Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Something existed before time. Something may outlast this universe. The real question is not whether the multiverse is real but which infinity we already live inside.
Experimental cosmologist Brian Keating (UC San Diego, BICEP, Simons Observatory) sat down with Gleb Solomin to push on the questions cosmology cannot answer with data yet.
We cover: what "before the Big Bang" even means when spacetime itself begins at the Big Bang, whether the standard origin story survives the latest tension in the dark energy measurements, why a multiverse you cannot test is philosophy wearing a lab coat, the gap between mathematical elegance and experimental proof, and why string theory's beauty is exactly what should make you suspicious of it.
Modern physics may have hit a wall that mathematics alone cannot climb. This is a conversation about where that wall is.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The moment before time existed
01:39 Why cosmologists lose Nobel Prizes
06:14 Something from nothing, the hard problem
08:41 Which origin story did we get wrong
11:06 How do you test a multiverse
15:46 Is the universe still accelerating
18:00 Could everything collapse tomorrow
24:18 Can AI discover what humans cannot
28:47 Why string theory seduces us
32:51 Will machine learning rewrite physics
35:08 Five infinities nested inside each other
39:00 When mathematics stops describing reality
43:00 Is spacetime just a hologram
44:24 Why UFO sightings matter to cosmology
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๐ฌ Get the transcript, fascinating bonus content, and my Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message: briankeating.com/yt
๐ Have a .edu email and live in the USA ๐บ๐ธ? You automatically win a meteorite: BrianKeating.com/edu
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๐ฏ Support Into the Impossible on Patreon โ get my weekly M.A.G.I.C. Message, unfiltered bonus content, and live monthly Office Hours with me: patreon.com/drbriankeating
โญ Join this channel for perks, monthly Office Hours, and your name in the Member Roster at the end of every episode: youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join
๐ My books:
Losing the Nobel Prize (memoir): amzn.to/2sa5UpA
Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu
Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U
Galileo's Dialogue (first-ever audiobook): https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un
๐ More:
๐โโ๏ธ Twitter: twitter.com/BrianKeating
๐ Substack: briankeating.substack.com/ss
โ๏ธ Blog: briankeating.com/blog
๐๏ธ Audio-only: briankeating.com/podcast
Something existed before time. Something may outlast this universe. The real question is not whether the multiverse is real but which infinity we already live inside.
Experimental cosmologist Brian Keating (UC San Diego, BICEP, Simons Observatory) sat down with Gleb Solomin to push on the questions cosmology cannot answer with data yet.
We cover: what "before the Big Bang" even means when spacetime itself begins at the Big Bang, whether the standard origin story survives the latest tension in the dark energy measurements, why a multiverse you cannot test is philosophy wearing a lab coat, the gap between mathematical elegance and experimental proof, and why string theory's beauty is exactly what should make you suspicious of it.
Modern physics may have hit a wall that mathematics alone cannot climb. This is a conversation about where that wall is.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The moment before time existed
01:39 Why cosmologists lose Nobel Prizes
06:14 Something from nothing, the hard problem
08:41 Which origin story did we get wrong
11:06 How do you test a multiverse
15:46 Is the universe still accelerating
18:00 Could everything collapse tomorrow
24:18 Can AI discover what humans cannot
28:47 Why string theory seduces us
32:51 Will machine learning rewrite physics
35:08 Five infinities nested inside each other
39:00 When mathematics stops describing reality
43:00 Is spacetime just a hologram
44:24 Why UFO sightings matter to cosmology
---
๐ฌ Get the transcript, fascinating bonus content, and my Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message: briankeating.com/yt
๐ Have a .edu email and live in the USA ๐บ๐ธ? You automatically win a meteorite: BrianKeating.com/edu
๐ Subscribe: youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1
๐ฏ Support Into the Impossible on Patreon โ get my weekly M.A.G.I.C. Message, unfiltered bonus content, and live monthly Office Hours with me: patreon.com/drbriankeating
โญ Join this channel for perks, monthly Office Hours, and your name in the Member Roster at the end of every episode: youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join
๐ My books:
Losing the Nobel Prize (memoir): amzn.to/2sa5UpA
Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu
Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U
Galileo's Dialogue (first-ever audiobook): https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un
๐ More:
๐โโ๏ธ Twitter: twitter.com/BrianKeating
๐ Substack: briankeating.substack.com/ss
โ๏ธ Blog: briankeating.com/blog
๐๏ธ Audio-only: briankeating.com/podcast
