Hi Alastair,
On Thu, Mar 11, 2021 at 6:47 AM <amalc...@physica9.co.uk> wrote: > Hi Jason > > I can't think of any more fundamental question than 'why anything?'. > I agree! I think this question is key to so many other questions in life and philosophy, and sometimes in unexpected ways. For instance, as Bruno showed, it could provide evidence for or against otherwise difficult-to-test theories of consciousness. > The associated question 'why *this* something?' can be used to skewer > most attempted TOE's, but from what I understand of your approach I agree > that you avoid this fate, so just on those grounds alone I think it should > be taken seriously. And there are not many other surviving candidates. > I appreciate that. However, I must disclaim responsibility for this being *my* approach. With my writings, I am only trying to shed light on and share more broadly the approaches of others: Bruno Marchal, Russell Standish, Markus Muller, among others who have been working on theories of existence and reality that offer observationally-testable predictions. I believe this is key, as if we stay only in the domain of pure philosophy, we can easily get stuck in debates that last for millenia with no resolution. > Embracing many different ideas at once requires some careful navigation > though. For example, I am not sure how Bruno's link to Everett > More work is required. I think some elements of quantum theory are suggested by all computations. But is our exact form of quantum theory entirely extractible? It might not be, if we live in a "multi-multi-verse" (that is to say, there might be many various kinds of multiverses). There are also different possible explanations for why our multiverse has the particular form it does, for instace, here are just a few possibilities: - Do we see a quantum reality because of the pre-existence of an infinity of minds? -- (i.e. many-minds interpretation) - Do we see a quantum reality because quantum realities yield the most observers? -- (some kind of measure-theoretic argument based on branch splitting) - Do we see a quantum reality because of anthropic reasons? -- (e.g. atoms are unstable without Pauli exclusion principle, we wouldn't be alive without it) - Do we see a quantum reality because only quantum computation yields consciousness? -- (A zombie/binding based argument, a Penrose style quantum consciousness approach) > and the Born Rule (or equivalent) for the purposes of obtaining relative > measures across worlds/histories (level 3 multiverse in Tegmark's notation) > The source of Born's Rule is not established, but I have seen arguments that it is the only plausible rule, given Gleason's Theorem <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleason%27s_theorem> ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleason%27s_theorem ) would connect up to that given by favouring shorter programs over longer > ones (level 4). > > The general critique of Tegmark's level IV is that there are more possible universes of greater complexity than simpler ones. Algorithmic Information Theory comes to the rescue, I think, by showing most observers will be produced by shorter programs. I also find it curious just how many observers appear to be created by the universe we are in. Eternal inflation suggests the number of observers in our universe doubles rapidly, for all time. It is hard to imagine a program that could generate more osbervers more quickly than this. Is this any kind of clue for why our universe is as big and growing as fast as it is? I am not sure, but I find it curious. > The clarity of ideas presented in the article have helped to crystallize > some of my own thoughts, and I would agree with much of its content. I hope > that the article (and any book from it) is widely read and digested. > > I am very happy to hear that. I and others on this list are always looking to discuss these and similar ideas. I've been on this list since 2007 and it has had a huge role in shaping my view of reality. Others have been on even longer. Jason -- 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 everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CA%2BBCJUiJjK5Roza52iaLWNaT7btzRF0obcbxRW6xnoJG%2BZJKCg%40mail.gmail.com.
