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Spatiotemporal variability and extrapolation from ecological experiments
Get PDFIn current philosophy of science, extrapolation is seen as an inference from a study to a distinct target system of interest. The reliability of such an inference is generally thought to depend on the extent to which study and target are similar in relevant respects, which is especially problematic when they are heterogeneous. This paper argues that this understanding is underdeveloped when applied to extrapolation in ecology. Extrapolation in ecology is not always well characterized as an inference from a model to a distinct target but often includes inferences from small-scale experimental systems to large-scale processes in nature, i.e., inferences across spatiotemporal scales. For this reason, I introduce a distinction between compositional and spatiotemporal variability. Whereas the former describes differences in entities and causal factors between model and target, the latter refers to the variability of a system over space and time. The central claim of this paper is that our understanding of heterogeneity needs to be expanded to explicitly include spatiotemporal variability and its effects on extrapolation across spatiotemporal scales
Fundamental Physics and Middle-Sized Dry Goods
Get PDFI consider whether the discovery of the quantum of action has any bearing on reductive physicalism. More particularly, I consider the arguments of the "new hylomorphists" to the effect that quantum physics sits most comfortably in their anti-reductionist framework
Trading Evidence: The Role of Models in Interfield Unification
Get PDFScientific fields frequently need to exchange data to advance their own inquiries. Data unification is the process of stabilizing these forms of interfield data exchange. I present an account of the epistemic structure of data unification, drawing on case studies from model-based cognitive neuroscience (MBCN). MBCN is distinctive because it shows that modeling practices play an essential role in mediating these data exchanges. Models often serve as interfield evidential integrators, and models built for this purpose have their own representational and inferential functions. This form of data unification should be seen as autonomous from other forms, particularly explanatory unification
23 open problems in the philosophy of physics
Get PDFI present 23 open problems in the Philosophy of Physics. Based upon a talk given at the launch event of the Radboud Centre for Natural Philosophy, Nijmegen, NL, held 9th-10th January 2025
What is the value free ideal and should scientists strive to uphold it?
Get PDFThere seems to be a near consensus among philosophers of science rejecting the value-free ideal - that non-epistemic values ought not to influence scientific reasoning. This essays shows that arguments put forward against the ideal do not necessitate the rejection of its desirability. It also argues that rejecting the ideal can lead to detrimental consequences and instead the ideal should be retained by reframing it as a constraint in resorting to non-epistemic values and choosing among values
QBist Metacognition and the Limits of Computationalism: A Constraint on Genuine Artificial Consciousness
Get PDFThis paper proposes a novel constraint on artificial consciousness. The central claim
is that no artificial system can be genuinely conscious unless it instantiates a form of self-referential inference that is irreducibly perspectival and non-computable. Drawing
on Quantum Bayesianism (QBism), I argue that consciousness should be understood
as an anticipatory process grounded in subjective belief revision, not as an emergent product of computational complexity. Classical systems, however sophisticated, lack
the architecture required to support this mode of updating. I conclude that artificial consciousness demands more than computation—it demands a subject
Is the Universe in a Mixed State?
Get PDFQuantum mechanics with a fundamental density matrix has been proposed and discussed recently. Moreover, it has been conjectured that the universe is not in a pure state but in a mixed state in this theory. In this paper, I argue that this mixed state conjecture has two main problems: the redundancy problem and the underdetermination problem, which are lacking in quantum mechanics with a definite initial wave function of the universe
Minimal Causal-Informational Model of Emergent Space-Time (MCIMES)
Get PDFQuantum mechanics and general relativity require unified theoretical treatment, particularly regarding the cosmological constant’s observed value (≈ 10−123 in Planck units). This paper presents the Minimal Causal-Informational Model of Emergent Space-Time (MCIMES), which establishes quantum information as the fundamental entity underlying emergent space-time geometry. The model adopts quantum structural realism as its interpretive framework, implemented through rigorous category theory formalism. MCIMES is mathematically constructed on an abstract interaction graph, represented as a monoidal category CA with functorial mappings to physical observables. The system’s dynamics are governed by a variational principle of minimal information loss, expressible through natural transformations between functors.
The framework demonstrates how metric properties, Lorentzian signature, and causal structure emerge from quantum correlations without presupposing space-time. Topological invariants, particularly Betti numbers bp of the interaction graph, play a crucial role in quantifying universal properties of space-time fluctuations and thermodynamic behaviour. From this background-independent formulation, Einstein’s equations emerge in the continuum limit as the optimal configuration that minimizes information loss.
Quantitatively, MCIMES predicts a dark energy equation of state parameter w =
−0.97 ± 0.01, a cosmological constant value Λtheor = (1.9 ± 0.7) × 10−123, and black
hole entropy with logarithmic quantum corrections of the form
. The coefficient in the logarithmic term is topologically protected and
universal for four-dimensional space-time. These predictions are testable through next generation cosmological observations by 2030-2035 and analog quantum experiments. While the current model has limitations in connecting to the Standard Model and computational implementation, MCIMES provides a comprehensive information theoretic framework for quantum gravity with specific, falsifiable consequences
On Reissner’s hypothesis: A review of 20th Century relational models for the unification of gravity and inertia
Get PDFThis paper revisits a largely overlooked line of thought originating with Reissner’s 1915 proposal: that gravity may be a necessary consequence of the relativity of inertia. We survey a range of historical models developed throughout the 20th Century that attempt to unify gravity and inertia by deriving the two in unison. While the unification of gravity and inertia is primarily recognized within the framework of Einstein’s general relativity, we show that several lesser-known and largely classical models go further by attempting to explain this equivalence, thereby aiming at a deeper unification. Our analysis distinguishes four classes of models and argues that those incorporating internal particle motion—especially Cook’s quantum-mechanical approach—offer the most comprehensive account of this unification. Cook’s model, which derives gravitational attraction from the quantum zitterbewegung of elementary particles, suggests a direct link between gravity, inertia, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. By systematically comparing these approaches, we revive a promising and under-explored avenue toward a dynamical explanation of gravity and inertia, combining the physics of the largest and smallest scales in nature: of cosmology and the quantum properties of elementary matter
In Search of Cosmic Time: Complete Observables and the Clock Hypothesis
Get PDFThis paper considers a new and deeply challenging face of the problem of time in
the context of cosmology drawing on the work of Thiemann (2006, 2007). Thiemann argues
for a radical response to the cosmic problem of time that requires us to modify the classical
Friedmann equations. By contrast, we offer a conservative proposal for solution of the problem
by bringing together ideas from the contemporary literature regarding reference frames (Bamonti
2023; Bamonti and Gomes 2024), complete observables (Gryb and Thébault 2016b; Gryb and
Thébault 2023), and the modelbased account of time measurement (Tal 2016). On our approach,
we must reinterpret our criteria of observability in light of the clock hypothesis and the modelbased
account of measurement in order to preserve the Friedmann equations as the dynamical
equations for the universe