Dear Cristi,

As always I greatly enjoyed you essay. If I understand you, the position you are taking is that we live in a mathematical structure, but can never express the full intricacy of that structure. The purpose of physics is to express the general laws that describe our universe:

"However, we are just looking for a theory describing the general laws, and not a complete description of this particular instance of the universe, which includes what every human thinks about the universe and themselves. This would not be feasible anyway for practical reasons."

Is my interpretation of your idea correct? And if so, where would a mathematical structure that failed to match the universe's general laws be said to exist? Or should we take it that one class of mathematical objects conforms to the real world and another are just humanly constructed?

Also, if you get a chance, please check out my essay where I imagine how a weak version of the MUH might be testable and let me know what you think along with your vote.

http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/2391

Best of luck in the contest!

Rick Searle

    Dear Rick,

    Thank you for the comments. Yes, I think that the universal laws can be known, but all details of the particular configuration can't be fully accessed by us, which are subsystems of the world, limited in time and space.

    > where would a mathematical structure that failed to match the universe's general laws be said to exist? Or should we take it that one class of mathematical objects conforms to the real world and another are just humanly constructed?

    I find more compelling the idea that all mathematical structures have equal existence, but if our universe is a mathematical structure, then the other mathematical structures we know were obviously (re)constructed by us, since I find less likely that we gained some access to worlds outside ours. And if we will find the mathematical structure capturing completely the laws of our world, then we will do it by reason, hence by reconstruction too. However, what I argued is that if MUH is correct, we can't really prove it, not only because we are confined to only one of these structures. I reject Tegmark's attempt of proof on the grounds that if the universe, including us, is computational, then any universe with equal computational power offers the same benefits for the occurrence of intelligent life. But maybe other proofs can work, so I look forward to see your arguments for the testability of a weaker version of the MUH.

    Best wishes,

    Cristi

    Cristi,

    I will get to your essay as soon as possible. I have been on travel, but will be able to read it in a few days. Good luck with this.

    Cheers LC

      Dear Lawrence,

      I plan to read yours as soon as possible too. Good luck to you too.

      Best wishes,

      Cristi

      Cristinel,

      After Phipps found better Maxwell's equations, we don't even try and admit what is wrong with Poincaré's Lorentz transformation. This is how science doesn't work.

      Everybody persistently uses the expression Michelson-Morley experiment although Morley did definitely not contribute to the concept of Michelson's experiments in Potsdam 1881 and in Cleveland 1887.

      Pentcho should admit at least the possibility that Michelson's 1881/78 null result does not need an explanation in terms of Relativity if one shares Leibniz' relativity, i.e. the opinion that space is not a medium but just mutual relations between objects.

      You wrote to Michel: "it is possible to find for any object a mathematical description that captures everything that can be said about that object, precisely because mathematics is so versatile." Just consider the rather illusory Human Brain Project, or the future of humanity. Perhaps you cannot even calculate how many grandchildren your grandchildren will have.

      Regards,

      Eckard

      Dear Eckard,

      You said "Perhaps you cannot even calculate how many grandchildren your grandchildren will have."

      Well, I frankly can't even calculate how many children I will have, let alone the grandchildren of my grandchildren :). But this is not what I said to Michel. I was talking about the power of mathematics to describe the objects we know, not to those we don't know, or which depend on information we can't gather for practical reasons. So I think what I said means something else to you that it meant to me.

      Regarding your arguments against relativity, I am sorry, but I am unable to make the conceptual leap required to move forward to Galilean relativity, because my mind is still prisoner of the old paradigm of Einstein's relativity ;). I hope I haven't disappointed you.

      Best regards,

      Cristi

      Dear Cristi,

      I read with great interest your depth analytical essays. I totally agree: "So, if we can understand the universe, it is because this immense complexity can be reduced to a small number of laws. And this reduction is made possible by mathematics." The way is simple: Mathematics as constructive ontology should "grab" the dialectic of eidos and logos, the dialectic of absolute forms of existence of matter.

      Kind regards,

      Vladimir

        Dear Vladimir,

        Thank you for the kind comments. We seem to be lost in this complex diversity exhibited by the universe. So having some guiding order principles can help us making sense of the world. I look forward to read your essay.

        Best wishes,

        Cristi

        Dear Cristi,

        In your excellent essay you ask crucial questions in current debate: what is mathematics? what is physics? and linking these: is mathematics merely a tool in physics? Referring also to Tegmark, I agree that everything is isomorphic to a mathematical structure and analogously to MUH I have coined Geometrical Universe Hypothesis. I propose to use the geometrization conjecture, proved by Perelman. We have the set of 8 Thurston geometries. We can treat them as a space-like, totally geodesic submanifolds of a 3+1 dimensional spacetime... and get all interactions and matter.

