Complexity from Simplicity? | Episode 909 | Closer To Truth

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>OUR UNIVERSE BEGAN WITH A BANG, A BIG BANG. I SEE A SWIRLING, SEETHING PLASMA OF UNIMAGINABLY HOT PARTICLES AND FIERCE RADIATION. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE, ALL APPARENTLY, ALL THE SAME. I FAST FORWARD ALMOST 14 BILLION YEARS AND -- GASP, NOW I SEE GALAXIES AND STARS AND PLANETS AND ON AT LEAST ONE PLANET, WHICH IT'S INHABITANTS CALL EARTH, OCEANS AND MOUNTAINS, PLANTS AND ANIMALS, BRAINS AND MINDS. WHAT BEGAN FUNDAMENTALLY SIMPLE HAS BECOME ASTONISHINGLY COMPLEX. HOW DID SUCH STRUCTURE COME ABOUT? HOW DOES COMPLEXITY COME FROM SIMPLICITY? I'M ROBERT LAWRENCE KUHN AND CLOSER TO TRUTH IS MY JOURNEY TO FIND OUT. A TEEMING WORLD OF COMPLEXITIES SURROUND ME AND IT LOOKS ALL SO ORDINARY, UNTIL I JOLT MYSELF INTO VISUALIZING HOW UTTERLY SIMPLE IT ALL ONCE WAS. HOW COULD SUCH AN EXTRAORDINARY TRANSFORMATION HAVE COME ABOUT. I ACHE TO UNDERSTAND EXISTENCE. SO TO BE BEGIN, I PROBE THE ESSENCE OF COMPLEXITY. WHAT IS COMPLEXITY? I GO TO BOSTON TO MEET A PHYSICIST WHOSE DEEP INSIGHTS INTO COMPLEXITY HAVE SPAWNED NEW IDEAS -- STEPHEN WOLFRAM. WHEN WE LOOK AT REALITY, THE FIRST THING WE NOTICE IS THAT THERE IS GREAT DIVERSITY, GREAT COMPLEXITY, HOW COULD SUCH COMPLEXITY COME ABOUT? >>WELL, I THINK IT'S IN A SENSE KIND OF HUMILIATING FOR US AS HUMANS, THAT IF WE ARE PRESENTED, LET'S SAY, WITH TWO OBJECTS AND WE ARE TOLD ONE OF THEM IS FROM NATURE AND ONE OF THEM IS SOMETHING THAT WE AS HUMANS HAVE CREATED, THAT IT'S A PRETTY GOOD GUESS THAT THE ONE THAT LOOKS SIMPLER WILL BE THE ONE THAT WE AS HUMANS HAVE CREATED. AND YET, SOMEHOW WE HAVEN'T MANAGED TO CAPTURE THE SECRET THAT NATURE SEEMS TO HAVE THAT LETS IT APPARENTLY QUITE EFFORTLESSLY, CREATE ALL THE KIND OF COMPLEXITY THAT WE SEE. SO I THOUGHT, 25 YEARS AGO WHEN I STARTED REALLY THINKING SERIOUSLY ABOUT THIS KIND OF THING, THAT WITH ALL OF THE FANCY PHYSICS AND MATHEMATICS AND SO ON THAT I KNEW, THAT THIS KIND OF BASIC MYSTERY OF SCIENCE WILL BE EASIER TO CRACK. WHAT I REALIZED WAS THIS: THAT IF WE ARE TO HAVE ANY THEORY OF THIS KIND OF THING, IT HAS TO BE THE CASE THAT NATURE FOLLOWS SOME KIND OF DEFINITE RULES. BUT THE ISSUE IS, HAVE THE RULES THAT WE HAVE LEARNED FROM SORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND SO ON, ARE THOSE THE RULES THAT NATURE IS REALLY USING? OR IS NATURE USING SOME OTHER KIND OF RULE? WE HAVE TO SORT OF START THINKING ABOUT WHAT ARE ALL THE POSSIBLE RULES THAT NATURE MIGHT CONCEIVABLY USE TO DO WHAT IT DOES. THEY MIGHT NOT HAPPEN TO BE THE RULES THAT WE, AS HUMANS, HAVE SET UP IN OUR MATHEMATICS AND IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR SCIENCE. IN MODERN TIMES, WE HAVE KIND OF A GOOD FOUNDATION TO THINK ABOUT ALL POSSIBLE RULES. WE HAVE COMPUTERS AND COMPUTER PROGRAMS AND WE CAN KIND OF IMAGINE LOOKING AT SORT OF ALL THE POSSIBLE PROGRAMS, EACH ONE CORRESPONDING TO A DIFFERENT RULE FOR HOW THINGS GET MADE, AND WE CAN ASK THE QUESTION, IN THE