Podcasts about fundamental theory

In the previous excerpt from my conversation with Stephen Wolfram, I asked him how I can remain a single, coherent, persistent consciousness in a branching universe.In this excerpt, we went deeper into this question. As a conscious observer, I have a single thread of experience. So if the universe branches into many timelines, why don't I branch into many versions of me?Stephen's answer touched on many profound aspects of the Wolfram model.He started with the failure of the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics to consider the possibility that different branches of history can merge, in other words, come back together again. This failure is rooted in assumption that the universe is continuous; as soon as we start thinking of the universe as discrete, such merging seems not only possible, but inevitable.He went on to consider the concept of causal invariance, the idea that it doesn't matter which of countless similar paths you take through the multiway graph, you end up in the same place. In the Ruliad, he said, causal invariance is inevitable.Then we got to the core of the concept of the observer. According to Stephen Wolfram, an observer equivalences many different states and experiences the aggregate of these states.I did not expect Stephen's next move, to apply the concept of aggregation not just to observers, but to the universe itself.He made the profound proposal that in the Wolfram model of physics, in addition to the computation of the hypergraph through the application of rules, there's a process of aggregation of possible paths through the multiway graph to weave the future.—Stephen WolframStephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordConcepts mentioned by StephenMany Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanicsComputational irreducibilityCausal invarianceThe RuliadSequentializationEquivalencing—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery founder of Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

When the universe branches, we branch with it.Those branches don't remain forever apart. They come back together.So we, as conscious observers, are rescued from splitting into an immense number ever-so-slightly different versions of ourselves.When the branches of the universe – and the versions of ourselves – come back together, we don't worry that the many paths we took to get there are ever-so-slightly different.We equivalence all those different paths. We treat all those ever-so-slightly different branches of history as if they were more-or-less the same.I asked Stephen Wolfram about this strangest of consequences of a branching universe.Through all this splitting and coming-back-together, how can I remain a single, coherent, persistent consciousness?Stephen's answer takes us through branchial space to quantum computing, the maximum entanglement speed and the elementary length.—Stephen WolframStephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordConcepts mentioned by StephenEquivalencing or coarse-grainingBranchial spaceCoherence timeInfrageometryGeneral relativityQuantum mechanicsStatistical mechanicsQuantum computingDecoherence timeEuclidean geometryRiemannian geometryCategory theoryMaximum entanglement speedElementary time and lengthPeople mentioned by StephenEuclidAlbert Einstein—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery founder of Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

The causal graph is at the core of Wolfram Physics.It's crucial to the derivations of Special Relativity, General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.And if that's not enough to convince you that you need to know about the causal graph, how about this:The causal graph is a reflection of the nature of causality, the nature of objectivity, the nature of reality itself.—Einstein's train thought experimentWhat is the multiway graph? video ⋅ podcast ⋅ articleWhat precisely is causal invariance? video ⋅ podcast ⋅ articleCausality ain't what you think it is video ⋅ podcast ⋅ article—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

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?—Stephen WolframStephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community Discord—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery founder of Open Web MindI 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.—Stephen WolframStephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordPeople mentioned by StephenEuclidHermann Minkowski—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI 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.—Stephen WolframStephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordPeople mentioned by StephenMax PiskunovJonathan Gorard—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI 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.—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI 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!—Ideas:Wolfram PhysicsMathematical PlatonismOccam's RazorThe Last TheoryPeople:Stephen WolframJonathan Gorard—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI 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.—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.—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI 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?—What is the multiway graph? video ⋅ podcast ⋅ article—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI 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.—Jonathan GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan's seminal papersSome Relativistic and Gravitational Properties of the Wolfram Model; also published in Complex SystemsSome Quantum Mechanical Properties of the Wolfram ModelStephen Wolfram's writingsAnnouncement of the Wolfram Physics ProjectA New Kind of ScienceA project to find the Fundamental Theory of PhysicsA complete list of links to the research, concepts and people mentioned by Jonathan is hereImagesCalabi–Yau manifold by Andrew J. Hanson, Indiana University, who allows use with attributionFeynman diagram by Joel Holdsworth, public domainJohn von Neumann – Los Alamos National LaboratoryStanisław Ulam – Los Alamos National LaboratoryWolf-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 domainStele from Retortillo by Emilio Gómez Fernández licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0Spinning and chargend black hole with accretion disk by Simon Tyran, Vienna (Симон Тыран) licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0Альфред Грэй в Греции by AlionaKo licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0Crab 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 PolicyFor 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.—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI 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.—Stephen Wolfram:Stephen WolframStephen Wolfram's web siteTimelineTED talksList of podcast appearancesList of video appearancesStephen Wolfram's claims:He has a path to the fundamental theory of physicsHe 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 Research1988 Mathematica2009 Wolfram Alpha2014 Wolfram Language2020 Wolfram PhysicsOther people involved in the Wolfram Physics Project:Jonathan GorardMax PiskunovOther people mentioned in this episode:Freeman Dyson – quoteSean Carroll – quote – Mindscape podcast – episode #155 with Stephen WolframKatie Mack – quoteAdam Mastroianni – The rise and fall of peer reviewFather Strickland – quoteBrilliant people of the past:Leonardo da VinciGregor MendelNikola TeslaAristotleGalileo GalileiIsaac NewtonAlbert EinsteinMax BornPaul DiracWerner HeisenbergErwin SchrödingerWolfgang PauliOther episodes of The Last Theory mentioned:Why has there been no progress in physics since 1973? – article ⋅ podcast ⋅ videoPeer review is suffocating science – article ⋅ podcast ⋅ videoReference:Wolfram Research now has over 800 employeesImages:Freeman Dyson 2005 by ioerror licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Does the use of computer models in physics change the way we see the universe? How far reaching are the implications of computation irreducibility? Are observer limitations key to the way we conceive the laws of physics? In this episode we have the difficult yet beautiful topic of trying to model complex systems like nature and the universe computationally to get into; and how beyond a low level of complexity all systems, seem to become equally unpredictable. We have a whole episode in this series on Complexity Theory in biology and nature, but today we're going to be taking a more physics and computational slant. Another key element to this episode is Observer Theory, because we have to take into account the perceptual limitations of our species' context and perspective, if we want to understand how the laws of physics that we've worked out from our environment, are not and cannot be fixed and universal but rather will always be perspective bound, within a multitude of alternative branches of possible reality with alternative possible computational rules. We'll then connect this multi-computational approach to a reinterpretation of Entropy and the 2nd law of thermodynamics. The fact that my guest has been building on these ideas for over 40 years, creating computer language and Ai solutions, to map his deep theories of computational physics, makes him the ideal guest to help us unpack this topic. He is physicist, computer scientist and tech entrepreneur Stephen Wolfram. In 1987 he left academia at Caltech and Princeton behind and devoted himself to his computer science intuitions at his company Wolfram Research. He's published many blog articles about his ideas, and written many influential books including “A New kind of Science”, and more recently “A Project to Find the Fundamental Theory of Physics”, and “Computer Modelling and Simulation of Dynamic Systems”, and just out in 2023 “The Second Law” about the mystery of Entropy. One of the most wonderful things about Stephen Wolfram is that, despite his visionary insight into reality, he really loves to be ‘in the moment' with his thinking, engaging in socratic dialogue, staying open to perspectives other than his own and allowing his old ideas to be updated if something comes up that contradicts them; and given how quickly the fields of physics and computer science are evolving I think his humility and conceptual flexibility gives us a fine example of how we should update how we do science as we go. What we discuss:  00:00 Intro 07:45 The history of scientific models of reality: structural, mathematical and computational. 20:20 The Principle of Computational Equivalence (PCE) 24:45 Computational Irreducibility - the process that means you can't predict the outcome in advance. 27:50 The importance of the passage of time to Consciousness. 28:45 Irreducibility and the limits of science. 33:30 Godel's Incompleteness Theorem 42:20 Observer Theory and the Wolfram Physics Project. 50:30 We 'make' space. 51:30 Branchial Space - different quantum histories of the world, branching and merging 58:50 Rulial Space: All possible rules of all possible interconnected branches. 01:19:30 The Measurement problem of QM and Entanglement meets computational irreducibility and observer theory.  01:32:40 Inviting Stephen back for a separate episode on AI safety, safety solutions and applications for science, as we did't have time. 01:37:30 At the molecular level the laws of physics are reversible. 01:45:30 Entropy defined in computational terms. 01:50:30 If we ever overcame our finite minds, there would be no coherent concept of existence. 01:51:30 Parallels between modern physics and ancient eastern mysticism and cosmology. 01:55:30 Reductionism in an irreducible world: saying a lot from very little input. References: “The Second Law: Resolving the Mystery of the Second Law of Thermodynamics”, Stephen Wolfram “A New Kind of Science”, Stephen Wolfram Observer Theory Article, Stephen Wolfram

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.—Jonathan GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by Jonathan:General RelativityQuantum MechanicsCausal graphsSpace-like separationMultiway systemPhase spaceSchrödinger equationHilbert spaceKronecker productMulticomputationCompositionalityApplied category theorySymmetric monoidal categoryPartial differential equationsZermelo–Fraenkel set theoryUniversal Turing machineComputational universalityCellular automatonOntologyPeople mentioned by Jonathan:Rudolph CarnapVienna Circle—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7 Stephen Wolfram is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, and the creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language. He received his PhD in theoretical physics from Caltech when he was twenty years old. In addition to his work at the helm of Wolfram Research, he writes and researches widely across computer science, physics, mathematics, and more. This is Stephen's second appearance on the show. In episode 102, he and Robinson discussed artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, and the philosophy of math. In this episode, however, they turn to the Ruliad—the entangled limited of computability—and Stephen's search for the fundamental theory of physics. Along the way, they talk about the philosophy of science, abstract and concrete objects, and quantum mechanics. A Project to Find the Fundamental Theory of Physics: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0917YZDNF?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_Z7EPANZC9JVQR0HP2E1D The Concept of the Ruliad: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/11/the-concept-of-the-ruliad/#:~:text=November%2010%2C%202021-,The%20Entangled%20Limit%20of%20Everything,arisen%20from%20our%20Physics%20Project. Stephen's Website: https://www.stephenwolfram.com Stephen's Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram Wolfram Research on YouTube: https://a.co/d/aADrGGh OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 03:44 How Did Stephen Wolfram Discover the Ruliad?  34:22 The Axiomatic Revolution in Physics  46:37 Is the Ruliad a Theory or an Object?  1:10:01 How Big is the Space of Alien Minds?  1:18:25 Is the Universe an Abstract Object?  1:31:43 What Is Quantum Mechanics?  Robinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robinson-erhardt/support

