- #1
lanman
- 8
- 0
I have recently been studying Gregory Chaitin's "algorithmic information theory" for a school project. It describes the complexity of mathematical objects by the size of the smallest Turing machine program capable of computing them (in bits). It also defines a "random" object as one with an algorithmic complexity equal to its actual information content (ie., it cannot be computed).
Studying this gave me a somewhat frightening thought. It can be assumed that the universe is the only logical solution to some unknown problem. Wouldn't that also mean that it is also the simplest possible solution? That would mean that it is algorithmically random, and cannot be described with laws. Therefore, a unified field theory wouldn't exist. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the purpose of a unified theory and the meaning of algorithmic information theory, but I thought I'd post this and see.
Studying this gave me a somewhat frightening thought. It can be assumed that the universe is the only logical solution to some unknown problem. Wouldn't that also mean that it is also the simplest possible solution? That would mean that it is algorithmically random, and cannot be described with laws. Therefore, a unified field theory wouldn't exist. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the purpose of a unified theory and the meaning of algorithmic information theory, but I thought I'd post this and see.