Has Stephen Wolfram discovered a new fundamental theory of Physics? (041)

#StephenWolfram #TheoryOfEverything #Physics
Stephen Wolfram, Creator of Wolfram Alpha, Author of A New Kind of Science, discusses his new Project to Find a Fundamental Theory of Physics and more.

Over the course of 4 decades, Stephen Wolfram has pioneered the development & application of computational thinking. He has been responsible for many discoveries, inventions & innovations in science, technology, and business.
In this wide-ranging interview with Brian Keating, Wolfram discusses his decades in-the-making Wolfram Physics Project, his career, his philosophy & approach to science, his hoped-for legacy, and questions from the audience including whether mathematical beauty matter at all, or is it just falsifiability?

0:00 Introduction
00:05:15 The Impact of Computers on his life
00:12:18 Prime Numbers
00:15:25 What he thinks he's good at doing
00:20:49 #WolframAlpha
00:21:30 The work he and his son did on creating a language for #ArrivalMovie
00:32:38:26 The first alien intelligence is really AI!
00:38:58 thoughts on #2001ASpaceOdyssey from his blog post
00:44:50 Cellular Automata & Complexity (1994)
00:54:50 Doom for the "Simulation Hypothesis" Thanks to the Physics Project
1:00:00 A New Kind of Science
01:14:54 Adventures of a Computational Explorer
02:06:39 How Steve Jobs convinced him to use 'Mathematica' instead of Wolfram Omega
02:32:02 A Project to Find the Fundamental Theory of Physics

Born in 1959, Wolfram was educated at Eton, Oxford, and Caltech. He published his first scientific paper at the age of 15, and received his PhD in theoretical physics from Caltech at the age of 20. Wolfram's early scientific work was mainly in high-energy physics, quantum field theory & cosmology. Having started to use computers in 1973, Wolfram rapidly became a leader in the emerging field of scientific computing, and in 1979 he began the construction of SMP—the first modern computer algebra system—which he released commercially in 1981.

In recognition of his work in physics and computing, in 1981 Wolfram became the youngest recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. Wolfram then set out on an ambitious new direction in science aimed at understanding the origins of complexity in nature. Wolfram's first key idea was to use computer experiments to study the behavior of simple computer programs known as cellular automata. In 1982, this allowed him to make a series of startling discoveries about the origins of complexity. The papers Wolfram published quickly had a major impact, and laid the groundwork for the emerging field that Wolfram called complex systems research.

In 1986 Wolfram founded the first journal in the field, Complex Systems, & its first research center. Then, after a highly successful career in academia—first at Caltech, then at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and finally as Professor of Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Illinois—Wolfram launched Wolfram Research, Inc.

Wolfram began the development of Mathematica in late 1986. The first version of Mathematica was released on June 23, 1988, and was immediately hailed as a major advance in computing.The popularity of Mathematica grew rapidly, and Wolfram Research became established as a world leader in the software industry.

From its beginnings as a technical computing system, Mathematica has grown dramatically. It has been responsible for many important inventions and discoveries in a vast range of fields and industries, as well as being a central tool in the education of generations of students.

Wolfram has turned his attention to the development of a new fundamental theory of physics, wondering: ”What about our physical universe? Could it be operating according to simple rules?”

The Physics Project is described on his channel here:

[ViralKiller]

Even if he's wrong, the fact that the computational approach is far superior to the mathematical string theory approach is clear

[lindsayforbes]

What an amazing man. Thanks for letting me listen to him

[gxmusic]

Woah. I didn’t know that Dr Wolfram was involved in “Arrival”. One of my favourite Sci fi films of all time. An absolute incredible film that I still watch to this day.

