(July 13, 2017 at 1:19 pm)Khemikal Wrote: It might be more accurate to state that math that does not usefully and accurately describe some fundamental relationship of the universe is not good math. It;s not so much that the universe "follows maths laws" but that maths laws were described by reference to the behavior of the universe. More a language than a set of proscriptions.
Why does 1+1=2? What is 2? Define your variables.
That is true.
What I meant to do is partially dispel the multiverse AND fine-tuning ideas (see below) by assuming that the laws of mathematics are absolute in the sense of information (bits) and conservation of energy. When put into practice, however, math becomes more of a tool we use and less of a model for reality.
I still stand by, however, what I said about self-equivalence and how it relates to math.
Going back to the multiverse and fine-tuning arguments, I argue that the universe in which we exist is the only one that CAN exist, so a more powerful form of determinism, not merely stating that things are deterministic, but that everything that exists is determined only self-equivalence; that different constants are at their current value because if they were some other value, it would violate some law of physics or math.
A rudimentary illustration of this principle is the classic "left or right" idea in determinism.
A person chooses left or right, and then someone says "look! they chose! that's free will!" but in actuality, the neurons fired in a predictable path to (in turn) cause the muscle to move and point to their choice. So to say "what if they chose the other option" is absurd because given the same starting conditions, for them to point to a direction contrary to the predictable firing of their neurons, they would be violating the way in which we know neurons behave, the chemistry that causes them to behave that way, and the physical properties, velocities, charges, and forces of the atoms which cause the chemistry of that behavior. They would be violating the absolute laws of the universe at some point or another.
But, in my idea of absolute determinism, the way we act is dependent on the laws of physics in another way, because the neurons which fire have been caused to fire, and so you get this big chain of events leading up to the choice, but no matter how far you push it back, you can never escape the event occurring, because everything acted in a deterministic manner according to physics leading up to that event. It is the only event that can occur at that location at that time. Probabilities are great for measuring uncertainty, but when looking at it in depth you find that it is very predictable, and thus probability (ie different 'possible' universes) is absurd. I therefore believe that the position and action of all matter/energy is actually determined by the way a universe-singularity (the big bang) naturally unfolds under expanding spacetime.
But then again, this is just my opinion, so don't take it to heart!
