![]() It’s a generalization of the universal computer as Turing envisaged it: a universal constructor must be capable not only of performing all of the computations that are physically allowed, but also all of the tasks that are physically allowed in particular, it would be capable of self-reproducing. Von Neumann wrote extensively about these more computational issues, about what it would mean to have a universal machine that exceeds the powers of a universal computer, and this would be what he called a universal constructor. Marletto: I was interested in von Neumann’s theory of the universal constructor, which was connected to issues in both theoretical biology and quantum information. SUGGESTED VIEWING A Goldilocks World With Chiara Marletto, Tara Shears, Bernard Carr, Massimo PigliucciĬhipkin: How did you get involved with constructor theory? I came in by applying constructor theory to various open problems in quantum information, in quantum thermodynamics, in the foundations of quantum physics, and so on. When we started working together we realized that the theory actually had a much wider applicability than it had originally seemed. The approach is to use statements about what tasks are forbidden/impossible, and what tasks are possible, and why. ![]() ![]() Instead of using the ‘dynamical laws + initial conditions’ approach, David suggested an approach which is rooted in the quantum theory of computation, but extended to the rest of physics. The program was to try to recast the whole of physics in different terms. Marletto: Constructor Theory was originally proposed by David Deutsch in 2012. Logan Chipkin joins Oxford physicist and constructor theorist Chiara Marletto to discuss what constructor theory is, how it might point the way to a successor to quantum theory, and how it might allow physics to tackle some of philosophy’s most perplexing puzzles. Might constructor theory provide an answer to both?Ĭonstructor theory is a relatively nascent idea in fundamental physics that proposes to underlie all other currently known theories, not to mention those yet to be known, and to solve problems across a host of fields in science and beyond. Meanwhile, philosophy continues to wrestle with questions of knowledge and consciousness. Even our most successful and advanced theories of foundational physics – general relativity and quantum theory – have so far been unable to give a complete account of the universe.
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