Stephen Wolfram unveils his new Observer Theory and explains the origins of the Second Law (Entropy) with Curt Jaimungal. This is Wolfram's first podcast on his new views on consciousness, and the deepest dive into Wolfram's mind.TIMESTAMPS:- 00:00:00 What is Observer Theory?- 00:12:42 Different Observers (Who are "YOU"?)- 00:19:32 The Universe Talking to Itself (Particles are "Concepts")- 00:20:10 Alien Minds and Communicating with ET- 00:34:32 Consciousness vs. Observation- 00:48:48 "Beliefs" Dictate the Laws of Physics- 01:05:49 The Most Insightful Breakthrough of Our Time- 01:22:50 Wolfram Teaches How to Research (Advice)- 01:33:08 Where is the Evidence for Wolfram's Physics?- 01:44:42 The "Ruliad" as an Observer- 01:51:36 The Largest "Myth" of Modern Science- 02:05:09 Non-Local Collections of Observers (is "society" an observer?)- 02:13:54 Wolfram's Model Changes How You Act- 02:20:16 Biological Theory of Everything- 02:27:38 Wolfram's Writing Process- 02:40:49 Curt's Next Project, Category Theory, & the Infinite Groupoid HUGE THANK YOU TO MARK FROM "LAST THEORY" and JONATHAN GORARD: https://www.youtube.com/@lasttheory NOTE: The perspectives expressed by guests don't necessarily mirror my own. There's a versicolored arrangement of people on TOE, each harboring distinct viewpoints, as part of my endeavor to understand the perspectives that exist.THANK YOU: To Mike Duffey for your insight, help, and recommendations on this channel. Support TOE: - Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes!) - Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE- PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE- TOE Merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerchFollow TOE: - *NEW* Get my 'Top 10 TOEs' PDF + Weekly Personal Updates: https://www.curtjaimungal.org- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theoriesofe...- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theoriesofeve...- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs- iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast...- Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b9...- Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeveryt... Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWI...LINKS MENTIONED: - Stephen Wolfram's 1st TOE Podcast: https://youtu.be/1sXrRc3Bhrs- Stephen Wolfram's 2nd TOE Podcast: https://youtu.be/xHPQ_oSsJgg- Wolfram's "Alien Mind" Article: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2...- A New Kind of Science (Stephen Wolfram): https://amzn.to/49EBprD- Adventures of a Computational Explorer (Stephen Wolfram): https://amzn.to/3uFM7PQ- A Project to Find the Fundamental Theory of Physics (Stephen Wolfram): https://amzn.to/49K1S7t- Combinators: A Centennial View (Stephen Wolfram): https://amzn.to/3I2FTNf- Metamathematics and the Foundations of Mathematics (Stephen Wolfram): https://amzn.to/3uHwU0O- The Second Law (Stephen Wolfram): https://amzn.to/42IioCF- Introduction to Computational Thinking (Stephen Wolfram): https://amzn.to/3uCoszZ- Book on Predicting Eclipses (Stephen Wolfram): https://amzn.to/42IiiuN- Book about ChatGPT (Stephen Wolfram): https://amzn.to/42PGGuy

You know who Stephen Wolfram is, right?Whether you love him or, you know, don't love him, there's no denying that Stephen Wolfram has founded a host of fascinating projects... most of them named Wolfram-something-or-other.What are all these Wolfram-branded projects?Who is Stephen Wolfram?—Some of the things Stephen Wolfram created:1987 Wolfram Research1988 Mathematica2009 Wolfram Alpha2014 Wolfram Language2020 Wolfram Physicsnot to mention:Wolfram CloudWolfram OneWolfram NotebooksWolfram PlayerWolfram ScriptWolfram EngineWolfram FoundationMore about Stephen Wolfram:Stephen Wolfram's web siteTimelineStephen Wolfram's education:University of OxfordCalifornia Institute of TechnologySome of Stephen Wolfram's special subjects:particle physicscellular automataSome of Stephen Wolfram's books:A New Kind Of ScienceA project to find the Fundamental Theory of PhysicsOther people involved in the Wolfram Physics Project:Jonathan GorardMax PiskunovReference:Wolfram Research now has over 800 employeesImage:Animation. 1200 iterations of the ‘Rule 110' Automata by Mr. Heretic licenced under CC BY-SA 3.0Some of my own projects:things made thinkable – visualization of nuclides – tap the binding energy button bottom right to show the binding energy per nucleonOpen Web Mind – subscribe to the newsletter or YouTube channel for more on shared human intelligence—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

I asked Jonathan Gorard the question I'm asked the most: can the Wolfram model make testable predictions about reality, predictions that differ from those of general relativity and quantum mechanics, predictions that might prove that Wolfram Physics is right?Jonathan showed how the Wolfram model might shed light on some of the most mysterious phenomena of our universe, from black hole inspirals to quantum entanglement.He focused on four areas where the class of theories encompassed by the Wolfram model might predict observable phenomena:1. Cosmological consequences of global dimension change2. Astrophysical consequences of local dimension change3. Discretization effects during extreme astrophysical events4. Quantum mechanical effects such as maximum entanglement speedThese dozen minutes of my conversation with Jonathan were dense with insights into Wolfram Physics, a true pleasure to revisit!—Jonathan GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by JonathanCategory errorCausally connectedCosmological inflationLambda-CDM cosmologyHorizon problemFlatness problemMagnetic monopole problemCosmic microwave backgroundCosmic neutrino backgroundInflaton scalar fieldhttps://lasttheory.com/channel/055-where-is-the-evidence-for-wolfram-physicsQuintessent scalar fieldDecoupling timeRecombination timeLensing effectsLIGO – Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave ObservatoryBlack hole inspiralCausal edge densityWeyl curvatureQuadrupole momentEntanglement structureBranchial graphQuantum information theoryMargolis Leviton boundPeople mentioned by Jonathan:Alan GuthAndrei LindeStephen WolframXerxes ArsiwallaAbdus Salam—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

The Open Web Mind is a protocol for shared human intelligence, based on the knowledge hypergraph.Take a look at this quick introduction for subscribers to The Last Theory, then jump to the 2-minute trailer on the new channel.And if you haven't done so already, make sure to subscribe to the new Open Web Mind channel, podcast and newsletter.If you're interested in Wolfram Physics, I think you'll find Open Web Mind fascinating!—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery founder of Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7 Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. Sheldon Goldstein is Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Rutgers University, where he researches mathematical physics, the foundations of quantum mechanics, and Bohmian Mechanics. He is also Board Member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics, and this is his second appearance on the show. In episode 170, he and Robinson discussed Bohmian Mechanics. On the other hand, this is Tim's fifth appearance on the show. Tim was also a guest on episode 46 (laws of nature, space, and free will), episode 67 with David Albert (the foundations of quantum mechanics), episode 115 with Craig Callender (the philosophy of time), and episode 142 on Bell's inequality and the philosophy of science. In this episode, Robinson, Tim, and Shelly discuss the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, the Many-Worlds theory, spontaneous collapse theories, Bohmian mechanics, and emergent relativity. If you're interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute's life. Tim's Website: www.tim-maudlin.site Shelly's Website: https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~oldstein/ The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:22 Introduction 03:04 Is Copenhagen the Dominant Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics? 20:12 On the Most Promising Theories of Quantum Mechanics 34:46 Are There 0-Dimensional Quantum Objects? 41:03 On Spontaneous Wave Function Collapse in Quantum Mechanics 47:56 Bohmian Mechanics and Determinism 51:34 What is Bohmian Mechanics? 1:10:33 Is There a Fundamental Theory of Quantum Mechanics 1:18:45What Is Emergent Relativity? 1:31:01 What Are the Problems with Bohmian Mechanics? Robinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robinson-erhardt/support

How big are electrons compared to the hypergraph?Is one electron formed of 10 nodes, or 10100 nodes?And if it's 10100 nodes, might it prove impossible to simulate an electron on any computer we can possibly imagine?When I asked Jonathan Gorard this question, he took us on a tour of the scales of the universe, from the Planck scale to the Hubble scale.He revealed how the Wolfram Physics Project's early estimate of the scale of the hypergraph was based on a tower of rickety assumptions.And he explained how the Wolfram model might connect with particle physics regardless of the disparities of scale.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Planck scale Hubble scale General relativity Fluid mechanics Quantum mechanics Quantum Field Theory Scattering amplitudes —The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

What if you're inside a universe, and you want to measure the curvature of space?It's important because getting a measure of the curvature of the hypergraph takes us one step further in Jonathan Gorard's derivation of General Relativity from Wolfram Physics.Einstein's equations relate the curvature of space to the presence of matter. So if we're going to prove that Einstein's equations follow from the Wolfram model, we're going to need that measure of the curvature of the hypergraph.Once again, a two-dimensional crab comes to the rescue, given us a way to measure the curvature of a universe from inside that universe.—See Stephen Wolfram's announcement, under Curvature in Space & Einstein's Equations, also included as the introduction to his book A project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics, page 20, for more on measuring the curvature of spaceConcepts: Cosine power series expansion Polynomial regression analysis Ricci scalar curvature —The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

