The Big History of Modern Science | Hannu Rajaniemi | TEDxDanubia

Summary

This script explores the paradox of human understanding, from the vastness of the universe to the minuscule atomic level. It delves into how our comprehension of the cosmos and the quantum world has evolved, touching on pivotal discoveries and their implications, such as Einstein's theory of relativity and the development of quantum mechanics. It also addresses the burgeoning complexity of our modern world, from technological advancements to the intricate systems we've created, which present both challenges and opportunities. The speaker advocates embracing this complexity while seeking simplicity, suggesting collective intelligence and innovative technologies as pathways to navigate our increasingly interconnected and complicated existence.

Takeaways

• 🌌 Our understanding of the universe has dramatically increased in the past century, shifting from thousands of stars visible to the naked eye to billions of galaxies each containing billions of stars.
• 🔭 Telescopes and scientific advancements have allowed us to perceive the universe as much larger and more complex than previously thought, challenging our comprehension of its scale.
• 💫 The discovery of galaxies and the expansion of the universe, supported by Hubble's observations and Einstein's theory of relativity, has led to the understanding that the universe began from a singularity, the Big Bang.
• ⚛️ Einstein's famous equation, E=mc², highlights the immense energy contained within even the smallest amounts of matter, fundamentally impacting our understanding of both large and small scales.
• 🌡️ The exploration of atoms and subatomic particles has unveiled the complex inner workings of matter, with quantum mechanics explaining the behavior of particles at these scales.
• 🔋 The invention of the transistor and the subsequent development of digital computers have exponentially increased our capacity to process information and understand complexity.
• 🧬 Advances in genetics have revealed the intricate complexity within a single cell, with non-coding DNA playing a significant regulatory role, far more complex than initially believed.
• 🌐 The interconnectedness of modern systems, such as the internet and financial markets, has led to an increase in complexity and the potential for rapid, widespread effects from failures or disruptions.
• 🌳 The complexity of natural systems, exemplified by climate change, requires a comprehensive understanding of multiple interconnected fields to address effectively.
• 💡 The potential for harnessing collective intelligence, such as through crowdsourcing and gaming, offers new avenues for tackling complex problems that surpass individual capabilities.
• 🛠️ Embracing complexity and seeking simplicity where possible is a balanced approach to navigating and leveraging the intricate systems we are a part of and continue to create.

Q & A

What is the main theme of the speaker's discussion?

The main theme of the speaker's discussion is the understanding of the universe, from the very small to the very large, and the increasing complexity of the world in between, which we are discovering and creating.

What is the significance of the town IESA in Finland mentioned in the script?

IESA in Finland is significant because it is where the speaker grew up and where their interest in stars and the universe began, influenced by the long nights and the opportunity to observe the stars.

How did the understanding of the universe change with the use of telescopes?

With the use of telescopes, astronomers were able to see over a million stars, which was a significant increase from the 10,000 visible to the naked eye, and eventually led to the discovery of galaxies beyond our own.

What was the role of 'human computer' Henrietta Swan Leavitt in the study of stars?

Henrietta Swan Leavitt analyzed photographic plates of stars and discovered a pattern in their brightness that allowed her to calculate the distances to stars, which was a significant contribution to the field of astronomy.

Who is credited with the discovery that spiral nebulae were actually galaxies?

Edwin Hubble is credited with the discovery that spiral nebulae were actually galaxies, using the method developed by Henrietta Swan Leavitt.

What does the speaker mean by 'the world in between the big and the small'?

The 'world in between the big and the small' refers to the scale of things that we interact with daily, which is becoming increasingly complex due to our continuous discovery and creation of new complexities.

How did Einstein's theory of relativity contribute to our understanding of the universe?

Einstein's theory of relativity provided equations that describe how space changes when matter and energy move around in it, which helped us understand the expanding universe and the concept of the Big Bang.

What is the famous equation E=mc^2 and what does it imply about the relationship between energy and mass?

E=mc^2 is Einstein's mass-energy equivalence formula, where 'E' is energy, 'm' is mass, and 'c' is the speed of light. It implies that a small amount of mass can be converted into a large amount of energy.

What is the significance of the discovery of the atomic nucleus?

The discovery of the atomic nucleus revealed that atoms are not the smallest particles but are composed of a nucleus of protons and neutrons with electrons orbiting around it, leading to the development of quantum mechanics.

How did the understanding of atoms and their components lead to the development of the atomic bomb?

