In this eloquent lecture, the Italian theoretical physicist and writer Carlo Rovelli takes audiences on a journey to the edges of our understanding of time. Working from ideas explored in his book The Order of Time (2017), Rovelli explores the theories of thinkers from Aristotle to Newton to Einstein up to his own work on quantum gravity, brushing up against what we know about time and what remains a mystery. Using metaphors and examples to elucidate enigmatic concepts, Rovelli helps to untangle why, on the surface, our experience of time seems so at odds with how physicists and philosophers view it.
Video by the Royal Institution
video
Computing and artificial intelligence
Why large language models are mysterious – even to their creators
8 minutes
video
Spirituality
Through rituals of prayer, a monk cultivates a quietly radical concept of freedom
4 minutes
video
Evolution
The many ways a lizard tongue sticks, grasps, pinches and plops – in slo-mo
6 minutes
video
Art
Radical doodles – how ‘exquisite corpse’ games embodied the Surrealist movement
15 minutes
video
Ethics
Plato saw little value in privacy. How do his ideas hold up in the information age?
5 minutes
video
Biology
Starlings swoosh like brushstrokes across the sky in this dazzling short
3 minutes
video
Engineering
From simple motors to levitating trains – how design shapes innovation
23 minutes
video
Animals and humans
Are zoos and natural history museums born of a desire to understand, or to control?
57 minutes
video
Virtues and vices
Why Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith were divided on the virtues of vanity
5 minutes