SPACE OF ALL POSSIBLE COMPUTER PROGRAMS, WHAT IS OUT THERE AND HOW DOES IT COMPARE WITH WHAT WE SEE IN NATURE? MY FIRST ASSUMPTION WAS THAT, WHEN THE PROGRAMS I WAS LOOKING AT WERE SIMPLE, THEN THEIR BEHAVIOR WOULD SOMEHOW BE CORRESPONDING WITH SIMPLE. IF I'M WANTING TO MAKE SOMETHING COMPLICATED, THAT IT WOULD NECESSARILY BE THE CASE THAT ONE HAD TO SORT OF PUT SOMETHING COMPLICATED IN. ONE COULDN'T GET COMPLEXITY OUT WITH NOTHING PUT IN. SO I WAS FAIRLY AMAZED WHEN I ACTUALLY DID THE EXPERIMENT AND FOUND THAT SOME OF THE PROGRAMS I LOOKED AT WERE VERY SIMPLE, BUT YOU SUDDENLY SEE A SITUATION WHERE YOU CAN START OFF FROM VERY SIMPLE RULE THAT YOU CAN SPECIFY AND JUST A FEW BITS OF INFORMATION AND SUDDENLY YOU SEE THAT OUT OF THIS VERY SIMPLE RULE, VERY SIMPLE STARTING CONDITION, YOU GET THIS PATTERN OF GREAT COMPLEXITY. IT'S THE SINGLE MOST REMARKABLE THING THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN. THE THING THAT I FOUND MOST REMARKABLE IS THAT FROM SORT OF SAMPLING OUT IN THE COMPUTATIONAL UNIVERSE, ONE SEES THIS GREAT DIVERSITY OF BEHAVIOR, SOME SIMPLE, SOME VERY COMPLEX AND WHAT I FOUND REMARKABLE IS THAT THIS SEEMS TO MIRROR VERY WELL WHAT WE SEE IN NATURE. WHEN WE, AS HUMANS, DO KIND OF ENGINEERING. WE TEND TO OPERATE UNDER THE CONSTRAINT THAT WE HAVE TO READILY FORESEE WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES OF WHAT WE BUILD, WILL BE. >VERY GOOD POINT. >>BUT, NATURE OPERATES UNDER NO SUCH CONSTRAINTS, SO IT GETS TO KIND OF SAMPLE, MUCH MORE ARBITRARILY, THE POSSIBLE RULES. IT ACTUALLY ISN'T AS DIFFICULT AS WE MIGHT IMAGINE, FOR NATURE TO MAKE ALL THIS COMPLEXITY. IT IS ACTUALLY THE MOST "QUOTE" NATURAL THING TO HAVE HAPPEN, BECAUSE IN THE UNIVERSE OF ALL POSSIBLE RULES THAT NATURE MIGHT BE USING TO MAKE THINGS, A LARGE NUMBER OF THEM WILL SORT OF IMMEDIATELY PRODUCE COMPLEXITY. THE ONLY REASON THAT THIS SEEMS PECULIAR TO US, IS THAT WE AS HUMANS AND THE ACTIVITIES THAT WE'VE TYPICALLY BEEN ENGAGED IN, HAVE SORT OF RESTRICTED OURSELVES TO DEALING ONLY WITH THOSE KINDS OF RULES WHERE WE CAN IMMEDIATELY FORESEE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE RULES AND WHERE, ALMOST BY DEFINITION, THE RULES HAVE TO BE SIMPLE. THE RULES HAVE TO PRODUCE THINGS THAT ARE SORT OF SIMPLE ENOUGH FOR US TO BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY DO. SO IN A SENSE, THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION OF WHERE DOES THE COMPLEXITY OF NATURE COME FROM, IS NATURE IS SAMPLING THE POSSIBLE RULES AND THE COMPUTATIONAL UNIVERSE AND THE FAIR FRACTION HAVE THIS FEATURE THAT THEY PRODUCE COMPLEXITY, EVEN FROM VERY SIMPLE UNDERLYING RULES. >STEPHEN OFFERS A NEW KIND OF SCIENCE, ONE BASED ON SIMPLE COMPUTATIONAL RULES, WHICH WHEN NATURE BLINDLY SAMPLES AND USES THEM IN BUILDING OUR UNIVERSE, RESULTS IN GREAT COMPLEXITY. BUT WHY SHOULD NATURE WORK THIS WAY. WHY SHOULD RANDOM RULES BE THE HIDDEN KEY? WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE DEEP ESSENCE OF REALITY, SUCH THAT SIMPLE RULES PRODUCE COMPLEX THINGS? SOME