The understanding of atoms and the potential for matter to be converted into energy, as suggested by quantum mechanics, led to the idea of a chain reaction where the splitting of atoms could release vast amounts of energy, which was harnessed in the creation of the atomic bomb.

What is the connection between the development of the transistor and the understanding of quantum mechanics?

The transistor, which is a fundamental component of digital computers, is based on quantum mechanics principles, specifically the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity under certain conditions, providing the binary '1' and '0' states necessary for computation.

How has the increase in complexity due to technology affected our daily lives and systems?

The increase in complexity due to technology has made our daily lives and systems more interconnected and potentially fragile. It has allowed for the creation of more advanced and complex systems, but also increased the risk of cascading failures and rapid spread of problems.

What is the potential solution the speaker suggests for dealing with the complexity of modern systems?

The speaker suggests embracing and accepting complexity, and finding ways to simplify systems where possible. This includes decentralizing systems like energy and finance, and using collective intelligence through platforms that allow many people to contribute to problem-solving.

How does the speaker relate the understanding of the universe's vastness to the complexity of the systems we create?

The speaker relates the understanding of the universe's vastness to the complexity of the systems we create by drawing parallels between the rapid expansion of our knowledge of the cosmos and the exponential growth in the number of transistors and interconnected devices, highlighting the challenges and opportunities presented by such complexity.

Outlines

00:00

🌌 Understanding the Cosmos and Our Place Within It

The speaker begins by discussing the vastness of the universe and the smallness of the individual components that make up our existence. They argue that while we have made significant strides in understanding both the macro and micro scales of the universe, it is the complexity of the world in between that remains elusive. The speaker's background in physics and cosmology is introduced, along with a personal anecdote about growing up in IESA, Finland, and being inspired by the stars to understand the universe's scale. The historical progression of astronomical knowledge, from naked-eye observations to the use of telescopes, is highlighted, culminating in Edwin Hubble's discovery of galaxies beyond our own and the realization of the universe's expansion. The speaker emphasizes Einstein's theory of relativity and its role in explaining the universe's dynamics, as well as the Big Bang theory, which posits a tiny, primordial origin for the cosmos.

05:00

🔬 Delving into the Small: Atoms, Energy, and Quantum Mechanics

This paragraph delves into the world of the very small, starting with Einstein's famous equation, E=mc^2, which highlights the immense energy potential within even the smallest amounts of matter. The speaker discusses the discovery of the atom's structure, including the nucleus and electrons, and the development of quantum mechanics as a field of study. The historical narrative includes Marie Curie's work with radium and its implications for understanding atomic energy, as well as the discovery of the atomic nucleus by Ernest Rutherford. The potential applications and dangers of atomic energy are briefly touched upon, with references to nuclear power and weapons. The paragraph concludes with the invention of the transistor, a pivotal development in digital computing and a testament to the practical applications of understanding quantum mechanics.

10:01

🤖 The Explosion of Technological Complexity and Its Impact

The speaker explores the rapid growth of complexity in technology, particularly in the field of computing, where the number of transistors has increased exponentially since the invention of the first transistor. They provide a vivid comparison between the number of transistors and the grains of sand on Earth to illustrate this point. The paragraph discusses how advancements in computing have allowed us to uncover and understand the complexity within biological systems, such as the human cell and its DNA. The speaker also addresses the challenges that come with increased complexity, such as the fragility of interconnected systems and the potential for cascading failures, using examples like the 2008 financial crisis and the 2010 flash crash. The complexity of modern systems is contrasted with the need for resilience and the potential for decentralized solutions.

15:01

🌱 Embracing Complexity and Seeking Simplicity in an Interconnected World

In the final paragraph, the speaker reflects on the challenges and opportunities presented by complexity, both in the natural world and in human-made systems. They suggest that by embracing and accepting complexity, we can find new ways to simplify and improve our systems, such as through decentralized technologies like solar power and Bitcoin. The potential of collective intelligence, as demonstrated by crowdsourcing and gaming platforms, is highlighted as a means to tackle complex problems that require a multitude of perspectives. The speaker also touches on the importance of finding simplicity within complexity, referencing Einstein's philosophy and the idea of growing up as a time of reevaluating our understanding of the world. The conclusion encourages us to face the complexity with a sense of adventure and the spirit of discovery.

Keywords

💡Universe

The Universe, in the context of the video, refers to the entirety of space and all its contents, including galaxies, stars, and planets. It is central to the theme as the video discusses the vastness of the Universe and how our understanding of it has evolved from being able to see a few thousand stars with the naked eye to recognizing billions of galaxies. The script mentions Edwin Hubble's discovery that the Universe is expanding, which is a fundamental concept in cosmology.

