Ologies with Alie Ward: ENCORE Quantum Ontology (WHAT IS REAL?) with Adam Becker

Episode Theme:
A playful yet deep dive into quantum ontology—how quantum physics forces us to grapple with the question: “What is real?” Alie Ward interviews astrophysicist and science author Dr. Adam Becker, exploring the bizarre rules underpinning reality, the key paradoxes of quantum mechanics, and why not knowing everything is actually pretty wonderful.

Episode Overview

• Host: Alie Ward
• Guest: Dr. Adam Becker, astrophysicist, philosopher, author
• Date: March 4, 2026
• Main Focus: The philosophical and scientific weirdness of quantum mechanics—its conflicting rules, the measurement problem, multiverse theories, and what it means for reality, existence, and being.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Childhood Curiosity and the Path to Quantum Ontology

• Timestamps: 06:13 – 10:14
• Adam’s initial passion for dinosaurs led to a fascination with space and physics.
  • “When I was a really little kid...I wanted to be a paleontologist because dinosaurs are awesome. And then I discovered space and decided, no, space is more awesome.” (06:49)
• Early confusions about quantum physics versus relativity, and how quantum physics only gets weirder the more you learn.
  • “I thought, oh, all that weird stuff seems a lot weirder. No, I bet when I get to college and I learn quantum physics, that's going to seem less weird, too. That is not what happened. Yeah, no.” (07:57)
• Adam double-majored in physics and philosophy to pursue questions about “what the heck is going on in quantum physics?” (09:11)

Quantum Ontology 101: Definitions & Basics

• Timestamps: 10:14 – 12:29
• Quantum: The physics of the ultra-tiny, and since tiny things make up everything, it's the physics of everything.
• Ontology: The philosophical study of being; “What is real?”
• Quantum ontology asks: What does quantum physics really say about what exists?

Relativity vs. Quantum Theory Summarized

• Timestamps: 11:02 – 12:29
• Relativity: Space and time are interdependent; what seems constant can change depending on motion.
  • “There are things that don’t change...but those things are not distances or time. They’re a combination of space and time. Spacetime.” (12:15)
• Quantum Theory: The world of the ultra-tiny behaves in ways that are “very, very unusual...and we don’t know what that is.” (12:40)

The Quantum Measurement Problem: Contradictory Rules

• Timestamps: 13:50 – 20:18
• The math of quantum physics works extremely well but doesn’t resemble the tangible world.
  • “It is hard to understand the relationship between the mathematics of quantum physics and the world that we live in, because the math works really well...” (13:50)
• Classic advice in the field: “Shut up and calculate,” dismissing conceptual concerns. Adam calls this approach “completely fucking ridiculous.” (15:41)
• The contradiction: Schrödinger’s equation (smooth, deterministic) vs. Born Rule (random, probabilistic and only triggered by “measurement”).
  • “The idea of measurement is really, really fucking vague.” (19:20)
• The measurement problem raises absurd questions, like: “Does quantum mechanics only apply to Adam Becker? Does it work when a dog looks at an electron?” (19:20)

Memorable Quote

Alie Ward: “Quantum ontology. It’s like the opera of the physics world.” (20:18)

Schrodinger’s Cat & Many-Worlds Interpretation

• Timestamps: 25:24 – 32:42
• Schrodinger’s Cat: The famous thought experiment highlighting quantum indefiniteness when not observed.
• Many-Worlds (Everettian) Interpretation: Every measurement splits the universe into different realities, each outcome realized somewhere.
  • “Everett said...when you open the box to look, you split into two copies...each copy of you only sees one cat.” (29:05)
  • “So then every time there is a decision, it splits and splits and splits.” (29:39)
• Adam doesn’t personally subscribe to many-worlds but views it as a reasonable option.

Memorable Exchange

Alie Ward: “So then every time there is a decision, it splits and splits and splits.”
Dr. Adam Becker: “Yeah, it’s this entanglement. Sort of contagious. And ends up going through the whole world.” (29:43)

Pilot Wave Theory & Other Leading Interpretations

• Timestamps: 35:10 – 41:31
• Pilot Wave (de Broglie–Bohm): Particles have a definite location, guided by an associated wave—the 'pilot wave'.
  • “Every particle has a wave associated with it that determines how it moves.” (36:05)
• Weird consequences: entanglement effects propagate faster than light but can’t be used for signalling.
• The theory’s history is marked by professional drama and even political trouble (e.g., David Bohm being exiled).

Crackpots, Simulation Theory, and Why "It's All a Simulation" Fails

• Timestamps: 41:31 – 47:12
• Adam gets many emails with grand new theories (“Crackpot Index” is real).
  • "Being an old, retired white male engineer must have some effect on the brain... because those people, I'm pretty sure they're sober and they send me all sorts of wacky stuff all the time..." (41:36)
• Adam strongly rejects simulation theory as currently discussed (“the simulation thing is fucking bullshit”). (43:58)
  • Its assumptions about technology, history, and the nature of life are “hopelessly myopic...a very western centric, male, centric, white, centric, rich centric argument.” (45:24)
• Even if this IS a simulation, suffering is real and must be addressed.

