Constructor theory

Qasim Mahmood

November 2020

In this paper, David Deutsch introduces constructor theory as a solution to

his criticism of the standard epistemological position in fundamental physics.

Conventional physicists are content with predicting what will happen given the

initial conditions of the system from the laws of motion. For instance, we

can model how a system of test particles would evolve under the action of the

Coulomb force given their initial state variables.

The main idea in constructor theory is that of a constructor, a generalization

of a catalyst, i.e. a physical entity that transforms substrates and gives us the

required output but without undergoing any change itself. The existence of a

constructor for a certain set of inputs and outputs predicates the possibility

of a transformation. For instance, the law of conservation of energy would be

formulated in constructor theoretic terms as the non existence of a constructor

which would keep an object moving perpetually. In other words, there is no

perpetual motion machine.

Constructor theory also tackles the notion of the testability of a scientific

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theory in an unusual way. Conventionally, a theory is put to the test in terms of

its predictions i.e we determine whether what it says happens, actually happens.

Deutsch proposes that the merit of a scientific theory is not in what it predicts

but in what it bars from taking place and also provides an explanation for it. If

the said thing, deemed impossible by the theory, does happen then that suffices

to falsify it. For instance, the 2nd law of thermodynamics, embodying the spirit

of constructor theory, bars heat from being converted to work entirely but if

one is able to construct such a device then that suffices to reject the theory.

Deutsch also goes over how the theory of computation is intimately tied to

the laws of physics that despite the ’common misconception held by mathemati-

cians’, it is not.According to the author, computation is intrinsically a physical

process and determining undecidability of propositions is dependent on the laws

of physics.For instance initially, the Turing machine was thought to be the gold

standard for testing whether a proposition was undecidable or not but it ulti-

mately fell short of the quantum Turing machine whose power in determining

undecidability is far superior.Constructor theory is the ultimate generalization

of computability theory.

A major problem with the prevailing conception of physics is that some

laws such as the 2nd law of thermodynamics do not follow from the underlying

microscopic laws. This contradicts the philosophy of being able to predict nature

from the properties of its underlying constituents. This is not a problem shared

by constructor theory for it never claims to do that to begin with.

Thermodynamics,the principle of conservation of energy ,information theoretic

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aspects of nature all fall neatly under the umbrella of constructor theory. This

unifying power of constructor theory is what it makes it great as an alternative

to the prevailing conception of fundamental physics.