

In our in-depth conversation we covered the scientific origins of Jennifer’s discoveries, and some of their possible implications. In a time when there is a misplaced notion that support for scientific research needs to be applied directly for certain goal-oriented activities, it is refreshing to have such a clear example of the benefits of fundamental research for our society, along with the need to prepare our minds for the possibilities of the future. It is exactly what the Origins Podcast, and the Origins Project Foundation are designed to highlight—the joy, benefits, and challenges of human intellectual inquiry for our society and our future. It was a pleasure and privilege to spend 90 minutes discussing these issues with this world-renowned biochemist and advocate for science. 

Our conversation was both a tutorial about modern genetics, and also an opportunity to discuss issues that society as a whole will have address as we come to grips with the new power of science in this century. With great power comes great responsibility, and I hope discussions such as the one I had with Jennifer will provoke and enlighten. Enjoy. 

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.
 

Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

Jennifer Doudna: Scientist and World Changer

As promised we are extremely excited to release our newest podcast, with acclaimed angel investor and silicon valley visionary, Cyan Banister. As I described in my last substack post, she is actually so much more. She found herself homeless in Northern Arizona at the age of 13, and undaunted, eventually became a self taught software engineer, and then moved on to become a legend in Silicon Valley.

We did a deep dive into her origins, from her early childhood, through abandonment at 13, homelessness as a teenager, the key developments that led her to become a self-taught software engineer, and eventually to have the opportunity to become an angel investor, leading her to become among the first investors in SpaceX, Uber, and many more companies, and then to her thoughts about nature, technology and the future. It was a remarkable discussion with a remarkable individual. Cyan defies any stereotype and we are very pleased that she regarded our 3.5 hr discussion as the most comprehensive and enlightening podcast she has done. We even made several discoveries together about how developments when she was young affected her approach to business and life today, and also how what she views as her purposes in life perhaps reflect key gifts that helped raise her up in her own story. And, in the true spirit of connecting science and culture that is at the heart of the Origins Podcast, we also explored how she actually approaches both life and business with a true scientific attitude—exploring, experimenting, letting nature and experience guide her, and a willingness to change her mind. 

Everyone who has heard anything about Cyan’s story has been inspired. We feel that our dialogue, which takes her story to a whole new level, will touch anyone who has faced what seem to be insurmountable challenges, and inspire people to think more creatively about their own futures, and how what we can do to help people better achieve their aspirations, and of course better address the challenges of the 21st Century. 

If it isn’t clear already, I think this podcast could, in the long run, be one of the most significant discussions we have ever done. Enjoy. 

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.
 

Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

Cyan Banister: A master class in curiosity--Risk, Resilience and Betting on the Future

Jonathan Rauch is one of the clearest thinkers writing today about the philosophical and sociological interconnections between democracy and science, as detailed in his last book, The Constitution of Knowledge, about which we had a fascinating podcast discussion a year or two ago. When I heard his newest book was due to appear this month, I was eager to have him back on. 

This new book, Cross Purposes, Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy was released yesterday. It was a surprising take on the subject. Rauch is an atheist, a Jew, and homosexual, so one might have expected an attack on the failings of Christianity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rauch argues that Christianity offers moral bases that mesh well with Madisonian democracy, and that it is necessary for the Christian community to tap into these if democracy in the US is to be resuscitated. 

There is a lot to unpack there, and that is precisely what we did. He and I share atheist and Jewish roots, and we agree on many features of both philosophy and religion. But our perspectives on both the actual moral fabric of Christianity, and the extent to which society should give special treatment to religious teaching, and to what extent the positive aspects of Christian religious theology, including the theology of groups like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, means that we should respect that theology, differ. 

Because I respect Rauch as a writer and a thinker so much, I thought it would be useful to take time to explore these differences, in order to ascertain to what extent his thesis was viable, and also to allow listeners access to a thoughtful and respectful discussion of to what extent Christian religious teachings have a key role to play in the moral framework of a healthy democratic society in the United States.

As always, the discussion was educational, and illuminating. It is an important issue at the current time, and I am very happy we could have a deeper dive into it with someone so thoughtful and knowledgeable. I hope you enjoy the discussion, including the animated give and take at times, as much as both Jonathan and I did.

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.
 

Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

Jonathan Rauch:

I’m excited to announce the fifth episode of our new series, What’s New in Science, co-hosted by Sabine Hossenfelder. Once again, Sabine and I each brought a few recent science stories to the table, and we took turns introducing them before diving into thoughtful discussions. It’s a format that continues to spark engaging exchanges, and based on the feedback we’ve received, it’s resonating well with listeners.

In this month’s episode Sabine first explored the possibility that huge terrestrial accessible reservoirs of hydrogen may exist that could provide the basis for a viable hydrogen fuel economy. Then we turned to the results from the wonderful new Vera C. Rubin Telescope in Chile, and what that telescope could do for our evolving picture of the cosmos. After that Sabine introduced a discussion of a scientific paper I wrote with colleagues on implications of mathematical incompleteness theorems for the possible existence of a physical Theory of Everything. Then on to the newly released results from a muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab, which after almost 2 decades of efforts, seems to have demonstrated that predictions from the the Standard Model of Particle Physics, alas, continue to agree with experiments, showing no signs of new physics. After that, we explored a new claim by DeepMind about the abilities of AI systems to design and test new coding algorithms, which might be used to train future systems. Besides the science-fiction sounding nature of this, it could also help reduce the amount of energy needed to build and train LLMs. Finally, returning to my own interest in new results related to the cosmic origin of life, we discussed anew result showing why polycyclic hydrocarbons, which one might expect would be destroyed by radiation in space, seem to survive. This could be important for understanding how organic seeds for life managed to survive long enough to arrive on the early Earth. 

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.
 

Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

What's New in Science With Sabine and Lawrence

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book. Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day. Interviewees in order, will be:

Richard Dawkins July 23rd

Niall Ferguson July 24th

Nicholas Christakis July 25th

Maarten Boudry July 26th

Abigail Thompson July 27th

John Armstrong July 28th

Sally Satel July 29th

Elizabeth Weiss July 30th

Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz July 31st

Frances Widdowson August 1st

Carole Hooven August 2nd

Janice Fiamengo August 3rd

Geoff Horsman August 4th

Alessandro Strumia August 5th

Roger Cohen and Amy Wax August 6th

Peter Boghossian August 7th

Lauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau August 8th

Alex Byrne and Moti Gorin August 9th

Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan August 10th

Karleen Gribble August 11th

Dorian Abbot August 12th

The topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war. 

The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west. We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses. Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away. It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship. 

The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began. Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat. But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west. 

I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia. With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.
 

Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

The Origins Podcast: The War on Science Interviews: Day 1, Richard Dawkins

Niall Ferguson | The War on Science Interviews | Day 2

Nicholas Christakis | The War on Science Interviews | Day 3

Maarten Boudry | The War on Science Interviews | Day 4

In this episode, Lawrence joins environmental scientist Dan Schrag at Harvard University to discuss Earth history, energy policies, and what we can expect from a future affected by climate change. 
 
See the exclusive, full HD videos of all episodes at www.patreon.com/originspodcast immediately upon their release.
 
Twitter: @TheOriginsPod
 Instagram: @TheOriginsPod
 Facebook: @TheOriginsPod
 Website: https://theoriginspodcast.com
 

Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

Daniel P. Schrag

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