In this excerpt from my conversation with Jonathan Gorard, he proposes that particles in Wolfram Physics might be persistent topological obstructions in the hypergraph.He starts with a toy model in which elementary particles are non-planar tangles moving and interacting in an otherwise planar hypergraph.But he doesn't stop there.He explains that there's an infinite variety of hypergraphs that give rise to such persistent topological obstructions.These localized tangles behave in ways that look a lot like particle physics.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Utility graph Kuratowski's theorem Wagner's theorem Complete graphs – including K_5 Complete bipartite graphs – including K_3,3 Robertson-Seymour Theorem Graph minor Forbidden minor characterization Image:Feynman diagram Feynmann Diagram Gluon Radiation by Joel Holdsworth, public domain—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

What if you're inside a universe, and you want to know whether space is curved?The reason I'm asking is that according to Einstein's general theory of relativity, our universe is curved, by the presence of matter.If Wolfram Physics is to be a true model of our universe, then the space represented by the hypergraph must also be curved by the presence of matter.Which means that determining whether space is curved is crucial to Jonathan Gorard's derivation of Einstein's equations from the Wolfram model.Fortunately, there's a way to find out that's so simple that even a crab or a space frog could do it.Here's how to tell if your universe curved.—Dimensionality: How to measure the dimensionality of the universe Are Wolfram's graphs three‑dimensional? What are dimensions in Wolfram's universe? Space-time:Space‑time is deadEuclidean geometry: Euclid parallel lines never meet —The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

I asked Jonathan Gorard what it felt like when he realized that general relativity can be derived from the hypergraph.His answer took us in an unexpected direction.If the Wolfram model is to be an accurate model of our universe, then it must give us the Einstein equations.But what if any old model with any old rules can give us the Einstein equations?What if general relativity isn't so special?This is one of the shorter excerpts from my conversation with Jonathan, but it's a fascinating one.It takes us to one of the most powerful aspects of the Wolfram model: its ability to answer questions about why our universe is the way it is, questions that were once in the realm of philosophy but may now be within the scope of physics.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Einstein field equations Riemannian manifold Einstein–Hilbert action Causal invariance Ergodicity —The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Welcome to the second tokyo nut per hour. In this episode the boys reveal their deepest darkest traumas, also known as kids being kids. From kindergarten nap time fiascos to Conan the Barbarian boob watching. Ben reveals his need to get back to his God level of working, using alcohol to get him there. Lastly, the two reminisce about the best food truck in Virginia, Mama Jeans BBQ. Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/therealdevilsadvocatepodcast Website:https://www.therealdevilsadvocatepodcast.com Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/therealdevilsadvocatepodcast IG:https://www.instagram.com/therealdevilsadvocatepodcast Twitter:https://twitter.com/devil_podcast Free Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/1527651661082644/ Intro Theme Music Written By Ben Altizer and Alex Ward Cover Art Designed by Justin Catron @Plagued1994 Produced, Mixed, and Mastered by ©Altizer Audio

In my exploration of Wolfram Physics, I've come across one objection more than any other.Over and over again, people have told me that the Wolfram model must be rejected because it makes no predictions.I could respond by saying that Wolfram Physics does make predictions. It predicts Einstein's equations. It predicts Schrödinger's equation.But it's true that it doesn't make any predictions that differ from those of general relativity and quantum mechanics. At least, not yet.So here's my more robust response to the objection: all scientific theories make no predictions when they're first formulated.If we dismiss any new theory solely because it doesn't make any predictions, then we'd dismiss all new theories.It's time for academics to learn the lessons of the history of science, and open their minds to bold, new ideas, like Wolfram Physics.—Ideas: Tycho Brahe The paths of the planets are elliptical according to Johannes Kepler Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton Astronomers' test of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity Against Method by Paul Feyerabend The Newtonian Casino by Thomas Bass Ancient astronomies: Egyptian astronomy Babylonian astronomy Inca astronomy Images: Paul Feyerabend Berkeley by Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend reproduced with permission—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Sam Harris speaks with philosopher David Chalmers about the nature of consciousness, the challenges of understanding it scientifically, and the prospect that we will one day build it into our machines. David Chalmers is Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness at New York University, and also holds a part-time position at the Australian National University. He is well-known for his work in the philosophy of mind, especially for his formulation of the “hard problem” of consciousness. His 1996 book The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory was successful with both popular and academic audiences. Chalmers co-founded the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness and has organized some of the most important conferences in the field. He also works on many other issues in philosophy and cognitive science, and has articles on the possibility of a “singularity” in artificial intelligence and on philosophical issues arising from the movie The Matrix.   Episodes that have been re-released as part of the Best of Making Sense series may have been edited for relevance since their original airing.  

Welcome to The Devils Advocate Podcast! This week our host Alex decides to make it his life goal to annoy Ben with his absurdly accurate and detailed knowledge of the Chucky franchise. But, Ben takes his turn annoying Alex with his new TikTok Harry (Potter) whore which brings the two to discus Ben directing Alex's future foot fetish streaming. It all comes together at the end when Alex shares his, possibly traumatic, life stories of his childhood friends. And finally the two discuss the most important type of measurement unit, Tokyo Nuts Per Hour. Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/therealdevilsadvocatepodcast Website:https://www.therealdevilsadvocatepodcast.com Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/therealdevilsadvocatepodcast IG:https://www.instagram.com/therealdevilsadvocatepodcast Twitter:https://twitter.com/devil_podcast Free Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/1527651661082644/ Intro Theme Music Written By Ben Altizer and Alex Ward Cover Art Designed by Justin Catron @Plagued1994 Produced, Mixed, and Mastered by ©Altizer Audio

Here's a masterclass from Jonathan Gorard.One of the most compelling results to come out of the Wolfram Physics is Jonathan's derivation of the Einstein equations from the hypergraph.Whenever I hear anyone criticize the Wolfram model for bearing no relation to reality, I tell them this: Jonathan Gorard has proved that general relativity can be derived from the hypergraph.In this excerpt from our conversation, Jonathan describes how making just three reasonable assumptions – causal invariance, asymptotic dimension preservation and weak ergodicity – allowed him to derive the vacuum Einstein equations from the Wolfram model.In other words, the structure of space-time in the absence of matter more or less falls out of the hypergraph.And making one further assumption – that particles can be treated as localized topological obstructions – allowed Jonathan to derive the non-vacuum Einstein equations from the Wolfram model.In other words, the structure of space-time in the presence of matter, too, falls out of the hypergraph.It's difficult to overstate the importance of this result.At the very least, we can say that the Wolfram model is consistent with general relativity.To state it more strongly: we no longer need to take general relativity as a given; instead, we can derive it from Wolfram Physics.—Jonathan's seminal paper on how to derive general relativity Some Relativistic and Gravitational Properties of the Wolfram Model; also published in Complex Systems Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project People mentioned by JonathanAlfred GrayResearch mentioned by Jonathan The volume of a small geodesic ball of a Riemannian manifold by Alfred Gray Tubes by Alfred Gray Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Hausdorff dimension Geodesic balls, tubes & cones Ricci scalar curvature Ricci curvature tensor Einstein equations Einstein–Hilbert action Relativistic Lagrangian density Causal graph Tensor rank Trace From A Project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics by Stephen Wolfram: Dimension Curvature Images 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 —The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Here's the first of two crucial excerpts from my conversation with Jonathan Gorard.The core idea of Wolfram Physics is that we can model the universe as a hypergraph. If we want this idea to be taken seriously, we're going to have to derive physics from the hypergraph.The twin pillars of physics, as we know it, are quantum mechanics and general relativity.In this episode, Jonathan explains how quantum mechanics can be derived from the Wolfram model, indeed, how quantum mechanics unexpectedly fell out of the model.It's a fascinating story.We start with the role of the observer. According to Jonathan, it turns out not to be necessary to narrow our focus to only causally invariant rules.Why not? Because macroscopic observers like ourselves impose causal invariance through our coarse-graining of the hypergraph. In other words, by squinting at the universe, seeing only its large-scale features and glossing over the finer details, we reduce multiple paths through the multiway graph to a single timeline, and, in the process, impose causal invariance.Jonathan goes on to explain that this coarse-graining can be modelled with completion rules. These are fake rules, similar to the true rules of Wolfram Physics, but posited solely to model the coarse-graining of the hypergraph by the observer.And here's the thing. According to Jonathan, these completion rules are formally equivalent to the collapse of the wavefunction in quantum mechanics. In other words, we finally have an explanation for how the observer causes the collapse of the wavefunction, reducing Schrödinger's half live, half dead cat to one that's either dead or alive.If Jonathan's right, then this is a true breakthrough, not just in quantum mechanics, but in the philosophy of physics.In the next episode, we'll move on to the other pillar of physics: Jonathan will explain how to derive general relativity from the hypergraph.There's much more to explain about each of these derivations, but we're finally getting to the crux of Wolfram Physics, the question of whether it can, after all, model our universe.—Jonathan's seminal paper on how to derive quantum mechanicsSome Quantum Mechanical Properties of the Wolfram ModelJonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Causal invariance Computational irreducibility Celestial mechanics Molecular dynamics Space-like separation Heisenberg's uncertainty principle Heisenberg's microscope experiment Quantum entanglement Bell's inequalities Multiway system Coarse-graining Schrödinger equation Unitary operator Hermitian operator Conjugate transpose operation Time reversal Wavefunction collapse Quantum interference Quantum tunnelling Stephen Wolfram's books A New Kind of Science A project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics —The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch hereKootenay Village Ventures Inc.

