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Who is the cleverest person in Britain? When Gyles asked this question to readers of his columns last year, one name was mentioned more than any other; that of Martin Rees, Lord Rees of Ludlow, the Astronomer Royal. Lord Rees is one of the most distinguished scientists in the country, a former President of the Royal Society and a Cambridge fellow. He wrote the first papers on quasars (a type of black hole) and he, alongside other greats such as Dennis Sciama and Stephen Hawking, helped to develop our understanding of the origins of the universe. He is also, Gyles discovers, a man of incredible modesty who just got into science because "he wasn't much good at anything else". This is a wide-ranging conversation which takes in not only Rees's childhood in Shropshire and early academic career, but also includes discussions of the big bang, the future of the earth, and what happens to scientists when they get old. Plus, there's a bombshell revelation about Sir Isaac Newton. This is one of our most profound and intelligent Rosebuds yet: which isn't surprising, given our guest. Thank you, Martin Rees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Should Mars be our plan(et) B?Should we continue with manned spaceflight?Hear from the Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees of Ludlow, in the latest episode of Lord Speaker's Corner.‘Now that robots can do the things that humans were needed for 50 years ago, the case for sending people is getting weaker all the time.' In this episode, Martin Rees - astrophysicist, former President of the Royal Society, and now Lord Rees of Ludlow and Astronomer Royal – explains to Lord McFall of Alcluith that he thinks governments should no longer pay for manned spaceflight. He explains ‘robots can do all the practical things,' meaning that ‘only people who really have a high appetite for risk should be going into space, and they should be privately funded, not by the rest of us.'Looking beyond Earth, Lord Rees also advocates for the need to focus effort on tackling climate change rather than looking to move to Mars. He suggests that ‘dealing with climate change on earth is a doddle compared to making Mars habitable.'‘There's a risk that we will leave for our descendants a depleted world with mass extinction… I think it's an ethical imperative that we should change our policies so that, just as we benefit from the heritage of centuries past, we leave a positive heritage for the future.'From AI to bioethics, climate change to the disparities between the global north and south, Lord Rees shares his perspectives on some of the current challenges that we face. He also gives advice to ageing billionaires, saying ‘these billionaires when they were young, they want to be rich, now they're rich, they want to be young again, and that's not quite so easy to arrange.'See more from the series https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What's written in our stars? Here to read humanity's horoscope is none other than Lord Martin Rees! Lord Martin Rees has played a huge role in my career and is an inspiration to me and millions of scientists around the world. There is literally nothing beyond his purview, and our conversation bore this out -- we covered everything from A to Z: artificial intelligence to zoology! Nothing was off-limits – we even shared our mutual and controversial distaste for alchemy and astrology! Lord Rees of Ludlow, the Astronomer Royal, is the Co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and an Emeritus Professor of Cosmology & Astrophysics at Cambridge University. He is the 38th Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the author of ‘On the Future' and 10 other books and the 60th President of the Royal Society. Key Takeaways: Intro (00:00) Judging a book by its cover: On The Future (01:48) Reading the Queen's horoscope (03:08) Do physicists envy mathematicians? (06:46) Why is Einstein so often a target of criticism? (10:21) The steady-state of the universe debate and cosmology's earlier days (15:56) Martin's prediction that the CMB could be polarized (22:02) Theories of Everything. Do we need them? (29:12) Complex vs. complicated (37:30) There may be some benefits to the pandemic! (56:09) What do you think about blockchain and Bitcoin? (57:56) How coins got their ridges (59:51) What is your ethical will? (1:16:14) Outro (1:26:10) — Additional resources:
Endless inflation seems to be everywhere at the moment, including on this episode examining the nature of infinity. Brian and Robin dive through the back catalogue to discover there might be no limit to the number of parallel universes that exist. This leads to an argument between astronomer royal Lord Rees and comedy producer John Lloyd, who says the whole suggestion is total speculation. Even cosmologist Carlos Frenk can't get his head round the idea, as he contemplates the suggestion that new big bangs may be happening all the time. Episodes featured: Series 10: Before the Big Bang Series 6: Parallel Universes Series 21: Quantum Worlds Series 9: To Infinity and Beyond Series 10: Numbers Numbers Everywhere New episodes will be released on Wednesdays, but if you're in the UK, listen to new episodes, a week early, first on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3K3Jzy Producer: Marijke Peters Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
