Max Tegmark

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Max Tegmark

| image = Max Tegmark.jpg

| caption = Tegmark in 2006

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1967|5|5|df=y}}

| birth_place = Stockholm, Sweden

| death_date =

| death_place =

| residence =

| nationality = Swedish
American

| field = Cosmology, physics, machine learning

| work_institution = Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Future of Life Institute

| alma_mater = Royal Institute of Technology (MSE)
Stockholm School of Economics (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (MA, PhD)

| thesis_title = Probes of the Early Universe

| thesis_year = 1994

| thesis_url = https://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/thesis.pdf

| doctoral_advisor = Joseph Silk

| doctoral_students =

| known_for =

| societies =

| prizes =

| religion =

| footnotes =

| signature = Signature_of_max_tergmark.jpg

}}

Max Erik Tegmark (born 5 May 1967){{cite web | url=http://philosophy-of-cosmology.ox.ac.uk/tegmark.html | title=Tegmark - Philosophy of Cosmology }} is a Swedish-American physicist, machine learning researcher and author.{{Cite web |title=The Universes of Max Tegmark |url=https://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/ |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=space.mit.edu}} He is best known for his book Life 3.0 about what the world might look like as artificial intelligence continues to improve. Tegmark is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the president of the Future of Life Institute.{{Cite web |title=Max Tegmark |url=https://physics.mit.edu/faculty/max-tegmark/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315043849/https://physics.mit.edu/faculty/max-tegmark/ |archive-date=15 March 2023 |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=MIT Department of Physics |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Max Tegmark |url=https://futureoflife.org/person/max-tegmark/ |access-date=2023-12-27 |website=Future of Life Institute |language=en-US}}

Early life

Tegmark was born in Sweden to Karin Tegmark and American-born professor of mathematics Harold S. Shapiro. While in high school, he and a friend created and sold a word processor written in pure machine code for the Swedish eight-bit computer ABC 80,{{cite web |last=Bodin |first=Magnus |title=Teddy - 1984 |url=https://x42.com/teddy/ |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=buzzword free zone - home of magnus bodin |publisher=X42.com |archive-date=21 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721064604/https://x42.com/teddy/ |url-status=live }} and a 3D Tetris-like game called Frac.{{cite book|last=Tegmark|first=Max|title=The Mathematical Universe|page=55}}

Tegmark left Sweden in 1990 after receiving his M.S.E in engineering physics from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and a B.A. in economics the previous year at the Stockholm School of Economics. His first academic venture beyond Scandinavia brought him to California, where he studied physics at the University of California, Berkeley, earning his M.A. in 1992, and Ph.D. in 1994 under the supervision of Joseph Silk.{{Cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/physics/people/faculty/tegmark_max.html|title=MIT Department of Physics|website=web.mit.edu|access-date=2018-02-12|archive-date=28 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528034558/http://web.mit.edu/physics/people/faculty/tegmark_max.html|url-status=live}}

Tegmark was an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving tenure in 2003. In 2004, he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's department of physics.

Career

His research focuses on machine learning after an earlier phase focused on cosmology, combining theoretical work with new measurements to place constraints on cosmological models and their free parameters, often in collaboration with experimentalists. He has over 300 publications, of which nine have been cited over 500 times.{{cite web|url=https://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Tegmark.1|title=INSPIRE-HEP: M Tegmark's profile|publisher=Inspire-Hep|access-date=6 July 2015|archive-date=4 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004175836/http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Tegmark.1|url-status=live}} He has developed data analysis tools based on information theory and applied them to cosmic microwave background experiments such as COBE, QMAP, and WMAP, and to galaxy redshift surveys such as the Las Campanas Redshift Survey, the 2dF Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

