The Middle of Everything Ever | Radiolab Podcast

From the Radiolab podcast: We all have moments when, facing the future or staring into the vastness of space, we feel small. But are we small? One listener asked us to find out.
After graduating from high school, without a clear plan for what to do next, Laura Andrews started asking herself a lot of questions. A spiral of big philosophical thoughts that led her to sit down and write to us with a question that was… oddly mathematical. What is the most average size thing, if you take into account everything in the universe. So, along with mathematician Steven Strogatz, Soren Wheeler and Alexandria Neason decided to see if we could sit down and, in a friendly throwdown of guesstimates and quick calculations, rough out an answer.
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Photo illustration Jared Bartman

[@georgeflitzer7160]

Thank u Lauren!!! This was a great answer loved going on this journey with everyone!

[@דודוסר]

I wouldn't call myself an avid listener or follower of the show, but I've heard my share. This is the first one I've encountered with this format - where a person submits a question that peaks their curiosity, and a panel of experts sets out to "rough out" an answer to it using readily accessible information and logical reasoning (and maybe some math!). I'm just curious if there any other episodes like this? As a teacher of middle and high school students, I see a lot of potential in using this format to teach about basic problem-solving techniques and strategies. Thanks for a great discussion!

[@fishdude666ify]

As above, so below; in between exists humanity.

[@georgeflitzer7160]

Consciousness

[@georgeflitzer7160]

Lol love this channel!

[@brittanyengels913]

At the beginning all I could think was she had too much time to think and needed a job. Push her out the nest, parents!

[@georgeflitzer7160]

Einstein said imagination is superior to logic

[@starwatcher]

This mathematician doesn't know simple math. The mean average of 10**27 and 10**-35 is not 10**-4. It's 5*10**26.

[@georgeflitzer7160]

Our bodies have more cells than stars in the universe

[@georgeflitzer7160]

Lol

[@TrevorStandley]

Sorry to say, but Radiolab has really gone downhill since Jad left. This story makes a lot out of a mathematical coincidence. But not only that, I don't think they really answered the one question the episode was about. It's also not original content. People talk about the sizes of things big and small all the time. You get basically the same content out of a 2 minute GIF. Then they act like our mind is supposed to be blown. Compare this to the Colors episodes, or the Stochasticity episode. Everything nowadays is so skin deep.

[@grantconners4228]

Don't listen then.

[@cowboyevan]

i’m pretty sure this episode is a reupload from an older one when Jad was still there

[@TrevorStandley]

@@grantconners4228 You probably think that criticism is equivalent to hate. That people who are critical of the government should leave the country. Fuck that. Criticism is the only way things get better.

[@Earthshine256]

I feel like some of the recent episodes are actually on par with older ones. As of now new team didn't produce an episode I will remember for years, but how many of those did Jad and Robert make? Like five or six in 15 years? Give the new team some time and your support, if it's possible
I have to agree however that the show would benefit from bigger and sharper topics
Edit: oh! I still remember 'The other Latif' series. Quite a strong one imo. Was it before Jad left?

[@TrevorStandley]

​@@Joe-sg9ll So which size did you think they would end up with? If man is the measure of all things, perhaps a human body size? Or how about the size of the brain? Or what about the size of the genetic molecule? Did you predict the cell? The size of the cell is shared with many non-human life forms as well, including many single celled organisms. Did you know that the size of human cells varies by more than an order of magnitude? What if the answer had been the size of the earth? Would that also have been profound? Have you not seen the dozens of gifs that illustrate the sizes of things from the very small to the very big?

[@noname-pz9kb]

This is weak sauce. You used to be amazing.