The Last Theory
Episodes
Wolfram on philosophy
22 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Wolfram has many philosophical ideas, but I’ve not heard him talk about pure philosophy.When I asked him about the relationship between phys...
How different observers think differently with Stephen Wolfram
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Do different observers think differently? Or does the principle of computational equivalence mean that all observers think the same way?Stephen Wolfra...
What is time in Wolfram Physics?
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Physics, the way we’ve thought about it for the last few hundred years, requires us to make assumptions about time.In our old way of thinking, just ...
Think like an alien with Stephen Wolfram
02 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Different observers, from different regions of the ruliad, experience the universe in different ways.To what extent can these different observers comm...
Ruliad + observer = physics ... also aliens
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The ruliad is every possible computation. What could you possibly say about such an enormous, all-encompassing object?Well, that’s where we come in....
How to simplify the causal graph
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The hypergraphs generated by Wolfram Physics are complex and chaotic.The multiway graphs that trace every possible evolution of these hypergraphs beco...
Where's Mark?
15 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a while since my last episode of The Last Theory or Open Web Mind.Where am I?It might look like I’m lazing in the sun, but actually I’...
Black holes in the hypergraph with Stephen Wolfram
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Electrons may be tiny black holes propagating through the hypergraph.After all, electrons and black holes have much in common: they’re carriers of p...
The causal graph is objective reality
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The multiway graph shows every possible evolution of the universe.So, if we can compute every possible reality, does that mean that there’s no singl...
Stephen Wolfram on AI, human-like minds & formal knowledge
12 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this fascinating exposition, Stephen Wolfram connects two of the most important breakthroughs of our time: AI and the ruliad.I ask Stephen how he t...
Multiway minds with Stephen Wolfram
21 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Can you hold in your mind two different threads of experience?In this five-minute excerpt from my conversation with Stephen Wolfram, he introduces the...
Do fields exist?
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fields don’t exist.I mean, a field with grass in it, that kind of field does exist.But a field in physics?A gravitational field? An electric field? ...
Aggregation – how the Wolfram model weaves the future – with Stephen Wolfram
27 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the previous excerpt from my conversation with Stephen Wolfram, I asked him how I can remain a single, coherent, persistent consciousness in a bran...
When the universe branches, what happens to me? with Stephen Wolfram
15 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
What is the causal graph in Wolfram Physics?
02 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The causal graph is at the core of Wolfram Physics.It’s crucial to the derivations of Special Relativity, General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.A...
Is everything determined? with Stephen Wolfram
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is everything that’s ever going to happen in the universe already determined?Or does something else – maybe randomness, maybe free will – play a...
Why is space three-dimensional? with Stephen Wolfram
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hypergraphs can have any number of dimensions. They can be 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional, 4.81-dimensional or, in the limit, ∞-dimensional.So how doe...
The first wow for Stephen Wolfram
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Wolfram reveals that his first major wow along the path towards a fundamental theory of physics was his realization that General Relativity an...
5 reasons to take Wolfram Physics seriously
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It feels like everyone has their pet Theory of Everything these days.So why should you take my preferred Theory of Everything seriously?Well, give me ...
Why does the universe exist?
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s a question.Why does the universe exist?Why is there something rather than nothing?One of Stephen Wolfram’s boldest claims is that he has th...
Causality ain't what you think it is
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do you know what causality is?If you do, let me know, because I’m not sure.I’ve never come across a conception of causality that makes sense to me...
What precisely is causal invariance?
28 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Causal invariance is a crucial concept in Wolfram Physics.It’s how we get special relativity from the Wolfram model.It’s how we get quantum mechan...
Jonathan Gorard: the complete first interview
01 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve heard from many of you that you’d like the whole of my conversation with Jonathan Gorard in a single podcast.So here it is, the complete firs...
In defence of Stephen Wolfram
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You like Stephen Wolfram, right?I mean, if he’s to be believed, he has reinvented physics, not to mention philosophy.How could you not like such a t...
Beyond physics: applying the Wolfram model in biology, chemistry, mathematics with Jonathan Gorard
09 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this final excerpt from our conversation in October 2022, Jonathan Gorard explains how ideas from Wolfram Physics can be applied in fields beyond p...
Who is Stephen Wolfram?
11 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You know who Stephen Wolfram is, right?Whether you love him or, you know, don’t love him, there’s no denying that Stephen Wolfram has founded a ho...
Where's the evidence for Wolfram Physics? with Jonathan Gorard
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I asked Jonathan Gorard the question I’m asked the most: can the Wolfram model make testable predictions about reality, predictions that differ from...
The knowledge hypergraph
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Open Web Mind is a protocol for shared human intelligence, based on the knowledge hypergraph.Take a look at this quick introduction for subscriber...
