{"id":4277,"date":"2025-01-24T07:03:50","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T07:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/?p=4277"},"modified":"2025-01-24T07:03:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T07:03:53","slug":"the-philosophical-implications-of-autodidactic-algorithms-in-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/philosophy-literature\/the-philosophical-implications-of-autodidactic-algorithms-in-science\/","title":{"rendered":"The Philosophical Implications of Autodidactic Algorithms in Science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Number of words: 596<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fascinating new research, cosmologists explain the history of the universe as one of self-teaching, autodidactic&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/technology\/a32221995\/google-automl-zero-evolve-algorithms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">algorithms<\/a>. The scientists, including physicists from Brown University and the Flatiron Institute, say the universe has probed all the possible physical laws before landing on the ones we observe around us today. Could this wild idea help inform scientific research to come?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/2104.03902.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">their novella-length paper<\/a>, published to the pre-print server arXiV, the researchers\u2014who received \u201ccomputational, logistical, and other general support\u201d from Microsoft\u2014offer ideas \u201cat the intersection of theoretical physics, computer science, and philosophy of science with a discussion from all three perspectives,\u201d they write, teasing the bigness and multidisciplinary nature of the research. Here\u2019s how it works: Our universe observes a whole bunch of laws of physics, but the researchers say&nbsp;<em>other<\/em>&nbsp;possible laws of physics seem equally likely, given the way mathematics works in the universe. So if a group of candidate laws were equally likely, then how did we end up with the laws we really have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe notion of \u2018learning\u2019 as we use it is more than moment-to-moment, brute adaptation. It is a cumulative process that can be thought of as theorizing, modeling, and predicting. For instance, the DNA\/RNA\/protein system on Earth must have arisen from an adaptive process, and yet it foresees a space of organisms much larger than could be called upon in any given moment of adaptation.\u201d We can analogize to the research of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a31898738\/scientist-proves-darwin-evolution-theory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Charles Darwin<\/a>, who studied all the different ways animals specialized in order to thrive in different environments. For example, why do we have one monolithic body of laws of physics, rather than, say, a bunch of specialized kinds of finches? This is an old question that dates back to at least 1893, when a philosopher first posited \u201cnatural selection,\u201d but for the laws of the universe. In the paper, the scientists define a slew of terms including how they\u2019re defining \u201clearning\u201d in the context of the universe around us. The universe is made of systems that each have processes to fulfill every day, they say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each system is surrounded by an environment made of different other systems. Imagine standing in a crowd of people (remember that?), where your immediate environment is just made of other people. Each of&nbsp;<em>their<\/em>&nbsp;environments is made of, well, you and other stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Evolution is already a kind of learning, so when we suggest the universe has used natural selection as part of the realization of physics, we\u2019re invoking that specific kind of learning. (Does something have to have&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a34496675\/consciousness-electromagnetic-theory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">consciousness<\/a>&nbsp;in order to learn? You need to carefully define learning in order to make that the case. Organisms and systems constantly show learning outcomes, like more success or a higher rate of reproduction.) \u201cIn one sense, learning is nothing special; it is a causal process, conveyed by physical interactions. And yet we need to consider learning as special to explain events that transpire because of learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider the expression \u201cYou never learn,\u201d which suggests that outcomes for a specific person and activity are still bad. We\u2019re using that outcome to say learning hasn\u2019t happened. What if the person&nbsp;is&nbsp;trying to change their outcomes and just isn\u2019t succeeding? We\u2019re gauging learning based on visible outcomes only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re interested in the nitty gritty,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/2104.03902.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the full, 79-page study<\/a>\u00a0defines a ton of fascinating terms and introduces some wild and wonderful arguments using them. The scientists\u2019 goal is to kick off a whole new arm of cosmological research into the idea of a learning universe. And that\u2019s not all, they say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Excerpted from<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a36112655\/universe-is-self-learning-algorithm\/\"><em>https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a36112655\/universe-is-self-learning-algorithm\/<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Number of words: 596 In fascinating new research, cosmologists explain the history of the universe as one of self-teaching, autodidactic&nbsp;algorithms. The scientists, including physicists from Brown University and the Flatiron Institute, say the universe has probed all the possible physical laws before landing on the ones we observe around us today. Could this wild idea &#8230; <a title=\"The Philosophical Implications of Autodidactic Algorithms in Science\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/philosophy-literature\/the-philosophical-implications-of-autodidactic-algorithms-in-science\/\" aria-label=\"More on The Philosophical Implications of Autodidactic Algorithms in Science\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,12],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Philosophical Implications of Autodidactic Algorithms in Science - BullsEye<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/philosophy-literature\/the-philosophical-implications-of-autodidactic-algorithms-in-science\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Philosophical Implications of Autodidactic Algorithms in Science - BullsEye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Number of words: 596 In fascinating new research, cosmologists explain the history of the universe as one of self-teaching, autodidactic&nbsp;algorithms. 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