# What If The Universe Is Arithmetic?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/pbs-space-time-7778773/what-if-the-universe-is-math
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/pbs-space-time-7778773/what-if-the-universe-is-math.md
Podcast: [PBS Space Time](https://stenobird.com/podcast/pbs-space-time-7778773)
Published: 2026-07-20T02:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG4597051481.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG4597051481.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/pbs-space-time-7778773/episodes/what-if-the-universe-is-math
Duration seconds: 1471

## Resource

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to:http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime In his essay “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics”, the physicist Eugine Wigner said that “the enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something bordering on the mysterious”. This statement was inspired by the observation that so many aspects of the physical world seem to be describable and predictable by mathematical equations to incredible precision especially as quantum phenomena. But quantum phenomena have no subjective qualities and have questionable physicality. They seem to be completely describable by only numbers, and their behavior precisely defined by equations. In a sense, the quantum world is made of math. So does that mean the universe is made of math too? If you believe the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis then yes. And so are you. #space #universe #maths Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: https://search.pbsspacetime.com/ Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Euan McLean & Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell Spacetime is produced by Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhabe…

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