Essay Abstract

I see the mathematical universe hypothesis as the most lucid explanation of the physical universe that I have come across so far. Many questions about our particular universe and its laws of physics can be explained by this hypothesis. But I also see a further generalization of it which would explain how intentionality could arise in a universe seemingly composed only of mathematical structures.

Author Bio

Michael Zane Tyree is a visual artist and amateur astronomer who started his education aiming to be a physicist or cosmologist, but who veered into art after 3 years of college. He has read a good many science books and has a love for science, technology, philosophy and mathematics, though his technical knowledge of the latter is meager. His philosophical leaning is toward idealism, as you will see, but a particular kind of idealism.

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Hi Michael,

Thanks for pointing out that Tegmark's MUH (Mathematical Universe Hypothesis) is the background for this essay contest. I feel a little silly in that I missed that. It explains why I am seeing your essay and Carlo Rovelli's essay. I like your essay better than Carlo's in that is more honest. That is why I rate it higher than Carlo's.

Agree:

If we consider perception and emotion as ideas (aka thoughts), yes, then everything is an idea in the mind (a thought). And the physical world is a projection from the mind, with the caveat that all we perceive are attributes of objects (we never see the objects themselves). This is not in disagreement with various religions and philosophies.

Do not fully agree:

"Tegmark argues not that we invent the language of mathematics, but that we discover the structure of mathematics." If we discover mathematics then it is fundamental (a self existent structure that we discover) and fosters the thought that all reality could possibly come from mathematics. Kinda like discovering the monolith in the movie 2001.

This favored status of mathematics is not dogma with Tegmark (he really is smart), but he would like to see MUH investigated (perhaps the reason for this contest!).

My favorite mathematician is Joseph Mazur. He wrote a book: Enlightening Symbols: A Short History of Mathematical Notation and Its Hidden Powers. In this book he explains the history of mathematical symbols and how they originated from language and how they are honed over time and evolve. Following this logic, language contains the source of the universe if we massage it properly.

Perhaps we could use a LUH (Language Universe Hypothesis) :)

Another good book on how simple physical objects can generate what looks like intelligence is: Vehicles by Valentino Braitenberg.

Thanks for your thought provoking essay,

Don Limuti

Hi Michael,

Dr. Tedmark has been criticized that he does not have the model that proves his conjecture, But I do have the model. However, even Dr. Tegmark does not dare to venture into theories that SEEM to be outside mainstream, he will be burned at the stake.

It is not that present physics is wrong, actually it is very close to the truth, after all that is how I deduced my theory. It is just that it has some conceptual flows that the physicists have to find workarounds(just like software developers!) to get this fit with experiment as much as possible.

Anyway, I hope my theory makes you more confident of your thoughts. My theory derives all the laws of nature as a mathematical structure without regard to experiment,i.e. reality spontaneously exists.

last year essay

your this year essay

Thanks

Adel Sadeq

Nice essay Tyree,

Your ideas and thinking are excellent for eg...

'ABOUT SELF-EXISTENCY

Self-existency solves the problem of infinite regression by postulating entities which, by their very nature, must exist, without cause. Mathematical structures have been postulated by Max Tegmark to be one such entity [2], and I am accepting that as axiomatic here.

And....

All the numbers, equations and objects of mathematics have always had being (and remember, in my usage, the word being is defined as "having self-existence or not needing a cause, timeless," and the word exist is defined as "appearing in our cause-and-effect spacetime universe" etc...'

A Good idea, I fully agree with you............

..................... I want you to ask you to please have a look at my essay, where ...............reproduction of Galaxies in the Universe is described. Dynamic Universe Model is another mathematical model for Universe. Its mathematics show that the movement of masses will be having a purpose or goal, Different Galaxies will be born and die (quench) etc...just have a look at the essay... "Distances, Locations, Ages and Reproduction of Galaxies in our Dynamic Universe" where UGF (Universal Gravitational force) acting on each and every mass, will create a direction and purpose of movement.....

I think intension is inherited from Universe itself to all Biological systems

For your information Dynamic Universe model is totally based on experimental results. Here in Dynamic Universe Model Space is Space and time is time in cosmology level or in any level. In the classical general relativity, space and time are convertible in to each other.

