On Wed, Dec 5, 2018 at 10:57 PM Mason Green <[email protected]> wrote:
*> Ah, yes, multiple histories. Given only what we know now about the > universe (and not what we “remember from before”, since our memories are > actually just patterns encoded in our brain at the present moment),* I've never understood the distinction some people make between many worlds and many histories, if many worlds is correct then I have a unique history the one I remember, but I have many different futures. Memories are part of the universe and so is our subjective sense of the passage of time and that needs an explanation. Yes the entire universe could have popped into existence 2 seconds ago complete with memories of me in the second grade and dinosaur bones in the ground but the simplest explanation is the past existed. *> what’s to stop us from thinking that entropy was higher in the past and > things just spontaneously arranged themselves into the present low-entropy > state? * Because there are VASTLY more high-entropy states than low entropy states (because there are more ways something can be disordered than ordered) so the probability is overwhelming that the next state will have a higher entropy than the one you're in now. But entropy isn't always bad. Maximum information , or at least maximum information that intelligence finds interesting , seems to be about midway between maximum and minimum entropy. Put some cream in a glass coffee cup and then very carefully put some coffee on top of it. For a short time the 2 fluids will remain segregated and the entropy will be low and the information needed to describe it would be low too, but then tendrils of cream will start to move into the coffee and all sorts of spirals and other complex and pretty patterns will form, the entropy is higher now and the information needed to describe it is higher too , but after that the fluid in the cup will reach a dull uniform color that is darker than coffee but lighter than cream, the entropy has reached a maximum but it would take less interesting information to describe it. Another example is smoke from a cigarette in a room with no air currents, it starts out as a simple smooth laminar flow but then turbulence kicks in and very complex patterns form, and after that it diffuses into a uniform featureless very dull fog. *> To go into further detail, creatures who perceived time that way would > not be able to maintain a sense of personal continuity or selfhood for very > long,* When we look at the arrow of time we see it pointing in one direction so we remember the past but not the future and (if Many Worlds is correct) we have one unique past but many different futures; a being that looked at the arrow of time and saw it pointing in the opposite direction would remember the future but not the past and have one unique future but many different pasts, and I don't see why that wouldn't generate a continuity of selfhood just because it's going in the opposite direction. *> I’m thinking I might write a story about beings who perceive time as > parabolic, with their present selves at an entropy minimum: their language > is structured so that they can only talk about possible pasts and not “the” > past, and also they have words for all the Second Law-violating reverse > processes that had to have occurred in the high-entropy majority of their > possible pasts.To go into further detail, creatures who perceived time that > way would not be able to maintain a sense of personal continuity or > selfhood for very long, * If the arrow of time were reversed you would discover different laws of thermodynamics. For example you would remember that in the distant future, that is to say a long way from your "now", perfume molecules "were" (the most difficult part of time travel or reverse time thought experiments is the grammar) evenly distributed throughout the room, and you would remember that in the more recent future the molecules were only in the lower right part of the room, and you would remember that in the very recent future (very close to your "now") all the molecules were confined inside one small perfume bottle. You would then conclude that entropy always decreases or remains the same. But as to how the bottle got into that room in the first place.... well, you can make educated guesses but essentially the past is unknowable, only the future is certain. John K Clark -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
