Sunil Mukhi is an Indian theoretical physicist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune, Maharashtra. Mukhi has led a distinguished career in theoretical particle physics. He received his PhD from Stony Brook University before joining the prestigious Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, where he worked for 27 years. In 2012, he joined IISER Pune as chair of the physics department, where he is now an honorary emeritus professor and the Raja Ramanna Chair. Throughout the years, Mukhi has held sabbatical positions at CERN in Geneva, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy, and the World Academy of Sciences. In 1999, he received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of India’s highest science awards, for his contributions to theoretical physics. In this InterDialogue, we begin by speaking about Mukhi’s advisory work on academic ethics, the structural incentives for academic misconduct, his concerns about AI use in academia and the difficulties of curtailing it, and India’s international scientific standing. We then speak about Mukhi’s research and contributions to theoretical physics, especially in the field of string theory. Mukhi also discusses his personal background, his career trajectory, and his reasons for returning to India after studying in the United States. We conclude by addressing the importance of science outreach, inclusivity in science, responsible behavior in scientific and public discourse, and the importance of extracurricular interests to maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction 2:27 – Importance of academic ethics 5:59 – Consequences of academic misconduct 8:24 – Structural incentives for academic misconduct 11:23 – Legal challenges in academic ethics 13:14 – AI and academic ethics 16:46 – Addressing AI use...

Investment in science is a pillar for any dynamic, equitable modern society, and promoting scientific literacy across all levels of society can help foster innovation, dialogue, and consensus that crosses disciplinary and cultural boundaries. Science also helps to uncover answers to foundational questions that have captivated, confounded, and divided our species for millennia. But what is “science,” and what kind of “evidence” ensures that an approach is scientific? If we take “science” to broadly mean, in its purest sense, a “dynamic search for the truth,” or more explicitly, “the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence,” as the Science Council aptly defines it, then science extends beyond the established, highly specialized disciplines of reductionist natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, geoscience, and space science) that have been so successful in fostering our understanding of our planet and the cosmos. Under this definition, science also includes the rigorous data-driven (qualitative and quantitative) social sciences, the inherently non-reductionist “holistic” sciences such as ecological and Earth system sciences, and the budding interdisciplinary field of complex systems science, as well as robust traditional knowledge systems based on multi-generational experiences, observations, and reasoning. As with science, “evidence” can mean a lot of things as well, including primary research, pre-existing data, past and planned experiments, and the referencing of peer-reviewed publications and primary sources. It can also include local and traditional knowledge, thought experiments, theoretical proofs, contemplation, verifiable personal experience, and empirical observation. Broadening and weaving together these forms of scientific evidence holds the potential to address complex, interconnected global challenges and explain deep mysteries that could help unify our polarized societies around foundational understandings. Foundational Questions Foundational questions can transcend the divides of generations and cultures: Cosmology, physics, and evolutionary biology have shed...

Luiz Davidovich is a Brazilian theoretical physicist with vast experience working at the science-policy interface. This was our second recorded Interdialogue, and this time we met at his lovely FINAP office in Rio de Janeiro, again speaking in depth about the importance of investing in science in both the developing and developed world.  In our wide-ranging conversation, we also ventured into foundational questions about the quantum world and the nature of reality, with a focus on his personal research in quantum metrology. Furthermore, we spoke about some timely recent projects with FINEP focused on bioeconomics, sustainable development and the conservation of the Amazon rainforest. Davidovich is the former president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, as well as the former secretary general of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). He is the recent recipient of the prestigious TWAS Apex award for his work in quantum optics and quantum information, and for promoting fundamental scientific research, globally.  Chapters 0:00:00 – Introduction 00:02:02 – The improving state of scientific investment in Brazil 00:12:20 – Current roles and projects for fostering scientific research 00:17:31 – The Amazon and bioeconomics 00:28:28 – The importance of intercultural collaboration, mutual respect and knowledge sharing between scientists and Indigenous peoples 00:41:47 – The importance of funding science, technology and innovation in Brazil 00:47:08 – Interrelated theoretical and experimental research into quantum systems interacting with the environment 00:57:03 – What is quantum metrology? 01:02:12 – The fun of doing scientific research and the social responsibility of fostering science 01:04:19 – Quantum computing, artificial intelligence and energy 01:13:58 – General AI, quantum entanglement and consciousness 01:19:03 – The dangers of anti-science, pseudoscience, misinformation and inequality, and the importance of effective scientific communication and engaging early science education

Jorge Pullin is an Argentine-American theoretical and experimental physicist. He is a professor at Louisiana State University and a member of the LIGO team. In this Interdialogue I spoke to Pullin about his pioneering role in the development of Loop Quantum Gravity and about foundational questions related to the nature of time and space. We also spoke about his more recent focus on Gravitational Wave and Multi-Messenger Astronomy, of which he wrote a book called “Sounds of the Cosmos.” We explored background independence and the discrete nature of space and time in LQG, and the emergence of spacetime from spin foam. We also spoke about the Montevideo interpretation of quantum mechanics that he developed with his longtime collaborator Rodolofo Gambini, the black hole information paradox, and much more.  The conversation then shifts towards the exciting gravitational wave observations made by LIGO of neutron star and black hole collisions, and how this has opened up a new era of multi-messenger astronomy, where electromagnetic, neutrino, cosmic ray and gravitational wave observatories can all work together to study objects and events in the Cosmos. We finish by speaking about how this new era of astronomy and experimental astrophysics will help to solve fundamental questions in cosmology, such as the Hubble Tension. Chapters 00:00 :00 Introduction 00:05:25 – The nature of time, the measurement problem, fundamental decoherence and the Montevideo interpretation of quantum mechanics 00:13:03 – The black hole information paradox, spherical symmetry, singularities, Planck stars and other research on Loop Quantum Gravity 00:22:05 – Loop Quantum Gravity vs. String Theory 00:28:20 – Discrete vs. continuous nature of spacetime, and the intersection between foundational LQG and Complex Systems Science 00:30:49 – Details of Loop Quantum Gravity: intersecting loops, spin networks, spin foam, and the emergence and nature of spacetime 00:38:59 – Loop Quantum Cosmology,...

In this wide-ranging interdialogue, I spoke with Argentinian complex systems scientist Dante Chialvo. Chialvo is a trained biologist who has dedicated much of his career to working in, and collaborating with, physicists, and was at the forefront of a movement that brought many physicists into the biological sciences between the 1980’s and 1990’s. In the early 90’s he was associated with the Sante Fe Institute, and was a full professor at Northwestern University and UCLA, before returning to Argentina as a principal investigator for CONICET, and to lead the Multidisciplinary Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences at the National University of San Martin in Buenos Aires.  Chialvo has researched diverse physical phenomena that cross many disciplines, based around scale-free non-linear dynamics, self-organized criticality, phase transitions and collective behavior, such as with cardiac arrhythmias, social insects, microorganisms and the immune system. But it is Chialvo’s wide-ranging work on the brain that he is best known for, and his pioneering work with the late Danish physicist and complex systems scientist Per Bak that explored the brain as a self-organizing critical system, has paved the way for much interdisciplinary research into neural networks and neuroimaging, including work on sleep, memory and psychedelics. Chialvo is also a strong proponent of universality as a guiding principle for scientific research and for uncovering fundamental physical laws, and we spoke about his paper “Life at the Edge,” which addresses the origin of complexity in nature through this lens of universality and fundamental physics.  We also spoke about the growth of complex systems science from a theoretical framework into a mature experimental science over the past decades, and also how the field is growing in different regions, including Latin America. We also discussed the importance of investing in science, and the troubling current circumstances for science, technology...