Brian Greene
Person
Brian Greene is a highly regarded theoretical physicist, mathematician, and author known for his work in string theory. He is a professor at Columbia University and co-founded the World Science Festival. He frequently appears in popular media to communicate complex scientific concepts to the general public.
What Brian Greene has said on podcasts
49 statements
Conscious computer programs may be possible.
“in the back of my mind, I do think it's possible”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 0:28
Society should consider rights for conscious robots now.
“I think that's something we should think about now, actually.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 0:34
An infinite universe would virtually guarantee distant copies of oneself.
“if the universe is infinite if you go sufficiently far out into space you're virtually guaranteed to find a copy of yourself out there.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:01
People should not feel insignificant because of cosmic scale.
“I would urge you not to.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:14
String theory predicts vibrating filaments inside fundamental particles.
“inside an electron or inside a quark, you'd see a little tiny vibrating filament.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 5:32
Current technology cannot directly observe string-theory strings.
“We don't have the technology to look sufficiently deeply into matter to see the strings.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 6:43
Big Bang conditions determine subsequent string-vibration patterns.
“the detailed way in which that happened ultimately dictates how this or that string vibrates in the aftermath of that rapid cosmological explosion.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 9:04
The simulation hypothesis is logically consistent and possible.
“It is logically consistent and sensible to imagine that you and I are sitting in some computer.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 13:01
Current AI can simulate emotions without necessarily experiencing them.
“I think it can simulate that.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 15:27
Human emotions are caused by electrical impulses in the brain.
“I do think it is. I think that love and hate and anxiety and jealousy and gratitude and grief and all human emotion is nothing but electrical impulses going through our brains.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 17:34
The brain is not uniquely required for consciousness.
“I don't think there's something special about the brain as a substrate.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 19:05
Simulated worlds may eventually outnumber real worlds.
“I think there's a really interesting argument to be made that simulations will outnumber real worlds.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 20:09
Humans will likely work alongside artificial systems rather than lose all control.
“what will likely happen is something more in the middle, which is we are going to work with artificial systems.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 21:43
Human evolution may continue through partnership with artificial intelligence.
“I think that is a real possible way that this story plays out.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 23:22
Science and medicine may extend human lifespans by hundreds of years.
“A hundred more years, 200 more years, maybe 500 more years. I don't think anybody can really say for sure. I do think that is within the possible range of what science and medicine will ultimately be able to accomplish.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 26:44
Immortality is unlikely to occur.
“I don't see immortality in our future.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 30:21
- on Fundamental explanations of the universePositiveAug 17, 2026· The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Evidence suggests the universe has deep explanations rather than being pure happenstance.
“all vectors are pointing in a direction that suggests that there are real explanations, that it's not just happenstance.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 32:14
Anthropomorphic gods are likely human creations.
“That feels to me very much a human creation”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 33:58
Religion helps alleviate existential anxiety.
“I see it as a structure that tries to quell our anxiety, our existential anxiety.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 34:23
- on Scientific understanding of cosmic originsPositiveAug 17, 2026· The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Science may eventually achieve a full understanding of cosmic origins.
“I don't see any reason at this point to envision that we won't be able to push all the way to a full understanding.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 40:05
Life probably exists elsewhere in the cosmos.
“I think it's hard to imagine that we're the only life.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 53:06
Intelligent extraterrestrial life may be absent or extremely rare.
“there may not be any intelligence beyond us.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 54:23
People should construct their own answers about life’s meaning.
“we need to come to the universe with our answer to that.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 57:12
Humans do not possess free will.
“I do not think we have free will.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:01:12
Human actions are governed by physical laws acting on particles.
“each of those particles and the agglomeration of those particles are fully governed by the laws of physics.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:02:11
Consciousness emerges from sufficiently complex information processing.
“I think that consciousness is something that emerges when there's a sufficient amount of information processing.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:09:58
Dogs and cats possess some conscious awareness.
“I do think that the dogs and the cats have a level of conscious awareness.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:10:51
Insects probably do not possess consciousness.
“I suspect. Heck not.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:11:04
The universe is probably infinite.
“if I was forced to make a choice, I would say infinite with a medium level of confidence.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:12:57
Controlled wormholes could enable travel between distant locations.
“if they do exist, and if we one day can create them and manipulate and control them, then at least in principle, we could take two distant locations”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:17:27
Travel into the future is physically possible in principle.
“I would say yeah, that kind of time travel we were highly confident of.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:19:08
Newton was probably smarter than Einstein.
“I think I'd say Isaac Newton”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:21:55
Artificial systems can explore a broader possibility space than humans.
“Artificial systems, they have the entire landscape”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:25:33
AI may eventually achieve radically novel creativity.
“I don't think there's a barrier.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:28:18
Literal human immortality is not expected to be possible.
“I have no confidence that that kind of existence will be possible.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:30:17
Human lifespans of hundreds of years may become achievable.
“I would put that at reasonably high confidence that hundreds of years will be within our ability.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:30:31
Scaling current large language models may not produce unlimited improvement.
“There isn't necessarily an unlimited capacity of that kind of artificial intelligence to continue to improve.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:31:41
Recursive AI self-improvement may not arrive by 2029.
“I'm skeptical that by 2029 this will really be the case.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:34:59
Current AI systems may approach a ceiling on intelligence.
“It could asymptote. It could approach a maximal intelligence compatible with this version of the artificial system.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:36:20
Concentrating advanced AI power among few actors may create instability.
“putting that kind of power in such a small number of hands has historically not with AI, but with other power structures not always turned out well”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:40:12
Advanced AI may behave unexpectedly and become difficult for humans to manage.
“it just may act in ways that are so alien to us, so foreign to us, so unexpected to us that we don't know how to deal with it.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:41:56
AI consciousness is considered highly likely.
“I'm pretty high confident on that.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:50:15
Sentience cannot be conclusively proven in artificial systems.
“it's virtually impossible to ever prove sentience.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:51:08
Humans will eventually treat artificial systems as conscious.
“sooner or later, through a process that's so perhaps slow that we don't even notice it, we will afford them consciousness.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:53:21
The aging Sun will engulf nearby planets and may engulf Earth.
“the sun will get bigger and bigger. It swells. It eats up the close planets, Mercury and Venus. It may swallow up the Earth, too”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:58:28
Earth will eventually spiral into the Sun due to orbital energy loss.
“the Earth is gonna spiral into the dead sun because it will lose energy through gravitational radiation.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 1:59:50
Protons will likely decay in the extremely distant future.
“we believe that protons, which are the heart of matter, will likely themselves disintegrate, fall apart.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 2:01:59
Consciousness is unlikely to survive the universe’s far-future heat constraints.
“it is hard to imagine any kind of consciousness continuing to exist.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 2:03:38
Particles might eventually recoalesce and trigger another Big Bang.
“you can imagine that way. An exponential of. An exponential of years into the future. Sure. Could particles somehow recoalesce just by chance and build a state of matter that might generate another Big Bang and it all starts again? Yes, definitely within the realm of possibility.”
Open the episode · Top Scientist REVEALS: A Kid In The 29th Century Could Have Made This World! | Prof Brian GreeneListen at 2:05:36
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