SCIENTISTS NOW SAY THAT THERE IS A REASON AND THE REASON IS FUNDAMENTAL. THE UNIVERSE AT IT'S CORE, IS INFORMATION. PURE INFORMATION. I HEAD ACROSS TOWN TO MIT, TO MEET A LEADER IN QUANTUM COMPUTING, SETH LLOYD. SETH SEES THE FOUNDATIONS OF REALITY AS INFORMATION. HE TAKES THIS SERIOUSLY, BUT HAPPILY, NOT HIMSELF. SETH, YOU HAVE TALKED ABOUT, THAT A COMPUTATIONAL UNIVERSE, NECESSARILY ENGENDERS COMPLEXITY. NECESSARILY? >>SURE, IT'S A MATHEMATICAL THEOREM. NECESSARILY DOES. BUT OF COURSE IT IS MYSTERIOUS, RIGHT? IT IS VERY MYSTERIOUS WHY THE UNIVERSE COULD START OUT TO BE SO SIMPLE. SIMPLE LAWS, SIMPLE CONDITIONS, THINGS EVOLVE FOR A FEW BILLION YEARS AND PHOOEY! YOU KNOW, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED? RIGHT? IT'S AMAZING. SO I CLAIM THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND THIS PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD FASHION AND THE SECRET TO WHY COMPLEXITY WISE, COMES FROM THE FACT THAT AT BOTTOM, THE UNIVERSE IS COMPUTING. >YOU WERE REALLY SAYING THAT LIFE ITSELF WAS ACTUALLY NECESSARY? THAT IT WAS BUILT INTO THE LAWS THAT CREATED COMPLEXITY? >>YOUR DNA AND MY DNA COULDN'T HAVE BEEN BUILT INTO THAT INITIAL MOMENT, ROBERT, BECAUSE THERE WASN'T ENOUGH INFORMATION AROUND. WHAT IS BUILT INTO THE UNIVERSE IS -- IF YOU LIKE, THE CAPACITY TO PRODUCE COMPLEX THINGS, SOMEWHERE DOWN THE ROAD. WHY IS IT THAT WE GET THINGS LIKE LIFE FROM A VERY SIMPLE COMPUTATION THAT IS TAKING PLACE AT THE LEVEL OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES. WELL, THERE IS A SIMPLE REASON FOR THAT TOO, WHICH IS, THAT COMPUTATIONS NECESSARILY GIVE RISE TO MORE COMPLEX COMPUTATIONS. IF I TAKE SOMETHING LIKE -- JUST A BUNCH OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES BANGING OFF OF EACH OTHER, AS LONG AS THEY ARE CAPABLE OF WHAT IS CALLED "UNIVERSAL COMPUTATION", WHICH JUST MEANS PERFORMING VERY SIMPLE, LOGICAL OPERATIONS, BIT FLIPS, NOW PROGRAM THEM AT RANDOM. JUST GIVE THEM A RANDOM PROGRAM. >RANDOM? >>RANDOM. THIS IS THE KEY TO THIS. WE'VE GOT TO HAVE AN ACCOUNT FOR WHERE THIS INFORMATION COMES FROM. THE ANSWER IS, IT COMES FROM LITTLE QUANTUM FLUCTUATIONS. FROM QUANTUM RANDOMNESS. WHY IS OUR GALAXY HERE RATHER THAN 100 MILLION LIGHT YEARS OFF IN THAT DIRECTION. WELL, IT'S HERE BECAUSE WAY BACK AT THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIVERSE, THERE WAS A LITTLE TINY, TINY, TINY QUANTUM FLUCTUATION THAT SAID THE ENERGY WAS JUST A LITTLE, LITTLE BIT BIGGER HERE THAN IT WAS OVER THERE. WELL, AND BECAUSE GRAVITY HAS THIS FUNNY FEATURE THAT, IF THERE IS A LITTLE TINY BIT EXTRA ENERGY, SOMETHING WILL START TO CLUMP AROUND IT. >GIVE IT ENOUGH TIME. >>RIGHT, SO IT STARTED TO CLUMP, THEN THE ENERGY DENSITY GOT BIGGER, GOT EVEN CLUMPIER, CLUMPIER, AND THE PROCESS ACCELERATES AND PRETTY SOON YOU HAVE A GALAXY, THE GALAXY FORMED HERE AND NOT THERE BECAUSE THERE IS THIS LITTLE QUANTUM BIT THAT GOT INJECTED. SO WE ARE INJECTING RANDOMNESS INTO THE UNIVERSE AT ALL POINTS -- THAT IS WHERE ALL INFORMATION COMES FROM. IT'S ORIGIN