September 15, 2020
#124 – Stephen Wolfram: Fundamental Theory of Physics, Life, and the Universe
Lex Fridman PodcastAbout this episode
Stephen Wolfram is a computer scientist, mathematician, and theoretical physicist. This is our second conversation on the podcast. Please check out our sponsors to get a discount and to support this podcast: – SimpliSafe : https://simplisafe.com/lex – Sun Basket , use code LEX: https://sunbasket.com/lex – MasterClass : https://masterclass.com/lex If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/podcast or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook , Medium , or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts , follow on Spotify , or support it on Patreon . Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. OUTLINE: 00:00 – Introduction 07:14 – Key moments in history of physics 12:43 – Philosophy of science 14:37 – Science and computational reducibility 22:08 – Predicting the pandemic 38:58 – Sunburn moment with Wolfram Alpha 39:46 – Computational irreducibility 46:45 – Theory of everything 52:41 – General relativity 1:01:16 – Quantum mechanics 1:06:46 – Unifying the laws of physics 1:12:01 – Wolfram Physics Project 1:29:53 – Emergence of time 1:34:11 – Causal invariance 1:53:03 – Deriving physics from simple rules on hypergraphs 2:07:24 – Einstein equations 2:13:04 – Simulating the physics of the universe 2:17:28 – Hardware specs of the simulation 2:24:37 – Quantum mechanics in Wolfram physics model 2:42:46 – Double-slit experiment 2:45:13 – Quantum computers 2:53:21 – Getting started with Wolfram physics project 3:14:46 – The rules that created our universe 3:24:22 – Alien intelligences 3:32:29 – Meta-mathematics 3:37:58 – Why is math hard? 3:52:55 – Sabine Hossenfelder and how beauty leads physics astray 4:01:07 – Eric Weinstein and Geometric Unity 4:06:17 – Travel faster than speed of light 4:16:59 – Why does the universe exist at all