Eddy Keming Chen
@eddykemingchen.bsky.social
Philosopher @ UC San Diego. Thinking about AI, laws of nature, arrows of time, and quantum foundations. Author of Laws of Physics (Cambridge UP). https://www.eddykemingchen.net
New preprint with Jeff Barrett! We derive the Principal Principle—rational credence should match known chance—without circularity.
Key idea: statistical constraint laws (algorithmic randomness) + exchangeable priors (inductive assumptions) → PP.
philpapers.org/rec/BARARE-9
Key idea: statistical constraint laws (algorithmic randomness) + exchangeable priors (inductive assumptions) → PP.
philpapers.org/rec/BARARE-9
Jeffrey A. Barrett & Eddy Keming Chen, Algorithmic Randomness, Exchangeability, and the Principal Principle - PhilPapers
We introduce a framework uniting algorithmic randomness with exchangeable credences to address foundational questions in philosophy of probability and philosophy of science. To demonstrate its power, ...
philpapers.org
October 28, 2025 at 4:34 AM
New preprint with Jeff Barrett! We derive the Principal Principle—rational credence should match known chance—without circularity.
Key idea: statistical constraint laws (algorithmic randomness) + exchangeable priors (inductive assumptions) → PP.
philpapers.org/rec/BARARE-9
Key idea: statistical constraint laws (algorithmic randomness) + exchangeable priors (inductive assumptions) → PP.
philpapers.org/rec/BARARE-9
New paper with Jeff Barrett coming out in @thebjps.bsky.social !
We develop new notions of probability and probabilistic laws. Years in the making.
Next: a natural proof of the Principal Principle.
Link: philpapers.org/rec/BARARA-17
We develop new notions of probability and probabilistic laws. Years in the making.
Next: a natural proof of the Principal Principle.
Link: philpapers.org/rec/BARARA-17
September 2, 2025 at 1:55 AM
New paper with Jeff Barrett coming out in @thebjps.bsky.social !
We develop new notions of probability and probabilistic laws. Years in the making.
Next: a natural proof of the Principal Principle.
Link: philpapers.org/rec/BARARA-17
We develop new notions of probability and probabilistic laws. Years in the making.
Next: a natural proof of the Principal Principle.
Link: philpapers.org/rec/BARARA-17
Excited to be giving a talk on philosophy of science and foundations of AI at the National University of Singapore, hosted by the Department of Philosophy. It’s a special occasion for me—NUS is where I began my philosophical training as an undergraduate 15 years ago.
July 12, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Excited to be giving a talk on philosophy of science and foundations of AI at the National University of Singapore, hosted by the Department of Philosophy. It’s a special occasion for me—NUS is where I began my philosophical training as an undergraduate 15 years ago.
Looking forward to talking about exchangeability, algorithmic randomness, and the Principal Principle tomorrow at the Institute of Data Science at the University of Hong Kong! (Joint work with Jeff Barrett)
July 7, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Looking forward to talking about exchangeability, algorithmic randomness, and the Principal Principle tomorrow at the Institute of Data Science at the University of Hong Kong! (Joint work with Jeff Barrett)
Debating laws of physics + metaphysics with my former PhD supervisor Barry Loewer on Theories of Everything. Plenty of disagreements, but always learning!
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZna...
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZna...
Do The Laws of Physics Exist?
YouTube video by Curt Jaimungal
www.youtube.com
June 18, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Debating laws of physics + metaphysics with my former PhD supervisor Barry Loewer on Theories of Everything. Plenty of disagreements, but always learning!
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZna...
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZna...
Just finished a semester-long reading group on my book with the All Milan History & Philosophy of Physics group, thanks to the amazing Silvia De Bianchi. Incredible discussions on laws of nature, simplicity, and cosmology. Grateful for the sharp questions & insights!
June 5, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Just finished a semester-long reading group on my book with the All Milan History & Philosophy of Physics group, thanks to the amazing Silvia De Bianchi. Incredible discussions on laws of nature, simplicity, and cosmology. Grateful for the sharp questions & insights!
