Episode description

In this, the third part discussing the first chapter of "The Fabric of Reality" we speak more about reductionism. In particular we look at the limitations of the traditional conception of physics and how attempts to make breakthroughs in fundamental physics tend not to rely on a completely new "mode of explanation". We speak about unifications and all of this is very much a prelude - clues here for the taking - of "Constructor Theory". I provide a quick overview of "the relativity of simultaneity" where I am suggesting that the "in principle" claim to be able to have a predictive theory even in physics seems to me to be a dead end. There is genuine creativity in the world - things that cannot be predicted. But even taking the laws of physics as they are seriously, seems to put a boundary on the knowledge we would need in order to make even a reductive prediction. Some more comments on logical positivism, instrumentalism and Wittgenstein. The Nexus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpTxBkmr4LE In this video I mention the work of physicist Sam Kuypers. He gives a talk on non-commuting qubits here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY0LauOLR70