The Last Theory
The Last Theory
The Last Theory
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An easy-to-follow exploration
of what might be the last theory of physics:
Wolfram Physics
of what might be the last theory of physics:
Wolfram Physics
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for fresh insights into Wolfram Physics
every other week
for fresh insights into Wolfram Physics
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Latest from The Last Theory
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9 April 2024
In defence of Stephen Wolfram
Some people seem to have little love for Stephen Wolfram. Here are four criticisms of Stephen Wolfram I regularly hear, and why these criticisms, though they hint at uncomfortable truths, nonetheless miss the mark.
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9 March 2024
Beyond physics
How can the Wolfram model be applied to biology, chemistry, mathematics and other fields? And why is the hypergraph so widely applicable? Jonathan Gorard explains.
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11 February 2024
Who is Stephen Wolfram?
Stephen Wolfram has founded a host of fascinating projects... most of them named Wolfram-something-or-other. What are all these Wolfram-branded projects? Who is Stephen Wolfram?
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19 January 2024
Where's the evidence for Wolfram Physics?
Can the Wolfram model make testable predictions about reality, predictions that differ from those of general relativity and quantum mechanics, predictions that might prove that Wolfram Physics is right?
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11 January 2024
The knowledge hypergraph
The Open Web Mind is a protocol for shared human intelligence, based on the knowledge hypergraph. If you're interested in Wolfram Physics, I think you'll find Open Web Mind fascinating!
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17 December 2023
Are electrons too big to simulate?
If elementary particles such as electrons are on a scale much, much larger than the hypergraph, might it prove impossible to simulate them on any computer we can possibly imagine?
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7 December 2023
How to measure the curvature of space
What if you're inside a universe, and you want to measure the curvature of space? Once again, a two-dimensional crab comes to the rescue, given us a way to measure the curvature of a universe from inside that universe.
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16 November 2023
A toy model of particles
Here's how a non-planar tangle, persisted by planarity-preserving rules, might move through the hypergraph without being altered, other than through an interaction with another non-planar tangle. Does that sound a bit like an elementary particle to you?
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2 November 2023
How to tell if space is curved
If Wolfram Physics is to be a true model of our universe, then the space represented by the hypergraph must be curved by the presence of matter, as Einstein predicted. But how can you tell whether space is curved from inside the hypergraph?
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19 October 2023
How special is general relativity?
If the Wolfram model is to be an accurate model of our universe, then it must give us the Einstein equations. But what if any old model with any old rules can give us the Einstein equations? What if general relativity isn't so special?
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7 October 2023
Why scientific theories need not make predictions
In my exploration of Wolfram Physics, I've come across one objection more than any other. Over and over again, people have told me that the Wolfram model must be rejected because it makes no predictions. Here's why they're wrong.
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21 September 2023
How to derive general relativity from Wolfram Physics
Here's a masterclass from Jonathan Gorard. One of the most compelling results to come out of the Wolfram Physics is Jonathan's derivation of the Einstein equations from the hypergraph. Here's how general relativity falls out of the Wolfram model.
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7 September 2023
How to derive quantum mechanics from Wolfram Physics
Jonathan Gorard explains how quantum mechanics can be derived from the Wolfram model. Here, at last, is how the observer causes the collapse of the wavefunction, reducing Schrödinger's half live, half dead cat to one that's either dead or alive.
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24 August 2023
Peer review is suffocating science
Peer review does precisely the opposite of what you think it does. It prevents the good papers from being published, and ensures that only the bad ones get through. If we want to reverse the stagnation of science over the last 50 years, then we've got to get rid of peer review.
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10 August 2023
Is the universe a tautology?
Jonathan Gorard steers a fascinating middle path between one rule and the ruliad, between the universe and the observer, between irreducibility and tautology.
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27 July 2023
What is a particle in Wolfram's universe?
It's pretty easy to see how the hypergraph might model three-dimensional space in Wolfram Physics. But where are the photons, neutrinos, electrons and quarks moving through that space?
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13 July 2023
One rule to rule them all?
