2002/06/13 by Scott Aaronson, Aaronson, Scott
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0206089
Revised version. 14 pages, to appear in Quantum Information & Computation, September 2002
arxiv created 2002/07/30 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
This is a critical review of the book 'A New Kind of Science' by Stephen Wolfram. We do not attempt a chapter-by-chapter evaluation, but instead focus on two areas: computational complexity and fundamental physics. In complexity, we address some of the questions Wolfram raises using standard techniques in theoretical computer science. In physics, we examine Wolfram's proposal for a deterministic model underlying quantum mechanics, with 'long-range threads' to connect entangled particles. We show that this proposal cannot be made compatible with both special relativity and Bell inequality violation.