With Daniel Eisenstein and Wayne Hu, he introduced the idea of using baryon acoustic oscillations as a standard ruler.{{Cite web |title=Tegmark - Philosophy of Cosmology |url=http://philosophy-of-cosmology.ox.ac.uk/tegmark.html |access-date=2016-02-15 |website=University of Oxford - Philosophy of Cosmology |archive-date=16 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216025838/http://philosophy-of-cosmology.ox.ac.uk/tegmark.html |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last=Eisenstein |first=Daniel J. |author2=Hu, Wayne |author3=Tegmark, Max |year=1998 |title=Cosmic Complementarity: $H_0$ and $\Omega_m$ from Combining Cosmic Microwave Background Experiments and Redshift Surveys |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=504 |issue=2 |pages=L57–L60 |arxiv=astro-ph/9805239 |bibcode=1998ApJ...504L..57E |doi=10.1086/311582 |s2cid=8824919}} With Angelica de Oliveira-Costa and Andrew Hamilton, he discovered the anomalous multipole alignment in the WMAP data sometimes referred to as the "axis of evil".{{cite journal |last=Tegmark |first=Max |author2=de Oliveira-Costa, Angélica |author3=Hamilton, Andrew |date=1 December 2003 |title=High resolution foreground cleaned CMB map from WMAP |journal=Physical Review D |volume=68 |issue=12 |pages=123523 |arxiv=astro-ph/0302496 |bibcode=2003PhRvD..68l3523T |doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.68.123523 |s2cid=17981329}} With Anthony Aguirre, he developed the cosmological interpretation of quantum mechanics. His 2000 paper on quantum decoherence of neurons{{cite journal |last=Tegmark|first=Max |title=The importance of quantum decoherence in brain processes|journal=Physical Review E|date=1 April 2000|volume=61|issue=4 |pages=4194–4206 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevE.61.4194|pmid=11088215 |arxiv = quant-ph/9907009 |bibcode=2000PhRvE..61.4194T|s2cid=17140058 }}

concluded that decoherence seems too rapid for Roger Penrose's "quantum microtubule" model of consciousness to be viable.{{cite journal |last=Seife |first=Charles |date=4 February 2000 |title=Cold numbers unmake the quantum mind |journal=Science |volume=287 |issue=5454 |pages=791 |doi=10.1126/science.287.5454.791 |pmid=10691548 |s2cid=33761196}}

Tegmark has also formulated the "mathematical universe hypothesis", whose only postulate is that "all structures that exist mathematically exist also physically".{{cite journal|last=Tegmark|first=Max|title=The Mathematical Universe|journal=Foundations of Physics|volume=38|issue=2|pages=101–150|doi=10.1007/s10701-007-9186-9|bibcode = 2008FoPh...38..101T |arxiv = 0704.0646 |year=2008|s2cid=9890455}} a short version of which is available at [https://arxiv.org/abs/0709.4024 Shut up and calculate.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620125542/https://arxiv.org/abs/0709.4024 |date=20 June 2020 }} (in reference to David Mermin's famous quote "shut up and calculate" {{cite web |url=http://physicstoday.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_57/iss_5/10_1.shtml |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160515100124/http://physicstoday.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_57/iss_5/10_1.shtml |archive-date=2016-05-15 }}{{Cite arXiv|last=Butterfield|first=Jeremy|date=2014-06-17|title=Our Mathematical Universe?|class=physics.hist-ph |eprint=1406.4348}} In 2014, Tegmark published the book Our Mathematical Universe, which presents his idea at greater length. Tegmark suggests that the theory is simple in having no free parameters at all, and that in those structures complex enough to contain self-aware substructures (SASs), these SASs will subjectively perceive themselves as existing in a physically "real" world. The "mathematical universe" hypothesis has been criticized by some other scientists as being both overly speculative and unscientific in nature. For example, mathematical physicist Edward Frenkel characterized it as closer to "science fiction and mysticism" than "the realm of science."{{cite news|author-last1=Frenkel|author-first1=Edward|author-link=Edward Frenkel|title=Ad Infinitum|date=February 14, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/books/review/our-mathematical-universe-by-max-tegmark.html}}

Tegmark was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2012 for, according to the citation, "his contributions to cosmology, including precision measurements from cosmic microwave background and galaxy clustering data, tests of inflation and gravitation theories, and the development of a new technology for low-frequency radio interferometry".{{Cite web |title=APS Fellow Archive |url=http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509035726/https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=1996&unit_id=DNP&institution= |archive-date=9 May 2020 |access-date=23 January 2013 |website=American Physical Society}}

He was awarded the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science's Gold Medal in 2019 for, according to the citation, "his contributions to our understanding of humanity’s place in the cosmos and the opportunities and risks associated with artificial intelligence. He has courageously tackled these existential questions in his research and, in a commendable way, succeeded in communicating the issues to a wider public."{{Cite web |title=Hans Dalborg, Daniel Ek, Martin Lorentzon, Lena Olving and Max Tegmark to be awarded IVA's Gold Medals |url=https://www.iva.se/en/published/hans-dalborg-daniel-ek-martin-lorentzon-lena-olving-and-max-tegmark-to-be-awarded-ivas-gold-medals/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126085541/https://www.iva.se/en/published/hans-dalborg-daniel-ek-martin-lorentzon-lena-olving-and-max-tegmark-to-be-awarded-ivas-gold-medals/ |archive-date=26 January 2021 |access-date=24 April 2020 |website=Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences}}

