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> would represent knowing close to everything about the physical world that its possible to know. That's a severe misunderstanding of what it means to have a u

by Kutta 11y ago

> would represent knowing close to everything about the physical world that its possible to know. That's a severe misunderstanding of what it means to have a unified physical theory. The current standard model of physics allows us to theoretically predict the evolution of physical systems with an insanely high precision. A precision so great that there wouldn't be any meaningful error simulating macroscopic objects like human brains, given sufficient computing power. But we still have massive holes in our understanding of many things, including human biology or neurology. We don't have enough computing power to precisely simulate, but even if we had that power, it wouldn't necessarily let us understand anything. Elementary particles and humans are on hugely different scales. Observing a simulated human would be easier than observing a human simulated by physics itself, but it wouldn't just magically make everything clear. Having a TOE in physics brings us very little relative benefit compared to the Standard Model, when it comes to understanding biology, materials science, geology, psychology, computer science, etc.

mindcrime 11y ago
That's a severe misunderstanding of what it means to have a unified physical theory. The current standard model of physics allows us to theoretically predict the evolution of physical systems with an insanely high precision. A precision so great that there wouldn't be any meaningful error simulating macroscopic objects like human brains, given sufficient computing power. Sure, like I said, I'm just thinking out loud here. Obviously TOE in and of itself doesn't automatically translate into full knowledge of everything in practice. But in principle, it would given sufficient computing power, allow us to simulate anything, which I think would yield additional understanding. But here's the thing, and where this all ties back together: sufficient computing resources may not be possible, even in principle, to allow use of that TOE to do $X. But an upper bound on the amount of computing resources should also reflect something of an upper bound on what our hypothetical AI can do as well. Or to put it all slightly differently.. if we had a TOE, we'd have shown, at least, that humans are smart enough to develop a TOE. Which I think at least raises the issue of "how much smarter can a machine be, or what would it mean for a machine to be much smarter than that?" Note to that I'm not necessarily arguing for this position. It's more of a thought experiment or discussion point than something I'm firmly convinced of.

by Kutta 11y ago

mindcrime 11y ago

That's a severe misunderstanding of what it means to have a unified physical theory. The current standard model of physics allows us to theoretically predict the evolution of physical systems with an insanely high precision. A precision so great that there wouldn't be any meaningful error simulating macroscopic objects like human brains, given sufficient computing power. Sure, like I said, I'm just thinking out loud here. Obviously TOE in and of itself doesn't automatically translate into full knowledge of everything in practice. But in principle, it would given sufficient computing power, allow us to simulate anything, which I think would yield additional understanding. But here's the thing, and where this all ties back together: sufficient computing resources may not be possible, even in principle, to allow use of that TOE to do $X. But an upper bound on the amount of computing resources should also reflect something of an upper bound on what our hypothetical AI can do as well. Or to put it all slightly differently.. if we had a TOE, we'd have shown, at least, that humans are smart enough to develop a TOE. Which I think at least raises the issue of "how much smarter can a machine be, or what would it mean for a machine to be much smarter than that?" Note to that I'm not necessarily arguing for this position. It's more of a thought experiment or discussion point than something I'm firmly convinced of.