full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of all knowledge

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Well, so, that leads to kind of an ultimate question: Could it be that someplace out there in the computational universe we might find our physical universe? Perhaps there's even some quite simple rule, some simple program for our uvisenre. Well, the hsrotiy of physics would have us believe that the rule for the universe must be pretty complicated. But in the computational universe, we've now seen how rules that are incredibly sipmle can produce incredibly rich and complex behavior. So could that be what's going on with our whole universe? If the rules for the universe are simple, it's kind of ibiteavnle that they have to be very abrtsact and very low level; oterianpg, for example, far below the level of space or time, which makes it hard to represent things. But in at least a large class of cases, one can think of the universe as being like some kind of network, which, when it gets big enough, behaves like continuous space in much the same way as having lots of molecules can behave like a continuous fulid. Well, then the universe has to evolve by alyppnig little ruels that pevsorgirlesy update this network. And each possible rule, in a sense, corresponds to a candidate universe.

Open Cloze


Well, so, that leads to kind of an ultimate question: Could it be that someplace out there in the computational universe we might find our physical universe? Perhaps there's even some quite simple rule, some simple program for our ________. Well, the _______ of physics would have us believe that the rule for the universe must be pretty complicated. But in the computational universe, we've now seen how rules that are incredibly ______ can produce incredibly rich and complex behavior. So could that be what's going on with our whole universe? If the rules for the universe are simple, it's kind of __________ that they have to be very ________ and very low level; _________, for example, far below the level of space or time, which makes it hard to represent things. But in at least a large class of cases, one can think of the universe as being like some kind of network, which, when it gets big enough, behaves like continuous space in much the same way as having lots of molecules can behave like a continuous _____. Well, then the universe has to evolve by ________ little _____ that _____________ update this network. And each possible rule, in a sense, corresponds to a candidate universe.

Solution


  1. operating
  2. applying
  3. inevitable
  4. universe
  5. abstract
  6. rules
  7. simple
  8. fluid
  9. progressively
  10. history

Original Text


Well, so, that leads to kind of an ultimate question: Could it be that someplace out there in the computational universe we might find our physical universe? Perhaps there's even some quite simple rule, some simple program for our universe. Well, the history of physics would have us believe that the rule for the universe must be pretty complicated. But in the computational universe, we've now seen how rules that are incredibly simple can produce incredibly rich and complex behavior. So could that be what's going on with our whole universe? If the rules for the universe are simple, it's kind of inevitable that they have to be very abstract and very low level; operating, for example, far below the level of space or time, which makes it hard to represent things. But in at least a large class of cases, one can think of the universe as being like some kind of network, which, when it gets big enough, behaves like continuous space in much the same way as having lots of molecules can behave like a continuous fluid. Well, then the universe has to evolve by applying little rules that progressively update this network. And each possible rule, in a sense, corresponds to a candidate universe.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
wolfram alpha 18
computational universe 8
incredibly simple 3
candidate universes 3
simple program 2
rule number 2
computational irreducibility 2
real world 2
international space 2
space station 2
specific questions 2
mathematica code 2
formal language 2
user interface 2
precise programs 2
string theory 2
standard model 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
international space station 2

Important Words


  1. abstract
  2. applying
  3. behave
  4. behaves
  5. behavior
  6. big
  7. candidate
  8. cases
  9. class
  10. complex
  11. complicated
  12. computational
  13. continuous
  14. corresponds
  15. evolve
  16. find
  17. fluid
  18. hard
  19. history
  20. incredibly
  21. inevitable
  22. kind
  23. large
  24. leads
  25. level
  26. lots
  27. molecules
  28. network
  29. operating
  30. physical
  31. physics
  32. pretty
  33. produce
  34. program
  35. progressively
  36. represent
  37. rich
  38. rule
  39. rules
  40. sense
  41. simple
  42. someplace
  43. space
  44. time
  45. ultimate
  46. universe
  47. update