tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5006149227755828619.post4463079889994542616..comments2024-02-28T07:39:18.803+00:00Comments on Clay Testament: Science Now Makes the Case for GodEric Maderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612913626447216776noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5006149227755828619.post-73068755549956194702015-03-20T13:42:27.971+00:002015-03-20T13:42:27.971+00:00As for the second question, I thought a bolder fon...As for the second question, I thought a bolder font would make for easier reading. Do you find it so, or do you think it's too heavy?Eric Maderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10612913626447216776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5006149227755828619.post-3022021083916520502015-03-20T13:40:48.320+00:002015-03-20T13:40:48.320+00:00Glad that my post led you to these open speculatio...Glad that my post led you to these open speculations, but not sure how I can reply so as to give you something of use. I would say of the anthropic principle that those who apply it in an absolute sort of way would never be convinced that it was wearing thin. Thus the universe's extremely unlikely hospitality to life leads them simply to say: "So there must be multiple universes." <br /><br />As for the problem of beauty, and how it relates to the truth of things, that in itself would seem an interesting route for you to take up--at least it seems that this question sparks you to your more interesting remarks. Of course beauty is one of the serious ancient philosophical problems that few people take seriously. Which is a pity.Eric Maderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10612913626447216776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5006149227755828619.post-59364375996955230552015-03-20T03:00:21.523+00:002015-03-20T03:00:21.523+00:00By the way, why are all your post bolded now?By the way, why are all your post bolded now?Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10988755674575933713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5006149227755828619.post-87671271798184217872015-03-19T03:12:22.294+00:002015-03-19T03:12:22.294+00:00This is an interesting post. I've always thoug...This is an interesting post. I've always thought that the idea of God and the idea of the multiverse are very similar from a skeptical point of view. We can perceive only our own universe and whatever lies beyond may be impossible to discern.<br /><br />But I can't see the connection between the anthropic principle and a multiverse. Perception requires consciousness requires life requires stars- so no universe without stars could ever be perceived. Does it matter then how many others there are? Should we bother wondering why the universe is so hospitable? If it wasn't we'd be unable to even consider the issue. Of course there could be other universes, but that is probably an unprovable assertion (even moreso than the existence of God) and I don't see any connection between this and the habitability of our universe. Even though these two ideas are always thrown together it just doesn't click for me.<br /><br />I love Hamlet's warning that "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy". It would be foolish and arrogant to think that there is nothing that we cannot perceive, yet it would also seem foolish to me to suppose that any _particular_ thing was out there, just beyond our keen. I can't justify it from a philosophical POV, but from a _practical_ POV these sorts of guesses turn out to be true all the time. Example: Why are there three generations of matter? Why are there six flavors of quarks? These were predicted without any reason beyond "symmetry" which is almost analogous to "beauty" and though they have been proven to exist we have not yet shown them to be "required". When the muon (the first lepton) was discovered Rabi famously wondered, "Who ordered that?". The general assumption now is that there is an undiscovered substructure that causes the quarks and leptons to fit neatly together as they do (in the same way that atomic substructure gives us the periodic table). Isn't it curious that physicists look for new generations of matter, super-symmetric particles, cosmic strings and other objects being motivated purely based on the quest for "beauty" and yet skeptics could hardly care less? Granted, the physicists have been successful so far, but that doesn't make their search more defensible to me than the search for God, from a philosophical point of view.<br /><br />I've never heard this mentioned before, but I think that the 20th century discovery of a minimum quantum of action _could_ be interpreted as evidence of a "God" of sorts. Let's say you were just a brain in a jar and the universe that you observe was a sophisticated simulation (and I don't think a simulation is meaningfully different from a construction). How could you know? What would you expect to differ between your universe and a "natural" one? Well if our whole reality is _contained_ within something else then perhaps it would be discrete at some fundamental level and we would be able to observe rounding or truncating of fine values. If somehow ICs and sophisticated computers were developed before QM, I could even imagine fans of the Matrix positing fundamental discreteness as a _prediction_ of the brain-in-a-jar model.<br /><br />As for a purpose to the universe, I can't see how it could ever be possible to learn. I don't even think it would even be possible to learn IF there was a purpose. For example the purpose could be to create culture, or to create sentient life, or to create _any_ life, or to create stars. Each of these levels is considered beautiful to humans, and so could also be considered beautiful to a demiurge. If the universe was created as a sort of garden for stars life could simply be an unintentional byproduct, one that a creator might actually be unaware of even billions of years later. And this is all assuming a sentient, semi-anthropomorphic creator. If we try to imagine even more alien gods, then the theoretical purpose becomes even more inscrutable.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10988755674575933713noreply@blogger.com