The Last Theory

Is everything that’s ever going to happen in the universe already determined?

Or does something else – maybe randomness, maybe free will – play a role?

Stephen Wolfram’s answer to this question is straightforward: the ruliad is fully determined.

But there’s a twist. The ruliad is determined, but how we observe the evolution of the universe depends on where we are in the ruliad.

In a fascinating introduction to the role of the observer in the Wolfram model, Stephen touches on some of the deepest philosophical questions in physics, finishing on one of the deepest: is there an objective reality?

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Stephen Wolfram

• Stephen Wolfram
• The Wolfram Physics Project
• Wolfram Institute
• Wolfram Institute Community Discord

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Hypergraphs can have any number of dimensions. They can be 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional, 4.81-dimensional or, in the limit, ∞-dimensional.

So how does the three-dimensional space we observe emerge from the hypergraph-based Wolfram model?

Why is space three-dimensional?

Stephen Wolfram’s surprising answer to this questions goes deep into space, time, computation and, crucially, our nature as observers.

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Stephen Wolfram

• Stephen Wolfram
• The Wolfram Physics Project
• Wolfram Institute
• Wolfram Institute Community Discord

People mentioned by Stephen

• Euclid
• Hermann Minkowski

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Stephen Wolfram reveals that his first major wow along the path towards a fundamental theory of physics was his realization that General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics are the same theory, played out in different kinds of space.

Many other dominos have fallen along the way, from the derivation of Einstein’s equations to applications of the ruliad beyond physics.

But the aspect of Wolfram Physics that Stephen Wolfram himself finds maybe the most compelling is this mirroring of the two pillars of twentieth century physics.

Perhaps General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics aren’t as incompatible as they’ve so long seemed.

In this first excerpt from my conversation with Stephen Wolfram, he tells the story of how he came to apply hypergraphs and hypergraph rewriting rules to the universe itself, and arrived at the first traces of a path towards what might be the last theory of physics.

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Stephen Wolfram

• Stephen Wolfram
• The Wolfram Physics Project
• Wolfram Institute
• Wolfram Institute Community Discord

People mentioned by Stephen

• Max Piskunov
• Jonathan Gorard

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

It feels like everyone has their pet Theory of Everything these days.

So why should you take my preferred Theory of Everything seriously?

Well, give me 5 minutes, and I’ll give you 5 reasons why I find Wolfram Physics more compelling than anything else that’s happened in physics in my lifetime...

...and maybe you’ll want to take it seriously too.

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

The full article is here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Here’s a question.

Why does the universe exist?

Why is there something rather than nothing?

One of Stephen Wolfram’s boldest claims is that he has the answer.

Let me know whether you’re convinced by his argument!

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Ideas:

• Wolfram Physics
• Mathematical Platonism
• Occam’s Razor
• The Last Theory

People:

• Stephen Wolfram
• Jonathan Gorard

—

The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

The full article is here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Do you know what causality is?

If you do, let me know, because I’m not sure.

I’ve never come across a conception of causality that makes sense to me.

After all, our universe seems to follow simple equations like Einstein’s equations, and there’s no mention of causality in these equations.

It makes me think that there’s no such thing as causality.

Unless...

Well, here’s the thing.

I’m no longer sure that our universe does follow these continuous equations.

I’m beginning to think that at the smallest scale, our universe might evolve through discrete computations.

If that turns out to be true, it allows for a limited conception of causalityafter all.

It’s causality, Jim, but not as we know it.

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References:

• Even the Catholic Church now concedes that the Earth orbits the Sun.
• Einstein’s equations tell you everything you need to know about how the Sun, the Earth and the various other conglomerations of matter in the vicinity warp space and time in such a way that the Earth follows its slightly wobbly elliptical orbit around the Sun.
• I tend to think that history is just one thing after another.

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

The full article is here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Causal invariance is a crucial concept in Wolfram Physics.

It’s how we get special relativity from the Wolfram model.

It’s how we get quantum mechanics from the Wolfram model.

So what precisely is causal invariance?

This question will take us deep into the multiway graph, to an even deeper question: what is causality?

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What is the multiway graph? video ⋅ podcast ⋅ article

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

The full article is here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

I’ve heard from many of you that you’d like the whole of my conversation with Jonathan Gorard in a single podcast.

So here it is, the complete first interview.

These three hours are a brilliant exposition of Wolfram Physics from a figure whose contributions to the project are second to none.

