Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas cover image

253 | David Deutsch on Science, Complexity, and Explanation

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

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Principle of Optimism and Universality

The principle of optimism states that everything permitted by laws of physics is possible with enough knowledge. If something permitted by physical laws cannot be attained, it would be considered impossible and could be tested as such. Whether building a tower or a society, it is either forbidden by the laws of physics or possible. Just as there is one hardware universality, there is also one software universality. However, there is no definitive, formal definition for explanatory universality like Turing completeness because explanations are not formalizable and new modes of explanation can always be created.

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