If we didn’t have vast civilizational challenges upon us, we might be living in a constant state of wonder at what science in this century is learning and showing us about the cosmos and about ourselves — the new questions it’s giving us to live. We are the generation of our species to map the genome, to detect black holes colliding, to hear gravitational waves. The physicist Brian Greene is one of our greatest interpreters from the human enterprise that is science. And in his most recent thinking and writing, there’s a stunning evolution in his own approach to science and life and the matters of purpose and meaning. We delve into his exuberant, cosmic lens on living in the here and the now.
Brian Greene is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, where he is also the director of Columbia’s Center for Theoretical Physics. He is the co-founder and chairman of the World Science Festival. His books include The Elegant Universe, The Hidden Reality, The Fabric of the Cosmos, and most recently, Until The End Of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe.
This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode "Brian Greene — This Tiny Slice of Eternity." Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org.
James Bridle — The Intelligence Singing All Around Us
[Unedited] James Bridle with Krista Tippett
Nick Offerman — Working with Wood, and the Meaning of Life
Ada Limón — “To Be Made Whole”
“The Quiet Machine” by Ada Limón
“Dead Stars” by Ada Limón
“A New National Anthem” by Ada Limón
Amanda Ripley — Stepping out of "the zombie dance" we're in, and into "good conflict" that is, in fact, life-giving
Dacher Keltner — The Thrilling New Science of Awe
Emergence: On Being Is Back!
Foundations 4: Calling and Wholeness
Foundations 3: Taking a Long View of Time, and Becoming “Critical Yeast”
Foundations 2: Living the Questions
Foundations 1: Seeing the Generative Story of Our Time
A Listening Ritual for this Fall: Poetry Unbound
A Season of Emergence with Krista
BONUS: An On Being Listening Party — Celebrating 20 Years
Ocean Vuong – A Life Worthy of Our Breath
[Unedited] Ocean Vuong with Krista Tippett
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson — What If We Get This Right?
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