💡Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that describes the behavior of matter and energy on a very small scale, such as atoms and subatomic particles. The video explains how quantum mechanics is essential for understanding the structure of atoms and the conversion of matter into energy, as illustrated by the work of scientists like Niels Bohr and the discovery of the atomic nucleus.

💡Transistor

A Transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals and electrical power. It is a key component of modern electronics, including computers. The video script discusses the invention of the first transistor and how it marked the beginning of the digital age, leading to the exponential growth in the complexity of technology.

💡DNA

DNA, or Deoxyribonucleic Acid, is the molecule that carries most of the genetic instructions used in the development, functioning, and reproduction of all known living organisms. The script highlights the complexity of DNA, explaining how recent advancements in reading DNA have revealed that previously considered 'junk' DNA is actually a control system, making cells much more complex than initially thought.

💡Complexity

Complexity in the video refers to the intricate and interconnected nature of systems, whether they are natural, like cells, or man-made, like the internet or financial systems. The video argues that our world is becoming increasingly complex, which presents challenges in understanding and managing these systems, but also opportunities for innovation and problem-solving.

💡Big Bang

The Big Bang is the prevailing cosmological model for the observable universe's origin from an extremely hot and dense state. The video uses the term to describe both the beginning of the Universe and the rapid expansion of technology, particularly in the number of transistors, which is likened to another 'big bang' in terms of growth and impact.

💡Einstein's Equations

Einstein's Equations, particularly E=mc^2, are fundamental to the theory of relativity and describe the relationship between energy and mass. The video explains how these equations have implications for both the large scale of the Universe and the small scale of atomic particles, highlighting the interconnectedness of different scales in physics.

💡Cancer

Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. The script discusses the complexity of cancer and how our understanding of it has been limited by focusing on only a small percentage of DNA. The video suggests that embracing the full complexity of cells may offer new insights into treating cancer.

💡Climate Change

Climate Change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, especially those attributed to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels. The video mentions climate change as an example of a complex problem that involves understanding multiple interconnected systems, including finance, energy, and biology.

💡Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is the act of obtaining ideas, services, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, particularly from the online community. The video gives the example of Iceland's attempt to draft a constitution using social media, illustrating how crowdsourcing can democratize problem-solving and engage a wide range of perspectives.

💡Resilience

Resilience in the video refers to the ability of a system to withstand or recover quickly from difficulties. The script suggests that by decentralizing systems, such as power grids or financial networks, we can create more resilient infrastructures that are less susceptible to systemic failures.

Highlights

Understanding the scale of the universe from small to large, and the complexity in between.

The journey from comprehending stars to realizing the vastness of the universe through telescopes and Hubble's work.

The surprising discovery of galaxies beyond our Milky Way, challenging previous astronomical understanding.

Henry Norris Russell's method for determining the distance of stars, which was later recognized by Edwin Hubble.

Einstein's theory of relativity and its implications for understanding the expanding universe.

The Big Bang theory and the universe's initial tiny state, expanding to its current size over 13.8 billion years.

Einstein's famous equation, E=mc^2, and its significance for understanding energy and mass at the atomic level.

The discovery of the atomic nucleus by Ernest Rutherford, revealing subatomic particles like protons and neutrons.

Quantum mechanics and its role in explaining the structure of atoms and the conversion of matter into energy.

Leo Szilard's realization of the potential for a chain reaction in atomic energy, leading to atomic power and weapons.

The invention of the transistor and its foundational role in digital computing, based on quantum mechanics.

The exponential growth of transistors from the first one in 1947 to billions in modern devices like smartphones.

The complexity of biological systems, such as the human cell, and the recent discovery of the extensive role of 'junk' DNA.

The interconnectedness of complex systems and the potential for small failures to cause large-scale disruptions.

The challenges of understanding and solving complex global issues like climate change, which require multidisciplinary knowledge.

The potential of crowdsourcing and collective intelligence to tackle problems too complex for individuals, such as Foldit and Zooniverse.

The idea of embracing complexity and seeking simplicity where possible, as a strategy for innovation and problem-solving.

The analogy of growing up as a time of reevaluating what we know and the beginning of new adventures in understanding the world.

