UH Hilo’s Binder explains the “Theories of almost everything” in Nature

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
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Posted: Oct 15, 2008

"Theories of almost everything" is the title of an article by Dr. Philippe Binder, professor of physics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. In the paper, which is published in the October 16, 2008 edition of the prestigious journal Nature, Binder summarizes and contextualizes several theorems on the physical limits of scientific inference recently proved by David Wolpert of NASA. This work is in the same spirit as the theorems by Gödel and Turing, which establish limits for mathematical proofs and computation, respectively.

"Professor Binder‘s research will likely provide scientists with additional methods to explore and communicate the nature of scientific phenomena — both seen and unseen — around us," commented UH Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng.

Binder‘s applications of Wolpert‘s theorems could have implications affecting most major laws of physics, the prediction of chaotic time series, and fundamental theories of quantum gravity and particle physics.