I asked Jonathan Gorard whether all rules might be applied to the hypergraph, following Stephen Wolfram's idea of the ruliad, or whether he was searching for one rule for our universe.
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30 June 2023
John von Neumann and the art of being there
Whenever the most important prerequisites to Wolfram Physics were happening, John von Neumann always seemed to be there. How did he always come to be in the right place at the right time?
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15 June 2023
How to find interesting & plausible rules
The Wolfram model allows an infinite number of rules. I asked Jonathan Gorard how to find the ones that are both interesting and plausible.
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1 June 2023
Why has there been no progress in physics since 1973?
The twentieth century was a truly exciting time in physics. From 1905 to 1973, we made extraordinary progress probing the mysteries of the universe. Then, in 1973, this extraordinary progress... stopped. Why?
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18 May 2023
How to find causally invariant rules
Causal invariance is a crucial characteristic for any rule of Wolfram Physics. Given that not every rule of Wolfram Physics is causally invariant, I asked Jonathan Gorard how we find the ones that are.
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4 May 2023
How to knit the universe
Some of rules of Wolfram Physics seem to fabricate space itself in much the same way as knitting needles might fabricate a blanket... and if you think that knitting is a far-fetched analogy, just wait until you see my animations!
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22 April 2023
Animating the hypergraph
By extending spring-electrical embedding into an additional time dimension, Dugan Hammock has found a way to create beautifully smooth animations of the hypergraph of Wolfram Physics.
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8 April 2023
Causal invariance versus confluence
Causal invariance is one of the most important concepts in the Wolfram model... and one of the most difficult to capture. Here's Jonathan Gorard's take on it and how it relates to confluence.
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26 March 2023
Loops and self-loops in the hypergraph
Loops and self-loops can play a crucial role in the evolution of graphs and hypergraphs... which means that they might play a crucial role in the evolution of the universe itself.
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16 March 2023
Living in the fourth dimension
Dugan Hammock has worked on plotting the evolution of the hypergraph over time. Here are a few of his amazing animations of three-dimensional cross-sections through four-dimensional hypershapes.
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23 February 2023
Why I changed my mind about computational irreducibility
Computational irreducibility is a crucial concept in Wolfram Physics. Here's why Jonathan Gorard changed his mind about it quite radically.
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9 February 2023
What's beyond the universe?
There are two questions about Wolfram Physics I'm asked a lot: What's beyond the hypergraph? And what's between the nodes and edges of the hypergraph? Here's my response to the age-old question: What's beyond the universe?
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26 January 2023
How to draw the hypergraph in Wolfram Physics
The hypergraph is the universe. So if we want to see the universe, we need only draw the hypergraph. The question is: how? Jonathan Gorard and I discuss how to see what's really going on in Wolfram Physics.
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19 January 2023
What is the Big Bang in Wolfram's universe?
What is the Big Bang in Wolfram Physics? It's the point in the evolution of the universe where the hypergraph goes from nothing to something. The question is, how does the universe go from nothing to something?
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5 January 2023
Graphs v hypergraphs in Wolfram Physics
Here's a slightly technical question: Does Wolfram Physics really need hypergraphs? Or could it based on graphs instead? Jonathan Gorard explains how hypergraphs, rather than graphs, came to be the basis of Wolfram Physics.
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29 December 2022
Where I'm going with Wolfram Physics in 2023
I've been blown away by your response to The Last Theory in 2022. Here are 7 directions I want to take The Last Theory in 2023.
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22 December 2022
Why hypergraphs might be a good model of the universe
Wolfram Physics is based on hypergraphs. Why? Here's Jonathan Gorard's deeply insightful answer to this core question, so fundamental to why we should take the Wolfram model seriously.
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15 December 2022
Is Wolfram Physics the next scientific revolution?
For the last few hundred years, all our theories of physics have been mathematical. If Stephen Wolfram is right, from now on, our most fundamental theories of physics may be computational. This shift feels to me like a scientific revolution.
