Constructor theory

Constructor theory is a proposal for a new mode of explanation in fundamental physics, first sketched out by David Deutsch, a quantum physicist at the University of Oxford, in 2012. Constructor theory expresses physical laws exclusively in terms of what physical transformations, or tasks, are possible versus which are impossible, and why. By allowing such counterfactual statements into fundamental physics, it allows new physical laws to be expressed, for instance those of the constructor theory of information.

The fundamental elements of the theory are tasks, i.e., the abstract specifications of transformations in terms of input/output pairs of attributes. A task is impossible if there is a law of physics that forbids its being performed with arbitrarily high accuracy, and possible otherwise. When it is possible, then a constructor for it can be built, again with arbitrary accuracy and reliability. A constructor is an entity which can cause the task to occur while retaining the ability to cause it again. Examples of constructors include a heat engine (a thermodynamic constructor), a catalyst (a chemical constructor) or a computer program controlling an automated factory (an example of a programmable constructor).

The theory was developed by physicists David Deutsch and Chiara Marletto. It draws together ideas from diverse areas including thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, information theory and quantum computation.

Quantum mechanics and all other physical theories are claimed to be subsidiary theories, and quantum information becomes a special case of superinformation.

Chiara Marletto's constructor theory of life builds on constructor theory.

According to Deutsch, current theories of physics based on quantum mechanics do not adequately explain why some transformations between states of being are possible and some are not. For example, a drop of dye can dissolve in water but thermodynamics shows that the reverse transformation, of the dye clumping back together, is effectively impossible. We do not know at a quantum level why this should be so. Constructor theory provides an explanatory framework built on the transformations themselves, rather than the components.

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