Modern physics tells us that everything happening in the universe can be explained by four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. For a long time, scientists have been trying to reconcile gravity with the other three—a challenge that becomes especially important when we explore the universe at extremely high energies, like those just after the Big Bang. In this talk, we’ll take a look at this ongoing puzzle and explore how thinking of the universe as a “hologram” might offer a surprising way forward.