You know peer review, right?It's the way academics check each other's research papers.It ensures that only the good ones are published and prevents the bad ones from getting through.Right?Wrong.Peer review does precisely the opposite of what you think it does.It prevents the good papers from being published, and ensures that only the bad ones get through.Peer review is suffocating science.If we want to reverse the stagnation of science over the last 50 years, then we've got to get rid of peer review.—I highly recommend you read Adam Mastroianni's splendid article The rise and fall of peer reviewI first heard Adam's ideas about peer review in his conversation Adam Mastroianni on Peer Review and the Academic Kitchen with Russ Roberts on EconTalkWhy has there been no progress in physics since 1973? article audio video Scientific papers: The journal Nature began to require peer review in 1973 Millions of academic articles are published every year Some scientists simply make stuff up Fraudulent studies make it into respectable journals like Science, Nature and The Lancet Physicists: Isaac Newton Albert Einstein's four papers published in 1905 Max Planck's principle that science progresses one funeral at a time The Wolfram Physics Project: Stephen Wolfram Jonathan Gorard My projects: The Last Theory Open Web Mind Image of Adam Mastroianni by permission from Adam Mastroianni—The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch hereThe full article is hereKootenay Village Ventures Inc.

“Sorry, this is now getting very metaphysical,” says Jonathan Gorard part way through this excerpt from our conversation.We start by talking about applying more than one rule to the hypergraph to create rulial multiway systems.This takes us part way towards applying every possible rule, in other words, towards the ruliad.We move on to the idea of measuring the complexity of a structure in terms of the minimum amount of information needed to express it.Jonathan applies this idea to the ruliad, pointing out that it takes almost no information to express, since it encompasses all possible rules.Since he believes, however, that there is some content to the universe – that it is not a tautalogy – this leads Jonathan to reject the idea of the ruliad.We dig into why he has this intuition is that the universe is not a tautalogy.Jonathan invokes theologians like John Duns Scotus, who promulgated the idea the the world is neither completely reducible nor completely irreducible.He follows the scholastics in steering a middle path, suggesting that there's enough content in the universe that it's interesting, but not so much content that we can't write down well-defined laws of nature.This brings us, for the first time, to the role of the observer in the Wolfram model.Again, Jonathan steers a middle path between placing the computational burden entirely on the universe and placing the computational burden entirely on the observer.I find this 9-minute exposition fascinating. It gets to the heart of some of the philosophical differences between Jonathan Gorard and Stephen Wolfram, and to the nature of the universe and our role as observers.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project People mentioned by Jonathan John Duns Scotus Xerxes D. Arsiwalla Hatem Elshatlawy Research mentioned by Jonathan Homotopies in Multiway (Non-Deterministic) Rewriting Systems as n-Fold Categories by Xerxes D. Arsiwalla, Jonathan Gorard, Hatem Elshatlawy Pregeometric Spaces from Wolfram Model Rewriting Systems as Homotopy Types by Xerxes D. Arsiwalla, Jonathan Gorard Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Rulial Multiway System ∞-category ∞-groupoid (∞,1)-topos Grothendieck's homotopy hypothesis Algorithmic complexity theory Algorithmic information theory Kolmogorov complexity Einstein field equations Curvature invariant Qualia —The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

It's pretty easy to see how three-dimensional space might arise from Wolfram Physics.The hypergraph kinda looks like space, and, for some rules, it kinda looks like it's three-dimensional.But our universe isn't just empty three-dimensional space.It's mostly empty space, but there are also particles moving through that space: photons, neutrinos, electrons, quarks.Sometimes, these particles interact, annihilating each other and producing new particles.If Wolfram Physics is to be a successful model of our universe, it must, of course, model these elementary particles and their interactions.So where are the particles in the hypergraph?What is a particle in Wolfram's universe?—Animations: Thanks to Alan Dewar for permission to use his excellent implementation of Conway's Game of Life for many of the animations in the video Thanks also to Chris Rowett for permission to use his Life Viewer, a beautiful implementation of Conway's Game of Life, which I used for the greyship animation in the video and image in the thumbnail Another implementation of Conway's Game of Life, which reproduces the Life Lexicon from ConwayLife.com, is at playgameoflife.com Sources:Talking of ConwayLife.com, that's another incredible resource for information on Conway's Game of LifeTools:I created an RLE to text converter to convert Run Length Encoded patterns to plain text formatImages:  John H Conway 2005 by Thane Plambeck licensed under CC BY 2.0 Sounds: Crickets choir by Serg Childed licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 —The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

In the early days of the Wolfram Physics Project, Stephen Wolfram seemed to be seeking a single rule that, when applied to the hypergraph, could generate our universe.More recently, however, Wolfram has promoted the idea of the ruliad, the application of every possible rule to the hypergraph.So I asked Jonathan Gorard, who was instrumental in the founding of the Wolfram Physics Project, whether all rules might be applied to generate our universe, or whether he was searching for one rule to rule them all.—Stephen Wolfram's 2010 TED talk in which he said he was committed “to see if within this decade we can finally hold in our hands the rule for our universe”.Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Equivalence class Congruence class Lagrangian mechanics Hamiltonian mechanics Teleology Ontology Axiomatic view of mathematics – top-down Constructivist view of mathematics – bottom-up Domain of discourse Intuitionism Algorithmic information theory —The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

John von Neumann might be the most important figure in Wolfram Physics prehistory.Whenever any of the most important prerequisites to Wolfram Physics were happening – quantum mechanics, Gödel's theorem, Turing machines, electronic computers, cellular automata – John von Neumann always seemed to be there.How did John von Neumann always come to be in the right place at the right time to contribute to some of the most significant developments in physics, mathematics and computation history?For this, another high-budget, big-hair episode of The Last Theory, I flew all the way to Budapest, where John von Neumann was born, to point to a plaque and get some answers.—I took inspiration and information for this episode from Ananyo Bhattacharya's biography of John von Neumann: The Man from the Future Buy it in the US Buy it in the UK Buy it in Canada Buy it in Australia People John von Neumann Albert Einstein Erwin Schrödinger Werner Heisenberg Kurt Gödel Alan Turing Seth Neddermeyer J. Presper Eckert John Mauchly Stephen Wolfram Jonathan Gorard Max Piskunov Stanisław Ulam Father Strickland Concepts Hilbert space Gödel's incompleteness theorems Universal Turing machine Turing's proof Von Neumann architecture The Manhattan Project Cellular automata Computers IAS machine ENIAC EDVAC IBM 701 Images Image of John von Neumann from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which rather pointlessly requires that this rather ponderous statement be reproduced here: “Unless otherwise indicated, this information has been authored by an employee or employees of the Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS), operator of the Los Alamos National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396 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 LANS makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any liability or responsibility for the use of this information.” Turing Machine Model Davey 2012 by Rocky Acosta licensed under CC BY 3.0 Animation. 1200 iterations of the ‘Rule 110' Automata by Mr. Heretic licenced under  CC BY-SA 3.0 Bundesarchiv Bild183-R57262, Werner Heisenberg by an unknown author (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R57262) licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 DE Turing in 1935 by Tomipelegrin licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 Gospers glider gun by Lucas Vieira licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 —The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web MindI release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

The Wolfram model allows an infinite number of rules.Some of these rules generate interesting universes that are complex and connected, some of these rules generate plausible universes that look a little like our own, and others... go nowhere.In this excerpt from my conversation with Jonathan Gorard, I ask him how to find rules of Wolfram Physics that are both interesting and plausible.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project The paper referred to by Jonathan Algorithmic Causal Sets and the Wolfram Model by Jonathan GorardConcepts mentioned by Jonathan Causal invariance Manifold Causal graph Space-like separation Causal cone Dimensionality Curvature Discrete differential operators Discrete Laplacian —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

The twentieth century was a truly exciting time in physics.From 1905 to 1973, we made extraordinary progress probing the mysteries of the universe: special relativity, general relativity, quantum mechanics, the structure of the atom, the structure of the nucleus, enumerating the elementary particles.Then, in 1973, this extraordinary progress... stopped.I mean, where are the fundamental discoveries in the last 50 years equal to general relativity or quantum mechanics?Why has there been no progress in physics since 1973?For this high-budget, big-hair episode of The Last Theory, I flew all the way to Oxford to tell you why progress stopped, and why it's set to start again: why progress in physics might be about to accelerate in the early twenty-first century in a way we haven't seen since those heady days of the early twentieth century.—Eric Weinstein's claims that there has been no progress in physics since 1973: BigThink The Joe Rogan Experience Lord Kelvin— I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Axel Hoffmann is a Professor of Material Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In this conversation, Dr. Hoffmann shares his upbringing in South Germany and his fascination with flying, providing a glimpse into his formative years. He reflects on his undergraduate life and his journey to the United States, emphasizing the role of luck in shaping his academic path. Dr. Hoffmann's expertise in magnetism-related subjects becomes evident as he discusses antiferromagnets, memory devices, and the exciting advancements in the field. Along the way, he provides invaluable advice for young students embarking on their academic journeys. Prior to joining UIUC, Hoffmann spent an impressive 18 years at Argonne National Laboratory, where he made significant contributions as a Material Scientist. In 2019, he made the transition to the University of Illinois as a Founder Professor, further enriching the academic community with his wealth of knowledge and experience. This is The UIUC Talkshow. EPISODE LINKS: Axel Hoffmann's UIUC Website: https://matse.illinois.edu/people/profile/axelh Axel Hoffmann's Research Group: https://hoffmann.matse.illinois.edu/ OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 0:34 - Growing up in South Germany 3:52 - Flying 6:32 - Life as an Undergraduate 9:24 - United States 13:12 - Luck 16:14 - Academia 19:51 - Europe 21:51 - Tennis 24:43 - Magnetism and Data Storage 30:50 - Computation and Energy Consumption 33:30 - Neuromorphic Computing 40:23 - Birds 45:45 - Magnetic Fields 48:55 - Gravity & Magnetism 51:53 - Fundamental Theory of Electricity and Magnetism (E&M) 56:02 - Transportation 1:04:01 - Electrons 1:07:56 - Antiferromagents 1:14:52 - Memory Devices 1:16:45 - Advice for Young Students

