How can a bunch of equations on a piece of paper reflect the deepest facts about reality? How is it that every single object, from a skyscraper to a black hole to your liver, obeys mathematical gobbledegook? And how do physicists deduce that gobbledegook just by solving written puzzles?

Today's episode will blow your mind with curiosities about the fabric of reality, the size of the biggest numbers, and how a simple probability problem, posed by a popular television game show, the Monty Hall Show, captivated America for years.

Adam Spencer is a former radio host, keynote speaker and the University of Sydney's ambassador for mathematics and science. His TED Talk was "Why I fell in love with monster prime numbers" and he has a new Substack, NerdNews by @adambspencer.

References from Adam:

John Searle’s article “Consciousness” (published in Annual Review of Neuroscience)
“Biological naturalism”
Anil K. Seth, “Conscious artificial intelligence and biological naturalism,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences (2026, Cambridge University Press).

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The Mind-Boggling Magic of Math with Adam Spencer