In the previous excerpt from my conversation with Stephen Wolfram, I asked him how I can remain a single, coherent, persistent consciousness in a branching universe.

In this excerpt, we went deeper into this question. As a conscious observer, I have a single thread of experience. So if the universe branches into many timelines, why don’t I branch into many versions of me?

Stephen’s answer touched on many profound aspects of the Wolfram model.

He started with the failure of the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics to consider the possibility that different branches of history can merge, in other words, come back together again. This failure is rooted in assumption that the universe is continuous; as soon as we start thinking of the universe as discrete, such merging seems not only possible, but inevitable.

He went on to consider the concept of causal invariance, the idea that it doesn’t matter which of countless similar paths you take through the multiway graph, you end up in the same place. In the Ruliad, he said, causal invariance is inevitable.

Then we got to the core of the concept of the observer. According to Stephen Wolfram, an observer equivalences many different states and experiences the aggregate of these states.

I did not expect Stephen’s next move, to apply the concept of aggregation not just to observers, but to the universe itself.

He made the profound proposal that in the Wolfram model of physics, in addition to the computation of the hypergraph through the application of rules, there’s a process of aggregation of possible paths through the multiway graph to weave the future.

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Stephen Wolfram

• Stephen Wolfram
• The Wolfram Physics Project
• Wolfram Institute
• Wolfram Institute Community Discord

Concepts mentioned by Stephen

• Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics
• Computational irreducibility
• Causal invariance
• The Ruliad
• Sequentialization
• Equivalencing

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

When the universe branches, we branch with it.

Those branches don’t remain forever apart. They come back together.

So we, as conscious observers, are rescued from splitting into an immense number ever-so-slightly different versions of ourselves.

When the branches of the universe – and the versions of ourselves – come back together, we don’t worry that the many paths we took to get there are ever-so-slightly different.

We equivalence all those different paths. We treat all those ever-so-slightly different branches of history as if they were more-or-less the same.

I asked Stephen Wolfram about this strangest of consequences of a branching universe.

Through all this splitting and coming-back-together, how can I remain a single, coherent, persistent consciousness?

Stephen’s answer takes us through branchial space to quantum computing, the maximum entanglement speed and the elementary length.

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Stephen Wolfram

• Stephen Wolfram
• The Wolfram Physics Project
• Wolfram Institute
• Wolfram Institute Community Discord

Concepts mentioned by Stephen

• Equivalencing or coarse-graining
• Branchial space
• Coherence time
• Infrageometry
• General relativity
• Quantum mechanics
• Statistical mechanics
• Quantum computing
• Decoherence time
• Euclidean geometry
• Riemannian geometry
• Category theory
• Maximum entanglement speed
• Elementary time and length

People mentioned by Stephen

• Euclid
• Albert Einstein

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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.

The causal graph is at the core of Wolfram Physics.

It’s crucial to the derivations of Special Relativity, General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.

And if that’s not enough to convince you that you need to know about the causal graph, how about this:

The causal graph is a reflection of the nature of causality, the nature of objectivity, the nature of reality itself.

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Einstein’s train thought experiment

What is the multiway graph? video ⋅ podcast ⋅ article

What precisely is causal invariance? video ⋅ podcast ⋅ article

Causality ain’t what you think it is video ⋅ podcast ⋅ article

—

The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind

I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.

The full article is here.

Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.