A Journey Through Space and Time with Julian Barbour

Is time what clocks measure, or is it the difference between the shape of two triangles?

Explore the answer, and discover:

• Why Barbour believes the universe is changing shape rather than expanding
• Why it is important to remember that size is relative
• What kinematic relativity is, and why it is so essential to Barbour’s work  
• What the theory of black holes requires of the universe

Physicist and author of The Discovery of Dynamics and The Janus Point: A New Theory of Time, Julian Barbour, joins the show for an eye-opening and mind-probing deep dive into his ideas of time and space, and how they’ve been shaped by and differ from the ideas of other great thinkers in history, like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Johannes Kepler.

“Science is always tentative, but my feeling is that people have lost some contact with the real foundation of things, of what reality is really like, and so I think it certainly doesn’t harm to go back and see what people like Kepler did,” he adds.

Barbour explains the development and details of his books, elaborating on this statement: “You cannot imagine finding your way if there’s nothing by which you can see your way.” 

He also shares his most recent ideas with listeners, such as the idea that the complexity of the universe might literally be time itself, and the most important part of energy itself.

Interested in learning more?

Tune in and be sure to check out Barbour’s most recent book, The Janus Point: A New Theory of Time.

Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/30PvU9C