Memorable Quote:

Dr. Adam Becker: “Second, even if this is a simulation, the suffering is real. Yes, I am suffering. Yes, you are suffering. We gotta fix that shit.” (47:03)

Are We Real? Adam’s Emergent Property Analogy

• Timestamps: 47:18 – 50:16
• Technically, yes, we’re real! Even if there are ‘lower-level’ realities, emergent properties—like temperature—are still real.
  • “That wall is actually a temperature. And we are here and we are having this conversation. Even if...space and time...emerges out of some lower level of reality, there’s still a space and a time that we’re in, even if it’s not fundamental.” (49:28)

Lightning Round: Audience (Patreon) Questions

Quantum Physics in Nature

• Timestamps: 55:45 – 56:50
• Quantum physics underpins all chemistry and thus all biochemistry and life.
  • “Without quantum physics we wouldn’t understand...the phenomenon of solidness...all of chemistry, and thus all of biochemistry and thus all of life.” (55:45)

Why Do Questions of Existence Matter?

• Timestamps: 56:53 – 59:18
• Human curiosity is fundamental; scientific worldviews shape art and society.
  • “Science is not a separate human activity from the rest of the human world...the pictures of the world that come from science not only go out into the other sciences, but out into the wider world...” (57:13)

Quantum Tunneling Explained

• Timestamps: 59:18 – 60:22
• Tunneling: Quantum objects can move through barriers classically impossible—vital for the sun shining!
  • “Tunneling is not more strange than the rest...if you can get a good picture of the world that comes with quantum physics, you get tunneling for free.” (59:26)

Quantum Computing

• Timestamps: 61:02 – 64:13
• Quantum computers harness properties like superposition/entanglement for some computations classical computers can’t.
  • “There are things that classical normal computers can do better than quantum computers and vice versa...” (61:13)

Scientist Proving God?

• Timestamps: 64:35 – 65:01
• Adam’s advice: “Get a new therapist.” (64:46)

Pop Culture Accuracy & Uncertainty Principle Joke

• Timestamps: 66:50 – 68:12
• Quantum Leap “has almost nothing to do with quantum physics, but I watched that show so much growing up.” (68:22)
• Uncertainty Principle Joke:
  • “Cop pulls Heisenberg over for speeding and says, ‘Sir, do you know how fast you were going?’ And he says, ‘No, but I know exactly where I am.’” (67:30)

String Theory, Consciousness, and Quantum Physics

• Timestamps: 69:34 – 73:05
• String theory seems like science, but “what the fuck?” is a reasonable response.
  • “Sure. Seems like science.” (70:45)
• Is consciousness special in quantum physics? Adam: “I do not see a compelling reason to invoke consciousness in quantum physics, given that there are alternatives.” (73:05)

Adam Becker’s Writing Process & Life as an Author

• Timestamps: 73:05 – 78:54
• Adam outlines, writes “shitty first drafts,” follows 50 minutes on/10 off (no screens, only reading fiction in breaks).
  • “I can’t write 90,000 words, but I can write 600 words a day. And if I do that for a while, eventually I’ll have 90,000 words.” (73:35)
• His secret: embrace bad drafts and focus on narrative and people, not just abstract ideas.
  • “People care about ideas, but they generally care more about people than they care about ideas.” (77:13)
• There is no math in his book, except for “2 times 3 equals 3 times 2.” (78:38)

Final Reflections: What’s the Best (and Worst) Thing About Quantum Ontology?

• Timestamps: 78:54 – 81:46
• Worst part: dealing with those who say the debate is over (“shut up and calculate”).
  • “There are so many of them. They are wrong.” (79:05)
• Best part: asking—and being allowed to ask—the biggest questions about reality.
  • “You get to ask the biggest questions...these really deep questions about the world...” (79:44)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “The real problem, the contradiction, right? The gap in logic is, okay, we have these two rules. They're not the same rule. When do we apply one and when do we apply the other?”
  — Dr. Adam Becker (19:20)

• “It is not clear how any of this works.”
  — Dr. Adam Becker (34:25)

• “But the idea that there are such fundamental things in the world that we do not understand...That is amazing.”
  — Dr. Adam Becker (32:42)

• “You get to ask the biggest questions. I know, right? Like, these are the biggest questions.”
  — Dr. Adam Becker (79:44)

Resources and Follow-up

• Dr. Adam Becker’s Books:
  • What Is Real? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics
  • More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity
• Charity: TechBridge Girls (techbridgegirls.org)
• Follow Adam: @freelanceastro on Instagram; Bluesky: Adam Becker
• Show Notes, Merch, and Smallogies (kid-friendly episodes): alieward.com/ologies

Summary Takeaways

• Quantum physics' math has unmatched predictive power, but its philosophical implications—what it says about what's actually real—remain unresolved and fascinatingly strange.
• Interpretations abound: Copenhagen (orthodox), Many-Worlds, Pilot Wave—none complete, none universally accepted.
• Scientists (and everyone else) are drawn by curiosity to face the weird fact: we might not ever fully know the nature of reality. But asking the questions is the point.
• Quantum ontology isn't just for physicists—it's about everyone’s place as “pieces of the world” in a universe stranger than fiction.

For First-Time Listeners

Expect a heady, humorous, and ultimately liberating ride through one of science’s biggest mysteries—served with clarity, storytelling, and a reminder: you don’t have to know it all to be awe-struck by what we don’t know.