Editing Max Tegmark (section)

==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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> He has developed data analysis tools based on information theory and applied them to [[cosmic microwave background]] experiments such as [[Cosmic Background Explorer|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]].<ref name=":0">{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Eisenstein |first=Daniel J. |author2=Hu, Wayne |author3=Tegmark, Max |year=1998 |title=Cosmic Complementarity: <math>H_0</math> and <math>\Omega_m</math> 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}}</ref> 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 (cosmology)|axis of evil]]".<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{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}}</ref> With Anthony Aguirre, he developed the [[cosmological interpretation of quantum mechanics]]. His 2000 paper on quantum decoherence of neurons<ref>{{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 }}</ref>
concluded that decoherence seems too rapid for [[Roger Penrose]]'s [[Orchestrated objective reduction|"quantum microtubule" model of consciousness]] to be viable.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Seife |first=Charles |date=4 February 2000 |title=Cold numbers unmake the quantum mind |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=287 |issue=5454 |pages=791 |doi=10.1126/science.287.5454.791 |pmid=10691548 |s2cid=33761196}}</ref>

Tegmark has also formulated the "[[mathematical universe hypothesis]]", whose only postulate is that "all structures that exist mathematically exist also physically".<ref>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite arXiv|last=Butterfield|first=Jeremy|date=2014-06-17|title=Our Mathematical Universe?|class=physics.hist-ph |eprint=1406.4348}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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 (cosmology)|inflation]] and gravitation theories, and the development of a new technology for low-frequency radio interferometry".<ref>{{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]]}}</ref>

He was awarded the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science|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."<ref>{{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]]}}</ref>

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".<ref name="Improve the News 2023">{{cite web | title=FAQ | website=Improve the News | date=July 13, 2023 | url=https://www.improvethenews.org/faq | access-date=July 14, 2023}}</ref> "Improve the News" was rebranded to "Verity News" in 2023. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.verity.news/about | title=Verity }}</ref>