Wednesday, June 22, 2011

maybe our reality isn't very real? (from an NYT blog post)

most of the time, physics makes no sense to me. the exceptions are when, for some reason, the discussion uses mathematical language:
Physicists talk about a vast landscape of physical realizations, where myriad valleys are related to different universes, each with its own set of natural laws. Which begs the question: If laws vary across the multiverse, how can we understand our own?

Is our universe typical or atypical?

Could physics be moving from a quest for the laws of nature to a quest to explain the origin of the laws of nature? Can we even make quantitative sense of this question? In an infinite multiverse, how can we come up with a probability measure to explain the likelihood that we exist?


from "landscaping the cosmic garden"
by marcellο gleιser (13.7 @ NYT)

for some reason, i find it a hilarious idea: that our universe lies in a set of measure zero, with respect to some measure of "reality."

it's not that i disbelieve it;
i just find the terminology amusing.

imagine it: we're part of some exceptional set that defies Lιttlewood's three principles ..! (-:

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