[deleted]
Hi George
In the abstract of my essay, I say "Foundational problems are often approached from the point of view of the current theoretical framework. That is, taking our current understanding of the universe, and attempting to rework that framework to satisfy the gaps in our understanding. I propose that many foundational problems would be better approached by starting with the origin of the universe and finding a process that results in our observed reality. As a part of this process, we would need to be open to questioning our assumptions."
Here is an example of working forward from a very simple state (and it needn't be nothingness).
Theoretical physicists are looking for a framework that includes both quantum physics and gravity. Lets look at this problem but also simplify things a bit by paring the quantum side of the problem back, because it inevitably brings in problems like the fine tuning of the laws and constants, and wave function collapse. To my thinking, these properties pertain to the complexity side of things and i just want to illustrate some principles regarding space and time.
Quantum physics is the detailed understanding that emerges from the study of energy. So a less ambitious target would be an energy-gravity unification (where energy is gravitational potential energy plus kinetic energy - because we want to stay away from complexity for now). So what kind of unification scheme would encompass both energy and gravity?
Lets assume that space and time are emergent properties of the universe. When these properties emerge, conservation of energy principles may dictate that some kind of opposite anti-space and anti-time properties will also emerge. To create Space and Time they need to expand and speed up respectively. So Anti-space and Anti-time would entail a contracting of space and a slowing of time. The end point of such a process would be a spacetime singularity i.e. gravity. Energy could be the positive pole of such a process, but for reasons of brevity I won't go into this side of the argument. It may be no coincidence, however, that the universe is spatially flat, suggesting that positive energy and negative gravity balance out. i.e. we live in a zero energy universe.
This is a taste of the type of reasoning that can develop when one reasons forward from the cosmic origin, rather than backwards from the rather messy state of contemporary physics.
I hope this makes sense, and thank you for your patience!
Regards
Gavin