When Physics Falters: The Boundaries of Human Understanding

Synopsis

Physics is often seen as the ultimate tool to uncover the principles that govern our universe — a discipline capable of answering any question, given enough time and ingenuity. Yet this belief may be misplaced. Some questions are fundamentally incompatible with a physical explanation. These include not only those that touch on spirituality or metaphysics, but also certain questions that appear, at first glance, to fall squarely within the realm of physics. This talk will explore the limits of our understanding through three stages: first, questions that likely have answers even if they remain beyond our current reach; second, questions that seem answerable in principle but may in fact lie forever out of reach; and finally, questions that physics — by its very nature — can never hope to answer.