Causal invariance is a crucial characteristic for any rule of Wolfram Physics.According to Wolfram MathWorld, if a rule is causally invariant, then “no matter which evolution is chosen for a system, the history is the same, in the sense that the same events occur and they have the same causal relationships.”Causal invariance is one of the assumptions Jonathan Gorard needs to make to derive the equations of General Relativity from the hypergraph. That's how crucial it is! Given that not every rule of Wolfram Physics is causally invariant, I asked Jonathan how we find the ones that are.Here, in another excerpt from our recent conversation, is his answer: how to find causally invariant rules.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project People and concepts mentioned by Jonathan Stephen Wolfram Max Piskunov Causal invariance Wolfram Function Repository Wolfram Engine Wolfram Mathematica Wolfram Programming Lab CausalInvariantQ TotalCausalInvariantQ Associative Commutative Automated theorem proving Undecidable problem —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Now that I've introduced you to the different kinds of edges that might make up a hypergraph – unary, binary and ternary edges, as well as loops and self-loops – we can have some fun.Some of rules in the Wolfram model give rise to fascinating universes.Today, I'm going to show you a few rules that seem to fabricate space itself in much the same way as knitting needles might fabricate a blanket.And if you think that knitting is a far-fetched analogy, just wait until you see my animations!–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Dugan Hammock creates beautiful animations of three-dimensional cross-sections through four-dimensional spaces.But his animations aren't mere mathematical abstractions. He has also applied his geometrical skills to animating the hypergraph of Wolfram Physics, in such a way that it doesn't jump from frame to frame.In this second part of my recent conversation with Dugan, we talk about his extending spring-electrical embedding into an additional time dimension......and we show some of the beautifully smooth animations that come out of it.—Dugan Hammock Dugan Hammock's videos on YouTube Dugan Hammock on Twitter Dugan Hammock at The Wolfram Physics Project Plotting the evolution of a Wolfram Model in 3-dimensions Temporally coherent animations of the evolution of Wolfram Models  People and concepts mentioned by Dugan Coulomb's law Hooke's law Spring-electrical embedding Charles Pooh —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Causal invariance is one of the most important concepts in the Wolfram model... and one of the most difficult to capture.So I really wanted to hear Jonathan Gorard's take on it.In this excerpt from our conversation, Jonathan addresses the differences between causal invariance and confluence.Causal invariance means that regardless of the order in which a rule is applied to the hypergraph, the same events occur, with the same causal relationships between them.Confluence, on the other hand, is the coming-together of different branches of the multiway graph.Jonathan explores different ways we might determine whether two nodes, two edges or two hypergraphs are the same, and explains that if we identify nodes and edges according to their causal histories, then causal invariance and confluence become the same idea.I've found myself listening to Jonathan's explanation of causal invariance over and over to make sense of it, but it's one of the areas where I'm convinced Jonathan has a unique contribution to make.—Jonathan Gorard  • Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project  • Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University  • Jonathan Gorard on Twitter  • The Centre for Applied Compositionality  • The Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by Jonathan  • Causal invariance  • Multiway system  • Causal structure  • Causal Set Theory  • Directed acyclic graph  • Isomorphic  • Space-like separation  • Simultaneity and simultaneity surfaces in relativity  • Lorentz invariance  • Poincaré invariance  • Conformal invariance  • Diffeomorphism invariance  • General covariance  • Confluence  • Church-Rosser Property—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

What's the difference between a living collection of matter, such as a tortoise, and an inanimate lump of it, such as a rock? They are, after all, both just made up of non-living atoms. The truth is, we don't really know yet. Life seems to just somehow emerge from non-living parts.Featuring Jim Al-Khalili, professor of physics at the University of Surrey and Sara Imari Walker professor of physics at Arizona State University.This episode is presented by Miriam Frankel and produced by Hannah Fisher. Executive producers are Jo Adetunji and Gemma Ware. Social media and platform production by Alice Mason, sound design by Eloise Stevens and music by Neeta Sarl. A transcript is available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: Life: modern physics can't explain it – but our new theory, which says time is fundamental, might Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the difference between a living collection of matter, such as a tortoise, and an inanimate lump of it, such as a rock? They are, after all, both just made up of non-living atoms. The truth is, we don't really know yet. Life seems to just somehow emerge from non-living parts.Featuring Jim Al-Khalili, professor of physics at the University of Surrey, and Sara Imari Walker, professor of physics at Arizona State University.This episode is presented by Miriam Frankel and produced by Hannah Fisher. Executive producers are Jo Adetunji and Gemma Ware. Social media and platform production by Alice Mason, sound design by Eloise Stevens and music by Neeta Sarl. A transcript is available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: Life: modern physics can't explain it – but our new theory, which says time is fundamental, might Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So many of the most complex and most promising graphs and hypergraphs of Wolfram Physics involve loops and self-loops.They can play a crucial role in the evolution of graphs and hypergraphs... which means that they might play a crucial role in the evolution of the universe itself.Loops and self-loops matter, because including them in our models reduces the number of arbitrary assumptions we need to make in Wolfram Physics, making it more complete.–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Dugan Hammock lives in the fourth dimension.As Jonathan Gorard mentioned in our recent conversation on How to draw the hypergraph in Wolfram Physics, Dugan has worked on plotting the evolution of the hypergraph over time.We get into that in the second part of our conversation, but in this first part, I get to know Dugan as a mathematician and artist.Enjoy his amazing animations of three-dimensional cross-sections through four-dimensional hypershapes!—Dugan Hammock Dugan Hammock's videos on YouTube Dugan Hammock on Twitter Dugan Hammock at The Wolfram Physics Project Plotting the evolution of a Wolfram Model in 3-dimensions Temporally coherent animations of the evolution of Wolfram Models  People mentioned by Dugan Max Cooper George K. Francis William Thurston —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Computational irreducibility means that there are no shortcuts when we apply rules to the hypergraph.I used to think that our existing theories of physics, such as general relativity and quantum mechanics, were examples of computational reducibility: shortcuts that allow us to make higher-level generalizations about how the application of rules to the hypergraph gives rise to our universe.Jonathan Gorard used to think this, too.But it turns out that over the last couple of years, he has changed his mind on this quite radically.General relativity and quantum mechanics, he now thinks, aren't examples of computational reducibility, they're consequences of computational irreducibility.I truly appreciated this part of our conversation, because it radically changed my mind, too, about this crucial concept in Wolfram Physics.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Computational reducibility Computational irreducibility General relativity Quantum mechanics Fluid mechanics Continuum mechanics Solid mechanics Partition function Boltzmann equation Molecular chaos assumption Ergodicity Distribution function Chapman-Enskog expansion Stress tensor Navier-Stokes equations Euler equations —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

There are maps, and there are territories, and humans frequently confuse the two. No matter how insistently this point has been made by cognitive neuroscience, epistemology, economics, and a score of other disciplines, one common human error is to act as if we know what we should measure, and that what we measure is what matters. But what we value doesn't even always have a metric. And even reasonable proxies can distort our understanding of and behavior in the world we want to navigate. Even carefully collected biometric data can occlude the other factors that determine health, or can oversimplify a nuanced conversation on the plural and contextual dimensions of health, transforming goals like functional fitness into something easier to quantify but far less useful. This philosophical conundrum magnifies when we consider governance at scales beyond those at which Homo sapiens evolved to grasp intuitively: What should we count to wisely operate a nation-state? How do we practice social science in a way that can inform new, smarter species of   political economy? And how can we escape the seductive but false clarity of systems that rain information but do not enhance collective wisdom?Welcome to COMPLEXITY, the official podcast of the Santa Fe Institute. I'm your host, Michael Garfield, and every other week we'll bring you with us for far-ranging conversations with our worldwide network of rigorous researchers developing new frameworks to explain the deepest mysteries of the universe.This week on the show we talk to SFI External Professor Paul Smaldino at UC Merced and University of Utah Professor of Philosophy  C. Thi Nguyen. In this episode we talk about   value capture and legibility, viewpoint diversity, issues that plague big governments, and expert identification problems…and map the challenges “ahead of us” as SFI continues as the hub of a five-year international research collaboration into emergent political economies. (Find links to all previous episodes in this sub-series in the notes below.)Be sure to check out our extensive show notes with links to all our references at complexity.simplecast.com. If you value our research and communication efforts, please subscribe, rate and review us at Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and consider making a donation — or finding other ways to engage with us — at santafe.edu/engage.If you'd like some HD virtual backgrounds of the SFI campus to use on video calls and a chance to win a signed copy of one of our books from the SFI Press, help us improve our science communication by completing a survey about our various scicomm channels. Thanks for your time!Lastly, we have a bevy of summer programs coming up! Join us June 19-23 for Collective Intelligence: Foundations + Radical Ideas, a first-ever event open to both academics and professionals, with sessions on adaptive matter, animal groups, brains, AI, teams, and more.  Space is limited!  The application deadline has been extended to March 1st.OR apply to the Graduate Workshop on Complexity in Social Science.OR the Complex ity GAINS UK program for PhD students.(OR check our open listings for a staff or research job!)Join our Facebook discussion group to meet like minds and talk about each episode.Podcast theme music by Mitch Mignano.Follow us on social media:Twitter • YouTube • Facebook • Instagram • LinkedInMentioned & Related Links:Transparency Is Surveillanceby C. Thi NguyenThe Seductions of Clarityby C. Thi NguyenThe Natural Selection of Bad Scienceby Paul Smaldino and Richard McElreathMaintaining transient diversity is a general principle for improving collective problem solvingby Paul Smaldino, Cody Moser, Alejandro Pérez Velilla, Mikkel WerlingThe Division of Cognitive Laborby Philip KitcherThe Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in The Natural Sciencesby Eugene WignerOn Crashing The Barrier of Meaning in A.I.by Melanie MitchellSeeing Like A Stateby James C. ScottJim RuttSlowed Canonical Progress in Large Fields of Scienceby Johan Chu and James EvansThe Coming Battle for the COVID-19 Narrativeby Wendy Carlin and Samuel BowlesPeter TurchinIn The Country of The Blindby Michael Flynn82 - David Krakauer on Emergent Political Economies and A Science of Possibility (EPE 01)83 - Eric Beinhocker & Diane Coyle on Rethinking Economics for A Sustainable & Prosperous World (EPE 02)84 - Ricardo Hausmann & J. Doyne Farmer on Evolving Technologies & Market Ecologies (EPE 03)91 - Steven Teles & Rajiv Sethi on Jailbreaking The Captured Economy (EPE 04)97 - Glen Weyl & Cris Moore on Plurality, Governance, and Decentralized Society (EPE 05)

