The World is Either Algorithmic or Mostly Random by Hector Zenil

Dear Hector

You have written a very interesting essay. On my essay I propose an idea of how we can understand emergence on computation, that can be use to understand how a classical reality emerges from a quantum base. On my approach, We can introduce the computation information perspective, that you are proposing, and at the same time all the classical formalism. I would like to hear your opinions about it.

Regards,

J. Benavides.

Dear Constantin

Please specify how/why you arrived at your conclusion that my theory is good for "games", since it is easy to see how I reproduce the results of QM in a natural way. I could make a catagorical (even more accurate) statement about your theory of being no more than one more "mechanical" theory that has been attempted by maybe thousends of people over the past 100 years. But I won't, because the purpose of fqxi is to explore all avenues. I myself have a million questions about my own theoy which you could have raised, but making catagorical statements without a hint of an evidence is poor science, and a crime at one's own attempt to analyse and understand.

Dear QSA,

Why I arrived at conclusion that your theory is good for games? You write: ''Gravity also appears with surprising results, it shows that gravity becomes repulsive when distance is great or when distance is very small''. Gravity cannot have such properties. Besides, in order to create the computer model of gravitation you must know first the nature of gravitation and inertia. Do you know the nature of gravitation, inertia and spacetime? How can you model the curvature of spacetime if you do not know the nature of spacetime? Besides, even if the programs of simulation of gravity may exist, it does not mean that the Nature use your software. Can you show me the computer that processes the gravity and the motion of your body? In other words it, is a FANTASY only.

Besides, how can you model the Heisenberg uncertainty if you do not know the complete quantum information about position and momentum? You cannot know this information by definition because it is forbidden by Quantum Mechanics; therefore such computer theory is good for games only.

Constantin

Dear Canstantin,

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated. As for gravity, it is known that GR cannot predict short distance(high energy) behavior and that is all the fuss about QG, also, for large distances galaxy rotations and expantion of the universe is not predicted by GR ,only with the tweaking using CC is done in a very unnatural way. Moreover, Gravity has been reinterpreted in other ways like theentropy picture and so spacetime curvture is not the only way, however I do agree that these pictures must be made to match.

But there is a problem in the mid range in my theory where it does predict attraction but the potential is quadratic, I have to sort this thing out.

Otherwise QM and QFT(as related to the 1/r law) perfectly match which confirms these theories from a diffrent prespective and what ever applies to them applies to my theory.

AS for Reality's computer here lies the bueaty of my theory. Once you assume it as a postulate(that numbers and some relationship is the only thing that is real) then that leads to the design of the algorithm as shown which produces the above results. That is how science works , if your assumptions lead to good results then that means they make good sense and valid.

It is needless to say that my theory and the rest here are one man show to find alturnative explaination, you can call them toy models since they are obviously not fully devoloped, but NEVER a game.

Dear Sir,

It is fashionable among scientists to express their views incomprehensibly to retain their importance. However, since one of the criteria for this competition is "Accessible to a diverse, well-educated but non-specialist audience", we would like you to kindly clarify what is meant by: "start from nothing: the state of the universe with all its matter and energy squeezed into an infinitely small point of no length, no width, and infinite density called a singularity; or else a fraction later, out of a state of complete disorder such that once particles formed they couldn't do anything except collide with each other in a completely disordered way." If there was nothing, then what exploded into what? If disorder was created, then was there order before that? Who or what or which mechanism brought order to the disorderly state? If there is order now and there was order before the disorder, why can't it be known and described? All systems tend to move towards thermal equilibrium. Then how does the Universe behave differently during those initial phases which are continuing till now? How did the expanding universe produce structures? Structures are produced by the opposite mechanism of consolidation. Cooling assumes pre-existence of cooler regions by expanding into which the exploded system gets cooled. This means the external system and not the big bang that is responsible for the structure formation. Then wherefrom this external system came into picture, since you say there was nothing.

