Wolframs a household name in the science community.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Now, of course, wacky is a relevant term when it comes to physics.
So calling a physics theory wacky implies an entirely different level of weirdness.
The post begins with the ominous phrase I never expected this.
To be fair, at some level Ive been working towards this for nearly 50 years.
But its just in the last few months that its finally come together.
And its much more wonderful, and beautiful, than Id ever imagined.
In many ways its the ultimate question in natural science: How does our universe work?
Is there a fundamental theory?
An incredible amount has been figured out about physics over the past few hundred years.
This all adds up.
We do havequantum mechanics, but despite being a very, very successful theory it doesnt quite explain everything.
Then theres string theory, which has takena bit of a beatingin recent years.
So yeah, maybe we do need a new kind of physics.
What makes Wolframs theory different is that, well, its not really a theory.
Its more like the frame-work of a theory.
In other words, it feels like Wolframs proposing that the universe works exactly like a 3D computer model.
This seems like just the kind of thing someone who specializes in creating computer languages would say.
I do not live under a rock.
Have I heard of Stephen Wolfram’s physics project?
How could I not given that his PR people rammed it down my inbox.
Why do I not comment on it?
I looked at it and don’t think it’s interesting, that’s why.
Now kindly move on.
Sabine Hossenfelder (@skdh)April 20, 2020
Yes, I agree.
Per the blog post:
So what then is time?
But theres a catch: hes asking for the science community at large to help him prove it.
Perhaps the biggest criticism of Wolframs work is that its a bit dense.
Thetechnical explanation aloneweighs in at over 400 pages.
Its going to take a few months for all of his ideas to see peer-review.
The universe will still need explaining after everyones had a glance at the paper.
Are you a physicist or physics enthusiast?
Let me know what you think about Wolframs new project on Twitter @mrgreene1977.
