Into the Impossible With Brian Keating
Science & Ideas
About
Think like a physicist. Wonder like a human. Into the Impossible is where Cosmic Conversations happen — uniting Nobel Prize winners, iconoclasts, authors, and technologists to explore reality’s deepest questions. From AI to aliens, from biophysics to the brain, from the cosmos to the multiverse, Brian Keating, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego covers it all. If you’ve ever asked What’s out there? or What’s next? , this is where curiosity meets clarity. Learn to think like this. 🎙 Full episodes, notes & more: briankeating.com/podcast
Episodes
- Godlike AI Is Here! Peter Diamandis Debates Brian Keating
Peter Diamandis has built more of the future than almost anyone alive. He founded XPRIZE. He co-founded Singularity University with Ray Kurzweil. He started Human Longevity with Craig Venter. And in his new book with Steven Kotler, We Are…
- Two Scientists, One Question: Does Alien Life Need a Soul?
An astrophysicist and founder of Reasons to Believe argues the universe looks increasingly designed for life — while a cosmologist challenges whether fine-tuning proves anything at all. If we're alone in the cosmos, the implications are st…
- FLAT Universe: Why Scientists Keep Getting This Wrong
An experimental cosmologist with 35 years of CMB research breaks down the curvature tension — and why the viral claim that "everything we know about cosmology is wrong" doesn't survive contact with the actual data. Subscribe if you want sc…
- Joscha Bach: The Self Is a Story Your Brain Tells Itself
The AI theorist who thinks consciousness is a software agent — and that God, AGI, and the apocalypse are all pointing at the same thing. What you think is "the world" isn't outside you. It's a simulation your brain produces, and the self t…
- The Equation That Changed How Physicists Think About Reality | Juan Maldacena
Juan Maldacena is a theoretical physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study whose 1997 paper remains the most cited in the history of theoretical physics. We cover: -why wormholes and quantum entanglement may be the same thing -what actu…
- Princeton Scientist: We Don't Understand AI - Tom Griffiths - #553
A Princeton cognitive scientist says AI can't think like a child — and giving it more data won't fix that. If the field keeps scaling without solving what's actually missing, the gap between human and machine intelligence won't close. It'l…
- The Universe Is Trying to Destroy All Matter. Hakeem Oluseyi - #552
An astrophysicist says the universe doesn't pull things down — it accelerates upward toward them. And that's one of the tamer claims in this conversation. Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi joins Brian to dismantle assumptions most physicists won't touch…
- Quantum Computers Aren't Useless. You Just Don't Know How to Use Them.
Sabine Hossenfelder says quantum computers are only useful for breaking codes. She's wrong — and my undergraduates are building the proof. What's happening in my lab right now has nothing to do with cryptography, and everything to do with…
- This AI Broke Every Benchmark — Then It Did Something Worse. Vivienne Ming - #551
A neuroscientist built an AI that refuses to give answers — and it outperformed every model on the market, including the ones trained on billions of users’ data. The implication: every AI that hands you the answer may be quietly making you…
- AI Insider CEO: The Models Too Dangerous for You to See. Emad Mostaque - #550
Emad Mostaque built Stable Diffusion. Now he says the most powerful AI models will never be released — and we have roughly 800 days before everything changes. What the trillion-dollar labs won't tell you about the models they're keeping lo…
- Genius Philosopher: The Law of Physics That Explains Why Your Life Falls Apart. Rebecca Goldstein - #549
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a MacArthur Genius Award recipient, philosopher, novelist, and author of The Mattering Instinct. Her verdict on why huma…
- You're full of SHIT! Piers Morgan & Brian Keating take down Moon Landing Denier
The Artemis II mission to the dark side of the moon will be the furthest human beings have ever travelled from Earth. It's the precursor to a return to the lunar surface and perhaps even reaching Mars. But still, there are those who say hu…
- Dark Energy Is Dying: The Cosmological Crisis Nobody's Telling You About. Marcos Palerjo - #548
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 Brian Keating takes us on an exclusive tour of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh with cosmologist Marcos Pellejero, exploring the mysteries of dark energy…
- Are the Van Allen Belts Deadly? Debunking the Biggest Moon Landing Hoax!
