Are There Better Constructors Than Just the Laws of Physics?

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In the current state of the programme, a shift of viewpoint is the more obvious thing than a particular new view on the theory of everything. And part of that viewpoint shift is this emphasis on counter actuals. The term counterfactual is used in the book in a very specific way. But you are putting a slightly different spin on it, i think. Er. E, so the term counterfactUAL is used er in the book to refer to what we call 'the science of canon cant' What is the title of your book? It's called "The Science of Canon Cant" and I'll let you go for the solar system.

Traditional physics works within the “Laplacian paradigm”: you give me the state of the universe (or some closed system), some equations of motion, then I use those equations to evolve the system through time. Constructor theory proposes an alternative paradigm: to think of physical systems in terms of counterfactuals — the set of rules governing what can and cannot happen. Originally proposed by David Deutsch, constructor theory has been developed by today’s guest, Chiara Marletto, and others. It might shed new light on quantum gravity and fundamental physics, as well as having applications to higher-level processes of thermodynamics and biology.

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Chiara Marletto received her DPhil in physics from the University of Oxford. She is currently a research fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. Her new book is The Science of Can and Can’t: A Physicist’s Journey Through the Land of Counterfactuals.

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