IS IN THESE LITTLE QUANTUM FLUCTUATIONS. SO WHY DO THAT NECESSARILY PRODUCE COMPLEX BEHAVIOR? WELL, THERE IS AN OLD, AND WRONG, EXPLANATION OF COMPLEXITY THAT SAYS IT'S JUST RANDOMNESS. SO I DID A LITTLE CALCULATION, IMAGINING -- SUPPOSE EVERY ELEMENTARY PARTICLE IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS A MONKEY THAT HAS BEEN TYPING AS FAST AS THE LAWS OF PHYSICS ALLOW SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME, 13.7 BILLION YEARS AGO, RIGHT? HOW MUCH OF HAMLET'S SOLILOQUY, COULD BE WRITTEN UP THERE IN THE COSMIC BLACK BODY RADIATION? >AND THE ANSWER IS? >>"TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT IS THE --" THAT IS ABOUT -- >THAT'S IT. >>YEAH, THEY WOULD ONLY GET ABOUT 50 LETTERS THERE. SO THAT IS NOT THE RIGHT EXPLANATION. IT CAN'T JUST BE THAT RANDOMNESS IS JUST BEING INJECTED AND WE JUST ARRIVED AT RANDOM. WE WOULD ONLY GET GOBBLEDYGOOK. BUT NOW, SUPPOSE, THAT THESE MONKEYS, INSTEAD OF TYPING INTO A TYPEWRITER, ARE TYPING INTO A COMPUTER. AND THE COMPUTER IS TAKING THIS GOBBLEDYGOOK THE MONKEYS TYPE, THESE RANDOM BITS OF INFORMATION AND IT INTERPRETS THEM. IT INTERPRETS THESE BITS AS INSTRUCTIONS - DO THIS, DO THAT, DO SOMETHING ELSE. WELL, AT FIRST THAT MIGHT SEEM -- GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT -- THE SAME SITUATION. BUT IN FACT, IT'S NOT SO. THERE IS A BEAUTIFUL AND ELEGANT BRANCH OF MATHEMATICS CALLED ALGORITHMIC INFORMATION THEORY, WHICH IS ESSENTIALLY THE THEORY OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MONKEYS TYPE AT THE COMPUTERS. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO GET OUT OF IT? AND THE ANSWER, PERHAPS SURPRISINGLY IS, YOU EXPECT TO GET OUT ALL SORTS OF INTERESTING AND COMPLEX THINGS. NOW WHY IS THAT? IT'S BECAUSE THEY ARE VERY SIMPLE, SHORT, RANDOM LOOKING COMPUTER PROGRAMS. THERE IS A SHORT PROGRAM THAT WILL CAUSE A COMPUTER, SAY, TO PRINT OUT ALL THE DIGITS OF PI. OR A PROGRAM THAT WILL TELL THE COMPUTER, CREATE CHEMISTRY AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU COMBINE DIFFERENT MOLECULES TOGETHER. AND THEN THERE IS ANOTHER PROGRAM THAT SAYS, EXPLORE ALL POSSIBLE, COMPUTABLE MATHEMATICAL STRUCTURES IN THE WORLD. THOSE PROGRAMS ARE SHORT AND IF YOU TAKE A COMPUTER AND YOU PROGRAM IT AT RANDOM, YOU EXPECT IT TO HIM UPON ONE OF THESE PROGRAMS HERE AND THERE. SO OUR UNIVERSE IS BEING PROGRAMMED BY THESE LITTLE QUANTUM FLUCTUATIONS. BITS ARE BEING INJECTED, DIFFERENT BITS ARE BEING INJECTED IN DIFFERENT PLACES AND SOMEWHERE, SOME PLACE, SOME TIME, YOU EXPECT INTERESTING STUFF TO START TO HAPPEN. LITTLE COMBINATIONS OF CHEMICALS WILL START REPRODUCING THEMSELVES. PUT THEMSELVES INSIDE A VESICLE AND BECOME A SIMPLE CELL. CELLS WILL BAN TOGETHER TO FORM THINGS LIKE ANIMALS, RIGHT? ANIMALS WILL START TO HAVE SEX AND REPRODUCE LIKE MAD AND EVENTUALLY YOU HAVE BUNNY RABBITS AND HUMAN BEINGS AND THEN HUMAN BEINGS WILL CREATE COMPUTERS AND SOCIETIES. THOSE KINDS OF THINGS NECESSARILY HAPPEN BECAUSE THE UNIVERSE IS COMPUTING. >SETH ENVISIONS THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE AS A GIGANTIC COMPUTER WITH QUANTUM FLUCTUATIONS WHICH OCCUR RANDOMLY, INJECTED AS RANDOM COMPUTER PROGRAMS. AND WHICHEVER RANDOM COMPUTER PROGRAMS GENERATED GREATER COMPLEXITY, HAD GREATER INFLUENCE ON WHAT FORMED OR HAPPENED NEXT. TO MAKE IT WORK, THE CALDRON OF COMPLEXITY HAD TO BE THE VERY EARLY UNIVERSE BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE QUANTUM FLUCTUATIONS HAD MAJOR IMPACT. AND THAT IS WHY I SPEAK WITH PHYSICIST LEE SMOLIN, WHO SPECIALIZES IN QUANTUM GRAVITY, THE KEY TO THE VERY EARLY UNIVERSE. LEE, WE KNOW THAT THE EARLY UNIVERSE WAS INCREDIBLY HOMOGENEOUS. TODAY, WE SEE ENORMOUS COMPLEXITY. HOW CAN THE LAWS OF PHYSICS TAKE US FROM SUCH HOMOGENEOUS HOT GAS TO TODAY, WHERE THERE IS SUCH VARIETY? >>PART OF THE ANSWER IS GRAVITY, THAT GRAVITY BY BEING ONLY ATTRACTIVE, LEADS TO THE FORMATION OF STRUCTURE, LEADS TO INHOMOGENEITIES. ONE OF THE BASIC QUESTIONS IN COSMOLOGY AND PHYSICS IS, WHY DOES THE WORLD ALLOW COMPLEXITY? EVEN WITH THE ACTION OF GRAVITY, IF THE INITIAL CONDITIONS WERE SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT, IF THE EXPANSION WAS MUCH FASTER, IF THE COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT WAS MUCH LARGER, THEN THERE WOULD NEVER BE TIME FOR THIS CLUMPING TO OCCUR. THERE WOULD NEVER BE ANY COMPLEX SYSTEMS AND I DON'T MEAN THIS IN ANY MYSTICAL WAY OR MAGICAL WAY. I THINK THERE IS SOMETHING ANOMALOUS ABOUT THE VIEWPOINT OF PHYSICS, ALWAYS LOOKING FOR THE SIMPLER AND SIMPLER AND SIMPLER AND MEANWHILE THE REST OF SCIENCE IS DISCOVERING WISDOM AND PATTERNS IN THE COMPLEX. AND MY SUSPICION COMES IN WHEN YOU START TO ASK, WHY THESE LAWS? > SO WHAT YOU ARE SAYING, THEN IS THAT MAYBE WE NEED THE COMPLEXITY AT THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL IN ORDER TO GENERATE THE COMPLEXITIES THAT WE SEE IN THE MODERN WORLD? >>YES. AND HOW COULD THAT HAPPEN? WELL, HOW DOES IT HAPPEN IN BIOLOGY? WELL IT HAPPENS IN BIOLOGY BECAUSE THERE IS A BOTTLENECK. ALL OF THE INFORMATION AND THE COMPLEXITY OF BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS GOES THROUGH SINGLE CELLS IN THE PROCESS OF SEXUAL REPRODUCTION. SO THERE IS A BOTTLENECK FROM THE VERY LARGE INTO THE DNA, INTO THE VERY SMALL. >THE GENERAL CONCEPT THOUGH, AT EACH LEVEL, THERE IS SOME KIND OF EMERGENT PROPERTIES AND THOSE WOULD BE, IN PRINCIPLE, NOT DISCERNABLE FROM FUNDAMENTALS, BUT AT LEAST THE PREVAILING WISDOM IS THAT, AT THE SIMPLEST LEVEL IN PHYSICS, YOU NEED TO BE MORE AND MORE SIMPLE. AS OPPOSED TO COMPLEX. >>SO MY SENSE IS THAT THE MISTAKE IS, WHY THERE IS A MYSTERY, IS THERE IS NO COUPLING BETWEEN THE VERY FUNDAMENTAL, WHICH WE THINK OF AS THE VERY TINY AND THE MICROSCOPIC. NOW, IN BIOLOGY -- >NOW, HOW DO YOU GET THAT? >>I THINK YOU GET IT FROM INTRODUCING SOMETHING LIKE BIOLOGY, INTO THE HISTORY OF COSMOLOGY. >WHICH SOUNDS BACKWARD IN TIME, BECAUSE BIOLOGY DIDN'T COME UNTIL BILLIONS OF YEARS AFTER THE COSMOLOGY. >>I DON'T MEAN SOMETHING THIS -- >YOU MEAN THE PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY. >>YEAH