With NASA planning to send Artemis astronauts farther into space than ever, should they be worried about the deadly effects of the Van Allen belts? Here, I describe to James Altucher what the claims are and what the real concerns should be…
- There's a New Law of Nature — And It Changes Everything We Know About Life. Michael Wong - #546
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Michael Wong recently discussed theory of evolution on TED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSrf7ErdHWA — in this conversation, we go deeper on the law…
- Did We Find Alien Technology? Avi Loeb Explains - #545
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 Brian Keating sits down with the ever-curious Avi Loeb for a mind-bending exploration into some of science's greatest mysteries and controversies. The co…
- The Real Science of Project Hail Mary. Andy Weir - #544
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this episode of The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast, Brian Keating sits down with Andy Weir, the bestselling author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary,…
- Meta NeuroScientist SHOCKED Me: Scale Alone Won’t Create Consciousness! David Sussillo - #543
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 David Sussillo spent years training neural networks at Google Brain and now leads research at Meta Reality Labs. His verdict on the path to artificial…
- What's The Real Value of Your Degree? Aswath Damodaran - #542
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Aswath Damodaran joins Brian Keating to argue that markets, universities, and financial models are all suffering the same disease — mistaking mechanica…
- Will AI Replace Scientists?
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this video, we discuss the rapidly evolving intersection of artificial intelligence and fundamental science and how AI is transforming the way physici…
- Has AI Become God? The Ultimate THREAT of Artificial Intelligence. John C. Lennox - #540
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this episode, I sit down with renowned Oxford mathematician, philosopher of science, and public intellectual John C. Lennox to explore the urgent ques…
- Can You Find God in the Laws of Physics? This is World!
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this conversation, I break down a provocative idea: science doesn’t “prove” ultimate truths — it eliminates what’s false. And if that’s how physics wo…
- The Taboo Topic Sam Harris Won't Touch
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this episode, I revisit my podcast with Sam Harris. At the end of our discussion, Harris abruptly cut things short after we debated the meaning of sla…
- Slugs Have Memories. Nikolay Kukushkin - #539
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 What can we truly learn about the brain from a kidney cell? And what do aliens and alien-like limbs have to teach us? And if language is our escape veloc…
- The World is Made of Code! Sam Arbesman - #538
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 Code. It's the closest thing humans have ever invented to magic. Write symbols on a screen, and reality emerges. Money moves, doors unlock, planes land,…
- The Mysterious Math Behind LLMs - Anil Ananthaswamy - #537
WANTED: Developers and STEM experts! Get paid to create benchmarks and improve AI models. Sign up for Alignerr using our link: https://alignerr.com/?referral-source=briankeating One of the most powerful AI systems we’ve ever built is succe…
- Is the Universe Random or Deterministic, or Neither? Andrew Jaffe - #536
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 ran…
- Max Tegmark vs. Eric Weinstein: AI, Aliens, Theories, & New Year’s Resolutions! (Repost from 2021)
Win a $100 Amazon Gift Card! Help me help you get great guests on the Into the Impossible podcast and spread the message throughout the universe. Fill out this listener survey: https://forms.gle/EUKzyE2ZqXDYJ2F47 Please join my mailing lis…
- Can AI help us solve the hardest problems in Mathematics? Terry Tao - #535
Answer my survey to get a chance to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card! 👉 https://forms.gle/uWgVRCf3BC2xxR2Y7 Please join my mailing list to get FREE notes & resources from this show! Click 👉 http://briankeating.com/yt Will AI solve future math…
- Physicists Missed These Particle Tracks for Decades (ft. Daniel Whiteson)
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 From the electrifying environment of high-speed particle collisions to the challenge of sifting signals from heaps of experimental noise, you'll hear how…
- Brian Keating’s Journey: Nobel Dreams and Cosmic Questions | Cheltenham and UK Philosophers
Brian Keating sits down with Matt Gray for a wide-ranging, thoughtful, and entertaining conversation that explores the intersection of cosmology, philosophy, and mysticism. Together, they tackle some of the universe’s biggest mysteries—fro…
- What Is 3I/ATLAS? Avi Loeb - #534
Please join my mailing list to get FREE notes and resources from this show, plus your chance to win a real meteorite: http://briankeating.com/yt Join us LIVE with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb for the final verdict on the interstellar ob…
- Did You Know This Genius Changed Physics Forever?
