Og, please tell me where can I download Max's book, I'd like to do the same.
On 14 January 2014 02:29, <[email protected]> wrote: > This is an awful question to ask, and inappropriate too, but I will ask. I > wonder what good it does, the pitiful human specie, knowing that there's > hyper-multiverses? It's breath taking of course, but beyond this, does it > help the human condition? Unless we can Tweet, Proxima Centauri, or the > Horsehead Nebula, or Universe R512908B3099, and get communication back, it > makes for humanity, a distinction without a difference. > > Well, its just a perspective that I feel needs to be brought to this > conversation, a reality check. By the way, I downloaded Tegmark's new book, > but haven't read a word yet. > > Sincerely, > > Og the caveman > -----Original Message----- > From: ghibbsa <[email protected]> > To: everything-list <[email protected]> > Cc: kimjones <[email protected]> > Sent: Sun, Jan 12, 2014 4:13 pm > Subject: Re: Tegmark's New Book > > > On Wednesday, January 8, 2014 5:49:38 AM UTC, Kim Jones wrote: >> >> Maximus writes: >> >> >> The Higgs Boson was predicted with the same tool as the planet Neptune >> and the radio wave: with mathematics. Why does our universe seem so >> mathematical, and what does it mean? In my new book, Our Mathematical >> Universe, which comes out today, I argue that it means that our universe >> isn't just described by math, but that it is math in the sense that we're >> all parts of a giant mathematical object, which in turn >> *is part of a multiverse so huge that it makes the other multiverses >> debated in recent years seem puny in comparison. * > > > > that really had me on the floor > >> >> At first glance, our universe doesn't seem very mathematical at all. The >> groundhog who trims our lawn has properties such as cuteness and fluffiness >> -- not mathematical properties. Yet we know that this groundhog -- and >> everything else in our universe -- is ultimately made of elementary >> particles such as quarks and electrons. And what properties does an >> electron have? Properties like -1, ½ and 1! We physicists call these >> properties electric charge, spin and lepton number, but those are just >> words that we've made up and the fundamental properties that an electron >> has are just numbers, mathematical properties. All elementary particles, >> the building blocks of everything around, are purely mathematical objects >> in the sense that they don't have any properties except for mathematical >> properties. The same goes for the space that these particles are in, which >> has only mathematical properties -- for example 3, the number of >> dimensions. If space is mathematical and everything in space is also >> mathematical, then the idea that everything is mathematical doesn't sound >> as crazy anymore. >> >> That our universe is approximately described by mathematics means that >> some but not all of its properties are mathematical, and is a venerable >> idea dating back to the ancient Greeks. That it is mathematical means that >> all of its properties are mathematical, i.e., that it has no properties at >> all except mathematical ones. If I'm right and this is true, then it's good >> news for physics, because all properties of our universe can in principle >> be understood if we're intelligent and creative enough. For example, this >> challenges the common assumption that we can never understand >> consciousness. Instead, it optimistically suggests that consciousness can >> one day be understood as a form of matter, forming the most beautifully >> complex structure in space and time that our universe has ever known. Such >> understanding would enlighten our approaches to animals, unresponsive >> patients and future ultra-intelligent machines, with wide-ranging ethical, >> legal and technological implications. >> >> As I argue in detail in my book, it also implies that our reality is >> vastly larger than we thought, containing a diverse collection of universes >> obeying all mathematically possible laws of physics. An advanced computer >> program could in principle start generating an atlas of all such >> mathematically possible universes. The discovery of other solar systems has >> taught us that 8, the number of planets in ours, doesn't tell us anything >> fundamental about reality, merely something about which particular solar >> system we inhabit -- the number 8 is essentially part of our cosmic ZIP >> code. Similarly, this mathematical atlas tells us that if we one day >> discover the equations of quantum gravity and print them on a T-shirt, we >> should not hübristically view these equations as the "Theory of >> Everything," but as information about our location in the mathematical >> atlas of the ultimate multiverse. >> >> It's easy feel small and powerless when faced with this vast reality. >> Indeed, we humans have had this experience before, over and over again >> discovering that what we thought was everything was merely a small part of >> a larger structure: our planet, our solar system, our galaxy, our universe >> and perhaps a hierarchy of parallel universes, nested like Russian dolls. >> However, I find this empowering as well, because we've repeatedly >> underestimated not only the size of our cosmos, but also the power of our >> human mind to understand it. Our cave-dwelling ancestors had just as big >> brains as we have, and since they didn't spend their evenings watching TV, >> I'm sure they asked questions like "What's all that stuff up there in the >> sky?" and "Where does it all come from?". They'd been told beautiful myths >> and stories, but little did they realize that they had it in them to >> actually figure out the answers to these questions for themselves. And that >> the secret lay not in learning to fly into space to examine the celestial >> objects, but in letting their human minds fly. When our human imagination >> first got off the ground and started deciphering the mysteries of space, it >> was done with mental power rather than rocket power. >> >> I find this quest for knowledge so inspiring that I decided to join it >> and become a physicist, and I've written this book because I want to share >> these empowering journeys of discovery, especially in this day and age when >> it's so easy to feel powerless. If you decide to read it, then it will be >> not only the quest of me and my fellow physicists, but our quest. >> >> —————————————— >> >> OK - now rip into him! He may well be edging closer and closer to Bruno’s >> Comp but I think he will need a few Salvia trips to get past his clear and >> evident physicalism... >> >> Kim Jones >> >> ============================ >> >> Kim Jones B.Mus.GDTL >> >> Email: [email protected] >> Mobile: 0450 963 719 >> Landline: 02 9389 4239 >> Web: http://www.eportfolio.kmjcommp.com >> >> "Never let your schooling get in the way of your education" - Mark Twain >> >> >> >> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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