Reposted by Eddy Keming Chen
Lofty Math Problem Called Hilbert’s Sixth Closer to Being Solved www.scientificamerican.com/article/loft...
Mathematicians Crack 125-Year-Old Problem, Unite Three Physics Theories
A breakthrough in Hilbert’s sixth problem is a major step in grounding physics in math
www.scientificamerican.com
April 15, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Lofty Math Problem Called Hilbert’s Sixth Closer to Being Solved www.scientificamerican.com/article/loft...
Had the privilege to visit Armin Schwartzman’s group @ucsdhealthsci.bsky.social (Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute + Biostatistics) to talk about algorithmic randomness, exchangeability, and the Principal Principle. Great conversations on probability and AI foundations!
April 29, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Had the privilege to visit Armin Schwartzman’s group @ucsdhealthsci.bsky.social (Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute + Biostatistics) to talk about algorithmic randomness, exchangeability, and the Principal Principle. Great conversations on probability and AI foundations!
Honored to receive the APA’s 2024 Public Philosophy Op-Ed Prize for “The Preordained Quantum Universe” (Nature, 2023). Thanks to @apaphilosophy for supporting public-facing philosophy! #Quantum #Philosophy #APA2024
April 21, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Honored to receive the APA’s 2024 Public Philosophy Op-Ed Prize for “The Preordained Quantum Universe” (Nature, 2023). Thanks to @apaphilosophy for supporting public-facing philosophy! #Quantum #Philosophy #APA2024
Reposted by Eddy Keming Chen
Very happy that my paper with @eddykemingchen.bsky.social is officially published with Synthese with open access. It was a great opportunity to survey the space of options when it comes to the Born Rule for Everettians, and see how density matrix realism generalizes them!
Happy to share that my paper with @eugenechua.bsky.social is now officially published with open access! 🚀
"Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Thanks to all who offered feedback!
"Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Thanks to all who offered feedback!
Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse - Synthese
In Everettian quantum mechanics, justifications for the Born rule appeal to self-locating uncertainty or decision theory. Such justifications have focused exclusively on a pure-state Everettian multiv...
link.springer.com
April 9, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Very happy that my paper with @eddykemingchen.bsky.social is officially published with Synthese with open access. It was a great opportunity to survey the space of options when it comes to the Born Rule for Everettians, and see how density matrix realism generalizes them!
Happy to share that my paper with @eugenechua.bsky.social is now officially published with open access! 🚀
"Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Thanks to all who offered feedback!
"Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Thanks to all who offered feedback!
Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse - Synthese
In Everettian quantum mechanics, justifications for the Born rule appeal to self-locating uncertainty or decision theory. Such justifications have focused exclusively on a pure-state Everettian multiv...
link.springer.com
April 9, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Happy to share that my paper with @eugenechua.bsky.social is now officially published with open access! 🚀
"Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Thanks to all who offered feedback!
"Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Thanks to all who offered feedback!
Just found this (Italian!) YouTube breakdown of Laws of Physics by physicist @davidedebiasio.bsky.social on his channel Spazi Attorcigliati. He dives into the first 20 pages—ontology, nomology, laws as constraints. I'm honored!
Thanks to #ChatGPT I could follow along! www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDBD...
Thanks to #ChatGPT I could follow along! www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDBD...
Le Leggi della Fisica (1/2) | Fisica: Filosofia e Fondamenti 3
YouTube video by Spazi Attorcigliati | Davide De Biasio
www.youtube.com
April 8, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Just found this (Italian!) YouTube breakdown of Laws of Physics by physicist @davidedebiasio.bsky.social on his channel Spazi Attorcigliati. He dives into the first 20 pages—ontology, nomology, laws as constraints. I'm honored!
Thanks to #ChatGPT I could follow along! www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDBD...
Thanks to #ChatGPT I could follow along! www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDBD...