Many papers and books on Dynamic Universe Model were published by the author on unsolved problems of present day Physics, for example 'Absolute Rest frame of reference is not necessary' (1994) , 'Multiple bending of light ray can create many images for one Galaxy: in our dynamic universe', About "SITA" simulations, 'Missing mass in Galaxy is NOT required', "New mathematics tensors without Differential and Integral equations", "Information, Reality and Relics of Cosmic Microwave Background", "Dynamic Universe Model explains the Discrepancies of Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry Observations.", in 2015 'Explaining Formation of Astronomical Jets Using Dynamic Universe Model, 'Explaining Pioneer anomaly', 'Explaining Near luminal velocities in Astronomical jets', 'Observation of super luminal neutrinos', 'Process of quenching in Galaxies due to formation of hole at the center of Galaxy, as its central densemass dries up', "Dynamic Universe Model Predicts the Trajectory of New Horizons Satellite Going to Pluto" etc., are some more papers from the Dynamic Universe model. Four Books also were published. Book1 shows Dynamic Universe Model is singularity free and body to collision free, Book 2, and Book 3 are explanation of equations of Dynamic Universe model. Book 4 deals about prediction and finding of Blue shifted Galaxies in the universe.

With axioms like... No Isotropy; No Homogeneity; No Space-time continuum; Non-uniform density of matter(Universe is lumpy); No singularities; No collisions between bodies; No Blackholes; No warm holes; No Bigbang; No repulsion between distant Galaxies; Non-empty Universe; No imaginary or negative time axis; No imaginary X, Y, Z axes; No differential and Integral Equations mathematically; No General Relativity and Model does not reduce to General Relativity on any condition; No Creation of matter like Bigbang or steady-state models; No many mini Bigbangs; No Missing Mass; No Dark matter; No Dark energy; No Bigbang generated CMB detected; No Multi-verses etc.

Many predictions of Dynamic Universe Model came true, like Blue shifted Galaxies and no dark matter. Dynamic Universe Model gave many results otherwise difficult to explain

Have a look at my essay on Dynamic Universe Model and its blog also where all my books and papers are available for free downloading...

http://vaksdynamicuniversemodel.blogspot.in/

Best wishes to your essay.

For your blessings please................

=snp. gupta

.pdf

Nice essay ,

I am also poor person.

Your ideas and thinking are excellent for eg...

'What is an intention? In practical terms, this question is the same as: how do we know that intentions exist?'

A Good idea, I fully agree with you............

..................... At this point I want you to ask you to please have a look at my essay, where ...............reproduction of Galaxies in the Universe is described. Dynamic Universe Model is another mathematical model for Universe. Its mathematics show that the movement of masses will be having a purpose or goal, Different Galaxies will be born and die (quench) etc...just have a look at the essay... "Distances, Locations, Ages and Reproduction of Galaxies in our Dynamic Universe" where UGF (Universal Gravitational force) acting on each and every mass, will create a direction and purpose of movement.....

I think intension is inherited from Universe itself to all Biological systems

For your information Dynamic Universe model is totally based on experimental results. Here in Dynamic Universe Model Space is Space and time is time in cosmology level or in any level. In the classical general relativity, space and time are convertible in to each other.

Many papers and books on Dynamic Universe Model were published by the author on unsolved problems of present day Physics, for example 'Absolute Rest frame of reference is not necessary' (1994) , 'Multiple bending of light ray can create many images for one Galaxy: in our dynamic universe', About "SITA" simulations, 'Missing mass in Galaxy is NOT required', "New mathematics tensors without Differential and Integral equations", "Information, Reality and Relics of Cosmic Microwave Background", "Dynamic Universe Model explains the Discrepancies of Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry Observations.", in 2015 'Explaining Formation of Astronomical Jets Using Dynamic Universe Model, 'Explaining Pioneer anomaly', 'Explaining Near luminal velocities in Astronomical jets', 'Observation of super luminal neutrinos', 'Process of quenching in Galaxies due to formation of hole at the center of Galaxy, as its central densemass dries up', "Dynamic Universe Model Predicts the Trajectory of New Horizons Satellite Going to Pluto" etc., are some more papers from the Dynamic Universe model. Four Books also were published. Book1 shows Dynamic Universe Model is singularity free and body to collision free, Book 2, and Book 3 are explanation of equations of Dynamic Universe model. Book 4 deals about prediction and finding of Blue shifted Galaxies in the universe.

With axioms like... No Isotropy; No Homogeneity; No Space-time continuum; Non-uniform density of matter(Universe is lumpy); No singularities; No collisions between bodies; No Blackholes; No warm holes; No Bigbang; No repulsion between distant Galaxies; Non-empty Universe; No imaginary or negative time axis; No imaginary X, Y, Z axes; No differential and Integral Equations mathematically; No General Relativity and Model does not reduce to General Relativity on any condition; No Creation of matter like Bigbang or steady-state models; No many mini Bigbangs; No Missing Mass; No Dark matter; No Dark energy; No Bigbang generated CMB detected; No Multi-verses etc.