Tegmark is interviewed in the 2018 documentary on artificial intelligence Do You Trust This Computer? From 2020 onward, Tegmark led a research team-turned-nonprofit at MIT that developed an AI-driven news aggregator known as "Improving the News".{{cite web | title=FAQ | website=Improve the News | date=July 13, 2023 | url=https://www.improvethenews.org/faq | access-date=July 14, 2023}} "Improve the News" was rebranded to "Verity News" in 2023. {{cite web | url=https://www.verity.news/about | title=Verity }}

Personal life

He married astrophysicist Angelica de Oliveira-Costa in 1997, and divorced in 2009. They have two sons.{{cite web |url=http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/personal.html |title=Max Tegmark Homepage |publisher=Space.mit.edu |access-date=2012-11-01 |archive-date=14 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614183243/http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/personal.html |url-status=live }} On August 5, 2012, Tegmark married Meia Chita.{{cite web |title=Welcome to Meia and Max's wedding |url=http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/last_wedding.html |access-date=2014-01-10 |website=The Universes of Max Tegmark |publisher=Space.mit.edu |archive-date=10 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110224303/http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/last_wedding.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meia-chitategmark/|title=Meia Chita-Tegmark|work=Huffington Post|access-date=2015-01-10|archive-date=22 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422033228/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meia-chitategmark/|url-status=live}}