There are a large number of different approaches or formulations to the foundations of Quantum Mechanics. There is the Heisenberg's Matrix Formulation, Schrödinger's Wave-function Formulation, Feynman's Path Integral Formulation, Second Quantization Formulation, Wigner's Phase Space Formulation, Density Matrix Formulation, Schwinger's Variational Formulation, de Broglie-Bohm's Pilot Wave Formulation, Hamilton-Jacobi Formulation etc. There are several Quantum Mechanical pictures based on placement of time-dependence. There is the Schrödinger Picture: time-dependent Wave-functions, the Heisenberg Picture: time-dependent operators and the Interaction Picture: time-dependence split. The different approaches are in fact, modifications of the theory. Each one introduces some prominent new theoretical aspect with new equations, which needs to be interpreted or explained. Thus, there are many different interpretations of Quantum Mechanics, which are very difficult to characterize. Prominent among them are; the Realistic Interpretation: wave-function describes reality, the Positivistic Interpretation: wave-function contains only the information about reality, the famous Copenhagen Interpretation: which is the orthodox Interpretation. Then there is Bohm's Causal Interpretation, Everett's Many World's Interpretation, Mermin's Ithaca Interpretation, etc. With so many contradictory views, quantum physics is not a coherent theory, but is truly weird.

String theory, which was developed with a view to harmonize General Relativity with Quantum theory, is said to be a high order theory where other models, such as super-gravity and quantum gravity appear as approximations. Unlike super-gravity, string theory is said to be a consistent and well-defined theory of quantum gravity, and therefore calculating the value of the cosmological constant from it should, at least in principle, be possible. On the other hand, the number of vacuum states associated with it seems to be quite large, and none of these features three large spatial dimensions, broken super-symmetry, and a small cosmological constant. The features of string theory which are at least potentially testable - such as the existence of super-symmetry and cosmic strings - are not specific to string theory. In addition, the features that are specific to string theory - the existence of strings - either do not lead to precise predictions or lead to predictions that are impossible to test with current levels of technology.

There are many unexplained questions relating to the strings. For example, given the measurement problem of quantum mechanics, what happens when a string is measured? Does the uncertainty principle apply to the whole string? Or does it apply only to some section of the string being measured? Does string theory modify the uncertainty principle? If we measure its position, do we get only the average position of the string? If the position of a string is measured with arbitrarily high accuracy, what happens to the momentum of the string? Does the momentum become undefined as opposed to simply unknown? What about the location of an end-point? If the measurement returns an end-point, then which end-point? Does the measurement return the position of some point along the string? (The string is said to be a Two dimensional object extended in space. Hence its position cannot be described by a finite set of numbers and thus, cannot be described by a finite set of measurements.) How do the Bell's inequalities apply to string theory? We must get answers to these questions first before we probe more and spend (waste!) more money in such research. These questions should not be put under the carpet as inconvenient or on the ground that some day we will find the answers. That someday has been a very long period indeed!

It is high time to discard the "mainstream physics" by applying "Occam's razor" and rewrite physics from scratch based on the presently available data. No amount of patch work will do. We have developed a theory based on fundamental principles that can satisfactorily answer all the questions posed here. We will publish it soon.

Regards,

basudeba.

Dear Hector,

Congratulations on your dedication to the competition and your much deserved top ten placing. I have a bugging question for you, which I've also posed to all the top front runners btw:

Q: Coulomb's Law of electrostatics was modelled by Maxwell by mechanical means after his mathematical deductions as an added verification (thanks for that bit of info Edwin), which I highly admire. To me, this gives his equation some substance. I have a problem with the laws of gravity though, especially the mathematical representation that "every object attracts every other object equally in all directions." The 'fabric' of spacetime model of gravity doesn't lend itself to explain the law of electrostatics. Coulomb's law denotes two types of matter, one 'charged' positive and the opposite type 'charged' negative. An Archimedes screw model for the graviton can explain -both- the gravity law and the electrostatic law, whilst the 'fabric' of spacetime can't. Doesn't this by definition make the helical screw model better than than anything else that has been suggested for the mechanism of the gravity force?? Otherwise the unification of all the forces is an impossiblity imo. Do you have an opinion on my analysis at all?

Best wishes,

Alan

Dear Sir,

You have raised a very important question. We have discussed it below the essay of Mr. Ian Durham. Here we reproduce it for you.

The latest finding of LHC is that the Universe was created from such a super-fluid and not gases. The confined field also interacts with the Universal field due to difference in density. This in turn modifies the nature of interactions at different points in the medium (Universal field).

