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Hello, since ancient times philosophers and physicists have tried to discover simple underlying

principles that control the universe.

In the 6th century, B.C. Thailies declared, everything is water.

Aristotle believed all of creation was forged from four elements, Earth, Fire and Water.

Newton more successfully laid down the law of universal gravitation, as we speak contemporary scientists are struggling to

complete the task of string theory the quest to find a single overarching equation that underpins

all physics and can perhaps explain the organization of everything in existence.

But are the laws of physics really facts of life?

Is what is true in physics true in all areas of existence?

Is it even true in other areas of physics? With me is Mark Buchanan,

author of a new book called Ubiquity, which claims to identify universal principles

that could underlie everything from an avalanche to a world war to a crash in the

stock exchange to a forest fire.

We're also joined by the physicist Professor Frank Close, author of Lucifer's legacy,

the meaning of asymmetry, and by Nancy Cartwright, professor of philosophy at the LSE, and author of The Dappled World, a study of the boundaries of science.

Frank Close, some people claim that Aristotle held back science with his insistence on the four elements, Earth, Fire and Water

and this search for simplicity was rather damaging. Would you agree with that?

Well I don't know if it was damaging. It certainly had the case that intrigues me that for 3,000 years

science has progressed very successfully on the belief that there is some

unity behind it all that we're trying to elucidate out of the complexity that we see

...