Stephen Wolfram proposes new framework for fundamental physics

Stephen Wolfram has been hinting for some time at a soon to be announced breakthrough in fundamental physics.

Wolfram delivered yesterday, announcing the Wolfram Physics Project.

Wolfram is “thrilled to say that I think we’ve found a path to the fundamental theory of physics.”

“We’ve built a paradigm and a framework… But now we need to finish the job. We need to work through a lot of complicated computation, mathematics and physics. And see if we can finally deliver the answer to how our universe fundamentally works.”

Wolfram “invites everyone to join in the search to decode fundamental physics,” notes Wired.

As reported by Wired, top physicists including Andrew Strominger find Wolfram’s approach intriguing and exciting.

In his 2015 essay “What Is Spacetime, Really?,” Wolfram said:

“One needs something in a sense ‘underneath’ space: something from which space as we know it can emerge. And one needs an underlying data structure that’s as flexible as possible. I thought about this for years, and looked at all sorts of computational and mathematical formalisms. But what I eventually realized was that basically everything I’d looked at could actually be represented in the same way: as a network. A network — or graph — just consists of a bunch of nodes, joined by connections. And all that’s intrinsically defined in the graph is the pattern of these connections.”

See also “Chapter 9: Fundamental Physics” in Wolfram’s “A New Kind of Science.” In the Wolfram Physics Project announcement post, Wolfram confirms:

“And this is basically how I think space in the universe works. Underneath, it’s a bunch of discrete, abstract relations between abstract points. But at the scale we’re experiencing it, the pattern of relations it has makes it seem like continuous space of the kind we’re used to. It’s a bit like what happens with, say, water. Underneath, it’s a bunch of discrete molecules bouncing around. But to us it seems like a continuous fluid.”

Wolfram’s collaborator Jonathan Gorard has written two papers, recommended as the best starting point for physicists, on the derivations of relativity and quantum mechanics in Wolfram’s framework.

Ralph Abraham and Sisir Roy proposed a model (AR model) for fundamental physics based on a dynamical cellular network (a graph with a huge number of nodes and internal dynamics similar to cellular automata) beyond space and time, from which the geometry of spacetime is derived.

In my book [*] (see chapter “The quest for Akashic physics and engineering”), I note that the AR model is strongly related to Wolfram’s ideas.

I have reservations on deterministic models for fundamental physics, because I don’t see how they could accommodate free will, which I consider as a solid experimental fact and a necessary condition for my interest in this universe.

But at least there is computational irreducibility: “In a sense computational irreducibility implies that there will always be surprises… even if you know the exact rule that a system follows, you may still not be able to work out what the system will do except by essentially just tracing every step it takes.”

According to Wolfram, computational irreducibility “is the ultimate origin of the apparent freedom of human will.” I have reservations (it seems to me that the keyword is “apparent”), but I’ll be thinking about this point.

And of course, Stephen Wolfram is Stephen Wolfram is Stephen Wolfram, and his ideas always deserve attention. So I’ll study the documentation and follow the Wolfram Physics Project.

[*] My book “Tales of the Turing Church: Hacking religion, enlightening science, awakening technology” is available for readers to buy on Amazon (Kindle | paperback).

Please buy my book, and/or donate to support other Turing Church projects.

Cover picture from Wikimedia Commons.