A force can act only between two particles as only a particle can influence the field, which in turn can be experienced by another particle. If the external force of the field is more than the confining force of the two particles, then the two particles break up and join to form a new particle. We call this "sambhuti". In the opposite case, the two particles experience the force without being internally affected. The force acts between the centers' of mass of each treating each as a point particle. We call it "bibhuti". This second category of relationship, which we call "udyaama", is known as gravity. Since it stabilizes the two bodies at the maximum permissible distance between them depending upon their respective masses, we call it "urugaaya pratisthaa". For reasons to be discussed separately, this is possible only if gravity is treated as a composite force.

The first category of forces, which are interactions between two bodies, acts differently based on proximity-proximity, proximity-distance, distance - proximity and distance - distance variables. We call these relationships "antaryaama", "vahiryaama", "upayaama" and "yaatayaama" respectively. This interaction affects the field also inducing various local disturbances. These disturbances are known as "nitya gati", "yagnya gati", "samprasaada gati" and "saamparaaya gati" respectively. Any particle entering the field at those points feels these disturbances, which are known as the strong nuclear interaction, weak nuclear interaction, electromagnetic interaction and radioactive disintegration respectively. Thus, you can see that gravity belongs to a completely different group of forces and cannot be integrated with other fundamental forces of Nature in the normal process. Yet, it has a different function by which other forces can be derived from it. We will discuss that separately.

According to our theory, gravity is a composite force of seven forces that are generated based on their charge. Thus, they are related to charge interactions. But we do not accept Coulomb's law. We have a different theory for it. We derive it from fundamental principles. We will discuss it separately.

According to our theory, all particles are locally confined fields. This confinement takes a three fold structure for the particle - center of mass or nucleus, extra-nuclear field and the confining orbitals. If we take into account the external field with which the particle interacts, it becomes a four-fold (3+1) structure. The particle interacts with the field in two ways. If the internal energy distribution cancels each other with a little inward pull, then it behaves as a stable particle. Thus, all particles can be described as composites that exhibit two types of charges: that which pushes out from a central point and is described as positive charge and that which confines it and is described as negative charge. Where both are balanced, it is neutral charge.

We have derived theoretically that the charge of proton in electron units is not +1, but +10/11. Similarly, the charge of neutron is not 0, but -1/11. This makes the atom slightly negatively charged. This excess negative charge is not experienced out side as it is directed towards the nucleus. It is not detected during measurements due to the nature of calibration of the measuring instrument. But it is released during fusion and fission.

The confinement described above takes place where the external field dominates to confine the particle. Here the particle becomes negatively charged. In the opposite case, the particle becomes positively charged. The particles are classified as positively charged or negatively charged according to whether the external field dominates over confinement or the confined force dominates over the local field. Since equilibrium is inherent in Nature, in either case, the particles search for their complements to become full. The less negative part of the proton (since it is +10/11, it has -1/11 negative charge) seeks to couple with the electron to become -1/11. This makes hydrogen atom highly reactionary.

The combined charge of proton and electron (-1/11) seeks the neutron since it has an equal charge. Thus, the opposites do not attract and same charge does not repel. It is not the opposite either. The charge interaction can be of four types:

positive + positive = explosive. That is seen in fusion reaction.

Positive + negative (total interaction) = internally creative (increased atomic number)

Positive + negative (partial interaction) = externally creative (becomes an ion and interacts with other particles.)

Negative + negative = no reaction. They co-exist.

For further clarification, kindly write to: mbasudeba@gmail.com.

Regards,

basudeba.

Dear Sir,

We would like to further clarify as follows:

According to our theory, gravity is a composite force of seven forces that are generated based on their charge. Thus, they are related to charge interactions. But we do not accept Coulomb's law. We have a different theory for it. We derive it from fundamental principles. In Coulomb's law, F = k Q1 x Q2 /d^2. In a charge neutral object, either Q1 or Q2 will be zero reducing the whole equation to zero. This implies that no interaction is possible between a charged object and a charge neutral object. But this is contrary to experience. Hence the format of Coulomb's law is wrong.

As we have repeatedly described, the atoms can be stable only when they are slightly negatively charged which makes the force directed towards the nucleus dominate the opposite force, but is not apparent from outside. Hence we do not experience it. We have theoretically derived the value of the electric charge of protons, neutrons and electrons as +10/11, -1/11 and -1. The negative sign indicates that the net force is directed towards the nucleus. Charge interaction takes place when a particle tries to attain equilibrium by coupling with another particle having similar charge. The proton has +10/11 charge means it is deficient in -1/11 charge. The general principle is same charge attracts. Thus, it interacts with the negative charge of electrons. The resultant hydrogen atom has a net charge of -1/11. Thus, it is highly reactionary. This -1/11 charge interacts with that of the neutron to form stable particles. These interactions can be of four types.

