English

Shut up and calculate

Popular Physics 2011-11-10 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Theory Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

I advocate an extreme "shut-up-and-calculate" approach to physics, where our external physical reality is assumed to be purely mathematical. This brief essay motivates this "it's all just equations" assumption and discusses its implications.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0709.4024,
  title  = {Shut up and calculate},
  author = {Max Tegmark},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0709.4024},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

This is the "director's cut" version of the September 15 2007 New Scientist cover story. For references, see the "full strength" version at arXiv:0704.0646

R2 v1 2026-06-21T09:21:50.159Z