Of course, there are two reasons to perform a "categorifaction" of something:
- To to turn the model of such a thing from a giant bundle of procedural spaghetti code, scattered all over the place into a model with clearly defined boundaries (and relationships that transcend those boundaries) -- to create a relational, object-oriented version of the model.
- To actually get around to instantiating those objects (to actually walk the walk, and not just talk the talk) -- programmers don't just write code and then sit there and stare at it; they compile it; they utilize it.
Right now, the state of the knowledge of physics is essentially a procedural mess. Eventually, when people like Ford achieve their goal, it will not be so.
So, what's the main stumbling block that's stopping humanity from achieving this goal? I'm suspecting that there is a real fear in people that they will lose their role as a special guide to this part of our collective unconscious. And so, the chaos is never tidied up by those with the insight to do so.
The goal is to create some kind of Mathematica / Hyperphysics (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html) hybrid that can not only help people explore what's known, but to also explore the possible connections in the collective unconscious that we simply ignore / forget about (learned machines are naive and can be non-prejudicial in terms of how they apply their paranoiac-critical skills, if trained right, and that's a bonus sometimes).
Academia will never pull this off, largely because it's effectively career suicide -- not that they'll all be jobless afterward, but just that their job will change into something optimal. Heaven forbid that would ever happen...
This is why I think that people who are interested in the categorification of physics should be invited to take part in the Physics of Information program. They're the only ones questioning humanity on this front -- the rest mostly seem to be stunned deer caught in the crosshairs. Sorry academia, but your time's up, whether you fight against it or just sit on your rear and ignore it. It'll hurt less if you don't struggle!
- Shawn
