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Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science pp 1–11Cite as

Approximations to Algorithmic Probability

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A Computational Theory of Everything

Physicists have long been searching for a so-called Theory of Everything (ToE). Just as quantum mechanics explains the smallest phenomena, from microwaves to light, and general relativity explains the classical world, from gravity to space and time, a ToE would explain everything in the universe, from the smallest to the largest phenomena, in a single formulation.

Science has operated under the assumption and in light of strong evidence that the world is highly, if not completely, algorithmic in nature. If the world were not structured, our attempts to construct a body of theories from observations, to build what we consider ordered scientific models of the world, would have failed. That they have not is spectacular vindication of the validity of the world’s orderly character. We started out believing that the world was ruled by magic, and by irrational and emotional gods. However, thinkers from ancient civilizations such as China and India and,...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Algorithmic Dynamics Lab, Unit of Computational Medicine and SciLifeLab, Center for Molecular Medicine, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, L8:05 Solna, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden

    Hector Zenil

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  1. Hector Zenil
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Correspondence to Hector Zenil .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ramtech Ltd., Larkspur, California, USA

    Robert A. Meyers

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Zenil, H. (2017). Approximations to Algorithmic Probability. In: Meyers, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27737-5_700-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27737-5_700-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27737-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27737-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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