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David Deutsch on Physics Without Probability

Simon Benjamin
Talks
YouTube
2 HN users recommended this talk2 months2020–2023 score 2.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Cited in threads on probability and quantum theory as a strong argument that probabilities can be eliminated from physics.

A 2015 talk by David Deutsch with slides and audio about constructor theory and how physics, in particular the many-worlds interpretation, can be framed without probability.

“Worth a watch especially if you balk at this idea just to to see a strong counter argument.” (HN, 2023)

1 strong recommendations · 1 recommendations · 1 citations · Talks · advanced

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@ThomPete Oct 2022 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Probability (1963)
Any theory that is explainable and hard to vary does not need probability. Can you explain how probability is used in statistical mechanics in a way to contradict what I am saying? P.S. Thanks for being a sport and talk about this in a truly respectful way. If you want to understand where I am coming from, I can really recommend David Deutsch talk about probability here [this video] It was a big awakening for me once I realized not only where probability theory came from (not physics) and how engrained it is in our thinking.
Changed commenter's view on origin and role of probability.
@andrewgleave May 2023 Recommends
on HN thread The World is Built on Probability [1988/2023]
David Deutsch’s “Physics Without Probability” covers the history of probability, it’s legitimate and misconceived uses and concludes that according to MWI there is no such thing in reality - it’s basically that probabilities correspond to how measures of the multiverse proportion themselves as differentiation occurs. I watched it a few years ago so may be misremembering bits but I think that is the gist… Worth a watch especially if you balk at this idea just to to see a strong counter argument. [this video] Edit: link
History of probability and why many-worlds has none.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@scribu Aug 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Algorithmic Theories of Everything (2000)
IMHO, a better title would be " Probabilistic Theories Of Everything" Contrast with the recent work from David Deutsch, which eliminates all probabilities from physics. Intro to Constructor Theory: [this video]
Deutsch's work eliminating probabilities from physics.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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