The Stephen Wolfram Podcast Stephen Wolfram Readings: On the Nature of Time
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Nov 7, 2024 Dive into a thought-provoking exploration of time as Stephen discusses its computational nature. He challenges the conventional linear view, introducing concepts like computational irreducibility. The intricate link between time and the universe's structure, illustrated by the Ruliad, is unveiled. Engaging with ideas of time travel and relativity, he also examines how our perceptions are shaped by computational principles. Philosophical questions arise about time's progression and its deep connections to memory and space.
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Computational Time
- The progress of time can be viewed as the progressive execution of computation by the universe.
- This computational view is supported by the phenomenon of computational irreducibility, where predicting future states requires running through all intermediate steps.
Observer's Role in Time Perception
- Our experience of time unfolding gradually is due to our limitations as computationally bounded observers.
- If we could perform unlimited computations, we could perceive the entire future at once.
Multithreaded Time
- At a fundamental level, time might be multithreaded with many possible histories.
- We perceive time as a single thread because of how we, as observers, sample and interpret these threads.