Reposted by Eddy Keming Chen
5. Andrews, Mel (2023) The Devil in the Data: Machine Learning & the Theory-Free Ideal
March 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM
5. Andrews, Mel (2023) The Devil in the Data: Machine Learning & the Theory-Free Ideal
Reposted by Eddy Keming Chen
3. Brown, Matthew J. (2020) Science and Moral Imagination: A New Ideal for Values in Science. Science, Values, and the Public.
4. Ardourel, Vincent and Bangu, Sorin (2023) Finite-size scaling theory: Quantitative and qualitative approaches to critical phenomena.
4. Ardourel, Vincent and Bangu, Sorin (2023) Finite-size scaling theory: Quantitative and qualitative approaches to critical phenomena.
March 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM
3. Brown, Matthew J. (2020) Science and Moral Imagination: A New Ideal for Values in Science. Science, Values, and the Public.
4. Ardourel, Vincent and Bangu, Sorin (2023) Finite-size scaling theory: Quantitative and qualitative approaches to critical phenomena.
4. Ardourel, Vincent and Bangu, Sorin (2023) Finite-size scaling theory: Quantitative and qualitative approaches to critical phenomena.
Reposted by Eddy Keming Chen
Visit the PhilSci Archive 📄 to read the most downloaded preprints for the last 6 months:
philsci-archive.pitt...
1. Chen, Eddy Keming (2023) Laws of Physics.
2. Rushing, Bruce and Gomez-Lavin, Javier (2024) Is the Scaling Hypothesis Falsifiable?
philsci-archive.pitt...
1. Chen, Eddy Keming (2023) Laws of Physics.
2. Rushing, Bruce and Gomez-Lavin, Javier (2024) Is the Scaling Hypothesis Falsifiable?
March 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Visit the PhilSci Archive 📄 to read the most downloaded preprints for the last 6 months:
philsci-archive.pitt...
1. Chen, Eddy Keming (2023) Laws of Physics.
2. Rushing, Bruce and Gomez-Lavin, Javier (2024) Is the Scaling Hypothesis Falsifiable?
philsci-archive.pitt...
1. Chen, Eddy Keming (2023) Laws of Physics.
2. Rushing, Bruce and Gomez-Lavin, Javier (2024) Is the Scaling Hypothesis Falsifiable?
Excited to talk about density matrix realism and a new result on observation typicality at the Chapman workshop on quantum foundations in two days!
March 22, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Excited to talk about density matrix realism and a new result on observation typicality at the Chapman workshop on quantum foundations in two days!
Had a wonderful time in Berkeley, speaking at the Logic Group on Friday and the Metaphysics Workshop on Saturday! I presented two joint papers with Jeff Barrett—on chancy laws as constraints and deriving the Principal Principle from them. Great discussions and feedback.
March 17, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Had a wonderful time in Berkeley, speaking at the Logic Group on Friday and the Metaphysics Workshop on Saturday! I presented two joint papers with Jeff Barrett—on chancy laws as constraints and deriving the Principal Principle from them. Great discussions and feedback.
Had a fantastic visit at Stanford—thanks to Elliott Sober and Thomas Icard for the kind invitation! Tomorrow, Linda and I are heading to Berkeley! Looking forward to engaging with faculty and students to discuss foundations of AI, algorithmic randomness, and the laws of nature.
March 14, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Had a fantastic visit at Stanford—thanks to Elliott Sober and Thomas Icard for the kind invitation! Tomorrow, Linda and I are heading to Berkeley! Looking forward to engaging with faculty and students to discuss foundations of AI, algorithmic randomness, and the laws of nature.
Thrilled to see my book Laws of Physics as the most downloaded item on PhilSci Archive for the last six months—a title it has held since September 2024! Grateful for the continued interest and support from readers, colleagues, and the @philsci.bsky.social community.
#PhilosophyOfScience
#PhilosophyOfScience
March 8, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Thrilled to see my book Laws of Physics as the most downloaded item on PhilSci Archive for the last six months—a title it has held since September 2024! Grateful for the continued interest and support from readers, colleagues, and the @philsci.bsky.social community.