There are two questions about Wolfram Physics I'm asked a lot:What's beyond the hypergraph?And what's between the nodes and edges of the hypergraph?There's a simple answer to this question.Nothing.There's nothing beyond the hypergraph.There's nothing beyond the universe.But it's not a very effective answer.So here's a deeper response to the age-old question:What's beyond the universe?–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

The hypergraph is the universe.So if we want to see the universe, we need only draw the hypergraph.The question is: how?The nodes and edges of the hypergraph are determined by the rules of Wolfram Physics. But how we draw those nodes and edges is not determined.The drawing of the hypergraph is not the universe, it's just a way of visualizing the universe.So I asked Jonathan Gorard how we might decide where to position the nodes and edges when we draw the hypergraph, so that we can see what's really going on in Wolfram Physics.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project People mentioned by Jonathan Charles Pooh Dugan Hammock Plotting the evolution of a Wolfram Model in 3-dimensions by Dugan Hammock Temporally coherent animations of the evolution of Wolfram Models by Dugan Hammock Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Spring electrical embedding Spring embedding Layered embedding Causal graphs Coulomb's law Hooke's law —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

YouTube episode: https://youtu.be/J9R4CtKvZYs This is an educational guided meditation on ego death, intended to be used once or twice. Afterwards, apply this technique independently at your own pace so that you can work more intuitively. 0:00 - Introductory Reading & Basic Outline of the Practice 2:18 - Fundamental Theory on the Dissolution of the Psychological "I's" 14:29 - Guided Meditation (Relaxation, Pranayama & Psychoanalysis)

What is the Big Bang in Wolfram Physics?There's a straightforward answer to that question.It's the point in the evolution of the universe where the hypergraph goes from nothing to something.It's the start of the explosion that eventually yields the uncountable particles, planets, stars and galaxies of our universe.So that's pretty straightforward, isn't it?Well, yes, except that there's one phrase above that demands further explanation: nothing to something.How does the universe go from nothing to something?–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Here's a slightly technical question:Does Wolfram Physics really need hypergraphs?Or could it based on graphs instead?Jonathan Gorard shares some interesting insights into the evolution of Stephen Wolfram's model for a fundamental theory of physics.Wolfram started with trivalent graphs, in which each edge joins two nodes, and each node has three edges.But when he ran into issues implementing simulations using these simple graphs, he solved the problem by graduating to hypergraphs, in which each hyperedge can join any number of nodes, and each node can have any number of hyperedges.Here's how hypergraphs, rather than graphs, came to be the basis of Wolfram Physics.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Trivalent networks (a.k.a. cubic graphs) Mathematica —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

I've been blown away by your response to The Last Theory in 2022.How am I going to thank you for reading, listening, watching and subscribing?Well, by bringing you more Wolfram Physics in the New Year, that's how.Here are 7 directions I want to take The Last Theory in 2023.—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Wolfram Physics is based on hypergraphs.Why?What is it about hypergraphs that might make them a better model of the universe than, say, strings of characters, or cellular automata, or Turing machines?When I asked Jonathan Gorard this question, he gave an answer that was deeply insightful.It's such a core question, so fundamental to why we should take the Wolfram model seriously, that I've listened to Jonathan's answer over and over.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project People and Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Roger Penrose Rafael Sorkin Tommaso Bolognesi Causal Set Theory Hasse diagram Riemannian distance Strings (of characters) Cellular automata Turing machines Lorentz invariance General covariance —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

For the last few hundred years, all our theories of physics have been mathematical.If Stephen Wolfram is right, from now on, our most fundamental theories of physics may be computational.This shift from mathematics to computation feels to me like a scientific revolution.Recently, I asked Jonathan Gorard, who was instrumental in the founding of The Wolfram Physics Project, whether it feels to him, too, like a scientific revolution.“I think so,” he said. “I mean, it's a strong statement, but I don't think it'll end up being too inaccurate.”(If you want to check out that part of our conversation, you can listen here or watch here.)Here's why, in my mind, Wolfram Physics is the next scientific revolution.–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Jonathan Gorard admits that it was a risk, for his academic career, to work on the Wolfram Physics project.In this third excerpt from my recent conversation with Jonathan, I asked him how he thought about that risk and why he decided to take it.He told me that the opportunity to work with Stephen Wolfram on this new model is a bit like being given an opportunity to work with von Neumann and Ulam on cellular automata, or with Turing, Church and Gödel on computational models, back in the early twentieth century.So I asked Jonathan whether he thought, as I do, that the reframing physics in terms of computation feels like we're in a scientific revolution, as important as the reframing of physics in terms of mathematics several hundred years ago.“It's a strong statement,” he replied, “but I don't think it'll end up being too inaccurate.”For me, the opportunity to talk to Jonathan about Wolfram Physics feels a bit like being given an opportunity to interview Dirac, Heisenberg, Pauli or Schrödinger back in the early days of quantum mechanics.These are exciting times.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project People and Concepts mentioned by Jonathan John von Neumann Stanislaw Ulam Alan Turing Alonzo Church Kurt Gödel Quantum information theory Undecidability Irreducibility Manojna Namuduri Xerxes D. Arsiwalla ZX-Calculus and Extended Hypergraph Rewriting Systems I: A Multiway Approach to Categorical Quantum Information Theory – Jonathan Gorard, Manojna Namuduri, Xerxes D. Arsiwalla ZX-Calculus and Extended Wolfram Model Systems II: Fast Diagrammatic Reasoning with an Application to Quantum Circuit Simplification – Jonathan Gorard, Manojna Namuduri, Xerxes D. Arsiwalla Image credits John von Neumann – Los Alamos National Laboratory Stanisław Ulam – Los Alamos National Laboratory 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.I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

In Episode 15: Where to apply Wolfram's rules? (listen to the audio ⋅ watch the video ⋅ read the article) I introduced a radical idea.When we're applying a rule to a graph in Wolfram Physics, there are generally many possible places in the graph we could apply the rule, giving us many possible next states of the universe.Here's the radical idea: rather than choose one of these possible universes, we choose not to choose. Instead, we keep each of them in mind.The trouble is, if we choose not to choose, the number of possible universes we have to keep in mind gets extremely large extremely quickly.To help us visualize all these possible universes, we're going to need the multiway graph.It's a crucial idea in Wolfram Physics.The multiway graph will allow us to derive aspects of quantum mechanics from Wolfram Physics.It'll lead us to a concept of the observer that promises to resolve issues related to the collapse of the wavefunction that have plagued quantum mechanics ever since Schrödinger put his metaphorical cat into a metaphorical cage.And maybe, just maybe, it'll lead us to a model of consciousness itself.–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

David Chalmers, professor of philosophy at the University of Illinois, discusses his book "The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory". Chalmers argues that consciousness is an absolute.

This is the second of a series of excerpts from my recent conversation with Jonathan Gorard, who was instrumental in the founding of The Wolfram Physics Project.I asked Jonathan why he found the computational approach to physics so compelling.In his answer, he broached a wide range of fascinating topics in the philosophy of science: how we moved from a clockwork paradigm in the age of clockwork to a computational paradigm in the age of computation; how saying that the universe is computational is different from saying that the universe is a computer; how our adoption of mathematics as the basis for physics has biased us to think of space-time as continuous; how the history of science might have been different had Turing been born before Newton; how the Wolfram Model can be thought of as a way of building a constructivist foundation for physics. This led us to discuss a couple of the deeper questions of Wolfram Physics: is it possible to know whether the universe is continuous or discrete? does the hypergraph really exist? —Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University Jonathan Gorard on Twitter The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project People and Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Isaac Newton René Descartes Democritus John Locke Bishop Berkeley Corpuscularianism Atomism Alan Turing Turing machines Lambda calculus Recursively Enumerable Functions Constructivism L. E. J. Brouwer David Hilbert Intuitionism—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

In my conversation with Jonathan Gorard about the founding of the Wolfram Physics Project, I said that I don't like String Theory.Now, I'll admit, I don't really understand String Theory.It's highly mathematical. And I'm not much of a mathematician. Actually, that's an understatement. I'm not a mathematician at all.So if there's a problem in the relationship between String Theory and me, it might not be String Theory, it might be me.Sadly, admitting that I might be part of the problem doesn't change anything between us. I still don't like String Theory.Here's why.–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

In 2019, Jonathan Gorard and Max Piskunov goaded Stephen Wolfram into pursuing his ideas for a new kind of science.This led to the announcement of The Wolfram Physics Project in 2020.Last week, I talked to Jonathan Gorard about the revolutionary ideas that have come out of the project.In this first excerpt from our conversation, Jonathan talks about his instrumental role in the founding of The Wolfram Physics Project.We cover why the time was right in 2020... and why it had been wrong in 2002 when Stephen Wolfram published his book A New Kind of Science.We talk about how Wolfram Physics might take over from string theory, why Jonathan likes string theory... and why he doesn't.It was a true pleasure to talk to Jonathan about what might prove a pivotal moment in the history of science.—Jonathan Gorard Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University People and Projects The Centre for Applied Compositionality The Wolfram Physics Project Stephen Wolfram's announcement of the project Max Piskunov SetReplace on GitHub Concepts mentioned by Jonathan Irreducibility Undecidability Universality Current algebra Regge theory Gauge theory Standard Model String theory Poincaré group Mirror symmetry Calabi–Yau manifold K3 surface —Images Calabi–Yau manifold CalabiYau5 by Andrew J. Hanson, Indiana University, who allows use with attribution Feynman diagram Feynmann Diagram Gluon Radiation by Joel Holdsworth, public domain —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Wolfram Physics models the universe as a hypergraph.Maybe I'm just seeing things, but it seems to me that hypergraphs are everywhere: physics, chemistry, biology, neurology, ecology, sociology, technology.What I want to know is:Why?Why are hypergraphs everywhere?—Molecular structure Styrene-butadiene chain2 by Guido Raos, professor of chemistry, Politecnico di Milano, Italy licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0Metabolic pathway BRENDA pyrimidine metabolism by BRENDA – The Comprehensive Enzyme Information System licensed under CC BY 4.0Brain image Neurons & glia by The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) licensed under CC BY 2.0Pelagic food web An in situ perspective of a deep pelagic food web by C. Anela Choy, Steven H. D. Haddock and Bruce H. Robison licensed under CC BY 4.0Social graph Partitions in my social graph by Matt Biddulph licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0Internet map Internet map by Matt Britt licensed under CC BY 2.5Feynman diagram Paarbildung by Ivan Baev licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

