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Patterson in Pursuit

Patterson in Pursuit

Written by: Steve Patterson
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Philosophy in the real world. Interviewing intellectuals across the globe. Grappling with the biggest ideas.

stevepatterson.substack.comSteve Patterson Philosophy Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • A Prediction about Asymmetries in Math, Physics, and Computer Science

    A Prediction about Asymmetries in Math, Physics, and Computer Science
    Oct 12 2026
    What an amazing few months it’s been for math. I just want to make a few predictions before the rest of the world figures this out. There were two problems with classical mathematics. The first was about infinity, which I’ve covered ad nauseam. The second is about information. Specifically, the discarding of relevant information from our mathematical constructions.Even more specifically, the treating of zero and non-zero as the same value. This happens absolutely everywhere in math and physics. It’s central to the theories underpinning classical mathematics. It’s foundational to calculus, limits, and the real number system. It’s a kind of theoretical glue holding modern mathematics together.And the reason for this concept is not because of the demands of truth or logic, but because of a preference for elegance, practicality, and simplicity. To make our math easier and prettier, we discard relevant information and then insist it doesn’t matter. Terms get really small and then erased—because it is indeed practical to treat really-really-really small as zero.It’s this discarded information which will end up being transformative to math, physics, and computer science.The Destruction of Beautiful High TheoriesOur entire modern view of the universe comes from our philosophy of mathematics, and our High Theories of math and physics are constructed around various symmetries. Without them, the math gets unwieldy and inelegant, or even impossible.The new math is going to be ugly (to the classical mind). There will be asymmetries everywhere. The puzzle pieces won’t fit just right. Nothing will be mathematically continuous. Or homogenous. Or isotropic. The old guard will insist the new math and physics can’t be right because it’s so ugly—or because it violates such-and-such theorem.The problem is, the smooth and beautiful world of classical mathematicians was created by smoothing over the world. By smudging it. By taking the crisp edges of reality and crossing one’s eyes until the edges blend together. Averaging it into a soup.That elegant fantasy world will be destroyed, and a new, sharp, precise reality will take its place. We will have access to precise mathematics again.We’re going to keep track of all the information and the asymmetries they produce, and it will probably turn out that these asymmetries are what makes the universe go.The frontiers of our technology will radically expand, letting us interact with the world at new levels of granularity.We’re going to learn the universe is not homogenous. Heat death is not our inevitable fate. And most importantly, circles do not and cannot exist :-)Mathematicians Behind the CurtainIn our world, what is considered “possible” or “impossible” largely depends upon what mathematicians and physicists claim is possible or impossible. There are theoretical guardrails keeping minds in order—e.g. the laws of thermodynamics are universal and absolute, right?—but it will turn out that those guardrails were mere conventions—enforced by social norms, not by nature.I expect all kinds of conjectures and theorems and laws to be invalidated in the next decade by the mathematical revolution. A few specificsComputers will have a different architecture. A bunch of design decisions were made over the past 70 years based on economic and engineering considerations that are no longer relevant. There will be multiple attempts to rebuild computers from scratch with new mathematics in mind. These new computers won’t use floating point numbers; approximation will not be fundamental. This will affect how AI is designed, with radical improvements in efficiency.Cellular automata are going to become way more popular, both in physics and biology (and Stephen Wolfram will come out looking very good).Basic things like motion and rotation are going to be seen as extremely complex and rich.And hopefully statistics will be understood as a tool for low-resolution, low-information environments, not as a fundamental piece of math or physics.There, a glimpse of the future before we enter it. The window is closing for humans to take credit for these kinds of predictions. I want to make sure a few things are added to the record before AI steals my thunder. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe
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    5 mins
  • Ep. 117 - Demystifying Physics, Part 2

    Ep. 117 - Demystifying Physics, Part 2
    Sep 10 2026

    Part 2 of my conversation with Shilo and Anastasia of the excellentDemystifySci podcast: ‪@DemystifySci_Podcast‬ Watch Part 1 here:

    Buy the book: Paradox Lost: The Material Principles of Natural Philosophy:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H6TF366C



    Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe
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    1 hr and 54 mins
  • Ep. 116 - Demystifying Physics, Pt 1

    Ep. 116 - Demystifying Physics, Pt 1
    Sep 7 2026

    Part 1 of my conversation with Shilo and Anastasia of the excellentDemystifySci podcast: ‪@DemystifySci_Podcast‬

    Buy the book: Paradox Lost: The Material Principles of Natural Philosophy:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H6TF366CPart 2 will be coming in a few days.

    (PS I found the brilliant and absurd puppet video we discuss in the beginning. Find me a more preposterous combination of high quality and low quality and I’ll give you $100)



    Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe
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    2 hrs and 18 mins
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