Fumfer Physics 9: Algorithms, Emergence, and the Nature of Physical Reality

Scott Douglas Jacobsen asked Rick Rosner whether distinguishing between algorithmic and non-algorithmic processes is meaningful in physics and cosmology. Rosner rejected the primacy of algorithms, arguing that computation is linear while associative information is multidimensional, shaped by correlations among variables. He described the universe as compressing vast possibilities into efficient three-dimensional structures, with protons, electrons, and neutrons transmitting information. For Rosner, physical reality emerges from principles of efficiency and existence rather than fixed step-by-step rules. Algorithms can be imposed retroactively as explanatory frameworks, but they miss the improvisational, self-organizing nature of the cosmos. Emergence, not recipes, defines reality’s unfolding.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: All right, let us shift to physics. We left off abruptly in our last session because the clock caught up with us, and I would like to pick up the thread from there. When we speak of algorithms, we are usually talking about step-by-step procedures—precise instructions that define computation in a mechanical sense. Computation, in turn, seems to be one of the cornerstones of how we model information, and information itself has become a candidate for the fundamental currency of the cosmos. Given that backdrop, how do you personally make a distinction between what counts as an “algorithm” and what lies outside of it? Is the division between algorithmic and non-algorithmic processes a meaningful one in physics and cosmology, or is it more of a conceptual convenience that fails to capture how reality actually unfolds?

Rick Rosner: I do not put much stock in the term “algorithm.” Computation is linear. Associative information, by contrast, is multi-dimensional. When you have a network of associations among variables that correlate with one another, you get a multi-dimensional structure. One objective of making computation more efficient is to compress that multi-dimensional structure into fewer dimensions.

If you have a multi-dimensional structure built from correlations, most of it is empty space. These dimensions only correlate for a little while, then the rest of the axis is wasted. Our physical world is three-dimensional space. It is boiled down into what is somehow the most efficient space for containing sets of correlated variables—protons, electrons, neutrons—with information transmitted via long-range particles. You can think of this as a massive pruning of possibilities, where nature strips away redundancy and lands on the dimensions that actually matter for stability and persistence.

So what I am saying is, I do not buy the algorithm idea. When we talk about what is happening, it is emergent. It probably unfolds the same way every time, with the same physics and the same particles. But it is still emergent—not based on a predetermined set of rules. It all ends up in the same place, but what governs it is efficiency and the principles of existence, which are mainly non-algorithmic. Emergence is richer than a recipe; it is a continuous self-organization, like turbulence resolving into vortices or galaxies coalescing out of clouds of matter.

I do not love algorithms. Of course, someone could put what I am talking about into an algorithmic framework and say, “When you talk about this, you are still talking about algorithms.” But to me, that is a retroactive imposition of language. You can always shoehorn complexity into step-by-step instructions after the fact, but that does not mean the universe itself is running those steps. It is like writing sheet music for a jazz improvisation—the notation captures an echo, not the real process.

Rick Rosner is an accomplished television writer with credits on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Crank Yankers, and The Man Show. Over his career, he has earned multiple Writers Guild Award nominations—winning one—and an Emmy nomination. Rosner holds a broad academic background, graduating with the equivalent of eight majors. Based in Los Angeles, he continues to write and develop ideas while spending time with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for The Good Men Project, International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN 0018-7399; Online: ISSN 2163-3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), A Further Inquiry, and other media. He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.