SURE, I DON'T MEAN SOMETHING MYSTICAL ABOUT THAT UNIVERSE IS ALIVE AND LET'S ALL DANCE, I MEAN, I MEAN THE WAY IN WHICH BIOLOGY WORKS IS YOU GET A CAUSAL COUPLING BETWEEN THE PROPERTIES THAT ARE VERY SMALL, THAT IS THE COMPLEXITY OF PARTICULAR MOLECULES, DNA MOLECULES AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR PHYLOGENY FOR THE MACROSCOPIC. AND I BELIEVE THAT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE, THERE MUST BE EVENTS WHICH COUPLED THE LARGE SCALE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS, TO SOMEHOW THE SELECTION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS. >THAT'S FASCINATING, WHAT WOULD THAT TELL YOU THAT THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY, ARE SIMILAR TO THE BASIC PRINCIPLES THAT PHYSICS HAS USED IN COSMOLOGY? THAT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A COINCIDENCE. >>I DON'T THINK THAT IS A COINCIDENCE AND I THINK WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF TWO SIMULTANEOUS SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS. THE ONE THAT CAME FROM EINSTEIN AND THE ONE THAT CAME FROM DARWIN. AND I THINK THAT THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EINSTEINIUM REVOLUTION AND THE DARWINIAN REVOLUTION, WHICH IS YET TO BE REALIZED. BUT IT'S THE ONLY WAY I CAN SEE TO ANSWER THE CONUNDRUMS OF WHY THESE LAWS ARE NOT OTHER LAWS, THE FINE TUNING PROBLEMS, AND SO ON. >THAT IS REALLY RADICAL, LEE. SOME DEEP STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLE IN THE COSMOS THAT IMPELS BOTH ASTRONOMY AND BIOLOGY. LEE OFFERS THAT SELECTION PRINCIPLES, WORKING IN PHYSICS FAVORS CERTAIN FUNDAMENTAL LAWS, JUST LIKE DARWINIAN SELECTION WORKING IN EVOLUTION FAVORS CERTAIN KINDS OF SPECIES. BUT BIOLOGY ITSELF IS A PUZZLE. IN OUR WORLD, THINGS BECOME MORE RANDOM. GASES INTERMIX, SCRAMBLED EGGS DO NOT REASSEMBLE THEMSELVES INTO WHOLE EGGS. HOW THEN DO ORGANISMS BECOME MORE COMPLEX? I GO TO THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, TO MEET ITS DIRECTOR, BIOLOGIST FRANCIS COLLINS. FRANCIS, IT SEEMS BAFFLING TO START WITH THIS HOMOGENOUS MURKY SOUP OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE AFTER THE BIG BANG AND FAST FORWARD 13.7 BILLION YEARS TO TODAY. WHERE DOES COMPLEXITY COME FROM, FROM SUCH SIMPLICITY? >>ENERGY, SEEMS TO ME IS THE ANSWER, IF YOU WANT TO TAKE SOMETHING THAT IS NOT COMPLEX AND TURN IT INTO SOMETHING COMPLEX, WELL WHAT DOES THAT USUALLY REQUIRE? ENERGY OF SOME SORT. MY FIELD OF BIOLOGY CERTAINLY IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF GOING FROM WHAT WE ASSUME WAS VERY LIMITED COMPLEXITY, 3.85 BILLION YEARS AGO, WHICH IS WHEN THE FIRST LIFE FORMS APPARENTLY APPEARED OVER THE COURSE OF THAT LONG PERIOD OF TIME. ENORMOUS DIVERSITY AND COMPLEXITY COMING INTO BEING IN TERMS OF LIFE FORMS THAT WE SEE AROUND US TODAY. WE THROW INTO THIS THE ENERGY OF THE SUN AND YOU THROW INTO THIS LONG PERIODS OF TIME FOR RANDOM CHANGES TO BE SELECTED FOR IF THEY ACTUAL PROVIDE A BENEFIT TO THAT PARTICULAR ORGANISM, THEN YOU CAN