# Is concept expressed in "Autodidactic Universe" article plausible?

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As I understood, the authors (Lee Smolin et al) of the "Autodidactic Universe" article suggest that the fundamental laws of nature as time progresses since the Big Bang event (which happened about 13.8 billion years ago) were/(perhaps still are) undergoing the “learning” self change adoptive process that is somewhat similar to the Charles Darwin's life evolution theory.

Is concept expressed in the"Autodidactic Universe" article plausible?

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2021-05-26 18:05 (UTC), posted by SE-user Alex
When people invented clocks, people thought the universe was like a clock. When people invented computers, people thought the universe was like a computer. When people invented machine-learning algorithms, people thought the universe was like a machine-learning algorithm. Does this say more about the universe, or about people?

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2021-05-26 18:05 (UTC), posted by SE-user G. Smith
I'm very sure that answers to this question will NOT tend to be based on opinions, but rather could be based on facts, references, or specific expertise - because this question relates to the scientific article, written by recognized respected renown scientists.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2021-05-26 18:05 (UTC), posted by SE-user Alex

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There's less to pop physics than meets the eye. The full technical content of the argument is:

1. Physical theories are described by sets of complicated differential equation.
2. Training a neural network can be described as a set of complicated differential equation.
3. Since you can get any differential equations you want by choosing an arbitrarily complicated physical theory, you can choose one that looks like training a neural network.
4. Therefore, the universe is a neural network.

If this seems a bit confusing, note that it's precisely the same as this argument:

1. In physics, particles have masses, which are numbers.