Computational Metaphysics: A Survey of the Ruliad, Observer Theory and Emerging Frameworks

Authors:

• James K. Wiles

Abstract:

Over the past five years, a new research frontier has emerged, which we call "computational metaphysics", bridging ideas in theoretical physics, computer science, and philosophy. Building on Stephen Wolfram’s concepts of the ruliad (the entangled limit of all possible computations) and Observer Theory (formalizing how computationally bounded subsystems extract law-like patterns), scholars have begun to operationalize age-old metaphysical questions. This survey provides:

1) a concise introduction to the core concepts; multicomputation, computational irreducibility and equivalence, the nature of time as universal computation, and the computational models of consciousness and qualia

2) a structured review of recent technical results (e.g. hypergraph models for fundamental physics; formal observer definitions; semantic models of phenomenology).

We show how these frameworks offer a common formal language for discussing reality, mind, and knowledge, and survey ongoing efforts to develop open-source tools and interactive simulations. Finally, we outline key open problems, such as identifying reducible pockets in the ruliad, rigorously mapping neural semantics, and exploring rulial “distance” in AI, and propose a roadmap for an interdisciplinary research program in operational computational metaphysics.