Many predictions of Dynamic Universe Model came true, like Blue shifted Galaxies and no dark matter. Dynamic Universe Model gave many results otherwise difficult to explain

Have a look at my essay on Dynamic Universe Model and its blog also where all my books and papers are available for free downloading...

http://vaksdynamicuniversemodel.blogspot.in/

Best wishes to your essay.

For your blessings please................

=snp. gupta

Dear Michael Z Tyree,

Please excuse me for I have no intention of disparaging in any way any part of your essay.

I merely wish to point out that "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) Physicist & Nobel Laureate.

Only nature could produce a reality so simple, a single cell amoeba could deal with it.

The real Universe must consist only of one unified visible infinite physical surface occurring in one infinite dimension, that am always illuminated by infinite non-surface light.

A more detailed explanation of natural reality can be found in my essay, SCORE ONE FOR SIMPLICITY. I do hope that you will read my essay and perhaps comment on its merit.

Joe Fisher, Realist

Dear Michael,

Here are my general thoughts on your essay.

I think it was a great idea to start by giving clear definitions of the terms of this year's essay contest question, whose formulation was, let us say, somewhat peculiar. By defining mathematical laws/structures as mindless, the question forced you to distinguish (at first) between mathematical structures and ideas, only to later explain that there is only one type of abstraction. As I said in the comment on my essay's thread, there is no ideal way to refer to this general category of abstractions: you use "idea", I think I prefer just "abstraction", but it's only a semantic difference, we mean essentially the same thing.

The distinction you make between "being" (essence) and "existence" is an important one, but it is difficult to make because of the near synonyms of "to be" and "to exist" in everyday language. It might be clearer to use "to be" or "to exist" as synonyms for something that exists anywhere within the totality of all possible words, and to use "actually exist" to refer to something that exists in our world (like David Lewis does). But once again, it's only a semantic difference.

Sentences I particularly liked in your essay, in "order of appearance" (!):

"We should stipulate that only self-existent entities are allowed as causative agents in this argument, in order to avoid the problem of infinite regression".

"Ultimately reality is nothing but Ideas, which have no trouble at all in being."

"A dream is a universe in which causality and meaning can be seen to be absent."

"In fact, there are an infinite number of explanations for everything, all of them of equal ontological status."

"In a meaningful universe, all Ideas have to support each other and fit logically together."

"There is no dark matter, it's all gray matter ;-"

If you read my previous FQXi essay, "My God It's Full of Clones", you know I believe we exist simultaneously in an infinite number of greater unobservable contexts, so there is indeed an "infinite number of explanations" for anything. Nevertheless, we observe a rigidly lawful and unforgiving world (at least I do, I don't know about you!). This is not only the reason I agonize so much about the "hard problem of lawfulness", but also the reason why I find some of the affirmations you make in the latter parts of your essay a little hard to adhere to. Let's start with your most "outlandish" affirmation:

"In the past, the Ideas that the mind explored were Ideas that seem to our modern perspective to be magic or myth. The earth was flat and there were dragons and gods. This is literally how the world was."

I enjoy "Game of Thrones" as much as the other guy, but I find this a little hard to make sense of. When you say "in the past", you seem to imply the "connected past" of our own world, so if what you say is true, the laws of our universe had to gradually change between then and now, dropping some magical aspects and gaining some new "modern-scientific" ones, like the conservation of mass/energy and the laws of fluid dynamics, so that a dragon-shaped and sized animal could not possibly fly in the atmosphere of today's Earth! That the laws could change so much while allowing for the continuing existence of life on Earth (with its intricate biochemistry) seems rather improbable to me (although, I guess, not absolutely impossible within an infinite multi/maxiverse...)

In the same way, I would not bet that it's inevitable that we will eventually have time travel and faster-than-light travel to the stars in our world... Sure, within the maxiverse, many other worlds have these things, but a given world can still have limitations --- everything does not necessarily have to happen in EVERY world... And some illogical things, like having simultaneously 2 pairs of apples and 5 apples, never happen.

If you were the only mind in your reality, you could certainly define everything relative to you --- if you see flying saucers, sure, they exists --- there is no possibility for you to be deluded. But in a many-minds reality, like ours, can we truly see and believe anything without being deluded? Speaking of which: Donald Trump... just kidding!

Anyway, as I said, I really enjoyed your essay, and I have « bumped » it a little higher in the ratings, in the hope that you get more exposure and get feedback by more people --- which is quite difficult to get when there are so many essays to read and so little time!

