The Last Theory

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 begin...

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...

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...

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 siteTimeli...

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 equ...

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...

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. As...

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 Mind...

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 expl...

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...

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 GorardJonathan Gorard at The...

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.Fortunatel...

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 fasc...

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...

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 Wolf...

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 fa...

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’v...

“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 info...

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 thei...

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 w...