Foundations of Physics @Harvard Courses

Naturalism, Functionalism and the Metaphysics of Science

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Explore naturalism's impact on metaphysics of science, examining explanatory demands, temporal asymmetry, and modal relations through a functionalist lens.

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• 1 hour 51 minutes
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• Free Video

On Functional Freedom and Penrose's Critiques of String Theory

Explore Penrose's conceptual and technical objections to string theory, focusing on the notion of 'functional freedom' in this in-depth analysis by James Read from Oxford University.

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• 1 hour 26 minutes
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Not the Measurement Problem's Problem: Black Hole Information and Schrödinger's Cat

Explore the relationship between black hole information loss and quantum measurement, challenging unitarity's dominance and proposing interpretation-neutral solutions to these fundamental physics puzzles.

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• 1 hour 20 minutes
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On Playing Gods: The Fallacy of the Many-Worlds Interpretation

Explore the methodological argument refuting the many-worlds interpretation of quantum theory, examining its problematic aspects and incompatibility with fundamental scientific principles.

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• 1 hour 22 minutes
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Center Indifference and Skepticism in Self-Locating Belief

Explore philosophical implications of self-locating belief indifference, examining its impact on Boltzmann brain theory, simulation arguments, and inductive skepticism in physics and metaphysics.

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• 1 hour 22 minutes
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Updates to the Second Law from Quantum Thermodynamics

Explore quantum thermodynamics' impact on the second law of thermodynamics, examining its evolution and implications for small systems and quantum phenomena.

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• 1 hour 12 minutes
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Laplace Meets Gödel - Determinism and Predictability in Physics

Explore determinism's limits through Laplace's demon, examining why such predictive power is impossible in any theory, and draw implications for physics.

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• 1 hour 23 minutes
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Conquering Mount Everett: Branch-Counting Versus the Born Rule

Explore quantum branching scenarios and self-locating credences through Indexed Branch-Counting, challenging Everettian approaches and the Born Rule in quantum mechanics.

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• 1 hour 50 minutes
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Insights into Quantum Time Reversal from the Classical Schrödinger Equation

Explore quantum time reversal through classical Schrödinger equation, unraveling the mystery of complex conjugation in temporal reflection and its implications for quantum theory interpretation.

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• 1 hour 52 minutes
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Spacetimes with Torsion

Explore spacetime torsion in gravitational theories, comparing General Relativity and Teleparallel Gravity. Examine classical spacetimes, non-relativistic limits, and implications for understanding gravitational forces.

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• 1 hour 13 minutes
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Cosmic Acceleration as a Quantum Effect in Bohmian Quantum Gravity

Explore Bohmian quantum gravity's impact on cosmic acceleration, examining modified Friedmann equations and wave functions that explain universal expansion without a cosmological constant.

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• 1 hour 38 minutes
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Measurement Dependence and Nonlocality in Quantum Mechanics

Explore measurement dependence and nonlocality in quantum mechanics, examining experimental violations of Bell inequalities and their implications for our understanding of reality and causality.

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• 1 hour 50 minutes
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A Tale of Two Sciences: Contrasting Views on Thermodynamics

Explore the distinction between two approaches to thermodynamics: the Maxwellian view as a resource theory and the Planckian view as a theory of macroscopic matter properties. Examine their implications for statistical mechanics.

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• 1 hour 54 minutes
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A New Formulation of Quantum Theory

Explore a novel correspondence between stochastic processes and quantum theory, offering new insights into quantum mechanics and potential applications for quantum computing.

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• 1 hour 57 minutes
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Intrinsic Quantum Mechanics - Extending Classical Physics to Quantum Structures

Explore intrinsic quantum mechanics, focusing on characterizing physical quantities' intrinsic structure and extending classical physics concepts to quantum realm. Gain insights into complex scalar quantities and intrinsic product spaces.

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• 1 hour 49 minutes
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