Well here is a first try with some proposed questions for the FAQ list: I have filled in some responses here and there to illustrate the ideas of individualized and multiple responses. This allows the dialog to be sustained but hopefully eventually coalesce
BACKGROUND What are the goals of the Everything TOE effort? What is the history of the Everything TOE effort? DEFINITIONS What is "information"? What is the "Nothing"? a) It is a possible alternate beginning that must ultimately produce the Everything. What is a "formal system"? What is a "Formal Axiomatic System"? What is a "physical universe"? What is an "isomorphism"? What is a "Turing Machine"? What kinds of "Turing Machines" are there? What is a "Real Time Clock"? What is a "Wabbit"? What is a "universal dovetailer"? What is a "prior"? What is a "universal prior"? What is a "multiverse"? What is a "Superverse"? What is a "Rapidly-Accelerating Computer"? What is "anthropic thinking"? What are the "anthropic principles"? What is "open"? What is a "Moment"? What is "quantum time travel"? What is "normalization"? What is "renormalization"? What is "AUH"? What is "MWI"? What is "UDA"? What is a "thought"? What is an "idea"? What is a "panscient spectator"? What is an "Observational Selection Effect"? What is "space"? What is "time"? What is "motion"? What is a "continuous" space-time? What is a "granular" space-time? a) It is a space in which there are spatial regions which may differ in structure and are separated from each other by a surface and subjective time comes in quanta. What is a "discrete" space-time? What is a "measure"? What is meant by "formally describable"? What is a Random Oracle? What is "true noise"? What is a "SAS"? What is an "SSA"? What is "consciousness"? What is "quantum suicide"? What is "awareness"? What is an "observer"? What is an "observer moment"? What is a "history-less" observer moment? What is an "algorithmic TOE"? What is a "non algorithmic TOE"? What is a "partially algorithmic TOE"? What is a "pattern"? a) A pattern is a geometric structure that could vary in at least one characteristic from location to location within the pattern. Patterns that individually contain information must consist of at least a set of more than two zero dimensional isolated discrete points. Patterns are representable by N-bit binary strings. Patterns need not be mathematical systems or computable. What is a "White Rabbit"? What is a "flying rabbit"? What is "comp"? What is the "first person point of view"? What is the "third person point of view"? What is meant by "hunting wild geese"? QUESTIONS SECTION 1 How much information should the Everything itself contain? a) None b) Some Should the basic fabric of the Everything allow for universes with space-times that are continuous, granular, discrete, all three as separate types, blends? a) Granular. b) Granular and discrete. c) Discrete Granular. d) All of the above. Can there be "motion" without "time"? Can there be "time" without "motion"? SECTION 2 What are the currently proposed models of the Everything itself or of its related concepts exclusive of any TOE each might support? a) The set of all mathematical structures: b) The set of all Turing machines: c) The set of all patterns. What is the relative information content of these models? a) The set of all mathematical structures is a selection out of all structures mathematical or not and so contains information. b) The set of all Turing machines is even more selective and thus contains even more information. c) The set of all patterns is absent selection and thus may contain no information. What concepts of space, time, and motion do they support? SECTION 3 What are the basic expected features of an Everything TOE? What dimensionality should SAS supporting space-times have? What are the current models of physics in a discrete space time universe? What is the evidence the a "Random Oracle" and or "true noise" is necessary in at least some universes? a) If a universe is a theorem cascade in an N-bit, fc-FAS then Chaitin's incompleteness dictates that the cascade must stop. There are no more than 2^[N + c] theorems in the FAS. But theorem cascades produce monotonically more AIT complex theorems. For the cascade to stop it must end on a theorem that has no consequent under the configuration of the cascade. This is a low AIT complexity theorem since I just described it. The initiating axiom of the cascade is already more complex than this. Thus we have a contradiction. A random oracle can provide new information to the FAS [say new alphabet elements] as necessary and thus increases N eliminating the contradiction. Further while the FAS is fixed the cascade is still producing ever more AIT complex theorems. To satisfy this the successive theorems must eventually increase the number of alphabet elements they contain. Some universes of this type may upon occasion use their random oracle to add this new information to a theorem making a new axiom [Godelian style incompleteness resolution] and using this new axiom to initiate a new cascade. Such universes may more easily model the idea of "self". Is consciousness necessary in a SAS? How does "comp" apply to an Everything TOE? SECTION 4 What are the currently proposed TOE models within the context of the various Everything models? a) A universe is a particular mathematical structure: b) A universe is a particular Turing machine: c) A universe is a self sequencing set of patterns: SECTION 5 What can the various Everything TOE models predict? What can the various Everything TOE models retrodict? Hal