GET ALL THE WAY TO US AT LEAST IN MECHANICAL TERMS, ALTHOUGH I WILL ARGUE THAT THERE IS SOMETHING MISSING IF THAT IS ALL THAT YOU LIMIT YOURSELF TO. SO I DON'T ACTUALLY SEE FROM A BIOLOGIST'S PERSPECTIVE, THAT THE COMPLEXITY PROBLEM IS THAT BIG OF A PROBLEM. ONCE YOU REALIZE A DARWIN'S AMAZING FLASH OF GENIUS, THEN COMPLEXITY WAS ALMOST GUARANTEED BECAUSE COMPLEX ORGANISMS ARE LIKELY TO HAVE A GREATER ABILITY TO CONTROL THEIR ENVIRONMENT AND THEREFORE TO REPRODUCE AND SURVIVE AND DISTRIBUTE THEMSELVES. >DO YOU SEE THIS IN ANY WAY AS INDICATING SOME PRE-ARRANGED PURPOSE? >>FOR ME AS A BELIEVER, THIS IS ALL VERY CONSISTENT WITH A PREARRANGED PURPOSE -- THAT GOD USED THIS MECHANISM TO ULTIMATELY BRING INTO BEING COMPLEX CREATURES THAT WOULD HAVE INTELLIGENCE AND A MIND AND FREE WILL AND THE ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND RIGHT AND WRONG AND TO SEEK AFTER FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM. IT WOULD PRETTY HARD TO IMAGINE THAT HAPPENING WITH A MURKY SOUP OF PARTICLES, BUT IT CERTAINLY COULD HAPPEN WITH CREATURES LIKE OURSELVES. SO YES, FOR ME I DEFINITELY SEE A PURPOSE, BUT I DON'T SEE THAT THE LAWS OF PHYSICS HAD TO BE VIOLATED IN ORDER FOR THAT PURPOSE TO BE ACHIEVED ONCE THE UNIVERSE GOT GOING. >TO FRANCIS, BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION, LEVERAGING RANDOM MUTATIONS AND EMPOWERED BY ENERGY FROM THE SUN, ENGENDERS BIOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY. BUT NEITHER CAN EXPLAIN THE COMPLEXITY OF THE COSMOS EMERGING FROM THE EARLY UNIVERSE. I AM ALL FOR DEEP STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLES, TYING THE THREADS OF WORLD INTO FINE COSMIC FABRIC, BUT NOT IF THEY ARE ARTIFICIALLY WOVEN TOGETHER. THE QUESTION OF COMPLEXITY FROM SIMPLICITY MUST BE UNDERSTOOD ON ITS OWN TERMS. SO I GO BACK TO BOSTON AND ASK NOBEL LAUREATE FRANK WILCZEK TO TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT THE FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES OF COMPLEXITY. >>I THINK THERE ARE THREE FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES OF ALL THE COMPLEXITY WE OBSERVE IN THE UNIVERSE. ONE IS THAT EVEN SIMPLE EQUATIONS AND SPECIFICALLY THE EQUATIONS THAT WE BELIEVE GOVERN FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY, CAN HAVE VERY COMPLEX SOLUTIONS AND THE SOLUTIONS CAN BE VERY SENSITIVELY DEPENDANT ON THE PRECISE INITIAL CONDITION. SECONDLY, IS THE FACT THAT THE WORLD IS GOVERNED BY QUANTUM MECHANICS, AND THAT GIVES UNCERTAINTY THAT THE SENSITIVITY TO INITIAL CONDITIONS CAN WORK ON. AND IT ALSO MAKES THE WORLD ENORMOUSLY LARGE, BASED ON WAVE FUNCTIONS RATHER THAN PARTICULAR OBJECTS IN SPACE, WHICH MEANS THAT EVEN IF THE EQUATIONS OF THE WHOLE ARE SIMPLE -- THE WHOLE WAVE FUNCTION, YOU ONLY GET TO SEE PART OF IT AND THAT CAN LEAD TO A PARENT COMPLEXITY. AND THEN FINALLY, GENERALIZATION OF THAT OBSERVATION IS THAT MANY OF THE PREDICTIONS THAT YOU CAN EASILY MAKE FROM THE FUNDAMENTAL EQUATIONS REGARD AVERAGE PROPERTIES OR STATISTICAL PROPERTIES OF EVERYTHING. LARGE