  We review a recent proposal for the construction of a quantum theory of the
gravitational field. The proposal is based on approximating the continuum
theory by a discrete theory that has several attractive properties, among them,
the fact that in its canonical formulation it is free of constraints. This
allows to bypass many of the hard conceptual problems of traditional canonical
quantum gravity. In particular the resulting theory implies a fundamental
mechanism for decoherence and bypasses the black hole information paradox.
