History and Philosophy of Physics

    

The Uncertain Future of Physics and Computing

Authors: Alan M. Kadin

In the 20th century, physics became dominated by abstract mathematics, with a fundamental role for uncertainty. In contrast, computing was built on a foundation of mathematical certainty. John von Neumann was a primary source for both these foundations. I argue that both are misleading, and should be revised to reflect microscopic determinism with varying degrees of macroscopic uncertainty. I predict a future neoclassical physics without quantum entanglement, but no “theory of everything”. Future computing will involve neural networks that can embody consciousness, but no quantum computing. Formal mathematical proofs of undecidability or uncomputability will have little practical impact on either computing or physics, but absolute knowledge will remain unattainable. All future predictions should be regarded with skepticism.

Comments: 12 Pages. Submitted to Foundational Questions Institute Essay Contest https://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/3443

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[v1] 2020-03-13 21:23:27

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