REGIONS OF THE UNIVERSE OR MANY, MANY SOLAR SYSTEMS OR MANY, MANY GALAXIES. BUT IF YOU ARE LOOKING AT ONLY ONE PARTICULAR SOLAR SYSTEM, IT HAS IT'S OWN QUIRKS. ALL THESE THINGS WORK TOGETHER, SO FOR INSTANCE, QUANTUM MECHANICS GIVES YOU FLUCTUATIONS, A LEVEL OF UNCERTAINLY AND SO IF YOUR EQUATIONS ARE VERY SENSITIVE TO FLUCTUATIONS -- THEY WILL AMPLIFY THE LITTLE QUANTUM MECHANICAL FLUCTUATIONS INTO MACROSCOPIC CONSEQUENCES. AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, ALL THE COMPLEXITY IN THE WORLD CAN BE TRACED TO THESE THREE CAUSES. QUANTUM MECHANICS, SENSITIVITY TO INITIAL CONDITIONS AND PARTIAL VIEW. >SO IN GENERATING SOMETHING LIKE THIS EARTH, HOW WOULD YOU USE ALL THREE OF THESE TO LINEARLY GO FROM SOMETING SIMPLE TO SOMETHING COMPLEX? >>OKAY, SO WE START WITH THE EARLY UNIVERSE, WHICH IS QUANTUM MECHANICAL, SO IT HAS LITTLE FLUCTUATIONS TO BEGIN WITH. THOSE GET SPREAD OUT PERHAPS BY INFLATION TO THEIR SCALES, THEN THEY GET AMPLIFIED BY GRAVITY AND THEN FORM INSTABILITIES, SO THINGS FRAGMENT INTO LITTLE PIECES. THE PIECES HAVE SIMPLE, STATISTICAL PROPERTIES SO THE ENSEMBLE IS SOMETHING YOU CAN PREDICT. IT'S AVERAGE PROPERTIES. BUT EACH PARTICULAR REALIZATION CAN BE VERY COMPLICATED SO THAT IS HOW THE THREE WORK TOGETHER. >TAKE TWO SNAPSHOTS OF REALITY. PHOTO ONE: THE SIMPLE HOT SOUP OF THE BIG BANG. PHOTO TWO: THE VAST DIVERSITY OF OUR EARTH TODAY. HOW RADICALLY ASTONISHINGLY DIFFERENT. HOW, FROM SUCH SIMPLICITY COULD SUCH COMPLEXITY HAVE COME ABOUT? TWO KINDS OF MECHANISMS. IN THE FIRST, IN THE VERY EARLY UNIVERSE, WHEN THE ENTIRE COSMOS WAS FAR SMALLER THAN ONE PROTON, QUANTUM MECHANICS GENERATED RANDOM FLUCTUATIONS AND THOSE RANDOM FLUCTUATIONS, ALTHOUGH VANISHINGLY SMALL, BECAME THE SEEDS OF DIVERSITY AS GRAVITY WORKED IT'S METHODICAL MAGIC OVER BILLIONS OF YEARS. IN THE SECOND, REALITY IS INFORMATION AND THE UNIVERSE IS A COMPUTER, SUCH THAT QUANTUM MECHANICS GENERATES RANDOM RULES, SOME OF WHICH SURPRISINGLY BUILD UP ASTOUNDING COMPLEXITIES. GRAVITY AND QUANTUM MECHANICS ARE SURELY INVOLVED. BUT WHETHER REALITY IS INFORMATION AND RULES PREDOMINATE IS MORE SPECULATIVE. THIS IS NO INTERNET GAME , I REMIND MYSELF. THIS IS REALITY. I SIT BY MYSELF AND I CHILL WITH AWE AS I WONDER, WHAT IS CLOSER TO TRUTH?

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Channel: Closer To Truth

Views: 41,965

Rating: undefined out of 5

Keywords: closer to truth, robert lawrence kuhn, Stephen Wolfram, Seth Lloyd, Lee Smolin, Francis Collins, Frank Wilczek, Complexity from Simplicity, universe began, galaxies, stars, planets, origin of life, complexity of life, origin of the universe, primordial soup, fist cells, how did the universe begin, how did life start, big bang, big bang theory, primordial lands, life on earth, closer to truth full episodes, closer to truth season 9, education, philosophy, biology, physics, science

Id: 7xwr-1-qPSg

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 26min 47sec (1607 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 05 2020