In the media

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In 2006, Tegmark was one of fifty scientists interviewed by New Scientist about their predictions for the future. His prediction: "In 50 years, you may be able to buy T-shirts on which are printed equations describing the unified laws of our universes."{{cite magazine |last=Tegmark |first=Max |date=18 November 2006 |title=Max Tegmark forecasts the future |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225780.084-max-tegmark-forecasts-the-future.html |magazine=New Scientist |access-date=2012-11-01 |archive-date=9 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150609002954/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225780.084-max-tegmark-forecasts-the-future.html |url-status=live }}
Tegmark appears in the 2007 documentary Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives in which he is interviewed by Mark Oliver Everett, son of the founder of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, Hugh Everett.
Tegmark also appears in "Who's Afraid of a Big Black Hole?", "What Time is It?", "To Infinity and Beyond", "Is Everything We Know About The Universe Wrong?", "What is Reality?" and "Which Universe Are We In?", all part of the BBC's Horizon scientific series of programmes.
He appears in several episodes of Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible, an American documentary television series on science which first aired in the United States on December 1, 2009. The series is hosted by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.
Tegmark was interviewed by Morgan Freeman in seasons 2 and 3 of Through the Wormhole in 2011–2012.
Tegmark participated in the episode "Zooming Out" of BBC World Service's The Forum, which first aired on BBC Radio 4 on 26 April 2014.{{Cite web |date=26 April 2014 |title=BBC Radio 4 - The Forum, Zooming Out |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b041txvp |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=BBC Radio 4 |language=en-GB |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415115535/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b041txvp |url-status=live }}
In 2014, Tegmark co-authored an op-ed in The Huffington Post with Stephen Hawking, Frank Wilczek and Stuart Russell on the movie Transcendence.{{Cite web |last1=Hawking |first1=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Hawking |last2=Tegmark |first2=Max |last3=Russell |first3=Stuart |date=April 19, 2014 |title=Transcending Complacency On Superintelligent Machines |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/artificial-intelligence_b_5174265 |website=HuffPost |access-date=7 March 2022 |archive-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308112957/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/artificial-intelligence_b_5174265 |url-status=live }}
In 2014, "The Perpetual Earth Program," a play based on Tegmark's book Our Mathematical Universe, was mounted in New York City as part of the Planet Connections Theatre Festival.{{Cite web |last=Chichester |first=Sarah M. |date=10 June 2014 |title=The Perpetual Earth Program |url=http://nytheaternow.com/2014/06/10/the-perpetual-earth-program/ |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714231858/http://nytheaternow.com/2014/06/10/the-perpetual-earth-program/ |archivedate=July 14, 2014 |website=Nytheatre.com}}
In 2014, he featured in The Principle, a documentary examining the Copernican Principle.{{Cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2458876/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm | title=The Principle (2014) | website=IMDb | access-date=30 June 2018 | archive-date=26 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326143042/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2458876/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm | url-status=live }}
In 2015, Tegmark participated in an episode of Sam Harris' the Waking Up podcast entitled "The Multiverse & You (& You & You & You...)" where they discussed topics such as artificial intelligence and the mathematical universe hypothesis.{{cite web |url=http://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-multiverse-you-you-you-you |title=The Multiverse & You (& You & You & You...) |publisher=Sam Harris |date=23 September 2015 |access-date=2015-11-22 |archive-date=22 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122021141/http://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-multiverse-you-you-you-you |url-status=live }}
In 2017, Tegmark gave a talk entitled "Effective altruism, existential risk & existential hope" at the world's largest annual conference of the effective altruism movement.Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/2f1lmNqbgrk Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20180622054252/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f1lmNqbgrk&feature=youtu.be&t=1548. Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Citation |last=Effective Altruism Global |title=Max Tegmark: Effective altruism, existential risk & existential hope |date=2017-06-17 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f1lmNqbgrk |access-date=2018-05-19}}{{cbignore}}
In 2017, Tegmark participated in an episode of Sam Harris' the Waking Up podcast entitled "The Future of Intelligence" where they discussed topics such as artificial intelligence and definitions of life.{{cite web |url=https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-future-of-intelligence |title=The Future of Intelligence) |publisher=Sam Harris |date=27 August 2017 |access-date=2017-08-27 |archive-date=31 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831174414/https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-future-of-intelligence |url-status=live }}
In 2018, Tegmark took part in a conversation with AI researcher Lex Fridman about Artificial General Intelligence as part of a MIT course on AGI. He was the first guest on the Lex Fridman podcast.{{cite web |url=https://lexfridman.com/max-tegmark/ |title=Max Tegmark: Life 3.0 |publisher=Lex Fridman |date=19 April 2018 |access-date=2020-01-19 |archive-date=30 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930102950/https://lexfridman.com/max-tegmark/ |url-status=live }} He was interviewed again on the Lex Fridman podcast in 2021{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL4j4KPwNGM |title=Max Tegmark: AI and Physics {{!}} Lex Fridman Podcast #155 |type=Podcast |access-date=16 February 2022 |archive-date=16 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216182320/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL4j4KPwNGM |url-status=live }} and in 2023.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcVfceTsD0A&ab_channel=LexFridman |title=Max Tegmark: The Case for Halting AI Development {{!}} Lex Fridman Podcast #371 |date=13 April 2023 |type=Podcast |access-date=13 April 2023 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413172949/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcVfceTsD0A&ab_channel=LexFridman |url-status=live }}
In 2023, Tegmark drew controversy in the media when reports surfaced that he had signed off on behalf of the Future of Life Institute on a $100,000 grant to far-right media outlet Nya Dagbladet.{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/future-of-life-institute-max-tegmark-elon-musk/ |title=Elon Musk-Backed Non-Profit Offered $100K Grant to 'Pro-Nazi' Media Outlet |publisher=Vice News|date=19 January 2023 |access-date=2023-05-25 |archive-date=3 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230503144450/https://www.vice.com/en/article/93a475/future-of-life-institute-max-tegmark-elon-musk |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://expo.se/2023/01/elon-musk-funded-nonprofit-run-mit-professor-offered-finance-swedish-pro-nazi-group |title=Elon Musk-funded nonprofit run by MIT professor offered to finance Swedish pro-nazi group |publisher=Expo|date=13 January 2023 |access-date=2023-05-25 |archive-date=15 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515124831/https://expo.se/2023/01/elon-musk-funded-nonprofit-run-mit-professor-offered-finance-swedish-pro-nazi-group |url-status=live }} He later said that the Future of Life Institute "ultimately decided to reject it because of what our subsequent due diligence uncovered", that they rejected it long before the media became involved, and that the institute "finds Nazi, neo-Nazi or pro-Nazi groups or ideologies despicable and would never knowingly support them".{{Cite journal |title=[Linkpost] FLI alleged to have offered funding to far right foundation - EA Forum |url=https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/5vFmMXWsh6PaYjqab/linkpost-fli-alleged-to-have-offered-funding-to-far-right |access-date=2023-06-14 |website=forum.effectivealtruism.org |language=en |last1=Nordmark |first1=Jens |date=13 January 2023 }} An official statement from the Future of Life Institute further expands on this: "FLI finds groups or ideologies espousing antisemitism, white supremacy, or racism despicable and would never knowingly support any such group".{{Cite web |date=January 18, 2023 |title=Statement on a controversial rejected grant proposal |url=https://futureoflife.org/rejection_statement/ |access-date=2023-06-14 |website=Future of Life Institute |language=en-US}}
In 2023, Time named Tegmark one of the 100 most influential people in AI.{{Cite magazine |date=2023-09-07 |title=TIME100 AI 2023: Max Tegmark |url=https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/6310651/max-tegmark/ |access-date=2023-12-27 |magazine=Time |language=en}}