David Wolpert: The Monotheism Theorem and Uncaused Causation

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Previously titled “David Wolpert on the Monotheism Theorem, Penrose, Consciousness, Free Will, and Uncaused Causation” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026

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Recorded10 Mar 2022

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YouTube link: https://youtu.be/WkVq0p2WBmQ Sponsors: -Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/TOE for 20% off. -Algo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9IfRw1QaTglRoX0sN11AQQ and website https://www.algo.com/. Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802 Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything Merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch LINKS MENTIONED: -Chris Langan's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CTMURadio -Anil Seth's book: https://amzn.to/3iaWLUY -Part 1 with David Wolpert: https://youtu.be/qj_YUxg-qtY TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:04:21 No Go Theorem regarding the existence of Laplace's Demon 00:08:06 Limits on Inference Devices 00:16:40 The Monotheism Theorem 00:21:05 Gaining wisdom from dogs 00:21:34 The Monotheism Theorem (explained in detail) 00:29:49 Norton's Dome (Newtonian mechanics is NOT deterministic) 00:35:06 What is an "observer"? An inference device! 00:39:48 Prediction vs Memory 00:42:45 No Free Lunch and Inference Devices 00:47:22 Opinions on Donald Hoffman 00:48:34 Church Turing thesis (a theorem or definition?) 00:50:46 Thoughts on Donald Hoffman again 00:53:24 The most profound results in philosophy are from algorithmic information theory 00:57:27 Busy beaver function 01:02:27 [Chris Langan] On the definition of "observer" being teleological 01:03:42 [Chris Langan] Mind and Matter / Dualism / Chalmers / Penrose 01:08:50 [Prof. Karl Friston] Non-equilibrium Steady States are consequences of what? 01:12:05 [Prof. Anil Seth] Consciousness is substrate independent? Free Will? 01:18:59 Wolpert doesn't like the debate over definitions 01:31:14 [Prof. Kevin Knuth] Remarks on what life is 01:38:04 [Prof. Edward Lee] Why are people offended by uncaused cause? 01:43:54 [Sam Thompson] Sociopolitical implications of the inference theorems 01:45:04 [Chris Langan] On modifying physicalism * * * Just wrapped (April 2021) a documentary called Better Left Unsaid http://betterleftunsaidfilm.com on the topic of "when does the left go too far?" Visit that site if you'd like to watch it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.