The Last Theory

So many of the most complex and most promising graphs and hypergraphs of Wolfram Physics involve loops and self-loops.They 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.Loops and self-loops matter, because including them in our models reduces the number of arbitrary assumptions we need to make in Wolfram Physics, making it more complete.–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Dugan Hammock lives in the fourth dimension.As Jonathan Gorard mentioned in our recent conversation on How to draw the hypergraph in Wolfram Physics, Dugan has worked on plotting the evolution of the hypergraph over time.We get into that in the second part of our conversation, but in this first part, I get to know Dugan as a mathematician and artist.Enjoy his amazing animations of three-dimensional cross-sections through four-dimensional hypershapes!—Dugan HammockDugan Hammock’s videos on YouTubeDugan Hammock on TwitterDugan Hammock at The Wolfram Physics ProjectPlotting the evolution of a Wolfram Model in 3-dimensionsTemporally coherent animations of the evolution of Wolfram Models People mentioned by DuganMax CooperGeorge K. FrancisWilliam Thurston—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

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.—Jonathan GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by JonathanComputational reducibilityComputational irreducibilityGeneral relativityQuantum mechanicsFluid mechanicsContinuum mechanicsSolid mechanicsPartition functionBoltzmann equationMolecular chaos assumptionErgodicityDistribution functionChapman-Enskog expansionStress tensorNavier-Stokes equationsEuler equations—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

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?There’s a simple answer to this question.Nothing.There’s nothing beyond the hypergraph.There’s nothing beyond the universe.But it’s not a very effective answer.So here’s a deeper response to the age-old question:What’s beyond the universe?–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

The hypergraph is the universe.So if we want to see the universe, we need only draw the hypergraph.The question is: how?The nodes and edges of the hypergraph are determined by the rules of Wolfram Physics. But how we draw those nodes and edges is not determined.The drawing of the hypergraph is not the universe, it’s just a way of visualizing the universe.So I asked Jonathan Gorard how we might decide where to position the nodes and edges when we draw the hypergraph, so that we can see what’s really going on in Wolfram Physics.—Jonathan GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectPeople mentioned by JonathanCharles PoohDugan HammockPlotting the evolution of a Wolfram Model in 3-dimensions by Dugan HammockTemporally coherent animations of the evolution of Wolfram Models by Dugan HammockConcepts mentioned by JonathanSpring electrical embeddingSpring embeddingLayered embeddingCausal graphsCoulomb’s lawHooke’s law—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

What is the Big Bang in Wolfram Physics?There’s a straightforward answer to that question.It’s the point in the evolution of the universe where the hypergraph goes from nothing to something.It’s the start of the explosion that eventually yields the uncountable particles, planets, stars and galaxies of our universe.So that’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it?Well, yes, except that there’s one phrase above that demands further explanation: nothing to something.How does the universe go from nothing to something?–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Here’s a slightly technical question:Does Wolfram Physics really need hypergraphs?Or could it based on graphs instead?Jonathan Gorard shares some interesting insights into the evolution of Stephen Wolfram’s model for a fundamental theory of physics.Wolfram started with trivalent graphs, in which each edge joins two nodes, and each node has three edges.But when he ran into issues implementing simulations using these simple graphs, he solved the problem by graduating to hypergraphs, in which each hyperedge can join any number of nodes, and each node can have any number of hyperedges.Here’s how hypergraphs, rather than graphs, came to be the basis of Wolfram Physics.—Jonathan GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by JonathanTrivalent networks (a.k.a. cubic graphs)Mathematica—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

I’ve been blown away by your response to The Last Theory in 2022.How am I going to thank you for reading, listening, watching and subscribing?Well, by bringing you more Wolfram Physics in the New Year, that’s how.Here are 7 directions I want to take The Last Theory in 2023.—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

Wolfram Physics is based on hypergraphs.Why?What is it about hypergraphs that might make them a better model of the universe than, say, strings of characters, or cellular automata, or Turing machines?When I asked Jonathan Gorard this question, he gave an answer that was deeply insightful.It’s such a core question, so fundamental to why we should take the Wolfram model seriously, that I’ve listened to Jonathan’s answer over and over.—Jonathan GorardJonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectPeople and Concepts mentioned by JonathanRoger PenroseRafael SorkinTommaso BolognesiCausal Set TheoryHasse diagramRiemannian distanceStrings (of characters)Cellular automataTuring machinesLorentz invarianceGeneral covariance—I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

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 from mathematics to computation feels to me like a scientific revolution.Recently, I asked Jonathan Gorard, who was instrumental in the founding of The Wolfram Physics Project, whether it feels to him, too, like a scientific revolution.“I think so,” he said. “I mean, it’s a strong statement, but I don’t think it’ll end up being too inaccurate.”(If you want to check out that part of our conversation, you can listen here or watch here.)Here’s why, in my mind, Wolfram Physics is the next scientific revolution.–I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.