Comment by StirlingN on Could a superintelligence deduce general relativity from a falling apple? An investigation · 2023-04-24T13:54:24.806Z · LW · GW

Yes, a superintelligent AI could deduce Quantum Theory in the same manner that humans did: the ultraviolet catastrophe. The blades of grass will be wrong and the AI would know this because any blade of grass would look wrong at the edges thus disproving the Newtonian hypothesis. It just needs to see in the bee spectrum, which ranges to the UV, rather than the human spectrum. 

We just take it for granted but this was a hot topic at the turn of the 20th century. How bright the AI would have to be is a different story, but it is conceivable.  You just need to stop thinking like a member of homo sapiens.

I make no claims as to his overall point but the fundamental principle of discovering QM is, in some sense, reasonable with a sufficiently gifted AI.