In his most recent book If Science is to Save Us, Astronomer Royal Martin Rees argues that, in his expert and personal analysis of the scientific endeavor on which we all depend, that we need to think globally, we need to think rationally and we need to think long-term, empowered by twenty-first-century technology but guided by values that science alone cannot provide. In this timely work, Lord Rees details how there has never been a time when ‘following the science' has been more important for humanity. He warns that our world is so interconnected that a collapse - societal or ecological - would be a truly global catastrophe. So it's ever more crucial to ensure that science is deployed optimally, and that brakes are applied to applications that are dangerous or unethical. At no other point in history have we had such advanced knowledge and technology at our fingertips, nor had such astonishing capacity to determine the future of our planet. Therefore, decisions we must make on how science is applied belong outside the lab and should be the outcome of wide public debate. For that to happen, science needs to become part of our common culture. Science is not just for scientists: if it were, it could never save us from the multiple crises we face. For science can save us, if its innovations mesh carefully into society and its applications are channelled for the common good. Martin Rees is the UK's Astronomer Royal. He is based at Cambridge University where he is a Fellow (and Former Master) of Trinity College. He is a member of the House of Lords, and a former President of the Royal Society. His research interests include space exploration, black holes, galaxy formation, the multiverse and prospects for extraterrestrial life. He is co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at Cambridge University (CSER). In addition to academic publications, research papers he has written many general articles and ten books, most recently 'On the Future: Prospects for Humanity'. Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/0GNxaMZry28 Connect with me:
Lord Martin Rees has played a huge role in my career and is an inspiration to me and millions of scientists around the world. There is literally nothing beyond his purview and our conversation bore this out — we covered everything from A to Z: artificial intelligence to zoology! Nothing was off-limits — we even shared our mutual and controversial distaste for alchemy and astrology! Lord Rees of Ludlow, the Astronomer Royal, is the Co-founder of Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and an Emeritus Professor of Cosmology & Astrophysics, at Cambridge University. He is the 38th Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the author of ‘On the Future’ and 10 other books and the 60th President of the Royal Society. Find Lord Rees on https://www.martinrees.uk/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LordMartinRees Buy ON THE FUTURE here: https://amzn.to/2Lg9MPT 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:36 ON THE FUTURE book cover 00:03:00 Reading the Queen’s Horoscope! 00:03:41 What is your view of Karls Popper’s demarcation philosophy? Refuting Copernicus! 00:08:11 Do physicists envy mathematicians? 00:11:24Why is Einstein so often a target of criticism? 00:12:13 Why are theorists so popular and not experimentalists? 00:15:45 Theories don’t get retracted, but experiments often do! What’s going on? 00:16:04 The steady-state of the universe debate and cosmology’s earlier days. 00:22:47 Martin’s prediction that the CMB could be polarized 00:24:47 How even incorrect theories can lead to important discoveries. 00:29:13 Theories of Everything. Do we need them? 00:37:45 Complex vs.Complicated 00:40:57 Are you a pessimist or optimist? 00:57:52 There may be some benefits to the pandemic! 00:59:00 What do you think about blockchain and bitcoin? 01:07:46 How coins got their ridges. 01:17:46 What is your ethical will? 01:26:24 What advice would you give your younger self? Watch my most popular videos: Sheldon Glashow: https://youtu.be/a0_iaWgxQtA?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuqyAvX7Wo?sub_confirmation=1 Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Jill Tarter https://youtu.be/O9K9OBd3vHk?sub_confirmation=1 Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose https://youtu.be/H8G5onAqlVo?sub_confirmation=1 Juan Maldacena’s First Podcast Interview: https://youtu.be/uIzTliTHn7s?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Sara Seager Venus LIfe: https://youtu.be/QPsEDoOTU6k?