What We Know About Carlo Rovelli's Interview With The Economist

The Economist published a podcast episode on September 30, 2026, featuring an interview with physicist Carlo Rovelli, titled "Carlo Rovelli on what physicists get wrong." The episode is part of the outlet's regular program on science and technology, according to The Economist's podcast page.

What did The Economist publish?

The episode is described by The Economist as an interview with a quantum physicist on "the relative nature of reality." The publication frames the conversation around what physicists, in Rovelli's view, get wrong. The Economist's own summary of the episode is brief: it identifies the topic and the guest but does not include a transcript or extended notes in the material published alongside the audio.

The episode sits inside The Economist's standing science and technology podcast slot, a weekly segment the publication uses to interview researchers and commentators on current developments in those fields.

What is the episode's central question?

Based on the title and description published by The Economist, the interview centers on two linked ideas: first, what Rovelli argues physicists misunderstand or overstate in how they talk about reality; second, an account of reality as "relative" rather than fixed. The published summary does not specify which particular claims, theories, or historical errors in physics the interview addresses, and no excerpt of the conversation was included in the material reviewed.

What does "the relative nature of reality" mean in physics?

The phrase points to a broader debate inside physics over how to interpret quantum mechanics. Some interpretations hold that properties such as a particle's position or spin are not fixed in an absolute sense but depend on the system or observer doing the measuring — a framework often described as relational. That debate has run for decades among physicists working on the foundations of quantum theory, and it remains unsettled. The Economist's episode description does not detail which specific arguments or examples Rovelli raises to support this framing, so readers should treat the phrase as the publication's own shorthand for the episode's theme rather than a settled scientific conclusion.

What details are not included in the published summary?

The material available from The Economist is limited to a short description identifying the guest, the general subject, and the podcast series. It does not include:

• A transcript or direct quotations from the interview
• The episode's runtime or release format (audio-only versus video)
• Specific claims, papers, or historical episodes in physics that Rovelli is said to discuss
• Names of other guests or hosts who may appear alongside him

Because none of that detail was published in the source material reviewed for this article, it is not included here. Readers seeking the substance of the conversation will need to listen to the full episode.

How can listeners access the interview?

The episode is available directly through The Economist's podcast page, dated September 30, 2026. The Economist typically distributes its podcast episodes through its own site as well as standard podcast platforms, though the page reviewed for this article did not list alternate platform links.

What to watch

• Whether The Economist releases a transcript or written companion piece alongside the audio interview
• Whether Rovelli or The Economist publishes follow-up commentary clarifying which specific claims in physics the episode addresses
• Reaction from physicists working on quantum foundations, given the ongoing and unsettled debate over relational interpretations of quantum mechanics
• Whether the episode draws attention to Rovelli's broader public writing on physics, which has previously reached general audiences beyond academic circles

This article will be updated if The Economist publishes additional material, including a transcript or extended remarks from the interview.

Who is Carlo Rovelli?

The Economist identifies its guest only as "the quantum physicist" in the podcast description published alongside the episode. Rovelli has published work on loop quantum gravity and on relational interpretations of quantum mechanics, and his writing has previously reached audiences outside physics departments through general-interest books. The source material reviewed for this article does not include a biographical note from The Economist itself, so the description above reflects the framing in the episode title and summary rather than additional detail supplied by the publication.

Why does this interview matter to non-physicists?

The Economist's science and technology podcast regularly translates research-level debates into conversations aimed at a general audience, and this episode follows that pattern by pairing a specific researcher with a broad claim about what his field gets wrong. For readers without a physics background, the interest lies less in technical detail — which the published summary omits — and more in the fact that a long-running foundational dispute in quantum mechanics is being presented as unresolved, even among specialists, decades after the debate began.