[chuckjones]

I am a student of physics, philosophy and the occult sciences. I just wanted to state that astrology is one of the keys to the teachings of the mystery schools. Its "fortune telling" aspect has enabled the knowledge to remain hidden in plain sight in the public arena, much like tarot. The deeper aspects of astrology are akin to a form of symbology used to transmit the essence of the teachings. Unless you devote the time and effort to understand all of the relevant correlations and correspondences AND have acquired at least a basic knowledge of the other six keys it will likely always appear to be hocus pocus. Its real purpose is to convey wisdom not be a detailed predictor of daily life. Thinking it is useless would be like thinking physics is useless if you only knew how to add and subtract.

[gxmusic]

This is why I love your channel Dr Keating - to connect with cerebral boosts like Dr Wolfram. His excitement about science is utterly infectious. Have shared with my daughter who is aiming for a science career after her A Levels next year. Thank you!

[anandbalivada]

People talk about Wolfram's ego and some of the written stuff associated with him has reflections of it, but he seems very respectful in all his interviews and even says that his theory may fail and only generate some mathematics (lex fridman interview). Best part is that he talks about science almost the entire time and actually is open to holes in his theory rather than blatantly dodging the questions and endlessly criticising the existing theories or community and passing judgements about people. His ideas also deeply resonate with me...mathematics, computer science, physics have always seemed to me as inseparable and Wolfram's theory seems to capture it beautifully. Whether it's right or wrong it really captured my imagination unlike 6 dimensions of rulers and compasses.

[mikeborrello]

Stephen, absolutely right. If you can learn to let go of your fear, creativity will find its way back. Thank you Brian for a great interview and the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE series of podcasts. Helping to make quarantine life interesting and quite tolerable.

[RobRandolph]

'If it's sufficiently alien, it doesn't resonate.'
Jesus, how sadly true is that fact.
In an age of inexhaustible mediocre content, quality is dismissed as an unintelligible outlier.

[deanerhockings-reptilianhu]

Dang yes! Perfect timing! Well done on getting an interview with this chap at this moment!

[gregoryhead]

The mass for a black hole can be explained by entangling (m_e) to c, c^2.. and Hz, i.e. emerging from three fundamental constants.

[CandidDate]

He's got a good head on his shoulders. Wolfram will go down in history for that Mathematica site and language. But he wants more!

[geraldt]

Thank you two for this. This was a great conversation that started a bit stiff. Once you two got matching, the points went across so fluently. This is a first time I happily see Stephan explain his theory to be outmatched by his competence. It may be perceived as cocky, but he is a mentor that you can only hope for. I would like to see more like this as the theory evolves

[DodgeThis]

I wish more people watched stuff like this versus politics and absolute trash.

[tensevo]

I have always been troubled when ppl tell me space and time are the same thing, now here is somebody who agrees "spacetime" is misleading.

[benjamindorsey]

Thank u wolfram! Ur work is critical to the world.

[kish]

What’s great about Wolfram is that he’s given several falsifiable predictions of his theory. This is very unlike Eric Weinstein.

[DallasMay]

The thing about the "sufficiently alien, it doesn't resonate" thing is that it's not on the Physics industrial complex to test his theories for him. Einstein's theories weren't accepted very quickly either. Not until the 1919 eclipse when Einstein proposed an astronomical experiment that would prove his theory correct or not.

Wolfram needs to create his own experiment and publish it. The guy has got all the money in the world. IF he can identify a physical phenomena that his theory can better explain than traditional physics can, THEN you can bet the physics world would adopt his theories in a heartbeat.

[gxmusic]

“The effort to get YOUR creativity out, that’s a big challenge” : Dr Wolfram. He’s so bang on there. There is so much untapped potential amongst the human race.

[gxmusic]

That teleportation question was fantastic. If you could reconstruct YOU right down to Planck level, does that doppelgänger think they are you? Even though they’ve only been “born” 5 seconds ago. Raises some big questions about conciousness and even religious aspects like “the soul”.

[openomniverse]

I think Stephen's work is the most beautiful of the ToE group. That fact also makes me sceptical lol.