The Last Theory

Electrons may be tiny black holes propagating through the hypergraph.After all, electrons and black holes have much in common: they’re carriers of pure motion, they’re all the same – from the outside, at least – and we don’t know what’s going on inside them.Just as black holes may cloak the remants of collapsed civilizations, so electrons may hold secret histories of their paths through the universe.Stephen Wolfram takes this idea further. If particles, such as electrons, are the carriers of pure motion in physical space, what are the carriers of pure motion in branchial space and rulial space? Maybe, in rulial space, it’s the discrete concepts we use to communicate ideas from one mind to another.These are fascinating speculations, but Stephen insists that we need not know what a particle is to make progress with his framework. We can understand energy without knowing what a particle is; we can understand momentum without knowing what a particle is; maybe we can even derive Quantum Field Theory from the Wolfram model without ever knowing what a particle is.—Stephen WolframStephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordReferencesBlack holesBlack hole mergersKuratowski’s theoremWagner’s theoremConway’s Game of Life resources include Alan Dewar’s implementation, Chris Rowett’s Life Viewer, playgameoflife.com and ConwayLife.comEnergy is the flux of causal edges through spacelike hypersurfacesCausal graphQuantum electrodynamicsQuantum chromodynamicsThe Standard ModelRichard FeynmanFeynman diagramQuantum Field TheoryS-matrix or scattering matrixVirtual particlesBrancial spaceRulial spaceComputational irreducibilityVideos and imagesEddy line over the Eastern Pacific video by GOES imagery: CSU/CIRA & NOAA public domainPerpetual Ocean 2: Western Boundary Currents video and image by NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio / Greg Shirah reproduced under NASA Images and Media Usage GuidelinesFlight around a black hole video and image by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / J. Schnittman and B. Powell via NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio reproduced under NASA Images and Media Usage GuidelinesMerging Black Holes video by NASA / Dana Berry via NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio reproduced under NASA Images and Media Usage GuidelinesBlack Holes: Monsters in Space (Artist’s Concept) image by NASA / JPL-Caltech reproduced under NASA Images and Media Usage Guidelines—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 multiway graph shows every possible evolution of the universe.So, if we can compute every possible reality, does that mean that there’s no single objective reality?Well, the causal graph, it turns out, collapses every possible reality into a single objective reality in a way that’s so unexpected that you’ll be left wondering: how did that just happen?—References:The hypergraph   video ⋅ podcast ⋅ articleThe multiway graph   video ⋅ podcast ⋅ articleThe causal graph   video ⋅ podcast ⋅ articleCausal invariance   video ⋅ podcast ⋅ articleDifferent observers might follow different paths through the multiwaygraph, but they see the same causal graph—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.

In this fascinating exposition, Stephen Wolfram connects two of the most important breakthroughs of our time: AI and the ruliad.I ask Stephen how he thinks about knowledge hypergraphs, which I’m exploring at Open Web Mind.He offers several important insights.Stephen draws a distinction between human-like minds and formal knowledge.Human-like minds include both our own brains and Large Language Models. Such minds, Stephen suggests, are good at making broad but shallow connections.Formal knowledge, on the other hand, is deep and precise. Stephen has spent a lifetime building computational towers of such knowledge.He proposes that Large Language Models might serve as interfaces to formal knowledge. He warns, however, that much of this knowledge might be inaccessible to minds like ours.To illustrate the difficulty, Stephen contrasts the 50,000 or so concepts to which we humans have assigned words, such as “cat” and “dog”, with the infinite variability an AI can generate, both within human concepts and in the interconcept space in between.Tying this back to physics, Stephen Wolfram posits that the concepts of space, time, energy, etc. we have internalized occupy only a tiny part of the ruliad.—Stephen WolframStephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordRelated writings from StephenGenerative AI Space and the Mental Imagery of Alien MindsHow to Think Computationally about AI, the Universe and EverythingThe Concept of the RuliadMore on knowledge hypergraphs at Open Web Mind:Open Web MindOpen Web Mind YouTube channelSign up for my newsletter—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.

Can you hold in your mind two different threads of experience?In this five-minute excerpt from my conversation with Stephen Wolfram, he introduces the strange idea of a multiway mind.Most of the time, we as observers succeed in weaving multiple different paths through the multiway graph into a single thread of experience.In some circumstances, however, we’re unable to do this. If we’re unfortunate enough to find ourselves on the surface of a black hole – at the event horizon in physical space, at the entanglement horizon in branchial space – we might find ourselves frozen, unable to form a classical thought.In just five minutes, Stephen not only introduces the possibility of multiple threads of experience in a single mind, he also succeeds in weaving in diverse topics from quantum computing to societal decision-making.—Stephen WolframStephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordConcepts mentioned by StephenQuantum computingDistributed computingEvent horizons and entanglement horizonsBranchial space—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.

Fields don’t exist.I mean, a field with grass in it, that kind of field does exist.But a field in physics?A gravitational field? An electric field? A magnetic field? A quantum field?No such thing.I’m not knocking the physicists who came up with these fields.These fictions can be convenient.But sometimes, these fictions can blind us to the underlying reality.And that’s what’s happening right now in physics.Our long-time love affair with fields is blinding us to the true nature of space and everything in it.—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.

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.

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.

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.