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As I understand the main idea, that information propagation through space and time can be described by a computational model like cellular automatons. So instea

by maweki 6y ago

As I understand the main idea, that information propagation through space and time can be described by a computational model like cellular automatons. So instead of describing the movement of particles via a wave function or field equations or similar, it's described by computational steps of a (preferably simple) cellular automaton. As some automatons are computationally complete, and some of the functions we use to describe physics are computable, I would not be surprised that some descriptions of the world coincide. Wolfram's idea is, that all particle behaviour, etc., can be described this way, instead of the field equations we're currently looking for in physics. I don't know whether Wolfram has a model of information propagation that is so much more useful than wave functions and field equations but they will agree for the simple cases.

chriswarbo 6y ago
Keep in mind that 'information propagation' is pretty fundamental: we can use it to define light cones (if A can propagate information to B, then A/B are in each others past/future light cones). We can use light cones to define time (past/future) and space (neither). That's a pretty standard approach to relativity (I can't remember whether I covered it as an undergraduate, but I certainly encoutered it around that time). (Shannon) information theory is also closely related to probability, and quantum theory is a form of probability theory (e.g. https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0101012 https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0101012 ). Hence it's not entirely out-there to think that an informational/computational approach like Wolfram's might bear fruit. In fact, I was hoping that someone smart(er than me) would investigate such connections a bit deeper; if only to rule them out! Note that "causal set theory" seems to be going that direction too (although I'm not overly familiar with it) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causal_sets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causal_sets I also find it promising that ideas from quantum computing (qbits, circuits, teleportation, protocols, etc.) have gone from a quirky engineering footnote (in the 90s), to become a core part of how many physicists now think about the world.

by maweki 6y ago

chriswarbo 6y ago

Keep in mind that 'information propagation' is pretty fundamental: we can use it to define light cones (if A can propagate information to B, then A/B are in each others past/future light cones). We can use light cones to define time (past/future) and space (neither). That's a pretty standard approach to relativity (I can't remember whether I covered it as an undergraduate, but I certainly encoutered it around that time). (Shannon) information theory is also closely related to probability, and quantum theory is a form of probability theory (e.g. https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0101012 https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0101012 ). Hence it's not entirely out-there to think that an informational/computational approach like Wolfram's might bear fruit. In fact, I was hoping that someone smart(er than me) would investigate such connections a bit deeper; if only to rule them out! Note that "causal set theory" seems to be going that direction too (although I'm not overly familiar with it) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causal_sets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causal_sets I also find it promising that ideas from quantum computing (qbits, circuits, teleportation, protocols, etc.) have gone from a quirky engineering footnote (in the 90s), to become a core part of how many physicists now think about the world.