The Last Theory

Mark Jeffery
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  • PHYSICS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

The Last Theory is 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 podcast, 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.

  1. DEC 18

    Ruliad + observer = physics ... also aliens

    The ruliad is every possible computation. What could you possibly say about such an enormous, all-encompassing object? Well, that’s where we come in. Particular observers sample the ruliad in particular ways. Observers like us sample the ruliad in ways that give rise to physics as weknow it. Ruliad + observer = physics. In this excerpt from my conversation with Stephen Wolfram, he explores how physics, mathematics and biology all arise from this same enormous, all-encompassing object, the ruliad. He gets to aliens, too, asking such provocative questions as how far from us in rulial space are the nearest aliens? — Stephen Wolfram Stephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordReferences Ruliad definitionRuliad articleSecond Law of Thermodynamics articleSecond Law of Thermodynamics historyMetamathematics articleMetamathematics bookBiological evolution articleBiological evolution follow-upComputational irreducibility— 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.

    13 min

  2. DEC 11

    How to simplify the causal graph

    The hypergraphs generated by Wolfram Physics are complex and chaotic. The multiway graphs that trace every possible evolution of these hypergraphs become extremely complex and extremely chaotic after only a few iterations. The causal graphs that plot which of the events in these multiway graphs has to happen before which of the other events look like spaghetti. If we’re going to find mass/energy or momentum in Wolfram Physics – or special relativity or general relativity or quantum mechanics – then the causal graph is the place to look. But if we’re going to have to find all of physics in a causal graph that looks like spaghetti, then I give up. If we’re going to find all of physics in the causal graph, then we’re going to have to simplify. How to simplify the causal graph? Two ways: use a simpler rule; andcollapse multiple nodes representing the same event into a singlenode.Don’t worry, by the time we’re done, that’ll all make sense! This is the pivotal episode in my exploration of Wolfram Physics. It establishes a firm foundation what comes next. From here on, we’ll be able to make serious progress... towards mass/energy, momentum, special relativity, general relativity and quantum mechanics. — 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.

    36 min

  3. NOV 15

    Where's Mark?

    It’s been a while since my last episode of The Last Theory or Open Web Mind. Where am I? It might look like I’m lazing in the sun, but actually I’ve been working hard. For The Last Theory, I’ve been working on a long episode, more involved than any I’ve ever made, and more important than any I’ve ever made. It’ll unlock mass/energy, momentum, special relativity, general relativity and quantum mechanics. And I’ve been working on Open Web Mind, too, making serious progress towards launch. So I’m sorry for the delay, but it’ll be worth the wait. In the meantime, make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletters at lasttheory.com and openwebmind.com to be the first to know when the train’s leaving the station. — The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery founder of Open Web Mind I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here. Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

    1 min

  4. AUG 29

    Black holes in the hypergraph with Stephen Wolfram

    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 Wolfram Stephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordReferences Black 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 images Eddy 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.

    22 min

  5. AUG 8

    The causal graph is objective reality

    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.

    13 min

  6. JUL 12

    Stephen Wolfram on AI, human-like minds & formal knowledge

    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 Wolfram Stephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordRelated writings from Stephen Generative 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.

    18 min

  7. JUN 21

    Multiway minds with Stephen Wolfram

    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 Wolfram Stephen WolframThe Wolfram Physics ProjectWolfram InstituteWolfram Institute Community DiscordConcepts mentioned by Stephen Quantum 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.

    6 min

  8. MAY 22

    Do fields exist?

    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.

    18 min
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About

The Last Theory is 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 podcast, 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.

Information

  • Creator
    Mark Jeffery
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2025
  • Episodes
    78
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Kootenay Village Ventures Inc. 2022
  • Show Website
    The Last Theory

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