How to derive quantum mechanics from Wolfram Physics with Jonathan Gorard

Here’s the first of two crucial excerpts from my conversation with Jonathan Gorard. The core idea of Wolfram Physics is that we can model the universe as a hypergraph. If we want this idea to be taken seriously, we’re going to have to derive physics from the hypergraph. The twin pillars of physics, as we know it, are quantum mechanics and general relativity. In this episode, Jonathan explains how quantum mechanics can be derived from the Wolfram model, indeed, how quantum mechanics unexpectedly fell out of the model. It’s a fascinating story. We start with the role of the observer. According to Jonathan, it turns out not to be necessary to narrow our focus to only causally invariant rules. Why not? Because macroscopic observers like ourselves impose causal invariance through our coarse-graining of the hypergraph. In other words, by squinting at the universe, seeing only its large-scale features and glossing over the finer details, we reduce multiple paths through the multiway graph to a single timeline, and, in the process, impose causal invariance. Jonathan goes on to explain that this coarse-graining can be modelled with completion rules. These are fake rules, similar to the true rules of Wolfram Physics, but posited solely to model the coarse-graining of the hypergraph by the observer. And here’s the thing. According to Jonathan, these completion rules are formally equivalent to the collapse of the wavefunction in quantum mechanics. In other words, we finally have an explanation for how the observer causes the collapse of the wavefunction, reducing Schrödinger’s half live, half dead cat to one that’s either dead or alive. If Jonathan’s right, then this is a true breakthrough, not just in quantum mechanics, but in the philosophy of physics. In the next episode, we’ll move on to the other pillar of physics: Jonathan will explain how to derive general relativity from the hypergraph. There’s much more to explain about each of these derivations, but we’re finally getting to the crux of Wolfram Physics, the question of whether it can, after all, model our universe. — Jonathan’s seminal paper on how to derive quantum mechanics • Some Quantum Mechanical Properties of the Wolfram Model https://www.complex-systems.com/abstracts/v29_i02_a02/ Jonathan Gorard • Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics Project https://www.wolframphysics.org/people/jonathan-gorard/ • Jonathan Gorard at Cardiff University https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/2648612-gorard-jonathan • Jonathan Gorard on Twitter https://twitter.com/getjonwithit • The Centre for Applied Compositionality http://www.appliedcompositionality.com/ • The Wolfram Physics Project https://www.wolframphysics.org/ Concepts mentioned by Jonathan • Causal invariance https://mathworld.wolfram.com/CausalInvariance.html • Computational irreducibility https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ComputationalIrreducibility.html • Space-like separation https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Relativity/Spacetime_Physics_(Taylor_and_Wheeler)/06%3A_Regions_of_Spacetime/6.02%3A_Relation_Between_Events-_Timelike_Spacelike_or_Lightlike • Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle • Heisenberg’s microscope experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenberg%27s_microscope • Quantum entanglement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement • Bell’s inequalities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_theorem • Multiway system https://mathworld.wolfram.com/MultiwaySystem.html • Coarse-graining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coarse-grained_modeling • Schrödinger equation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger_equation • Unitary operator https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Unitary.html • Hermitian operator https://mathworld.wolfram.com/HermitianOperator.html • Conjugate transpose operation https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ConjugateTranspose.html • Time reversal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-symmetry • Wavefunction collapse https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_function_collapse • Quantum interference https://www.wolframcloud.com/objects/summerschool/pages/2017/JacobMarks_TE • Quantum tunnelling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_tunnelling Stephen Wolfram’s books • A New Kind of Science https://lasttheory.com/book/a-new-kind-of-science-by-stephen-wolfram • A project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics https://lasttheory.com/book/a-project-to-find-the-fundamental-theory-of-physics-by-stephen-wolfram — The Last Theory https://lasttheory.com/ is hosted by Mark Jeffery https://markjeffery.com/ founder of the Open Web Mind https://www.openwebmind.com/ Prefer to listen to the audio? Search for The Last Theory in your podcast player, or listen at https://lasttheory.com/podcast/046-how-to-derive-quantum-mechanics Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.