Why Does the World Exist?

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Why Does the World Exist?

Holt, an irreverent detective of metaphysics and science, dives deep into conversation with Caltech cosmologist Sean Carroll, to try and answer the most persistent mystery of existence: Why should there be a universe at all, and why are we a part of it? why is there Something rather than Nothing? Join us for a discussion of time, infinity, consciousness, the multiverse, and the haunting possibility of Absolute Nothingness.
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Earthrise. NASA/ William Anders

Jim Holt is the author of Stop Me If You’ve Heard This, and Why Does The World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story. Holt is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and The New Yorker , where he has written on string theory, time, infinity, numbers, truth, and bullshit, among other subjects.

Sean Carroll is a physicist and author of The Particle at the End of the Universe and From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time. He is on the faculty at the California Institute of Technology, where his research focuses on fundamental physics and cosmology, especially issues of dark matter, dark energy, and the origin of the universe. His writing has appeared in Scientific American, New Scientist, The Wall Street Journal.