Genius Philosopher: The Law of Physics That Explains Why Your Life Falls Apart. Rebecca Goldstein - #549
From Into the Impossible With Brian Keating by Big Bang Productions Inc.
April 7, 2026 · 42 min
About this episode
Rebecca Goldstein discusses the human need to matter and its implications through the lens of philosophy and physics.
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a MacArthur Genius Award recipient, philosopher, novelist, and author of The Mattering Instinct. Her verdict on why human beings are driven to matter — and what threatens that drive — might change how you think about your own life. Check out her recent appearance on Mindscape here. In this conversation, we discuss why every human being is haunted by the need to matter, the four types of people and how each one tries to satisfy that longing, why Ludwig Boltzmann's tragic death is a thermodynamic story, how depression maps onto entropy, whether AI can ever have a mattering instinct, and why heroic strivers are the most threatened by artificial intelligence. We also get into what Freud got wrong about what women want, the physics of matter versus the philosophy of mattering, and why the second law of thermodynamics may be the most personal law in all of science. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a philosopher, novelist, and MacArthur Genius Award recipient. She is the author of multiple books including Plato at the Googleplex and 36 Arguments for the Existence of God…
People in this episode
Host: Brian Keating
Guest: Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
Topics covered
- philosophy
- human existence
- thermodynamics
- artificial intelligence
- depression
- mattering instinct
Keywords
- mattering
- thermodynamics
- entropy
- AI
- depression
- human existence
- philosophy
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Mattering Instinct, Plato at the Googleplex, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God
More episodes of Into the Impossible With Brian Keating
- Physicist: Why I Believe in Near-Death Experiences · June 9, 2026 · 23 min
- Godlike AI Is Here! Peter Diamandis Debates Brian Keating · June 1, 2026 · 1h 4m
- Two Scientists, One Question: Does Alien Life Need a Soul? · May 30, 2026 · 1h 34m
- FLAT Universe: Why Scientists Keep Getting This Wrong · May 27, 2026 · 24 min
- Joscha Bach: The Self Is a Story Your Brain Tells Itself · May 15, 2026 · 1h 31m
- The Equation That Changed How Physicists Think About Reality | Juan Maldacena · May 7, 2026 · 41 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Into the Impossible With Brian Keating podcast page.