Tom Campbell

Partner & Head of the EMEA Restructuring and Special Situations Group, Pjt Partners

Search every verified Tom Campbell interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Tom Campbell, a physicist and author of the "My Big Toe" theory, has continued to discuss his model of reality, which posits that consciousness creates a virtual physical universe. In recent appearances, he has argued that free will is not an illusion, stating that materialists and determinists struggle with the concept because they believe nothing can change. He has described consciousness as evolving by lowering its entropy through creating useful information, and has said that fear is a primary obstacle to personal growth, asserting that "most of the negative stuff in our life is stuff that we create because of our own fears." Campbell has also discussed the nature of faith, calling it "another word for belief" and stating that "belief is mostly a part of the problem" because it closes one off to new learning. He has promoted the idea that individuals can modify future probabilities through intent, and that the most significant contribution one can make is to change oneself by getting rid of fear, ego, and belief. In early 2025, he recorded an interview with Joe Rogan, which he said lasted about three hours and resulted in an invitation to return. He also mentioned initiatives including an essay contest for physicists to propose experiments on consciousness, and a plan to work with video game makers to test whether player intention correlates with outcomes.