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Is the universe computable? If so, it may be much cheaper in terms of information requirements to compute all computable universes instead of just ours. I apply basic concepts of Kolmogorov complexity theory to the set of possible…
The detection of gravitational waves in 2015 ushered in a new era of gravitational wave astronomy capable of probing into the strong field dynamics of black holes and neutron stars. It has opened up an exciting new window for laboratory and…
Quantum mechanics, one of the most successful theories in the history of science, was created to account for physical systems not describable by classical physics. Though it is consistent with all experiments conducted thus far, many of its…
When a physicist says that a theory is fine-tuned, they mean that it must make a suspiciously precise assumption in order to explain a certain observation. This is evidence that the theory is deficient or incomplete. One particular case of…
Can there be independent higher level laws of nature if everything is reducible to the fundamental laws of physics? The computer science notion of level of abstraction explains why there can -- illustrating how computational thinking can…
Many of the numbers appearing in the laws of physics, such as the strength of electromagnetism or the masses of elementary particles, must lie in precise ranges for stars, planets, and chemistry to exist. Why the universe has these values…
We discuss views about whether the universe can be rationally comprehended, starting with Plato, then Leibniz, and then the views of some distinguished scientists of the previous century. Based on this, we defend the thesis that…
The observational evidence for the acceleration of the universe demonstrates that canonical theories of gravitation and particle physics are incomplete, if not incorrect. A new generation of astronomical facilities will shortly be able to…
The gap between classical mechanics and quantum mechanics has an important interpretive implication: the Universe must have an irreducible fundamental level, which determines the properties of matter at higher levels of organization. We…
Effective classicality of a property of a quantum system can be defined using redundancy of its record in the environment. This allows quantum physics to approximate the situation encountered in the classical world: The information about a…
The often-asked question whether space-time is discrete or continuous may not be the right question to ask: Mathematically, it is possible that space-time possesses the differentiability properties of manifolds as well as the ultraviolet…
Future gravitational-wave observations will enable unprecedented and unique science in extreme gravity and fundamental physics answering questions about the nature of dynamical spacetimes, the nature of dark matter and the nature of compact…
We give here a constructive account of the frequentist approach to probability, by means of natural density. Using this notion of natural density, we introduce some probabilistic versions of the Limited Principle of Omniscience. Finally we…
We critically analyse the point of view for which laws of nature are just a mean to compress data. Discussing some basic notions of dynamical systems and information theory, we show that the idea that the analysis of large amount of data by…
I offer an account of how the quantum theory we have helps us explain so much. The account depends on a pragmatist interpretation of the theory: This takes a quantum state to serve solely as a source of sound advice to physically situated…
Effective geometries arising from a hypothetical discrete structure of space-time can play an important role in the understanding of the gravitational physics beyond General Relativity. To discuss this question, we make use of lessons from…
Questioning the experimental basis of continuous descriptions of fundamental interactions we discuss classical gravity as an effective continuous first-order approximation of a discrete interaction. The sub-dominant contributions produce a…
Gravity is specifically the attractive force between two masses separated at a distance. Is this force a derived or a fundamental interaction? We believe that all fundamental interactions are quantum in nature but a derived interaction may…
The physical nature of most of the gravitating mass in the universe is completely mysterious. The astrophysical evidence for the presence of this dark matter and astrophysical constraints on its properties will be reviewed. The most popular…
This is a contribution to a book on quantum gravity and philosophy. I discuss nature and origin of the problem of quantum gravity. I examine the knowledge that may guide us in addressing this problem, and the reliability of such knowledge.…