Positive + positive = explosive. By this, what we mean is the fusion reaction that leads to unleashing of huge amounts of energy. It's opposite is also true in the case of fission, but since it is reduction, there is less energy release.

Positive + negative (total interaction) = internally creative (increased atomic number.) This means that if one proton and one electron is added to the atom, the atomic number goes up.

Positive + negative (partial interaction) = externally creative (becomes an ion.) This means that if one proton or one electron is added to the atom, the atom becomes ionic.

Negative + negative = no reaction. What it actually means is that though there will be no reaction between the two negatively charged particles; they will appear to repel each other as their nature is confinement. Like two pots that confine water cannot occupy the same place and if one is placed near another with some areas overlapping, then both repel each other. This is shown in the "Wheeler's Aharonov-Bohm experiment".

Regards,

basudeba

Dear Hector

Thanks for a lucid and very interesting paper. I would be most interested in how you would apply your expertise and approach (information theory and programming) to my earlier 2005 Beautiful Universe theory on which my present fqxi paper is based. The following is my reaction to some of your well-considered statements and ideas.

Your symmetry-breaking homochirality finds a very precise physical explanation in my theory - it is the rotation in one direction of the fundamental building blocks or nodes of a universal lattice that has only one type of information: angular momentum in units of h with the axis of rotation at a given spherical angle in a micro Bloch sphere.

"If the world were digital at the lowest scale one would end up seeing nothing but strings of bits." Not necessarily in a lattice the bits would be structured in crystal-like arrangement (either itself creating 3D space, or embedded in 3 hidden space dimensions) not one-D strings.

"What surprises us about the quantum world is precisely its lack of the causality that we see everywhere else and are so used to. But it is the interaction and its causal history that carries all the memory of the system" In my theory randomness is an artifact of the orderly spread of momentum through the lattice by a process resembling diffusion.

"if space is informational at its deepest level, if information is even more fundamental than the matter of which it is made and the physical laws governing that matter, then the question of whether these effects violate physical laws may be irrelevant. Producing random bits in a deterministic universe, where all events are the cause of other events, would actually be very expensive" In my theory "the medium is the message" the bits making up everything interact causally and locally - information is most efficiently transmitted in the form of angular momentum in units of h from node to node. This is impossible to understand or accept using present-day notions of physics, that is why I proposed specific steps how to reverse-engineer GR, space-time and quantum probability into a simpler more fundamental theory.

"Unveiling the machinery" Take that, Feynman! He famously avoided searching for a machinery that creates quantum phenomena.

Your research of Ref. 14 sounds very interesting. Is there an online version?

Best wishes from Vladimir

Dear Hector

Sorry for the delay to respond- I just saw this. The FQXI website badly needs an author tracking function whereby you can see a list of all the threads to which you have contributed, with new responses listed chronologically.

Thanks for the Feynman quote - it shows that his physical intuition is deeper than his practical mathematical ingenuity - he devised the many-paths method to calculate quantum outcomes, but was not satisfied with it, and hoped for a simpler reality. In the sort of universal lattice of nodes such as the one I proposed, any local change in energy or node orientation immediately creates a Machian domino effect that spreads throughout the universe from node to node. This model - if successful - would explain why Feynman's' many-path hypothesis 'works', and also explains the simple machinary (node-to-node induction) behind this.

I found your essay "Algorithmic Nature..." rather abstract and too technical for my level of understanding - I would appreciate it if you can summarize it in a simple paragraph using everyday words - thanks. I look forward to your newer version of your paper.

Dear Hector

What is your opinion about this site?

http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/computeruniverse.html

Thank you for advance

Yuri

It seems to me very interesting

http://www.ma.hw.ac.uk/~oliver/Nature_article.pdf

Yuri

Dear Hector,

I would like to introduce myself in quantum terminology and share the truth that I have experienced with you. who am I?

I superpositioned myself to be me, to disentangle reality from virtuality and reveal the absolute truth.

Love,

Sridattadev.