Computational irreducibility means that there are no shortcuts when we apply rules to the hypergraph.

I used to think that our existing theories of physics, such as general relativity and quantum mechanics, were examples of computational reducibility: shortcuts that allow us to make higher-level generalizations about how the application of rules to the hypergraph gives rise to our universe.

Jonathan Gorard used to think this, too.

But it turns out that over the last couple of years, he has changed his mind on this quite radically.

General relativity and quantum mechanics, he now thinks, aren’t examples of computational reducibility, they’re consequences of computational irreducibility.

I truly appreciated this part of our conversation, because it radically changed my mind, too, about this crucial concept in Wolfram Physics.

Mark

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind