The Last Theory

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 GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectPeople mentioned by JonathanCharles PoohDugan HammockPlotting the evolution of a Wolfram Model in 3-dimensions by Dugan HammockTemporally coherent animations of the evolution of Wolfram Models by Dugan HammockConcepts mentioned by JonathanSpring electrical embeddingSpring embeddingLayered embeddingCausal graphsCoulomb’s lawHooke’s law—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

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 GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by JonathanTrivalent 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 GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectPeople and Concepts mentioned by JonathanRoger PenroseRafael SorkinTommaso BolognesiCausal Set TheoryHasse diagramRiemannian distanceStrings (of characters)Cellular automataTuring machinesLorentz invarianceGeneral 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 GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectPeople and Concepts mentioned by JonathanJohn von NeumannStanislaw UlamAlan TuringAlonzo ChurchKurt GödelQuantum information theoryUndecidabilityIrreducibilityManojna NamuduriXerxes D. ArsiwallaZX-Calculus and Extended Hypergraph Rewriting Systems I: A Multiway Approach to Categorical Quantum Information Theory – Jonathan Gorard, Manojna Namuduri, Xerxes D. ArsiwallaZX-Calculus and Extended Wolfram Model Systems II: Fast Diagrammatic Reasoning with an Application to Quantum Circuit Simplification – Jonathan Gorard, Manojna Namuduri, Xerxes D. ArsiwallaImage creditsJohn von Neumann – Los Alamos National LaboratoryStanisław Ulam – Los Alamos National LaboratoryFor 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.

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 GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectPeople and Concepts mentioned by JonathanIsaac NewtonRené DescartesDemocritusJohn LockeBishop BerkeleyCorpuscularianismAtomismAlan TuringTuring machinesLambda calculusRecursively Enumerable FunctionsConstructivismL. E. J. BrouwerDavid HilbertIntuitionism—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 GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityPeople and ProjectsThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectStephen Wolfram’s announcement of the projectMax PiskunovSetReplace on GitHubConcepts mentioned by JonathanIrreducibilityUndecidabilityUniversalityCurrent algebraRegge theoryGauge theoryStandard ModelString theoryPoincaré groupMirror symmetryCalabi–Yau manifoldK3 surface—ImagesCalabi–Yau manifold CalabiYau5 by Andrew J. Hanson, Indiana University, who allows use with attributionFeynman 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 ⋅ watchEpisode 12: Beware invisible things – read ⋅ listen ⋅ watchEpisode 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 ⋅ articleAre Wolfram’s graphs three‑dimensional? audio ⋅ video ⋅ articleWhat are dimensions in Wolfram’s universe? audio ⋅ video ⋅ articleand previous episodes on space:What is space? the where and the how far audio ⋅ video ⋅ articleThe 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.

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.

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.