#PhilosophyOfScience
#PhilosophyOfScience
I’ll be giving an informal presentation tomorrow (Friday) from 2–3 PM in the UCSD Philosophy Department conference room on:
"Algorithmic Randomness and Exchangeability: A New Proof of the Principal Principle"
All are welcome!
"Algorithmic Randomness and Exchangeability: A New Proof of the Principal Principle"
All are welcome!
March 7, 2025 at 1:34 AM
I’ll be giving an informal presentation tomorrow (Friday) from 2–3 PM in the UCSD Philosophy Department conference room on:
"Algorithmic Randomness and Exchangeability: A New Proof of the Principal Principle"
All are welcome!
"Algorithmic Randomness and Exchangeability: A New Proof of the Principal Principle"
All are welcome!
I’ve been sitting in Mikhail Belkin’s graduate seminar on the mathematics of machine learning and learning a ton—there are some striking connections to philosophy of science! Excited to give a guest lecture and grateful for Misha’s invitation.
#PhilosophyOfScience #MachineLearning #AI
#PhilosophyOfScience #MachineLearning #AI
March 2, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I’ve been sitting in Mikhail Belkin’s graduate seminar on the mathematics of machine learning and learning a ton—there are some striking connections to philosophy of science! Excited to give a guest lecture and grateful for Misha’s invitation.
#PhilosophyOfScience #MachineLearning #AI
#PhilosophyOfScience #MachineLearning #AI
Thrilled to share that Laws of Physics will be translated into Turkish! Grateful to Cambridge University Press for making this happen—excited to reach new readers! #AcademicPublishing #PhilosophyOfScience
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
February 27, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Thrilled to share that Laws of Physics will be translated into Turkish! Grateful to Cambridge University Press for making this happen—excited to reach new readers! #AcademicPublishing #PhilosophyOfScience
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
🎉 Congrats to Rose & Taylor for an amazing #GenerativeAI Summit at #UCSanDiego ! Had fantastic discussions, learned a ton, and left with so many open questions for philosophy of science.
Loved Misha Belkin’s slide on LLMs’ four different answers to “Who stole the cookie?”
Loved Misha Belkin’s slide on LLMs’ four different answers to “Who stole the cookie?”
February 22, 2025 at 4:16 AM
🎉 Congrats to Rose & Taylor for an amazing #GenerativeAI Summit at #UCSanDiego ! Had fantastic discussions, learned a ton, and left with so many open questions for philosophy of science.
Loved Misha Belkin’s slide on LLMs’ four different answers to “Who stole the cookie?”
Loved Misha Belkin’s slide on LLMs’ four different answers to “Who stole the cookie?”
My first book, Laws of Physics, was published last year, and it has just been reviewed in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews by Dustin Lazarovici. Huge thanks to Dustin for the fantastic review and thoughtful engagement with the ideas!
ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/laws...
ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/laws...
February 18, 2025 at 11:21 PM
My first book, Laws of Physics, was published last year, and it has just been reviewed in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews by Dustin Lazarovici. Huge thanks to Dustin for the fantastic review and thoughtful engagement with the ideas!
ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/laws...
ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/laws...
Thrilled to share that a paper I co-wrote with @eugenechua.bsky.social is coming out in Synthese! 🎉 The paper extends Everettian many-worlds quantum mechanics to density matrix realism—a super fun collaboration. Looking forward to more in the future!
philpapers.org/rec/CHUDBA
philpapers.org/rec/CHUDBA
Eugene Y. S. Chua & Eddy Keming Chen, Decoherence, Branching, and the Born Rule in a Mixed-State Everettian Multiverse - PhilPapers
In Everettian quantum mechanics, justifications for the Born rule appeal to self-locating uncertainty or decision theory. Such justifications have focused exclusively on a pure-state Everettian multiv...
philpapers.org
January 28, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Thrilled to share that a paper I co-wrote with @eugenechua.bsky.social is coming out in Synthese! 🎉 The paper extends Everettian many-worlds quantum mechanics to density matrix realism—a super fun collaboration. Looking forward to more in the future!
philpapers.org/rec/CHUDBA
philpapers.org/rec/CHUDBA