Transcripts

we are made from very small things and

we live in a very very big universe and

the small things are so small and the

big things are so big that you might

think we have no hope of ever

understanding them but I'm going to

argue that in fact we already understand

them quite well it's the world in

between the big and the small the world

we live in that we don't understand and

in fact that world is becoming harder

and harder to understand because we keep

discovering more complexity and creating

more complexity and that's something we

have to face if we want to solve our

biggest

challenges but let's start in the

beginning I want to tell you how we came

to understand the big that's my

background I studied physics and

cosmology and it also has to do with

where I grew up I grew up in a town

called IESA in Finland where you get

about 4 hours of daylight uh during the

day so when whenever I walked home from

school it would be dark and I would look

at the

stars and it's the stars that really

tell you how big the universe is stars

are very big as big or bigger as our sun

only very very far away and there are so

many of them even with the naked eye you

can see 10,000 stars now 10,000 is a big

number but it's still a comprehensible

number if each star was a grain of sand

10,000 would be about three teaspoons of

sand so that's not so bad but of course

we don't look at the stars with the

naked eye anymore we use telescopes and

already 100 years ago around 1900

astronomers had good telescopes and they

could see over a million stars now a

million stars is a lot but it's still a

comprehensible number it's about a

bucket of

sand and in fact uh those astronomers

were pretty sure that that was it that

there were about a million stars in the

Universe um except for these funny

smudges they kept seeing in their

photographs and they called them spiral

nebula and nobody knew what those were

and it took a computer to figure out

what those actually were a human

computer called Henry at the lit because

back then a computer was what you called

a woman doing calculations for

scientists now lit was paid $10 a week

to analyze photo phaps of stars and she

was deaf but she had a very very good

eye and she spotted a pattern in the

brightness of stars that gave her a new

way to actually figure out how far away

stars were and she died of cancer very

young but was able to publish her

finding uh but uh couldn't see it

applied and it was Edwin Hubble who

later said that levit should have really

won the Nobel Prize who used her method

to look at those spiral nebuli and what

he found was that they were much much

much further away millions of times

further away than any anyone had ever

thought in fact they were galaxies

galaxies just like our Milk Way systems

of hundreds of billions of stars and we

now know that the visible Universe has

hundreds of billions of galaxies so it's

not just a bucket of sand it's not a

million stars it's 7 * 10 to the power

of 22 stars now again if each star was a

grain of sand that would be all the sand

in all the deserts and beaches and sand

boxes on Earth times 10,000 10,000 Wells

of sand so in less than 100 years that's

how much our understanding of the

universe has grown from three teaspoons

to 10,000 Wells of

sand and actually it's even worse

because Hubble showed that the universe

is getting bigger and bigger all those

galaxies are moving away from each other

at tremendous speed so you may wonder

how could we ever figure out what was

going on and what what what where all

those stars came from now fortunately

Einstein came along and and Einstein

came up with a theory of relativity that

says that space is really just distances

between points and those distances

change depending on what you have

between those points he came up with

equations that tell us how space itself

changes when matter and energy move

around in it and these equations work

extremely well so well that all the

phones uh in your phones use GPS which

is based on Einstein's equations and

Einstein's equations predicted an

expanding unit universe and at first he

thought uh he'd made a mistake but then

he found out about Hubble's Discovery

and we now know that the Universe has

been expanding for 13.8 billion years

that means it actually started out very

very small smaller than an atom and we

call the moment the expansion started

the Big Bang now we still don't know

exactly what happened at the very

instant of the Big Bang but thanks to

Einstein we do know how the universe got

to be so big and we know that little

ripples tiny little ripples in that

early Universe grew with the universe

into seeds that became stars and

galaxies so we do know where stars came

from now one of Einstein's equations had

really big implications not just for big

things but also for small things and

that's his most famous equations E

equals mc^ s what does it mean well e

means energy m is mass and C squ is

speed of FL squared light travels very

very fast so C squ is an enormous number

almost as big as the number of all the

grains of sand in the world and that

means that even the tiniest amount of

matter even an atom has a tremendous

amount of energy so let's talk about

atoms and let's talk about small things

how small are atoms now if you remember

that tremendous number of stars in the

universe we have the same number of

atoms in just three drops of water so

it's quite amazing that we can

understand them all and for a long time

we thought atoms were the smallest thing

there

was but in 1898 Mary C

discovered an element called radium and

radium was constantly radiating so much

energy that it couldn't possibly come

from reactions between atoms and people

got really excited about radium science

fiction writer HD Wells thought that it

could be a source of infinite power for

a utopian society some people got maybe

a little bit too excited and too carried

away and started putting radium in