When I answer the question you left on my essay's thread about the ensemble of all abstractions containing no information (hopefully within the next few days), I will also alert you on your thread.

Marc

    Dear Marc . . .

    I DID read your "My God It's Full of Clones" essay! And liked it very much. This was when I first learned of the essay contest, so I was reading a few previous contest winners to get a sense of what it was about. I didn't realize that was your essay until now. Great work!

    Thank you for your thoughtful perceptions of my essay. I also prefer the term "abstractions," but "ideas" seems friendlier to start with. As for "being" and "existence," I feel there is a critical distinction that needs to be reinstated in general understanding. The link in my essay to New World Encyclopedia explores this distinction more deeply.

    And thank you for pointing out some ideas in my essay that should be clarified. It's true that some of my claims appear to be outlandish. But that is a natural result of my 2 basic axioms, that everything is an idea, and the Mind is the activator of ideas. (The Mind being one idea in the Ideaverse; a necessary idea, as all ideas are.)

    In this view, then, the reason we seem to see a "rigidly lawful and unforgiving world," is that the idea of Mind is a singular idea. All ideas are singular. So it is a single Mind that has activated the ideas which form this universe. And those ideas all fit together in this Mind in a reasonable and rational, logical way, to make a somewhat stable, lawful universe.

    So in this perspective, the Mind is the "creator" of all perceptible universes. Without the Mind's agency, ideas remain just abstractions. It is the Mind which focuses on certain ideas and activates them. This is not an arbitrary assignment I have given the Mind, it is merely an observation of my own mind, which is the exact same idea as the singular Mind.

    I say a somewhat stable universe because that Mind has also activated the idea of many separate individual minds (you and I and everyone else). This makes a much more interesting universe, with many more interactions and relations possible, as the "separate minds" usually activate conflicting ideas about things, things that will not disturb the basic stability of the universe. But they may cause ripples in that universe, for example, the ideas of flying saucers, cold fusion, healing and miracles. Some minds believe in and see these things, other minds don't. I don't think this world is as "rigidly lawful" as it might seem. But it is the greater portion of the Mind which lends its relative stability to the universe.

    And the Mind that has activated this gestalt of ideas that form our universe can continually activate different ideas. This universe is the construction of the Mind that has imagined it, it has absolutely no causative power of its own. It is the Mind which is the cause of all physical manifestation, including forces and laws. This is why I have said that dragons and a flat earth were literally existent. And to make an even more outlandish claim, it could be that people at that time did not have hearts or brains or blood or bones. They were essentially images, playing out a world of ideas. They did not need interior structures.

    Perhaps a simple way to see this is through the analogy of a dream. In our dreams at night, there is no stable universe. The mind activates or "dreams" whatever it wants to. The people in our dreams do not have hearts or brains or intricate biochemistry. They do not see or hear. There are no atoms in our dreams or laws of conservation of mass/energy (unless we're a physicist).

    So that is essentially the perspective of this hypothesis. A Mind is dreaming, or activating, as I prefer to call it, a universe. It activates a single cohesive universe at a time, modifying it through time. I think you are right in saying that everything does not necessarily have to happen in EVERY world. But there is absolutely nothing preventing it from happening. Even illogical things can "happen." I can certainly imagine 2 apples and 5 apples in the same place at the same time, or a six-legged lizard with 9 legs. Does he have 6 legs or 9? Which is it? Well, I can hold my mind in a state of peaceful ambivalence about that; does every question have to have a single answer? As Walt Whitman wrote, "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes."

    I got carried away and wrote a mini-essay, didn't I? But it is certainly enjoyable conversing with a mind that is activating many of the same ideas that I am. To believe that we are both the same abstraction also dissipates all fear and judgment. It's actually a relief to know that my differing ideas are no more privileged than the ideas we share. Ten thousand years from now, what ideas will we hold? The play of beautiful abstractions, that's the joy of it . . .

    Michael

    Dear Michael Zane Tyree,

    Thank you for your post on my essay, I am just repeating my reply here............ Your words.................................. Your essay contains many interesting ideas, the main one being that the universe has the propensity to reproduce itself, in the form of galaxies. If your cosmological ideas are found to be consistent and can be demonstrated experimentally, I would go with them. I had previously not viewed the "Big Bang" explanation favorably. But I would ask you if you had any thoughts on how the universe came into being to begin with? ..............Reply...................

    Thank you for your nice complements nice encouraging words.

