Monday 6th July - 07:20 PM BST
There Can Be No Ultimate Map of the Universe
Cosmology and the problem of self-reference
What if the problem with cosmology is not that we lack the ultimate map of reality, but that no such map can exist? Philosopher Jenann Ismael, whose work is at the leading edge of trying to connect the theories of physics to our conscious experiences of reality, argues here that there can be no complete map or model of physical facts. There can be no oracle that truthfully answers every question of fact about the world it inhabits. Drawing on self-referential arguments in mathematics, she argues that any attempt to grasp the universe as a totality from within will fail. This raises the question of whether we can speak about the universe as a single object of inquiry, whether a complete physical theory is possible, and whether it makes sense to look for quantum descriptions of the entire cosmos.
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Jenann Ismael
Philosopher of time, the self, and the cosmos
A transformative encounter with a German Sufi philosopher in Cairo set Jenann Ismael on her way to becoming the leading philosopher of physics that she is today. Her work confronts the tension between what physics tells us about reality, and how the world actually seems to us in our conscious experience of it. She tries to ground free will in the nature of thermodynamics, and argues that reality is fundamentally unpredictable.
Her books include Time: A Very Short Introduction, How Physics Makes Us Free, and The Situated Self, and she is William H. Miller III Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University.