On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 11:38:55PM -0800, Peter Sas wrote: > I've read it... well I've read parts of it anyway... I downloaded a copy > from the net, I don't know if that's also the final book version of his > Theory of Nothing... The problem is I'm not too good with mathematical and > logical formalisms (I have dyscalculia, I mix the symbols up)... So what I > understood from Russell's book is rather limited, I'm sad to say... Anyway, > I printed a copy of Russell's book but it's storeda way now since we are in > the middle of moving... I intend to delve into Russell's book more > extensively later... What I gather from Russell is that he too starts with > an information-theoretic account of nothing.... I appreciate his argument > that an informational nothing is equivalent with a state of infinite > complexity (Babel's library) where it is impossible to find relevant info > and so the informational content is zero...
You're close. Babel's library actually has zero complexity, essentially for the reason you state. What it has an infinite number of is books (which themselves are infinitely long). Actually, that is more descriptive of my "Nothing" - the literal Babel's library is actually finite (though astronomically huge), with finite length books. > It is unclear to me, however, > how he is able to derive reality from such a situation... Does Russell's > scheme, too, involve something like a spontaneous symmetry breaking of the > informational nothing? > Exactly. The source of the symmetry breaking is the action of an observer. Symmetry is restored by considering all other observers out there in the "Nothing"-verse (more commonly called the Plenitude). > Op donderdag 13 november 2014 08:23:01 UTC+1 schreef Liz R: > > > > Have you read Russell's "Theory of Nothing" ? If not, it could give you a > > better handle on this sort of thing. > > > > > > -- > 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/d/optout. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au Latest project: The Amoeba's Secret (http://www.hpcoders.com.au/AmoebasSecret.html) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- 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/d/optout.