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8 December 2022
Why I took a chance on Wolfram Physics
Jonathan Gorard admits that it was a risk, for his academic career, to work on the Wolfram Physics project. I asked Jonathan how he thought about that risk and why he decided to take it.
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1 December 2022
What is the multiway graph in Wolfram Physics?
The multiway graph helps us visualize all the possible universes we have to keep in mind when we choose not to choose where to apply the rules of Wolfram Physics.
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17 November 2022
From clockwork to computation
Jonathan Gorard reveals why he found the computational approach to physics so compelling that he goaded Stephen Wolfram into founding The Wolfram Physics Project. He broaches a wide range of fascinating topics in the philosophy of science.
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10 November 2022
Why I don't like String Theory
In my conversation with Jonathan Gorard about the founding of the Wolfram Physics Project, I said that I don't like String Theory. Here's why.
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3 November 2022
The founding of the Wolfram Physics Project
In 2019, Jonathan Gorard helped goad Stephen Wolfram into launching The Wolfram Physics Project. Last week, I talked to Jonathan about the revolutionary ideas that have come out of the project, at what might prove a pivotal moment in the history of science.
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27 October 2022
Hypergraphs are everywhere
Wolfram Physics models the universe as a hypergraph. Maybe I'm just seeing things, but it seems to me that hypergraphs are everywhere: physics, chemistry, biology, neurology, ecology, sociology, technology. What I want to know is: Why? Why are hypergraphs everywhere?
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13 October 2022
How big is the computer that runs the universe?
I have my doubts about the existence of a computer that's whirring away performing the computations required to run our universe. But let's suppose that it does exist and ask a simple question: How big would it have to be?
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29 September 2022
Unary, binary, ternary, k‑ary: hyperedges in Wolfram Physics
Here are answers to some fundamental questions about hypergraphs: a hyperedge can connect any number of nodes, and a hypergraph can include any of these different kinds of hyperedge.
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15 September 2022
What is a hypergraph in Wolfram Physics?
So far, I've been simulating Wolfram Physics using graphs. But you may have come across simulations of Wolfram Physics using hypergraphs. What's the difference? What is a hypergraph?
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1 September 2022
Where to apply Wolfram's rules?
The question of where to apply Wolfram's rules is not as easily answered as you might think. This seemingly straightforward question will take us into the philosophy of time, causality, consciousness, contingency and determinism. And it'll lead us towards some of the most important concepts in Wolfram Physics: the multiway graph, branchial space and causal invariance.
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4 August 2022
Space‑time is dead
Thinking of space and time as effectively the same thing might be the biggest blunder physicists have ever made. Space-time is dead. Here's why... and how physicists got it so wrong for so long.
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21 July 2022
Is space continuous or discrete?
Has every physicist from Leucippus to Einstein been right to insist that space is continuous? Or is Wolfram right to up-end millennia of settled science and insist that space is discrete?
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7 July 2022
Beware invisible things
As I explore Wolfram Physics, I'm aware of certain invisible things that we believe in now, but we're going to have to let go, if Stephen Wolfram is right. And I'm also aware of the temptation to replace this old set of invisible things with a new set of invisible things. Here's why we'd do well to resist.
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9 June 2022
What are dimensions in Wolfram's universe?
If Stephen Wolfram is right, then our universe might not be uniformly three-dimensional. So maybe dimensionality isn't quite what we think it is. What, exactly, are dimensions?
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26 May 2022
Are Wolfram's graphs three‑dimensional?
How many dimensions are there in graphs generated by Wolfram Physics? Today I'm going to answer the question. And the answer's going to be unexpected. Here's a hint: it's not two and it's not three.
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12 May 2022
How to measure the dimensionality of the universe
The graphs of Wolfram Physics are going to have to be three-dimensional to be a true representation of our universe. But how can we tell whether they're three-dimensional? How would we measure the dimensionality of our own universe?
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28 April 2022
Where's the computer that runs the universe?
I've been running simulations of our universe on my low-powered laptop. If Stephen Wolfram's right and the real universe evolves computationally in the same way as these simulated universes, where's the computer that runs the universe?
