Few physicists lean that way. The problems with string theory are legion. We know it. The beauty of the theory is also enormously compelling. This may be as lacking in objectivity as the typical theist idea looking at gorgeous beauty of a piece of nature and thinking it cannot be just an accident. But it is just as hard for physicists to think what we have seen in string theory is just an accident. Therefore most physicists simply think that a crucial piece of the puzzle is still missing.
No more so (not more evidence) than ghosts, psychics, visiting aliens, angels and demons.
I don’t see any either.
If a ghost, psychic, visiting alien, angel or demon were proven to exist, that would be evidence of the plural.
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You assume, incorrectly, that I assume–which would be incorrect, if I assumed it–that a boundless Cosmos which has always existed and always will exist and God are the same thing. What you haven’t considered and is not impossible but is neither provable nor falsifiable, is that such a Cosmos could be Yahweh’s playground. No magic tricks necessary in that kind of Cosmos with Yahweh running loose in it.
No I don’t.
Okay, so you don’t. It’ll be our secret and I won’t tell. Mum’s the word.
Thank you!
I should have actually quoted less. Sorry.
You’ve given a lot more than I even intended to ask for.
What is the basis for the certainty? (Rational conclusions based in what?)
You’ve mentioned numerous times:
You are referring to physical constants? (Nicely, musically put. Nice reference to German musical terminology, btw.)
If so, is the idea that the physical constants remain constant, so the existing matter has and always will behave according to the same constants, endlessly?
If so, then matter processes endlessly according to these constants?
If I am anywhere near the track at all, I’m wondering about a definition of infinity and whether the set of matter is fixed? Is this a linear infinity of serial universes expanding and contracting? Or something else? If so, is that describable to a humanities person?
Thanks for working so hard to try.
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The size of the universe is predicated on its age and rate of expansion–the latter of which is tied into the the amount of matter in it–all of which are tied into its fundamental constants. A person can invent a universe with different physical properties or imagine one anyway they want. When I speak about the universe I am speaking about reality. The amount of matter is fine tuned to a certain degree. As the NASA page was quoted: “Our universe seems to have Goldilocks properties: not too much and not too little – just enough mass and energy to support the development of life.”
I’ve been swayed by the rare earth hypothesis. No proof but I abhor the argument “there is so much out there that there must be life.” Maybe pond scum somewhere or more. Can’t say for certain but a lot of things need to line up and go right for life to form and for it to evolve into advanced human like creatures.
Most of the world would go nuts if they found evidence of primitive life elsewhere. I wouldn’t. Its like finding a new species of life in an exotic location on earth. Cool but not mind shattering. No aliens, no care.
Vinnie
The incoherence of that follows on perfectly from the irrationality of this
You assume, incorrectly, that I assume–which would be incorrect, if I assumed it–that a boundless Cosmos which has always existed and always will exist and God are the same thing. What you haven’t considered and is not impossible but is neither provable nor falsifiable, is that such a Cosmos could be Yahweh’s playground. No magic tricks necessary in that kind of Cosmos with Yahweh running loose in it.
Can you demonstrate, explicate your inference of my assumption of your assumption and what I haven’t considered.
Please.
Why should I explain anything to someone who has proven unwilling to explain himself before now?
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The basis is Kolmogorov complexity. There’s no getting away from it. As there is one universe there are infinite from eternity.
And aye, the half dozen purely measured physical constants are fixed, ordered without meaning, and universes don’t contract.
Infinity is therefore increasing. In every possible, ergodic way.
It really doesn’t bear thinking about.
Because rationality does break down. Becomes meaningless.
But not as quickly as it does in some minds round here.
All that remains are brute facts.
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I must now clean my tablet screen. Coffee spray.
So there’s no getting away from reading texts that require every second word to be looked up and the concept behind it to be studied at length in order to gain a rudimentary understanding of the original text. Sigh. Yes. I’m afraid that’s the way of it.
This could take
That is a whole lot of stuff.
So, the study involved would eventually be a path to better understanding meaninglessness. Hmmm. Which is more likely in my grasp? Existential philosophy? Or Cosmology and related math? ……
Thank you for trying. Really.
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That the ends are not independent of the means is the difference between a dream and reality. But equating reality with the limits of your own experience is simply narcissistic and a deplorable lack of imagination. Any claims about other possibilities for the universe when we simply don’t have any knowledge to back up such claims is empty rhetoric either way – either to affirm or deny other possibilities. I consider any argument based on such empty rhetoric to be completely without any value whatsoever.
I certainly believe that the universe was designed to support the process of life. But such arguments are largely circular. Is the air clear so that we can see through it… OR do we have the kind of sight we have because the air is transparent in that way? The way things are does not proves anything about what is possible. Necessities for life as we know it says nothing about other possibilities for life which may be quite different. The point being we simply do not know either way.
There still cannot be an infinite regress of cats, and there still cannot be an infinity of things extant in the future. Regarding the latter, pick a time, any time, as far into the future as you like – the number of real things that exist at that time or have existed will always be finite.
Ah, the two cultures.
I am no C.P. Snow.
Page down four times and at the bottom is my favourite event. The music of the spheres eh? c, e, G & h are analogous resonant frequencies.
Two hundred million years after we’re back to Hadean life.
Page down. Fourth up is Milkomeda. Love it.
Page down. Half way up. Good news! The Big Rip won’t happen! Probably…
Page down. A quarter up. Really good news! Unless… Estimated time of peak habitability in the universe, at 10 trillion years. Life goes on for ten times that! Happy Days!
Page down. Twice. Penultimate event. Pantheism.
Page down…
How does that grab you? Sorry for any Nausée.
Spurious mathematical, rather than practical, cats don’t… count.
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I was too grim in my earlier reply, I think. Yet, thank you for taking the time.
And yet the mind is relentless, isn’t it? Questions multiply like universes.
I had thought, when I first started noticing the consistant patterns in your descriptions of the universe, that you meant an eternal series of expansions and contractions,—the ultimate recycling project.
So , recongize that you mean something vastly different and infinitely larger.
That’s something. Certainly not dispair.
I’m not sure that it’s meaningless. It may not help with questions of purpose, and it may not help with social justice. So, it can be a distraction from those.
The mind can be relentless in it’s wandering and may need redirection.
And I see now that you’ve replied, while I was typing—with reading to do. To my assignment…
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In other words, you can’t. And by the same inability, you cannot possibly understand the explanation in plain sight.
I remember that game. I’m surprised that you still play it: it’s so passé.
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“Page down x times” IS meaningless, when we’re on different devices with different levels of magnification.
I’ll try navigating on the desktop in a while. Must concentrate on getting a kid out the door for the school bus now.
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Consistent evasion at least.
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