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Jonathan Gorard

• Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project
• Jonathan Gorard on Twitter
• The Centre for Applied Compositionality
• The Wolfram Physics Project

Jonathan’s seminal papers

• Some Relativistic and Gravitational Properties of the Wolfram Model; also published in Complex Systems
• Some Quantum Mechanical Properties of the Wolfram Model

Stephen Wolfram’s writings

• Announcement of the Wolfram Physics Project
• A New Kind of Science
• A project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics

A complete list of links to the research, concepts and people mentioned by Jonathan is here

Images

• Calabi–Yau manifold by Andrew J. Hanson, Indiana University, who allows use with attribution
• Feynman diagram by Joel Holdsworth, public domain
• John von Neumann – Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Stanisław Ulam – Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Wolf-Rayet nebula – Nebula surrounding the Wolf-Rayet star WR124 in the constellation Sagittarius. (Produced with the Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2, Hubble Space Telescope.) – NASA – NSSDCA Photo Gallery – Yves Grosdidier (University of Montreal and Observatoire de Strasbourg), Anthony Moffat (Universitie de Montreal), Gilles Joncas (Universite Laval), Agnes Acker (Observatoire de Strasbourg) – Public domain
• Stele from Retortillo by Emilio Gómez Fernández licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
• Spinning and chargend black hole with accretion disk by Simon Tyran, Vienna (Симон Тыран) licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
• Альфред Грэй в Греции by AlionaKo licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
• Crab Nebula, as seen by Herschel and Hubble – courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech – credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/MESS Key Programme Supernova Remnant Team; NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University) – reproduced under JPL Image Use Policy

For images from the Los Alamos National Laboratory: Unless otherwise indicated, this information has been authored by an employee or employees of the Triad National Security, LLC, operator of the Los Alamos National Laboratory with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government has rights to use, reproduce, and distribute this information. The public may copy and use this information without charge, provided that this Notice and any statement of authorship are reproduced on all copies. Neither the Government nor Triad makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any liability or responsibility for the use of this information.

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

You like Stephen Wolfram, right?

I mean, if he’s to be believed, he has reinvented physics, not to mention philosophy.

How could you not like such a thinker?

Well... it turns out that there are plenty of people who don’t like Stephen Wolfram... or his physics... or his philosophy.

Here are four criticisms of Stephen Wolfram I regularly hear...

...and here’s why these criticisms, though they hint at uncomfortable truths, nonetheless miss the mark.

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Stephen Wolfram:

• Stephen Wolfram
• Stephen Wolfram’s web site
• Timeline
• TED talks
• List of podcast appearances
• List of video appearances

Stephen Wolfram’s claims:

• He has a path to the fundamental theory of physics
• He has an answer to the question: what is an observer?
• He has an answer to the question: what is consciousness?
• He has an answer to the question: why does the universe exist?
• He seems surprised at how little discussion there has been of his answer to the question: why does the universe exist?

Some of the things Stephen Wolfram created:

• 1987 Wolfram Research
• 1988 Mathematica
• 2009 Wolfram Alpha
• 2014 Wolfram Language
• 2020 Wolfram Physics

Other people involved in the Wolfram Physics Project:

• Jonathan Gorard
• Max Piskunov

Other people mentioned in this episode:

• Freeman Dyson – quote
• Sean Carroll – quote – Mindscape podcast – episode #155 with Stephen Wolfram
• Katie Mack – quote
• Adam Mastroianni – The rise and fall of peer review
• Father Strickland – quote

Brilliant people of the past:

• Leonardo da Vinci
• Gregor Mendel
• Nikola Tesla
• Aristotle
• Galileo Galilei
• Isaac Newton
• Albert Einstein
• Max Born
• Paul Dirac
• Werner Heisenberg
• Erwin Schrödinger
• Wolfgang Pauli

Other episodes of The Last Theory mentioned:

• Why has there been no progress in physics since 1973? – article ⋅ podcast ⋅ video
• Peer review is suffocating science – article ⋅ podcast ⋅ video

Reference:

• Wolfram Research now has over 800 employees

Images:

• Freeman Dyson 2005 by ioerror licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

The full article is here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

In this final excerpt from our conversation in October 2022, Jonathan Gorard explains how ideas from Wolfram Physics can be applied in fields beyond physics, including biology, chemistry and mathematics.

He describes the concept of compositionality, and digs deeper into why the hypergraph is able to model so much of our universe.

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Jonathan Gorard

• Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project
• Jonathan Gorard on Twitter
• The Centre for Applied Compositionality
• The Wolfram Physics Project

Concepts mentioned by Jonathan:

• General Relativity
• Quantum Mechanics
• Causal graphs
• Space-like separation
• Multiway system
• Phase space
• Schrödinger equation
• Hilbert space
• Kronecker product
• Multicomputation
• Compositionality
• Applied category theory
• Symmetric monoidal category
• Partial differential equations
• Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory
• Universal Turing machine
• Computational universality
• Cellular automaton
• Ontology

People mentioned by Jonathan:

• Rudolph Carnap
• Vienna Circle

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.