7 ms·

> According to Pythagoras everything is number, and God is a mathemati- cian. This point of view has worked pretty well throughout the development of modern sci

by exac 2mo ago

> According to Pythagoras everything is number, and God is a mathemati- cian. This point of view has worked pretty well throughout the development of modern science. However now a neo-Pythagorian doctrine is emerging, according to which everything is 0/1 bits, and the world is built entirely out of digital information. In other words, now everything is software, God is a computer programmer, not a mathematician, and the world is a giant information-processing system, a giant computer [Fredkin, 2004, Wolfram, 2002, Chaitin, 2005] ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ For some reason I get the same vibe from this as people referring to LLM inference using gendered pronouns instead of "it".

cgio 2mo ago
Arguably starts with Wheeler and “it from bit”. Zuse also, who predates Wolfram. For me it’s a little bit like calling the egg you hold in your hand the centre of the Universe while rolling on a skateboard.
nyc111 2mo ago
> However now a neo-Pythagorian doctrine is emerging, according to which everything is 0/1 bits, and the world is built entirely out of digital information Can this be true? DNA is the information system of living creatures and as far as I know, it is not coded with 0s and 1s. So, how can we justify that "the world is built entirely out of digital information"?
- atoav 2mo ago
  For all I, a Victorian everyman, know the world is built from small pistons, gears and pulleys. Every age has their technology which they will project onto the world. A century ago one may have started to talks about everything being electrical wires and switches.
  - d_tr 2mo ago
    It doesn't matter whether the model assumes bits, pulleys, elves or whatever, as long as it does a better job at describing physical reality than whatever exists at the time anyway. People will try and very probably succeed in providing alternative formalism anyway. All that matters is whether it facilitates reasoning towards the goal.

by exac 2mo ago

cgio 2mo ago

Arguably starts with Wheeler and “it from bit”. Zuse also, who predates Wolfram. For me it’s a little bit like calling the egg you hold in your hand the centre of the Universe while rolling on a skateboard.

nyc111 2mo ago

> However now a neo-Pythagorian doctrine is emerging, according to which everything is 0/1 bits, and the world is built entirely out of digital information Can this be true? DNA is the information system of living creatures and as far as I know, it is not coded with 0s and 1s. So, how can we justify that "the world is built entirely out of digital information"?

atoav 2mo ago
For all I, a Victorian everyman, know the world is built from small pistons, gears and pulleys. Every age has their technology which they will project onto the world. A century ago one may have started to talks about everything being electrical wires and switches.
- d_tr 2mo ago
  It doesn't matter whether the model assumes bits, pulleys, elves or whatever, as long as it does a better job at describing physical reality than whatever exists at the time anyway. People will try and very probably succeed in providing alternative formalism anyway. All that matters is whether it facilitates reasoning towards the goal.