Are electrons too big to simulate? with Jonathan Gorard
17 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How big are electrons compared to the hypergraph?Is one electron formed of 10 nodes, or 10100 nodes?And if it’s 10100 nodes, might it prove impossib...
How to measure the curvature of space
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What if you’re inside a universe, and you want to measure the curvature of space?It’s important because getting a measure of the curvature of the ...
A toy model of particles with Jonathan Gorard
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this excerpt from my conversation with Jonathan Gorard, he proposes that particles in Wolfram Physics might be persistent topological obstructions ...
How to tell if space is curved
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What if you’re inside a universe, and you want to know whether space is curved?The reason I’m asking is that according to Einstein’s general the...
How special is general relativity? with Jonathan Gorard
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I asked Jonathan Gorard what it felt like when he realized that general relativity can be derived from the hypergraph.His answer took us in an unexpec...
Why scientific theories need not make predictions
07 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In my exploration of Wolfram Physics, I’ve come across one objection more than any other.Over and over again, people have told me that the Wolfram m...
How to derive general relativity from Wolfram Physics with Jonathan Gorard
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s a masterclass from Jonathan Gorard.One of the most compelling results to come out of the Wolfram Physics is Jonathan’s derivation of the Ei...
How to derive quantum mechanics from Wolfram Physics with Jonathan Gorard
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s the first of two crucial excerpts from my conversation with Jonathan Gorard.The core idea of Wolfram Physics is that we can model the univers...
Peer review is suffocating science
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You know peer review, right?It’s the way academics check each other’s research papers.It ensures that only the good ones are published and prevent...
Is the universe a tautology? with Jonathan Gorard
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Sorry, this is now getting very metaphysical,” says Jonathan Gorard part way through this excerpt from our conversation.We start by talking about...
What is a particle in Wolfram’s universe?
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s pretty easy to see how three-dimensional space might arise from Wolfram Physics.The hypergraph kinda looks like space, and, for some rules, it ...
One rule to rule them all? with Jonathan Gorard
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the early days of the Wolfram Physics Project, Stephen Wolfram seemed to be seeking a single rule that, when applied to the hypergraph, could gener...
John von Neumann and the art of being there
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
John von Neumann might be the most important figure in Wolfram Physics prehistory.Whenever any of the most important prerequisites to Wolfram Physics ...
How to find interesting and plausible rules with Jonathan Gorard
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Wolfram model allows an infinite number of rules.Some of these rules generate interesting universes that are complex and connected, some of these ...
Why has there been no progress in physics since 1973?
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The twentieth century was a truly exciting time in physics.From 1905 to 1973, we made extraordinary progress probing the mysteries of the universe: sp...
How to find causally invariant rules with Jonathan Gorard
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Causal invariance is a crucial characteristic for any rule of Wolfram Physics.According to Wolfram MathWorld, if a rule is causally invariant, then “...
How to knit the universe
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Now that I’ve introduced you to the different kinds of edges that might make up a hypergraph – unary, binary and ternary edges, as well as loops a...
Animating the hypergraph with Dugan Hammock
22 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dugan Hammock creates beautiful animations of three-dimensional cross-sections through four-dimensional spaces.But his animations aren’t mere mathem...
Causal invariance versus confluence with Jonathan Gorard
08 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Causal invariance is one of the most important concepts in the Wolfram model... and one of the most difficult to capture.So I really wanted to hear Jo...
Loops and self‑loops in the hypergraph
26 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
So many of the most complex and most promising graphs and hypergraphs of Wolfram Physics involve loops and self-loops.They can play a crucial role in ...
Living in the fourth dimension with Dugan Hammock
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dugan Hammock lives in the fourth dimension.As Jonathan Gorard mentioned in our recent conversation on How to draw the hypergraph in Wolfram Physics, ...
Why I changed my mind about computational irreducibility with Jonathan Gorard
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Computational irreducibility means that there are no shortcuts when we apply rules to the hypergraph.I used to think that our existing theories of phy...
What’s beyond the universe?
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are two questions about Wolfram Physics I’m asked a lot:What’s beyond the hypergraph?And what’s between the nodes and edges of the hypergr...
How to draw the hypergraph in Wolfram Physics with Jonathan Gorard
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The hypergraph is the universe.So if we want to see the universe, we need only draw the hypergraph.The question is: how?The nodes and edges of the hyp...
What is the Big Bang in Wolfram’s universe?
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is the Big Bang in Wolfram Physics?There’s a straightforward answer to that question.It’s the point in the evolution of the universe where th...
Graphs v hypergraphs in Wolfram Physics with Jonathan Gorard
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s a slightly technical question:Does Wolfram Physics really need hypergraphs?Or could it based on graphs instead?Jonathan Gorard shares some in...
Where I’m going with Wolfram Physics in 2023
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve been blown away by your response to The Last Theory in 2022.How am I going to thank you for reading, listening, watching and subscribing?Well, ...