        GUH makes the testable prediction resulting from Thurston geometries.

        If you are interested you can find details in my essay

        http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/2452

        I would appreciate your comments. Thank you.

        Jacek

          Dear Cristi,

          I mentioned the Human Brain Project because I see many participants of the contest sharing the rather naive idea that mathematics is versatile enough as to completely mimic even the brain. Having dealt in detail with auditory function, I would like to explain why this cannot be achieved: Physiological research shows that the biological solution is fundamentally different from any theoretical approach and with respect to aspects like for instance robustness, flexibility, and efficiency still by far superior. Spectrograms that are based on Einstein/Hilbert's denial of the now exhibit ridiculously unreal behavior.

          Best regards,

          Eckard

          Dear Dr. Stoica,

          Could you please explain to me why you thought that my comment about the real Universe was inappropriate?

          You are I hope aware that suppression of the truth is unethical.

          Eagerly awaiting your answer,

          Joe Fisher

            Dear Cristi,

            What a great essay! I enjoyed reading it very much. The topic of your essay echos that of mine . However, my collaborator and I take the view that mathematics is invented, and from that we question its accuracy in describing nature.

            I particularly liked your arguments for a theory of everything. I agree with you that there must be a unified theory because the universe obeys one set of laws. I used to think Godel's theorem might prevent us from finding that theory, but you provided compelling reasons against that argument. Maybe we can find that theory, and maybe we cannot. Either way, we can only try.

            Good luck in the contest.

            Mohammed

              Dear Jacek,

              Thank you for the nice comments. If the universe is isomorphic to a mathematical structure, it is my opinion too that this structure should be geometric and topological in nature. I look forward to read your essay.

              Best wishes,

              Cristi

              Dear Mr. Fisher,

              I see that your comment, which was rather nice and interesting, along with my reply to it, are missing. I can only assume that someone considered them inappropriate, but it wasn't me that person, so I can't explain why they are missing. Have you tried to ask the administrator to allow them here again, or ask him what happened, rather than accusing me of "suppression of the truth"?

              Best wishes,

              Cristi

              Dear Mohammed,

              Thank you for the kind and interesting comments. We seem to agree that humans can at least hope to find the theory of everything. Maybe we have different opinions on what it will be, but we agree that we don't know it yet, so maybe it will be as one of us thinks it is, or totally different, who knows. Good luck in the contest!

              Best wishes,

              Cristi

              I have asked Dr. Foster, the moderator of this competition and he claims that he did not remove it and for me to enquire of the person at the site. I posted a revised comment to your site, and that has been removed. I will repost for a third time.

              Ruefully,

              Joe Fisher

              Dear Dr. Stoica,

              You wrote: "Some may hope that there are things in the universe which can't be described by mathematics. But can you name those things?" Thank you ever so much for asking. Please read and try to understand my definitive answer:

              Accurate writing has enabled me to perfect a valid description of untangled unified reality: Proof exists that every real astronomer looking through a real telescope has failed to notice that each of the real galaxies he has observed is unique as to its structure and its perceived distance from all other real galaxies. Each real star is unique as to its structure and its perceived distance apart from all other real stars. Every real scientist who has peered at real snowflakes through a real microscope has concluded that each real snowflake is unique as to its structure. Real structure is unique, once. Unique, once does not consist of abstract amounts of abstract quanta. Based on one's normal observation, one must conclude that all of the stars, all of the planets, all of the asteroids, all of the comets, all of the meteors, all of the specks of astral dust and all real objects have only one real thing in common. Each real object has a real material surface that seems to be attached to a material sub-surface. All surfaces, no matter the apparent degree of separation, must travel at the same constant speed. No matter in which direction one looks, one will only ever see a plethora of real surfaces and those surfaces must all be traveling at the same constant speed or else it would be physically impossible for one to observe them instantly and simultaneously. Real surfaces are easy to spot because they are well lighted. Real light does not travel far from its source as can be confirmed by looking at the real stars, or a real lightning bolt. Reflected light needs to adhere to a surface in order for it to be observed, which means that real light cannot have a surface of its own. Real light must be the only stationary substance in the real Universe. The stars remain in place due to astral radiation. The planets orbit because of atmospheric accumulation. There is no space.

              Warm regards,

              Joe Fisher