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM ♂️ Find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Find me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sometimes in this game you get to do an interview where you genuinely can say: "the person I'm about to interview needs no introduction." This is one of those occasions. But if I were to do that, it would wreck the fun of getting to introduce the interview, and why would I deprive myself of that? So, this episode, we are interviewing Lord Martin Rees. Martin Rees is one of the foremost cosmologists and astrophysicists of our time. He was made the Astronomer Royal in 1995, has been Master of Trinity College Cambridge, and President of the Royal Society. He has written more than 500 research papers across various areas of astrophysics and cosmology, including contributions to the origin of the cosmic microwave background radiation, the final proofs of the Big Bang theory, quasars, and gamma ray bursts. In the latter part of his career, he has been an immensely influential populariser of science, writing books on Cosmology such as Just Six Numbers and Our Cosmic Habitat. And he has also devoted himself to considering grand problems of the future of humanity and the existential risks that we face: his book, Our Final Century, helped to kick off the field of existential risk studies, and he co-founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at the University of Cambridge in 2012. It is no exaggeration to say that a great many of the ideas that we've discussed on this show - and my own personal inspiration to study physics in the first place - owes to the work of Lord Rees, both in discovering much of the science in the first place and then again in popularising and explaining the ideas so wonderfully. I was extremely grateful that he was willing to be so generous with his time and respond to such a large range of my questions. Our interview touches on existential risks, the current pandemic, extraterrestrial life, cosmology in general, and the nature of fundamental physics.
In the seventh episode of our series on science, policy and a green recovery, our host Dr Rob Doubleday is joined by University of Cambridge's cosmologist Professor Lord Martin Rees and chemist Professor Clare Grey. Throughout the episode, we hear from Lord Rees about how the UK can take on a leadership role in fostering innovation while building collaborations with other countries. We also hear from Professor Grey about her work on energy storage, the future of batteries, and her work with the Faraday Institute. This series is produced in partnership with Cambridge Zero. -- CSaP: The Science & Policy Podcast is hosted by CSaP Executive Director Dr Rob Doubleday, and is edited and produced by CSaP Communications Coordinator Kate McNeil. If you have questions you would like us to address in a future week, please email enquiries@csap.cam.ac.uk. Music and sound effects used in this season of CSaP: The Science & Policy Podcast are courtesy of FreeSound.org. This episode features sound effects from PannChie and smacks999.
Lord Martin Rees, astronomer and cosmologist, talks to The National's future editor, Kelsey Warner, about the threat of Covid-19, science and social policy and the human endeavor to colonise mars.
Nobel Prizes 2018 Philanthropy should not influence priorities of universities How to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere Martin Rees - On the Future, Prospects for Humanity Artificial Intelligence now demonstrates creativity and intuition
Nobel Prizes 2018 Philanthropy should not influence priorities of universities How to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere Martin Rees - On the Future, Prospects for Humanity Artificial Intelligence now demonstrates creativity and intuition
A Tribute given by the Astronomer Royal Professor the Lord Rees of Ludlow at A Service of Thanksgiving for Professor Stephen Hawking at Westminster Abbey on 15th June 2018 #westminsterabbey #stephenhawking
In this IPR Public Lecture, Astronomer Royal, life peer and Cambridge scholar Lord Rees surveys the century ahead and the prospects it offers mankind. From AI and robotics to climate change and mass extinction, he makes the case that this is a time of great potential - for success as well as catastrophe. This IPR Public Lecture took place on 9 February 2017.
Some of the biggest philosophical and ethical questions of this century may be raised on scientific frontiers — as we gain a better understanding of the deep structure of space and time and the wilder “microworld.” Astrophysicist Martin Rees paints a fascinating picture of how we might be changed by what we do not yet know: “If science teaches me anything, it teaches me that even simple things like an atom are fairly hard to understand. And that makes me skeptical of anyone who claims to have the last word or complete understanding of any deep aspect of reality.” This is On Being’s complete, unedited interview with Lord Rees. See more at http://www.onbeing.org/program/cosmic-origami-and-what-we-dont-know/250
Lord Rees of Ludlow talks about the history of the universe.