products like chocolate and face cream

and and other things something we now

know wouldn't wouldn't be a good idea

now Mary Cur uh something a bit better

she was able to use radium uh to treat

cancer so she pioneered radiation

therapy but she herself got exposed to

so much radiation that she eventually

died of anemia and even her cookbook to

this day is harmfully

radioactive but she lived long enough to

see what was really going on with radium

and she suspected that there might be

something going on inside atoms

something that was converting matter

into energy like Einstein's equation

implied and she was right in 1911 Ernst

ruford took some radium fired some of

radium's radiation at a gold leaf very

thin gold leaf and saw something really

weird the atoms were behaving like there

was something much smaller inside

something compared to the size of the

atom like a grain of sand in the middle

of a football field and he had

discovered the nucleus the nucleus of an

atom is made out of particles called

protons and neutrons orbited by a cloud

of electrons and to explain this

structure of the atom scientists had to

come up with a new Theory called quantum

mechanics and quantum mechanics predicts

that if you split the atom if you split

the nucleus some matter will be

converted into energy and that's what

was going on with radium but ruford

himself didn't think that atomic energy

would be of any practical use he

famously said that anyone who looks for

a s source of power inside an atom is

talking absolute

moonshine so of course there was a very

stubborn Hungarian who decided that it

had to be made to

work and he was called Leo card and he

was born right here in Budapest as a

young man he did a lot of work with

Einstein and they became close friends

what did they work on quantum mechanics

thermodynamics theoretical physics and

they also invented a new type of fridge

uh old-fashioned fridges used very

poisonous gases and a family in Berlin

died of of fumes coming coming from

those gases and Einstein got really

upset about it and he was certain that

there had be had to be a better way to

build fridges so he asked seart for help

to to invent a better one so they did um

it was a genius design obviously um but

uh too expensive and and too noisy to be

actually practical but in the end they

made some money by selling their patents

to Electrolux but sard kept inventing

and his next invention was something

much much

bigger in 1933 one morning in London he

was crossing the street at this spot and

just the moment when the traffic light

changed in a Flash he had a really

beautiful and a really terrible idea and

he called it the Chain Reaction if you

could split just one atom that would

release neutrons that would split more

atoms that release more neutrons that

would split more atoms and so on and so

on you could make Atomic power work and

you could also make a really terrible

weapon and that's exactly what happened

in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 12 years later

now sard himself was horrified he spent

the rest of his life campaigning against

nuclear weapons and he switched fields

from physics to biology and the atomic

bomb is a terrible thing it shows that

there is a dark side to our

understanding of the big in the small

but actually that same understanding

triggered an even bigger explosion

that's still going on

today and the trigger for that explosion

was this this is the first transistor

it's a device about this big it was

built by a team led by William shley in

Bell labs in 1947 and what it is is the

simplest building block of a digital

computer it can store a zero or a one

and like the atomic bomb it's based on

quantum mechanics in fact on equations

worked out by another Hungarian uh

called Eugene wigner who was one of zil

Art's friends as well and wigner showed

that there are some materials that can

be made to sometimes conduct electricity

and sometimes not so that gives you the

one and zero and one of those materials

is silicon and silicon is basically sand

so we make transistors out of sand and

we are now very very very very very good

at it here's a modern transistor it's

about 20 nanometers in size and to give

you an idea of how small that is all the

two billion transistors in an iPhone 6

can be made from just two grains of sand

so in 1947 there was just one trans

transistor today there are 3 * 10 to the

power of 21 transistors that's thousand

times all the sand grains in the world

and in just in 10 years there will be

more transistors than there are stars in

the known universe so we really have

started another big bang now think about

that for a minute that's a number that

applies not to atoms but machines that

we have made what does it mean it means

we can see things that we could never

see before the Henry at the lits of

today don't have to do it all by hand

computers are storing data and analyzing

it for us and just like telescopes

revealed a much much much bigger

Universe computers are revealing a world

that is much more complex than we

thought and that world is around us and

inside us let me give you an example

this is a human skin cell so it looks

pretty complicated but thanks to

computers we can now read the code that

runs it we can read its DNA and for a

long time scientists thought that only

about 2% of that DNA did anything useful

and the rest was junk but recently we

got much better at reading DNA and now

we know that that 98% is actually the

control system for the cell so in just a

few years we found out that the cell is

actually at least 50 times more complex

than we thought now to give you an idea

of what how big a leap that is let's

think about it in terms of computer

programs a small iPhone app like like

Candy Crush is about 50,000 lines of

code so what 50 times more code give you

it would give you the control system for

cern's large hadrin collider the most

complicated science instrument in the