Why hypergraphs might be a good model of the universe with Jonathan Gorard
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Wolfram Physics is based on hypergraphs.Why?What is it about hypergraphs that might make them a better model of the universe than, say, strings of cha...
Is Wolfram Physics the next scientific revolution?
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For the last few hundred years, all our theories of physics have been mathematical.If Stephen Wolfram is right, from now on, our most fundamental theo...
Why I took a chance on Wolfram Physics with Jonathan Gorard
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jonathan Gorard admits that it was a risk, for his academic career, to work on the Wolfram Physics project.In this third excerpt from my recent conver...
What is the multiway graph in Wolfram Physics?
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Episode 15: Where to apply Wolfram’s rules? (listen to the audio ⋅ watch the video ⋅ read the article) I introduced a radical idea.When we’...
From clockwork to computation in Wolfram Physics with Jonathan Gorard
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second of a series of excerpts from my recent conversation with Jonathan Gorard, who was instrumental in the founding of The Wolfram Physi...
Why I don’t like String Theory
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In my conversation with Jonathan Gorard about the founding of the Wolfram Physics Project, I said that I don’t like String Theory.Now, I’ll admit,...
The founding of the Wolfram Physics Project with Jonathan Gorard
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2019, Jonathan Gorard and Max Piskunov goaded Stephen Wolfram into pursuing his ideas for a new kind of science.This led to the announcement of The...
Hypergraphs are everywhere
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Wolfram Physics models the universe as a hypergraph.Maybe I’m just seeing things, but it seems to me that hypergraphs are everywhere: physics, chemi...
How big is the computer that runs the universe?
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As you’ll know from Episode 8: Where’s the computer that runs the universe? ( read ⋅ listen ⋅ watch ), I have my doubts about the existence of...
Unary, binary, ternary, k-ary hyperedges in Wolfram Physics
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Here are answers to some fundamental questions about hypergraphs:A hyperedge can connect any number of nodes: one, two, three, four, seventeen or any ...
What is a hypergraph in Wolfram Physics?
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In previous episodes, I’ve been simulating Wolfram Physics using graphs.But you may have come across simulations of Wolfram Physics using hypergraph...
Where to apply Wolfram's rules?
02 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Confession time: I haven’t been entirely honest with you about applying a rule to a graph in Wolfram Physics.I’ve explained precisely how to apply...
Space-time is dead
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In his General Theory of Relativity, Einstein combined the three dimensions of space with the one dimension of time in what we now know as Einstein’...
Is space continuous or discrete?
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’re used to thinking of space as continuous.A stone can be anywhere in space. It can be here. Or it can be an inch to the left. Or it can be half ...
Beware invisible things
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We humans have always been fond of invisible things.Poltergeists, fairies, unicorns, the Yeti, the Lost City of Atlantis.Just because you can’t see ...
What are dimensions in Wolfram’s universe?
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We know what it means when we say that our universe is three-dimensional: it means that we can move in three orthogonal directions: left-right; up-dow...
Are Wolfram’s graphs three‑dimensional?
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Are Wolfram’s graphs three-dimensional?In Episode #009: How to measure the dimensionality of the universe – watch the video or read the article –...
How to measure the dimensionality of the universe
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode includes a lot of visuals, so I recommend you watch the video or read the article rather than listen to the audio.In Episode #007: T...
Where’s the computer that runs the universe?
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve been running simulations of our universe, according to Stephen Wolfram’s computational theory of physics.Where’s the computer that runs the...
The expanse: dimension, separation & explosion
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the last episode, I introduced two fundamental characteristics of space: position and distance.Today, I’m going to introduce three more character...
What is space? the where and the how far
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What is space in Wolfram Physics?I’ve talked about the basic concepts of Wolfram Physics: nodes, edges, graphs & rules.I just threw these concep...
What is physics? the how and the why
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
I like being asked questions about Wolfram Physics.When I try to answer them, though, I often find myself trapped in an infinite regress.To address a ...
Different rules, different universes
03 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s all about the animations.I’ve been coding coding coding the few weeks to develop my simulations of Wolfram Physics.So now I’m able to explo...
Why you’ve never heard of Wolfram Physics
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Wolfram Physics might be the most fundamental scientific breakthrough in your lifetime.And yet you’ve probably never heard of it.Here’s why.—Alb...
Nodes, edges, graphs & rules: the basic concepts of Wolfram Physics
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Are you ready?Today, I’m going to dive right into Wolfram Physics.If you’ve never heard of Stephen Wolfram or his team’s project to find the fun...
Why I’m writing about Wolfram Physics
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
I always envy those people who, through a fantastic stroke of luck, find themselves to be exactly the right person in exactly the right place at exact...
The most fundamental scientific breakthrough of our time
27 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to The Last Theory, an easy-to-follow exploration of what might be the last theory of physics.In 2020, Stephen Wolfram launched the Wolfram Ph...