As you'll know from Episode 8: Where's the computer that runs the universe? ( read ⋅ listen ⋅ watch ), I have my doubts about the existence of a computer that's whirring away, applying Wolfram's rules to Wolfram's graphs, performing the computations required to run our universe.This computer, if it exists, is necessarily invisible to us, and as I warned in Episode 12: Beware invisible things ( read ⋅ listen ⋅ watch ) we should be wary of what we can't see.Still, I want to revisit this idea of a computer that runs the universe.I want to come at it from a slightly different direction.Rather than adopt the stance of the monkey with its hands over its eyes and insist that if I can't see it, it's not there, let's suppose that there is a computer that runs the universe and ask a simple question:How big would it have to be?—Other episodes I mention: Episode 8: Where's the computer that runs the universe? – read ⋅ listen ⋅ watch Episode 12: Beware invisible things – read ⋅ listen ⋅ watch Episode 15: Where to apply Wolfram's rules? – read ⋅ listen ⋅ watch —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Here are answers to some fundamental questions about hypergraphs:A hyperedge can connect any number of nodes: one, two, three, four, seventeen or any other number.And a hypergraph can include any of these different kinds of hyperedge, or all of them.Let's take a look at what this means for Wolfram Physics... and at some of the beautiful hypergraphs it allows us to generate!I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

In previous episodes, I've been simulating Wolfram Physics using graphs.But you may have come across simulations of Wolfram Physics using hypergraphs.What's the difference?What is a hypergraph?—This epsiode refers to previous episodes on dimensionality: How to measure the dimensionality of the universe audio ⋅ video ⋅ article Are Wolfram's graphs three‑dimensional? audio ⋅ video ⋅ article What are dimensions in Wolfram's universe? audio ⋅ video ⋅ article and previous episodes on space: What is space? the where and the how far audio ⋅ video ⋅ article The expanse: dimension, separation & explosion audio ⋅ video ⋅ article —I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Confession time: I haven't been entirely honest with you about applying a rule to a graph in Wolfram Physics.I've explained precisely how to apply a rule, but I've been strangely silent when it comes to where to apply the rule.I know, it's unlike me to be silent, right?Time to come clean.It turns out that the question of where to apply Wolfram's rules is not as easily answered as you might think.This seemingly straightforward question will take us into the philosophy of time, causality, consciousness, contingency and determinism.And it'll lead us towards some of the most important concepts in Wolfram Physics: the multiway graph, branchial space and causal invariance.Check your breathing apparatus: we're going deep.I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

In his General Theory of Relativity, Einstein combined the three dimensions of space with the one dimension of time in what we now know as Einstein's equations.Ever since, physicists have thought of space and time as effectively the same thing: components of four-dimensional space-time.This might be the biggest blunder physicists have ever made.Stephen Wolfram, on page 22 of his book A project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics, calls it the “one ‘wrong turn' in the history of physics in the past century”.Space-time is dead.Here's why... and how physicists got it so wrong for so long.I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

We're used to thinking of space as continuous.A stone can be anywhere in space. It can be here. Or it can be an inch to the left. Or it can be half an inch further to the left. Or it can be an infinitesimal fraction of an inch even further to the left. Space is infinitely divisible.The graphs of Wolfram Physics, however, are discrete.If, as Stephen Wolfram proposes, the universe is a graph, then you can't be just anywhere in space. It makes sense to think about a node of the graph as a position in space. It makes no sense to think about anywhere in between the nodes as positions in space. This space is not infinitely divisible.It's as if a stone could be here in space, or here in space, but nowhere in between.So which is it?Has every physicist from Leucippus to Einstein been right to insist that space is continuous?Or is Wolfram right to up-end millennia of settled science and insist that space is discrete?I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

We humans have always been fond of invisible things.Poltergeists, fairies, unicorns, the Yeti, the Lost City of Atlantis.Just because you can't see them, it doesn't mean they aren't there.Scientists, no less than any other humans, suffer from this fondness for invisible things.Phlogiston, miasma, ether, strings.Just because you can't see them, scientists have insisted, it doesn't mean they aren't there.Beware these invisible things.As I explore Wolfram Physics, I'm aware of certain invisible things that we believe in now, but we're going to have to let go, if Stephen Wolfram is right.And I'm also aware of the temptation to replace this old set of invisible things with a new set of invisible things.Here's why we'd do well to resist.I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

The panel discusses David Chalmers' new book "The Conscious Mind: In Search Of a Fundamental Theory." Free View in iTunes

We know what it means when we say that our universe is three-dimensional: it means that we can move in three orthogonal directions: left-right; up-down; forwards-backwards.But what would it mean to say that a universe is 2½-dimensional?Or 3.37-dimensional?Or 9-dimensional?When I measured the dimensionality one of Wolfram's graphs, I found it to be at least 3.37-dimensional.If Stephen Wolfram is right, then our universe might not be uniformly three-dimensional.So maybe dimensionality isn't quite what we think it is.What, exactly, are dimensions?I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Are Wolfram's graphs three-dimensional?In Episode #009: How to measure the dimensionality of the universe – watch the video or read the article – I introduced a mathematically-minded crab, which was able to determine the dimensionality of its universe by measuring how much space it covered moving different distances in every possible direction.Now I'm going to use the same crabby method to determine the dimensionality of graphs generated by Wolfram Physics.I'm finally going to answer the question: how many dimensions are there in one of Wolfram's universes?And the answer's going to be unexpected.Here's a hint: it's not two and it's not three.Today's episode includes a lot of visuals, so I recommend you watch the video or read the article rather than listen to the audio.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Today's episode includes a lot of visuals, so I recommend you watch the video or read the article rather than listen to the audio.In Episode #007: The expanse: dimension, separation & explosion – watch the video or read the article – I argued that the graphs of Wolfram Physics are going to have to be three-dimensional to be a true representation of our universe.But how can we tell whether these graphs are three-dimensional? Many of them are so convoluted that it's difficult to tell whether they're two-dimensional, three-dimensional or somewhere in between.I'm going to make the question even more difficult. We've been looking at graphs from the outside, from a God's-eye view.In reality, though, we're not outside the graph. Remember, we're hoping that the graphs of Wolfram Physics will prove to be a true representation of our universe, and we can't be outside our own universe.How could we tell whether a graph is two-dimensional, or three-dimensional, or even two-and-a-half-dimensional, from inside the graph?How would we measure the dimensionality of our own universe?Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

I've been running simulations of our universe, according to Stephen Wolfram's computational theory of physics.Where's the computer that runs these simulations?Well, it's right here. This a low-powered laptop in my hand is literally the computer that runs these universes.It's natural to ask a follow-up question.If Wolfram's right and the real universe evolves computationally in the same way as these simulated universes, where's the computer that runs the universe?I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

In the last episode, I introduced two fundamental characteristics of space: position and distance.Today, I'm going to introduce three more characteristics of space: dimension, separation & explosion.If it's to be a viable theory of physics, Wolfram Physics has to accurately model space as we know it, including all five of these characteristics.Let's see how it measures up.—Today's episode includes a lot of visuals, so you might prefer to read the article, or watch the video, where they're animated.In the episode, I refer back to Episode #006: What is space? the where and the how far. Again, I recommend you watch the video or read the article rather than listen to the audio for that episode, since you'll want to see the visuals!Doppler siren by jobro reproduced under CC BY 3.0Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

What is space in Wolfram Physics?I've talked about the basic concepts of Wolfram Physics: nodes, edges, graphs & rules.I just threw these concepts out there. No explanation. No rhyme, no reason. Nodes, edges, graphs & rules. Take them or leave them.Naturally, this raised a few questions in some people's minds.These questions can be summed up as follows:Wait... What? Nodes, edges, graphs & rules? Why?This a deep question.Let's get into it.—This episode includes a few visuals, so you might prefer to read the article or watch the video.In this episode, I refer back to Episode #004: Different rules, different universes. This one, too, includes a lot of visuals, so again, I recommend you watch the video or read the article rather than listen to the audio for that episode.I also refer to a Polynesian stick chart. You can find it here: Micronesian navigational chart.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

A conversation with Stephen Wolfram. Books: A Project to Find the Fundamental Theory of Physics: https://www.wolfram-media.com/products/a-project-to-find-the-fundamental-theory-of-physics.html A New Kind of Science: https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/ The Physics Project: https://www.wolframphysics.org 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:11 Looking at Stephen Wolfram's Educational journey 00:05:39 Things learnt in school are actually useful! 00:06:34 Particle Physics and Stephen's early years 00:11:39 Stephen Wolfram's first paper 00:16:19 Using computers for algebraic calculations 00:22:00 Launching his own company 00:23:00 Starting to study cellular automata 00:26:30 The importance of using technology to help advance physics 00:28:14 The advice Stephen would give to his teenage self 00:30:00 The importance of choosing the right problems 00:35:44 Stephen's views on ‘modern' physics 00:38:21 Ruliology and A New Kind of Science 00:40:56 Working on a generalisation of calculus? 00:45:16 Applying learnings from the Physics Project to other fields such as Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Economics 00:50:00 Physics as a remarkable export field 00:54:24 History of tools to describe the universe 00:55:17 Computation as a very general paradigm & Wolfram Language 01:00:12 Wolfram Summer Camp 01:02:40 The possibility of a special relativity of economics 01:06:21 Live streaming and open source nature of the Physics Project 01:09:18 The concept of the Ruliad 01:15:28 Taking measurements and moving through Ruliad Space? 01:22:00 Quantum mechanics and relatively - a beautiful symmetry 01:34:00 Thank you and goodbye