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 Pilgrimage mode: kilt on, chapeau secured, and I’m standing outside 14 India Street, Edinburgh — the birthplace of the physicist I’d nominate as the quie…
- Will It Happen Again? Comets and Asteroids Extinction with Govert Schilling - #533
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Sixty-six million years ago, a single asteroid ended the reign of the dinosaurs—and Govert Schilling says the next one could be headed for us. In this…
- The Next Phase of Human Evolution - Bret Weinstein - #532
WANTED: Developers and STEM experts! Get paid to create benchmarks and improve AI models. Sign up for Alignerr using our link: https://alignerr.com/?referral-source=briankeating Today’s guest Bret Weinstein takes us on a fascinating journe…
- What Really Happened In Antarctica? Julian Dorey x Brian Keating
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this special crossover episode, Brian Keating joins Julian Dorey to celebrate Julian's impressive milestone of reaching 1 million subscribers. Togethe…
- I Went From Stonehenge to the SKA: 5,000 Years of Cosmic Curiosity In 45 minutes
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt for your chance to win a meteorite 💥 What connects a 5,000-year-old stone circle to the most ambitious radio telescope ever built? In this episode, we travel from Stonehenge…
- VR Will Expand Human Consciousness. Jaron Lanier - #531
If you want to think sharper, feel stronger, and perform better — visit www.tonum.com/IMPOSSIBLE and use code IMPOSSIBLE for 10% off your first order. Try Shortform, the invaluable app that helps me prepare for every conversation I have! G…
- AI That Helps, Schools That Don't, and How Not to Go Crazy on The James Altucher Show
James sits down with astrophysicist Brian Keating for a candid, useful tour through three hot zones: how to think about AI (and where it actually helps), what’s broken in higher ed and admissions right now, and why outsourcing your mood to…
- “Trump CUT My Funding.” Here's how I am going to react. Terry Tao - #530
What happens when a government abruptly cuts off the lifeline of pure science? Imagine canceling Albert Einstein just before he published [E = mc². Terence Tao, the “Mozart of Mathematics,” was one of the unlucky researchers hit when the T…
- Avi Loeb Fights Back: Response to Brian Cox & the 3I/ATLAS Critics - #529
Become a channel member to ask questions! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb returns to break down the newest data on 3I/ATLAS, the interstellar object captivating the world — and…
- How to Talk to Aliens - Daniel Whiteson - #528
Get my book Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Impossible-Laureates-Concentrate-Creativity/dp/1544548850 Imagine the day that aliens arrive not with a death ray, but with a rug and a new understanding of physics.…
- Physicist Explains UFOs, the Moon Landing, and the Case for God's Existence | Real Talk with Marissa Streit
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this episode of Real Talk, Brian Keating sits down with PragerU CEO, Marissa Streit, for a riveting conversation that explores some of the most intrig…
- Was The Moon Landing A HOAX? (ft. Kim Kardashian, Candace Owens, & Bart Sibrel)
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 My response to Moon landing denial claims by Kim Kardashian, Candace Owens, and Bart Sibrel I answer all the big questions: ⇨ Why did the flag move with…
- Avi Loeb's WARNING: Watch Out for THIS When 3i/ATLAS Nears The Sun! #527
Win EXTRATERRESTRIAL METAL - a real meteorite💥 enter at briankeating.com/yt 💥 What happens when 3I/ATLAS dives toward the Sun? One signature could expose interstellar origins, hidden composition, and non-gravitational forces at play. Loe…
- 90% of Ancient Humans Vanished. We Reconstructed Their History - David Reich - #526
Get $50 off the annual plan at https://shortform.com/impossible The genetic differences we obsess over. The basis for nationalism, racism and tribal thinking emerged in just the last 70,000 years. David Reich is about to show us that the p…
- Could Biological Robots Heal Us from the Inside? Michael Levin - #525
Get started with 1 month free of Superhuman today, using my link: https://try.sprh.mn/briankeating What if cells from your own trachea sitting in a petri dish right now, could spontaneously organize into swimming robots that heal brain tis…
- Did We Detect Dark Matter… or Fool Ourselves?
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 What if 85% of the universe is invisible—and the one experiment claiming to have found it is wrong? For nearly three decades, Italian physicists have cla…