If we think of our human scale as the starting point and look only outward, towards the heavens, we can either feel small, insignificant and deflated, or we can choose to be awed at being invited to the party to enjoy all this incredible majesty. But we can also turn the telescope around and look inward, at our incredible biology. In the early 20th century, the Russian chemist and biologist Alexander Oparin suggested that life was less about the substances from which our bodies are made and more about their exquisite organization. We now understand so much about our biochemistry, down to the genes that spiral in our DNA and roam in our RNA and the remarkable way proteins and other structures literally dance inside us. But pressing further still, I believe we’ll discover that neurons aren’t just “gross” structures that engage in binary excitations but are, in fact, quantum transducers that act with the same kind of precision we see in the choreography of DNA and proteins, performing as yet hidden acts of astonishing quantum computation and regulation, and that the familiar activities of the nervous system and other complex pathways in the body will turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg. If we turn the telescope around and look within, not only inside our own bodies but throughout the ecosystems and geosystems of the living Earth, we’ll find ourselves not at the beginning of infinity but smack dab in the middle. And what could be more inspiring than being born to count backwards from infinity while all around us the stars, galaxies, and the fabric of space are counting forwards? Humbled? Yes. Awed? Yes. Overwhelmed? Not while our minds continue to march along this magnificent path of discovery! But hey, that’s just my two divided by zero cents.

For me, this is the best lecture in this course so far. However, as much as I deeply respect Dr. Vafa and enjoy all of the content in this course, I wish more had been offered by way of motivating string theory rather than just presenting chunks of somewhat disconnected (but very interesting) information. At the outset, challenging our ideas about what is fundamental and introducing the concept of duality frame invariance are both great elements, but there is really no discussion of how and why string theory has come to represent such a uniquely powerful approach to quantum gravity and better unification of fundamental physical concepts. For instance, what are the corners of a parameter space? I love the Escher picture – it’s a fabulous analogy. But these corners appear to be critical to understanding duality frames and I would like a better understanding of just what is converging there. PBS Spacetime has some great videos that present the motivation and history of string theory, but I would love to hear about these things from Vafa himself – I’m sure his insights would be incredibly interesting. That said, some of the remarkable ideas in this video, like how a massive amount of black hole entropy can be stored by winding around compactified higher dimensions, are really illuminating. I really appreciate WSU and applaud all the effort and brilliance that go into making these courses. I just think there are necessarily some expository challenges that come with building courses around repurposed elements, and perhaps greater sensitivity to motivating the material – setting it in the conceptual context it deserves – would make the courses even better.