I like being asked questions about Wolfram Physics.When I try to answer them, though, I often find myself trapped in an infinite regress.To address a question about Wolfram Physics, I might first need to address another, more fundamental question, about physics.And to address that question, I might first need to address another, more fundamental question, than might be more philosophy than physics.Today, I'm going to go to one of those deep questions that need to be asked, if not answered, before I can begin to address many of the questions I've been asked about Wolfram Physics.What is physics?Prefer to watch the video? Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

It's all about the animations.I've been coding coding coding the few weeks to develop my simulations of Wolfram Physics.So now I'm able to explore a number of simple rules and ask a number of simple questions.What different rules could be applied to our universe?What different universes would arise from these rules?Today, I explore different rules, different universes.Today's episode includes a lot of visuals, so you might prefer to read the article, or watch the video, where they're fully animated.If you missed Episode #002, Nodes, edges, graphs & rules: the basic concepts of Wolfram Physics, you can find the article here and the video here.

Wolfram Physics might be the most fundamental scientific breakthrough in your lifetime.And yet you've probably never heard of it.Here's why.—Albert Einstein's 1905 papersStephen Wolfram's project to find the fundamental theory of physicsStephen Wolfram's 2020 announcementThere are maybe half a million physicists in the world—Prefer to watch the video? Watch hereThe full article is here

Are you ready?Today, I'm going to dive right into Wolfram Physics.If you've never heard of Stephen Wolfram or his team's project to find the fundamental theory of physics, don't worry.Think of it like this: I'm going to dive right into the fundamental structure of the universe.And, well, you might not believe that the words “simple” and “physics” can go together, but I'm going to keep it simple.Today's episode includes a lot of visuals.You can find them in the article, or you might want to switch to watching the video, where they're fully animated.

I always envy those people who, through a fantastic stroke of luck, find themselves to be exactly the right person in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.I always ask myself, why can't that happen to me?Well, it just did.Let me explain.In this week's episode, I discuss why I'm writing about Wolfram Physics.I'll be digging into the details, as well as taking a step back to see some of the philosophical implications, in future episodes.Prefer to watch the video? Watch at lasttheory.com/channel/001-why-i-am-writing-about-wolfram-physicsThe full article is at lasttheory.com/article/why-i-am-writing-about-wolfram-physics

Welcome to The Last Theory, an easy-to-follow exploration of what might be the last theory of physics.In 2020, Stephen Wolfram launched the Wolfram Physics Project to find the elusive fundamental theory that explains everything.On The Last Theory, I investigate the implications of Wolfram's ideas and dig into the details of how his universe works. Join me for fresh insights into Wolfram Physics every other week: subscribe to the free newsletter, podcast or YouTube channel at lasttheory.comAfter all, this might be the most fundamental scientific breakthrough of our time.

Episode Notes Stephen Wolfram: Official Website (https://www.stephenwolfram.com/) Wolfram: Computation Meets Knowledge (https://www.wolfram.com/) Wolfram Language: Programming with Built-in Computational Intelligence (https://www.wolfram.com/language/?source=frontpage-carousel) The Wolfram Physics Project: Finding the Fundamental Theory of Physics (https://www.wolframphysics.org/) Rob Pike - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Pike) SMP Symbolic Manipulation Program, by Stephen Wolfram, Chris A. Cole (https://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/smp-symbolic-manipulation-program/) Cellular Automaton -- from Wolfram MathWorld (https://mathworld.wolfram.com/CellularAutomaton.html) A Book from Alan Turing … and a Mysterious Piece of Paper Stephen Wolfram Writings (https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/08/a-book-from-alan-turing-and-a-mysterious-piece-of-paper/) Where Did Combinators Come From? Hunting the Story of Moses Schönfinkel Stephen Wolfram Writings (https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2020/12/where-did-combinators-come-from-hunting-the-story-of-moses-schonfinkel/) Alonzo Church - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonzo_Church) Post canonical system - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_canonical_system) S-expression - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-expression#) Clojure - Transducers (https://clojure.org/reference/transducers) Even beyond Physics: Introducing Multicomputation as a Fourth General Paradigm for Theoretical Science Stephen Wolfram Writings (https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/09/even-beyond-physics-introducing-multicomputation-as-a-fourth-general-paradigm-for-theoretical-science/) The Problem of Distributed Consensus Stephen Wolfram Writings (https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/05/the-problem-of-distributed-consensus/) What Is a Computational Essay? Stephen Wolfram Writings (https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2017/11/what-is-a-computational-essay/) Transformation Rules and Definitions—Wolfram Language Documentation (https://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/TransformationRulesAndDefinitions.html) The Poetry of Function Naming Stephen Wolfram Writings (https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2010/10/the-poetry-of-function-naming/) Wolfram - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/WolframResearch) Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and others): Can Sci-fi be Real [Part 2] - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAGTjdE-Fzo) Linguistic relativity - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity) Stepped reckoner - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepped_reckoner) Sybil Wolfram - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_Wolfram) An Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essay_Towards_a_Real_Character,_and_a_Philosophical_Language) The Concept of the Ruliad Stephen Wolfram Writings (https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/11/the-concept-of-the-ruliad/)

Juan & Terence try to tackle Stephen Wolfram Path towards a Fundamental Theory of physics. Wolfram's theory uses computational models to try and find patterns with the most beautiful and basic laws of fundamental physics.

More math stuff. You have been warned --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stre/message

Stephen Wolfram continues the kick-off of the new Wolfram Physics Project, this time specifically for kids (and adults). See the full Wolfram Physics Project video playlist on YouTube: https://wolfr.am/youtube-wpp

Stephen Wolfram publicly kicks off an ambitious new project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics. See the full Wolfram Physics Project video playlist on YouTube: https://wolfr.am/youtube-wpp

Stephen Wolfram publicly kicks off an ambitious new project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics, this time specifically for general questions about the project. See the full Wolfram Physics Project video playlist on YouTube: https://wolfr.am/youtube-wpp

   Stephen Wolfram, Founder & CEO of Wolfram Research, Creator of Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, Author of A New Kind of Science, discusses computational science, his new Project to Find a Fundamental Theory of Physics, and more. Over the course of 4 decades, Stephen Wolfram has pioneered the development & application of computational thinking. He has been responsible for many discoveries, inventions & innovations in science, technology, and business. In this wide-ranging interview with Brian Keating @DrBrianKeating , Wolfram discusses his decades in-the-making Wolfram Physics Project, his career, his philosophy & approach to science, his hoped-for legacy, and questions from the audience including whether mathematical beauty matter at all, or is it just falsifiability? We also discuss his books A New Kind of Science (2002), Idea Makers (2016) and Adventures of a Computational Explorer (2019). Show notes and resources available here:  Topics discussed in this in-depth interview: The Impact of Computers on his life 00:12:18 Prime Numbers 00:15:25 What he thinks he’s good at doing 00:20:49 #WolframAlpha 00:21:30 The work he and his son did on creating a language for #ArrivalMovie 00:32:38:26 The first alien intelligence is really AI! 00:38:58 thoughts on #2001ASpaceOdyssey from his blog post 00:44:50 Cellular Automata & Complexity (1994) 00:54:50 Doom for the “Simulation Hypothesis” Thanks to the Physics Project 1:00:00 A New Kind of Science 01:14:54 Adventures of a Computational Explorer 02:06:39 How Steve Jobs convinced him to use ‘Mathematica’ instead of Wolfram Omega 02:32:02 Wolfram was educated at Eton, Oxford, and Caltech. He published his first scientific paper at the age of 15, and received his PhD in theoretical physics from Caltech at the age of 20. Wolfram’s early scientific work was mainly in high-energy physics, quantum field theory & cosmology. Having started to use computers in 1973, Wolfram rapidly became a leader in the emerging field of scientific computing, and in 1979 he began the construction of SMP—the first modern computer algebra system—which he released commercially in 1981. In recogn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Catholic Mama, Catholic evangelist Christine Mooney-Flynn talks about The Fundamental Theory of Happiness with Author Dominick Albano. (February 16, 2020)

Christine is joined by Catholic husband, father, and author Dominick Albano on this episode to talk about his book The Fundamental Theory of Happiness, how we can feel and be happy as Catholics, and more. Catch up with Dominick at DominickAlbano.com. Like what you hear? Don't forget to subscribe and leave a nice review so you don't miss an episode, as well as help others discover The Catholic Mama. ---- Need help answering some basic questions about Christianity and Catholicism? Then be sure and grab The Catholic Mama's How to Talk to Your Kids about God, available for FREE here.

Sam Harris speaks with philosopher David Chalmers about the nature of consciousness, the challenges of understanding it scientifically, and the prospect that we will one day build it into our machines. David Chalmers is Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness at New York University, and also holds a part-time position at the Australian National University. He is well-known for his work in the philosophy of mind, especially for his formulation of the “hard problem” of consciousness. His 1996 book The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory was successful with both popular and academic audiences. Chalmers co-founded the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness and has organized some of the most important conferences in the field. He also works on many other issues in philosophy and cognitive science, and has articles on the possibility of a “singularity” in artificial intelligence and on philosophical issues arising from the movie The Matrix. Episodes that have been re-released as part of the Best of Making Sense series may have been edited for relevance since their original airing.