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14 April 2022
The expanse: dimension, separation & explosion
If it's to be a viable theory of physics, Wolfram Physics has to accurately model space as we know it, including these fundamental characteristics: position, distance, dimension, separation & explosion. Let's see how it measures up.
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31 March 2022
What is space? the where and the how far
What does our universe look like? Let's start with space. By considering the most fundamental characteristics of space, we can see how the nodes, edges, graphs & rules of Wolfram Physics might accurately represent the world as we know it.
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17 March 2022
What is physics? the how and the why
I pick up a stone. I hold it in my hand, my palm over the stone, my fingers curled underneath. I let go. The stone falls. Why? This one-word question takes us to the heart of what physics is. And, perhaps more importantly, what physics isn't.
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3 March 2022
Different rules, different universes
What different rules could be applied to our universe? What different universes would arise from these rules? Here's an exploration of different rules, different universes.
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17 February 2022
Why you've never heard of Wolfram Physics
Wolfram Physics might be the most fundamental scientific breakthrough in your lifetime. And yet you've probably never heard of it. Here's why.
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3 February 2022
Nodes, edges, graphs & rules: the basic concepts of Wolfram Physics
According to Wolfram Physics, the universe is a network of points and lines. Here's my simple explanation of nodes, edges and graphs, along with rules, which determine how the universe evolves.
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20 January 2022
Why I'm writing about Wolfram Physics
If physics and mathematics have always eluded you, well, me too. Here's why I'm writing about Wolfram Physics, despite having lost interest in physics in 1988 and never truly got to grips with mathematics.
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10 January 2022
The most fundamental scientific breakthrough of our time
Welcome to The Last Theory, an easy-to-follow exploration of what might be the last theory of physics.
New to The Last Theory?
Start Here
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10 January 2022
The most fundamental scientific breakthrough of our time
Welcome to The Last Theory, an easy-to-follow exploration of what might be the last theory of physics.
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20 January 2022
Why I'm writing about Wolfram Physics
If physics and mathematics have always eluded you, well, me too. Here's why I'm writing about Wolfram Physics, despite having lost interest in physics in 1988 and never truly got to grips with mathematics.
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3 February 2022
Nodes, edges, graphs & rules: the basic concepts of Wolfram Physics
According to Wolfram Physics, the universe is a network of points and lines. Here's my simple explanation of nodes, edges and graphs, along with rules, which determine how the universe evolves.
Other Wolfram Physics articles
From around the web
The best Wolfram Physics articles
Looking for more Wolfram Physics articles? Here’s a list of the best Wolfram Physics articles from around the web, including the best of Stephen Wolfram’s voluminous content, the best of Jonathan Gorard’s many interviews, and, of course, the best articles from The Last Theory.
Other Wolfram Physics podcasts
From around the web
The best Wolfram Physics podcasts
Looking for more Wolfram Physics podcasts? Here’s a list of the best Wolfram Physics podcast episodes from around the web, including the best of Stephen Wolfram’s voluminous content, the best of Jonathan Gorard’s many interviews, and, of course, the best of The Last Theory podcast.
Other Wolfram Physics videos
From around the web
The best Wolfram Physics videos
Looking for more Wolfram Physics videos? Here’s a list of the best Wolfram Physics videos from around the web, including the best of Stephen Wolfram’s voluminous content, the best of Jonathan Gorard’s many interviews, and, of course, the best of The Last Theory channel.
Recommended
A project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics
by Stephen Wolfram
The definitive guide to Wolfram Physics. This is a big, beautiful book: over 750 pages of elegant explanation and incredible images illustrating Stephen Wolfram’s progress towards a fundamental theory of physics.
A New Kind of Science
by Stephen Wolfram
The book that introduced the concepts behind Wolfram Physics. It's a huge book, as we've come to expect from Stephen Wolfram, weighing in at over 1,200 pages, with striking illustrations on almost every one of them.
Subscribe to The Last Theory Newsletter
for fresh insights into Wolfram Physics every other week
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