Shut up and calculate

2007/09/25 by Max Tegmark, Tegmark, Max · 5 voices · 2 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Computational Physics and Python Applications #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #gr-qc #hep-th #math-ph #physics.pop-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0709.4024

openalex publication_date 2007/09/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

I advocate an extreme "shut-up-and-calculate" approach to physics, where our external physical reality is assumed to be purely mathematical. This brief essay motivates this "it's all just equations" assumption and discusses its implications.

Cited by

• String theory deconstructed
• My Struggles with the Block Universe
• Universe [wikipedia]

Discussions

• Shut up and calculate: an extreme mathematical universe [hn, 159 points, 181 comments]
• Shut up and calculate (2007) [hn, 35 points, 25 comments]
• "Shut-up-and-calculate" approach to physics: A purely mathematical universe [hn, 4 points, 0 comments]
• Shut up and calculate [hn, 2 points, 0 comments]
• Shut Up and Calculate [hn, 1 points, 0 comments]

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