By Michael Segal
Max Tegmark, professor of physics at MIT, strode into the room smiling and laughing, and stayed that way for all of the couple of hours we spent together. That he takes the keenest pleasure from peering into the world through the kaleidoscope of his physics toolbox is amply clear. Leaning out of his chair, waving his arms, pouring his water bottle onto the carpeted hotel floor to drive home a point, he is in a constant state of animation, much like the objects (both microscopic and gargantuan) which he studies. So too does his gaze shift in quick succession from topic to topic: Consciousness, time, death, infinity, and the scientific method fell in quick succession.
His self-described career path has walked the line between mainstream, respectable topics, and questions at the very boundaries of his discipline. A young scientist, he says, should spend time on both. Here in this set of videos, and in his Nautilus essay, “Life is a Braid in Spacetime,” he takes us to some of these boundaries.