The State of the Universe - Stephen Hawking 70th Birthday Symposium
Lord Rees. From planets to universes. Introductory remarks: Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz - Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge
Lord Rees of Ludlow delivers the 2011 Romanes Lecture. Telescopes reveal the remote universe; accelerators probe the subatomic world. Thanks to such instruments, astronomers have established, in outline, how our cosmos has evolved from a still-mysterious beginning more than 13 billion years. Billions more years - and perhaps even an infinite time - lie ahead of it. But 99 percent of scientists focus neither on the very small nor the very large, but on the even greater complexities of our everyday world. Materials science, biology and the environmental sciences proceed apace, revealing remarkable insights, and opening up an ever-widening range of applications - both opportunities and threats. We live on an ever more interconnected and crowded planet, where each person is empowered by transformative technology but is making increasing demands on the world's resources. There is a widening gulf between what science enables us to do, and what it's prudent or ethical actually to do. The Earth has existed for 45 million centuries but this is the first when one species, ours, can determine the long-range planetary future. The stakes are high; optimum policies require a longer-term and less parochial perspective than normally prevails in political debate, the deployment of the best scientific advice, and engagement of a wider public. In science itself, the most dramatic conceptual advances are the least predictable. But, in scanning these intellectual horizons, we must be mindful that there may be fundamental limits to our understanding - concepts about key aspects of reality that human brains (even computer-aided) can't grasp. Lord (Martin) Rees was the President of the Royal Society from December 2005 to December 2010. He is Master of Trinity College and Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge. He is also Visiting Professor at Leicester University and Imperial College London. He was appointed Astronomer Royal in 1995, and was nominated to the House of Lords in 2005 as a cross-bench peer. He was appointed a member of the Order of Merit in 2007.
Lord Rees of Ludlow delivers the 2011 Romanes Lecture. Telescopes reveal the remote universe; accelerators probe the subatomic world. Thanks to such instruments, astronomers have established, in outline, how our cosmos has evolved from a still-mysterious beginning more than 13 billion years. Billions more years - and perhaps even an infinite time - lie ahead of it. But 99 percent of scientists focus neither on the very small nor the very large, but on the even greater complexities of our everyday world. Materials science, biology and the environmental sciences proceed apace, revealing remarkable insights, and opening up an ever-widening range of applications - both opportunities and threats. We live on an ever more interconnected and crowded planet, where each person is empowered by transformative technology but is making increasing demands on the world's resources. There is a widening gulf between what science enables us to do, and what it's prudent or ethical actually to do. The Earth has existed for 45 million centuries but this is the first when one species, ours, can determine the long-range planetary future. The stakes are high; optimum policies require a longer-term and less parochial perspective than normally prevails in political debate, the deployment of the best scientific advice, and engagement of a wider public. In science itself, the most dramatic conceptual advances are the least predictable. But, in scanning these intellectual horizons, we must be mindful that there may be fundamental limits to our understanding - concepts about key aspects of reality that human brains (even computer-aided) can't grasp. Lord (Martin) Rees was the President of the Royal Society from December 2005 to December 2010. He is Master of Trinity College and Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge. He is also Visiting Professor at Leicester University and Imperial College London. He was appointed Astronomer Royal in 1995, and was nominated to the House of Lords in 2005 as a cross-bench peer. He was appointed a member of the Order of Merit in 2007.
Lord Rees, Astronomer Royal and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, delivers the inaugural Madingley Lecture on 10 January 2011. The lecture is chaired by Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 5:00 minute point in the video.
Delivered by Professor John D Barrow FRS, FRS, Gresham Professor of Astronomy, with response by Professor the Lord Rees, PRS, Master of Trinity College Cambridge, Astronomer Royal, President of the Royal Society and former Gresham Professor of AstronomyThe original Boyle Lectures took...