    The Universe are a whole there is no beginning or end. Galaxies will be taking birth and quench. They are all of different ages. Not bourn simultaneously. It is not necessary that the whole Universe was begin once some long time ago.

    ............... Your words..........

    ......................... In addressing the theme of the contest in your conclusion, you have said: "Here probably the 'a-biological world' learned from the Universe and subsequently the physical systems learnt to pursue the goal of reproduction and formed the "Biological world". Slowly these biological life forms acquired intelligence and now trying to understand Universe! That way probably the goal-oriented behavior is a physical or cosmological trend of the Universe........" ..............Reply...................

    Thank you for reading my essay thoroughly.

    ............... Your words..........

    .........................Did you have any specific ideas on how this "trend" began? ..............Reply...................

    The Universe had it. I am repeating the above example here.

    You take the attraction between a boy and girl in their youth in human society. They love each other, marry and give birth to children. The couple work for children, their upkeep, education and their health etc. Everybody does this. Enjoy the old age and go away, it is natural.......

    But if anyone (male or female) sits peacefully & silently and think a little, one understand that this whole thing is "MAYA" as said in Hindu philosophy. It is all nothing but some kind of magic that forces one to this work (MAYA). All these are ties and handcuffs making one as prisoner to do this family work and REPRODUCTION.

    So the immediate thinking comes to our thinker, is why should I do all these work. I will resign and sit back and do nothing. As because, it is not profitable to anyone, why should anyone do anything about this REPRODUCTION, which involves large amount of work, which is not beneficial..............

    Now the question comes who gets benefit and who is forcing us to do all these REPRODUCTION? Who wants us to do all these things? It is probably the GOD or the Mother Nature. They created the ATTRACTION between boy and girl. Not only in humans, but in other animals also had these instincts. So the God and Mother Nature are FORCING even the Universe to REPRODUCE. They know perfectly well nothing is permanent in this Universe .....!!!!!!

    ............... Your words..........

    ......................... What initial cause set the whole thing in motion? ..............Reply...................

    It is UGF the universal Gravitational Force. This UGF acts on each mass, which is the resultant vector of all the forces of attraction of other masses on that mass at that time. It is time and place varying force.

    In dynamic Universe Model simulations I found the Model will collapse into a point mass when Uniform DENSITY of matter was assumed. UGF is towards center only for all the masses.

    When the DENSITY is not uniform all the masses started rotating about each other.

    ............... Your words..........

    .........................Great work on an original approach to a cosmological model! ................ Reply .......

    Thank you for the Blessings, thank you for your nice words. All these are available freely on net. You may please download and advice others also about Dynamic Universe Model's use....

    Best Regards

    =snp.gupta

    10 days later

    Dear Michael

    I have taken James Putnams advice to read your essay, and although I havent finished, the opening is certainly very interesting. I will read on and return here with comment.

    My essay has only received 8 ratings, which is two short of the ten required for prospectively qualifying finals, with few days till close. Would you be willing to review my essay opening, with a view to read on if it should capture your interest please? James seems to think you might find it of interest. It is certainly a unique and novel perspective, I can promise you this much.

    http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/2890

    Thank you for your consideration

    Kind Regards

    Steven Andresen

      Michael Zane Tyree,

      A great essay. You are an artist, a thinker, and a writer. I agree in the sense that if all that existed was information and intelligence, we would not know a difference.

      "Scientists are the imaginative artists of our experiential reality, creating worlds of wonder and splendor. They are not the discoverers of an external, independent reality, which all of humanity is at the effect of.'

      Very well said.

      My rating will be given in the last few minutes of the Contest.

      James Putnam

        Hi Steven . . .

        Thank you for your interest. I will indeed read your essay tonight and give it a rating.

        Sincerely,

        Michael Z. Tyree

        Dear Sirs!

        Physics of Descartes, which existed prior to the physics of Newton returned as the New Cartesian Physic and promises to be a theory of everything. To tell you this good news I use spam.

        New Cartesian Physic based on the identity of space and matter. It showed that the formula of mass-energy equivalence comes from the pressure of the Universe, the flow of force which on the corpuscle is equal to the product of Planck's constant to the speed of light.

        New Cartesian Physic has great potential for understanding the world. To show it, I ventured to give "materialistic explanations of the paranormal and supernatural" is the title of my essay.

        Visit my essay, you will find there the New Cartesian Physic and make a short entry: "I believe that space is a matter" I will answer you in return. Can put me 1.

        Sincerely,

        Dizhechko Boris

        Dear Michael,

        I haven't forgotten to rate your good essay. I will be submitting my votes in the last few minutes of the contest. Good luck to you.

        James Putnam

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