Book Review: 'A New Kind of Science'

Abstract

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.

Revised version. 14 pages, to appear in Quantum Information & Computation, September 2002