The Physics of the Possible and the Impossible: Constructor Theory
Chiara Marletto
Instructor
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Chiara MarlettoQuantum computation researcher at the University of Oxford
Categories
About the Course
What are the laws of physics that make life possible? How do we account for knowledge or design intelligence? According to proponents of Contructor Theory, there is a huge flaw in how physics approaches essential questions: information, they say, is missing in the modern conception of science, but it is essential to a proper understanding of our universe and the laws of nature.
In this course, pioneering physicist Dr. Chiara Marletto takes a fresh look at how the prevailing conception of how science approaches problems and demonstrates her radical new approach that may just provide the answers to life, the universe, and everything.
By the end of this course, you will have learnt:
- The problem with how physics aims to solve problems in terms of original states and likely outcomes.
- The benefits of understanding physics in terms of the possible and the impossible.
- How these counterfactual statements are key physical properties.
- How the appearance of design in our universe can be properly explained.
- Why evolution requires certain restrictions to be placed on the laws of physics.
- That digital information is the key to life on earth.
- That we need information to be a part of the laws of physics.
- Why knowledge-creating systems mean that anything physically possible can be achieved.
As part of the course, there are in-video quiz questions to consolidate your learning, suggested further readings to stimulate a deeper exploration of the topic, discussion boards to have your say, and an end-of-course assessment.
IAI Academy courses are designed to be challenging but accessible to the interested student. No specialist knowledge is required.
About the Instructor
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Chiara Marletto
Chiara Marletto is a theoretical physicist at Wolfson College, Oxford. As a Junior Research Fellow at the Oxford University Materials Department, she worked with pioneering physicist David Deutsch on the Construtor Theory of Information - the theory that all fundamental laws of nature are expressible as statements of possibility, and explaining how quantum information and classical information are related.
In particular, Dr. Marletto’s work looks at how features essential to living systems, such as the ability to self-reproduce and evolve, are consistent with quantum physics, formulating ‘The Constructor Theory of Life’.
Course Syllabus
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Part One: The Limits of PossibilityIs information fundamental to reality? How do bits, evolution and life fit with the laws of fundamental physics? Oxford constructor theorist Chiara Marletto outlines the theory which seeks radically to change our mode of explanation, bringing information,
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Part Two: Reconstructing RealityHow does abstract information take hold of the physical world? What is information revealing to us about physical reality? Are there different kinds of information?
Suggested Further Readings
- Marletto, C., The Science of Can and Cannot: A Physicist’s Guide to Constructor Theory, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).
- Deutsch, D., The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes – and Its Implications, (London: Penguin, 1998).
- Deutsch, D., The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World, (London: Penguin, 2011).
- Marletto, C., Deutsch, D., Constructor Theory of Information, in Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 2015.
- Lloyd, S., Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006).
- Zurek, W. H., Decoherence, Einselection, and the Quantum Origins of the Classical, in Reviews of Modern Physics, 2003.
- Penrose, R., The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, (London: Jonathan Cape, 2004).
- Popper, K., The Logic of Scientific Discovery, (London: Routledge, 2002 [original 1934]).