world so basically we thought a cell was

like Candy Crush but it turns out to be

more like the large hatn collider in

terms of

complexity so that means it's much

harder to fix if something goes wrong so

it's no wonder that we are really far

still from curing cancer and maybe

that's because we've been looking at

that 2% we thought we understood and to

fix that we really need to tackle the

cell's full complexity it's not just

that we're just using transistors to

discover complexity we're using them to

build complexity we're putting them in

every single device we build and connect

them all together now look at the

internet in 1977 and then look at it in

2007 it's like a chain reaction the more

complex things we built the more complex

things they allow us to build and now

our transport networks our financial

systems our energy systems are much much

more complex than ever before and

there's a problem with that because very

complex systems can become fragile

adding a single grain of sand to a sand

pile can trigger an avalanche and those

Avalanches are happening faster and

faster we're all familiar with 2008

financial crisis but in 2010 competing

trading algorithms got locked into a

feedback loop that created a trillion

dollar stock market crash in 45 seconds

was called the flash crash of 2:45

p.m. connections also mean that problems

spread very very quickly three billion

people fly every year and that means

that the next pandemic we're going to

have is going to be truly Global in a

very complex system you can also get

cascading failures one thing failing

after another this is the electricity

grid of India and in 2012 just one power

line being overloaded crashed the entire

grid and left 600 million people without

power for 3 days and sometimes

connections can be very very hard to see

imagine a forest fire in Russia what

does it have to do with the Arab Spring

well forest fires in Russia led to the a

grain export ban which caused massive

Financial speculation on food prices

which caused food riots in North Africa

and ultimately to people deciding theyd

finally had

enough our most difficult problem s like

climate change involve both the

complexity of Nature and the complexity

we're creating to fix CL climate change

we need to understand Finance we need to

understand energy we need need to

understand soil and biology and the

atmosphere and and the oceans and

Quantum Mechanics for carbon and light

all of those things at the same time so

we live in a world where most of what we

think we know is wrong small things

breaking means that big things break and

when things break they break very

quickly everything is connected and we

can't see those connections and to

understand anything you have to

understand

everything so that's a little bit

scary but there's no reason to Panic

it's actually also quite exciting for

for me looking at all these complexity

is like looking at those Stars again and

that's why I did what Zar did and

switched from physics to biology there

are amazing New Opportunities if we can

learn to live with complexity and I

think we can and actually we now have

the means to make a lot of things much

simpler a lot of our systems like

finance and energy are fragile because

they have Central nodes like Banks and

power plants that are connected to

everything else so what if we took those

away think about Technologies like solar

power or Tesla's power wall again both

powered by transistors maybe we can have

power systems that are much less

centralized and much more resilient we

might be able to do the same thing for

finance Bitcoin is an example of a

platform that allows to have trusted

transactions without a central Authority

like a bank that verifies them but what

about the complexity of nature now

cancer and climate change are so

difficult problem that they might be too

much even for an Einstein but what about

a million Einstein all working together

where could we find those Einstein well

the chances are that a lot of those

Einstein are now playing computer games

and just all the hours spent on playing

Angry Birds actually would translate

into 12 wikipedias every year and

actually the best way to find the shape

of a biological molecule is already a

computer game called folded with 15

million players there are other

platforms like that like Z universe that

mean that anyone can now try to find

cancer mutations or new kinds of

galaxies in huge sets of data and we

might even be able to apply that

approach to politics Iceland recently

tried to crowdsource the drafting of the

Constitution via social media now you

might think that was a terrible idea but

actually worked out quite well uh so

there there are ways to make democracy

more transparent and have more brains

working on problems that no single

politician could ever understand it may

be that we have to give up some ideas

about systems that we have like the fact

that we we may not need to be able to

understand them nature evolves systems

without understanding them that might my

company Helix Nano we're trying to build

molecular machines that make writing

genetic code easier using machines that

we've evolved in a test tube and not

designed so in a way we can tackle

complexity by accepting it and embracing

it and maybe ultimately the systems we

build will merge with the systems of

nature until we can no longer tell where

one ends and one

begins Einstein said that things should

be as simple as possible but no simpler

and that's a good rule for us to follow

both as a species

and in our lives so let's Embrace

complexity where we must but find

Simplicity where we can and this is a

thought I'd like to leave you with

there's a name for the time in our lives

where everything we think we know turns

out to be wrong where everything is too

complex everything is too overwhelming

and we don't know what to do and it's

called growing up and that's when our

adventures really begin thank you very

much