April 08, 1999: Cosmology, EMP Weapons - Dr. Brian Greene | UFO Sightings - Peter Davenport
The discussion turns to the physics of destruction as Art asks Greene about reported electromagnetic pulse weapons used in the Kosovo conflict. Greene confirms awareness of non-nuclear EMP device research but cannot detail the mechanisms behind them. He also reflects on the legacy of Oppenheimer, arguing that scientists must remain vigilant about the applications of their discoveries rather than simply delivering products to policymakers. Greene expresses optimism that humanity will ultimately survive its discovery of nuclear power.
Art and Greene debate the likelihood of advanced civilizations existing elsewhere in the universe, with Greene acknowledging that life could take forms radically different from anything on Earth. The conversation touches on unified field theory and the energy contained within the strings that permeate even the vacuum of space.
Key Moments
String theory in one minute: matter as music: Brian Greene gives Art his cleanest pop explanation of string theory: at a level far below quarks, every particle is a tiny vibrating string. We don't perceive the vibrations as different musical notes; we perceive them as different particles. An electron is a string vibrating one way, a quark another. Wood, iron, lead - everything is just different vibrational patterns of the same underlying ingredient.
Greene vs. Kaku: the optimist's case for civilization: Art quotes Michio Kaku's typology - we are a Type 0 civilization that has to survive the discovery of element 92 (uranium) to become a Type 1 - and asks Greene whether the odds of getting through are quirk-tiny. Greene declines the pessimism. He says he believes humans will see beyond the destructive power of these discoveries to their productive power, predicts national borders eventually dissolving into something like a world government, and admits this is a gut feeling about human nature rather than evidence.
EMP weapons in Yugoslavia: Art tells Greene there are reports - 'rumors and maybe more than rumors' - that the United States used a non-nuclear weapon in the opening days of the Kosovo bombing campaign that produced an electromagnetic pulse and disabled large amounts of Yugoslav electronics and computer-controlled equipment. Greene confirms the underlying physics: there has been successful research on EMP devices designed to disrupt enemy electronics, though he is not aware of these specific reports.
Why a string-theoretic bomb has to be published: Art presses Greene with a hypothetical: if string theory mathematics implied a way to release energy at the string level - far beyond fission and fusion - what would he do with that result? Greene answers as Oppenheimer-with-hindsight: he absolutely would not hide it. Suppressing fundamental information is the worst thing a scientist can do because someone else will eventually find it. The only protection is open, balanced, informed discussion on the world stage.
Could a window record the past?: A late-night caller asks whether voices and conversations from ancestors might be retrievable - 'suspended in space.' Art reframes the question into the old idea that windows and other inanimate objects act as recorders of the vibrations that pass through them. Greene says yes, in principle: vocal cords vibrate air, those vibrations slam into glass and wood and influence them, and a sufficiently complete reconstruction of an object's history could in principle reverse-engineer the original sound. In practice, he calls it almost impossible.