the momentous dichotomy

david deutsch has boomed through the skies of my memesphere on numerous occasions, but never in way that caused me to pause long enough to take on his ideas. but this time, something is different. this pass originated from naval, specifically his recent parceling out of painfully short podcast episodes on the topic of deutsch’s book “the beginning of infinity”. it sounds as though naval sat down with brett hall to talk about the book and its ideas, and then chopped that conversation into tiny pieces.

whether intentionally or not, this approach finally induced me to buy the book so I could just read it already. I’ve only just begun, but my notes are heavy already. so I’ll be back with more details when I’m done. for today, I wanted to get the momentous dichotomy out there.

Every putative physical transformation, to be performed in a given time with given resources or under any other conditions, is either impossible because it is forbidden by the laws of nature or achievable, given the right knowledge.

David Deutsch, The Beginning of Infinity

boiling that down, anything that is permitted by the laws of nature is achievable. it seems tautological, like some trick of logic. but in the end, this very uncomplicated statement of obvious fact is the most optimistic thing I’ve heard. unless the laws of physics stop it from happening, we have the ability to do it.