Wolfram's reality engine

[hmg]

https://writings.stephenwolfram.com...damental-theory-of-physics-and-its-beautiful/

This is promising. His rules spit out dimensionality and general relativity.

 

[IdleRich]

Interesting article, thanks.

 

[IdleRich]

In fact, if you read it right through to the end it almost sounds too good to be true. I wonder if that overall explanation skips anything or bends the truth at all. To be fair he's quite open about which bits require a bit of a fudge and so on and he says he's gonna put it all on the internet as they refine it and take it further, and they are asking everyone who wants to and is capable of doing so to get involved so it's hard to criticise his transparency.

 

[Woebot]

In fact, if you read it right through to the end it almost sounds too good to be true.

yes. "We started understanding how quantum mechanics works. Then we realized what energy is."

 

[IdleRich]

Yep, his model apparently auto-generates the equations for relativity and quantum mechanics, obviates the need for fudging things for dark matter and provides a kind of first principles derivation of what energy is. Maybe he's solved it*? I suppose that's certainly possible, it's just always been perceived to be outside of humanity's range or something while I've been alive... that doesn't mean that it is.











*It being everything

 

[Woebot]

Maybe he's solved it*? *It being everything

i do like the idea that quantum mechanics has an answer. it pisses me right off when scientists insist that it's totally divorced from everything else.

i suppose once the mechanical solution for the universe has been solved - that just poses another question. why?

 

[hmg]

i do like the idea that quantum mechanics has an answer. it pisses me right off when scientists insist that it's totally divorced from everything else.

i suppose once the mechanical solution for the universe has been solved - that just poses another question. why?

That'll surely be part of the answer, otherwise it's no answer at all.

There are tedious scientists feeding off the scraps and then there are the philosopher king scientists who are primarily interested in the big questions. High energy alchemists.

 

[IdleRich]

I dunno surely at the moment we're at the stage of - relativity works like this... but we don't know why. Looks as though Wolfram is trying to provide an overall model of how the universe is and, if the universe is like that, then straight away it will answer the question as "in this universe relativity has to be like this cos of the underlying structure" but I don't think he's addressing the "Why is the universe like this?" question... and even if he did there would probably another why behind that wouldn't there? Basically I think there is either an infinite regress of questions or at some point you get to a) because it is or b) God/magic event

 

[IdleRich]

Or I could be utterly wrong.

 

[IdleRich]

There are tedious scientists feeding off the scraps

But, to give a boringly mundane response, isn't it these guys who discover things that are of practical use on a daily basis and sometimes even build things that are useful to us using these scraps. Though I agree that the idea that if everyone did this we would somehow build up to the big picture is not gonna work, that does require a different approach.