David Galbraith Profile picture
Jun 9, 2020 8 tweets 2 min read Read on X
.@stephen_wolfram theory not everything, so far:
> The universe is a computer
> As in its operation creates itself
> From rule based iteration on a node graph
> We can't predict the future from knowing this as it would require a the universe to compute it
> And we can't have a meta computer that could do so, as it couldn't be part of or connected to the universe
> Of the possible rules that can operate on the node graph, each creates a universe, and one is the actual rule that creates ours.
> Luckily there is enough compression that we can go looking for the rule without needing a spare universe to model it.
> By iterating through candidate node connection possibilities for both the graph shapes that create 'space' and the rules that determine the causality that creates options for these shapes (didn't really grok diff between 'space' graph and causality graph)
> We can create a universe that represents space and determine its dimension from the topology.
> Rules can create spaces with fractional dimensions, but the true rule we are looking for should have three dimensions (time is not the same and is the computation itself).
> The universe created has a clock speed (time as changes), an entanglement rate (when not causally connected graph changes become causally connected again) and a minimum length (much smaller than Planck length).
> Unlike Quantum Theory which is non deterministic but discrete, or General Relativity which is deterministic but continuous the universe computer operates in a world which is deterministic and discrete.
> This universe computer can, however, derive both quantum theory and general ans special relativity.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with David Galbraith

David Galbraith Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @daveg

Sep 7
As if it wasn’t clear already VW illustrates the giant, ticking time-bomb at the heart of Europe’s economic model.

The European economy is based on two things, industrial production and selling the past.
Selling the past includes tourism, where nice places have a history and the story increases the margins. Selling the past also includes things like fashion, perfume and luxury goods where the brand associations with history, also increases margins.
Industrial production is obviously about making things. But it is no longer about making industrial era things. Cars are a great example here. as although EVs look the same as the type of cars that Germany produces, the way they are produced and their business model and margins are totally different.
Read 12 tweets
Jul 2
Fintech is a niche internet sector that everyone thought would be huge, but outside of China it has resulted in very few platform companies like Revolut. Here’s why.

1. It’s a massive market sector that had everyone drooling but regulation means it’s not a level playing field for startups.
2. Outside of the period of ultra low interest rates it’s ultimately about balance sheet size, which is hard for startups.
3. The big product opportunities are very simple in user proposition, product terms: a bank and an insurance company.
Read 11 tweets
Jun 30
Why France could implode.
This is Germany - the feedback loop of incentives to work to create wealth where a portion pays for a welfare state (a good thing) doesn't work anymore and it's getting worse, with this specific example. But now, let's compare it with France. Image
France is a lot worse, the state is 60% of the economy vs Germany's 45% and it hasn't made a profit in half a century, so its debt is increasing. Image
And the cost to service that debt is increasing for France both because zero interest rates are ending and because the French debt is becoming more expensive than Germany's, meaning it has to cut spending or increase taxes. Image
Read 8 tweets
Jun 1
My macro view:
Agrarian to Industrial to Digital era.
(Information economy is as big a transition as Industrial Revolution)
The introduction of the printing press rewired communication from one to a few to a few to many.
It triggered the Reformation and 200 years of war and eventually led to the US model of popular culture. The masses (via broadcast channels) had more purchasing power than the elite and movies made more money than opera.

The internet rewired communication from a few to many to many to many. This is an even bigger structural change than the printing press delivered.
Everyone has a broadcast channel and people that care about a fringe issue will spend 24/7 promoting it, where moderates won’t.
Fringe issues and conspiracy dominate because there are an infinite number of lies but finite number of truths, so there are more compelling lies than compelling truths and lies win.
Eventually this stabilises when the network settles into a small world topology where people that link tribes gate-keep the lies from spreading.
But for now, we are not just in the 1930s, we are in Reformation 2.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction and the increased communication that the information era unleashed, from postal service to the telegraph, phone network and ultimately the internet eventually led to noise in the system.
This noise includes the lies, extremism, culture wars on the Left and nationalism on the Right, spam, phishing, hacking and state interference on social media. As a tribal species prone to irrational beliefs we are susceptible to flaws in communication.
The efficiency of communication that led to trade and globalisation culminated in secular deflation. The reaction to it is creating nationalism and social division which ends up with friction in trade and production, protectionism and secular inflation. Inflation is not over but will come in spikes based on individual events triggered by the above underlying causes.
Read 7 tweets
Apr 29
Wake up Europe, the digital age is bypassing you. You have no Google , Amazon, Meta, Apple. You arrogantly called SpaceX a fanciful dream and it wiped out the European Space Agency. You have no Nvidia and your response to AI has been to regulate before you have anything domestic to regulate. Your car industry is about to be wiped out by the Chinese. Your biggest economy shut down nuclear out of spite and with fraud. Your capital markets have no liquidity and your startups are drowning in bureaucracy. Your border is being attacked by Russia and your defence spending will have to triple just to be where it was with US subsidy given that part of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc is now part of the EU. Your economy has slumped from the world’s largest to way behind the US. Your pensions are paid by three times less people and cost five times as much as people live longer. Your infrastructure is a model for the world but is configured for rail over self drive. Your electricity grid needs half a trillion of investment to cope with planned capacity and replacements, for the switch to renewables, within a decade. There are bright spots such as pharma and your healthcare system is a model for what civilisation looks like it. But to afford it, you need to completely transform from the industrial to digital age, to reform your institutions and rout the sclerotic bureaucratic system.
I did this interview for the Guardian nearly a decade ago, shouting at clouds about the same thing. Since then, I’d argue, things have gotten worse. It needs a massive, multinational initiative to correct, urgently. theguardian.com/technology/201…
In reply to the most contentious part of the above rant: infrastructure being configured for rail over self drive. It seems like a stupid point on the face of it, but I think it’s true. I thought self drive would never happen before ChatGPT was released, now I think it is likely and it will transform transportation and the built environment more than the switch from horses to cars. It will blur the lines between public and private transport and create the possibility of a true network of point to point carriages. Rail is the opposite of this and will not work in terms of economics of coverage. I speak as someone who loves trains and high speed rail, but I live near Geneva and to go to Bordeaux by train means going all the way to Paris and then back down the other side of France, taking twice as long and at twice the price of alternatives.
Read 5 tweets
Nov 20, 2022
Here is a recipe for how to build a place like this. Importantly, it has to be a recipe, not a design.

Establish a simple hierarchy like the human body: a head (here, the cathedral), and the rest. At building level either consciously use symmetry or consciously break it.
Have squarish spaces between buildings for people to interact. Put trees in them where possible.
Prioritise pedestrians over bicycles and bicycles and motor scooters over cars. Remove on street parking and remove bicycle lanes where spaces can be pedestrian first.
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(