- #1
ianfort
- 5
- 0
Please forgive me if I am hideously wrong in any of my points. I am not terribly well-versed in quantum physics.
Alright. This all began when I was thinking of a somewhat speculative and arguably philosophical idea that probably wouldn't have much of a place on this forum. My train of thought, however, led me from there to a fairly coherent argument that appears, at least to me, to support the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
At first, I was thinking of the concept of the multiverse, and the possibility of other universes having different laws of physics. If that was the case, I wondered, would there perhaps be a higher set of rules that apply to all universes? And could it be, then, that these overarching laws are the laws of mathematics? That is to say, is everything that is mathematically possible also physically possible?
As I thought it over, I began to consider the inverse: Can all physical phenomena be described in purely mathematical terms? The answer seemed to be obviously yes, but as I thought about it, something began to bug me: randomness and probability.
The concept is simple: one cause having multiple possible effects, but I don't think there's any equation that will give you a different result given the exact same operations. Sure, you could write: "A + 7 = B where A has a 60% chance of being 3 and a 40% chance of being 5," but this relies on an external input to be random. A human solving it would either just choose which number, or use some other method such as rolling dice. A computer would rely on its own random algorithm, which would in turn rely on either the computer's clock and some irrational numbers, or minute physical motions in the air that it detects. There simply doesn't seem to be any equation or algorithm that's intrinsically random. If there was, then making random number generators would not require such roundabout methods.
But when we get an equation with variables, we can simply plot every possible value of each variable on a graph instead of choosing just one to plug in, allowing all possibilities to be true at once.
So this leaves us with 3 possibilities: that the universe is purely deterministic, that some physical phenomena cannot be described purely mathematically, or that all possible outcomes are realized at once. The first possibility can be ruled out, as it has been observed to be false, and I'm pretty sure the scientific community would reject the second idea (though I could be wrong). This leaves the third. The idea that multiple possibilities are true UNTIL they are observed doesn't seem to work, because in that case, when the wave function collapses, what it collapses into is yet again random, with only one outcome being true, which leaves us with the same problem.
If you see any flaws in my reasoning (which I'm pretty sure you will
) don't hesitate to comment.
Alright. This all began when I was thinking of a somewhat speculative and arguably philosophical idea that probably wouldn't have much of a place on this forum. My train of thought, however, led me from there to a fairly coherent argument that appears, at least to me, to support the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
At first, I was thinking of the concept of the multiverse, and the possibility of other universes having different laws of physics. If that was the case, I wondered, would there perhaps be a higher set of rules that apply to all universes? And could it be, then, that these overarching laws are the laws of mathematics? That is to say, is everything that is mathematically possible also physically possible?
As I thought it over, I began to consider the inverse: Can all physical phenomena be described in purely mathematical terms? The answer seemed to be obviously yes, but as I thought about it, something began to bug me: randomness and probability.
The concept is simple: one cause having multiple possible effects, but I don't think there's any equation that will give you a different result given the exact same operations. Sure, you could write: "A + 7 = B where A has a 60% chance of being 3 and a 40% chance of being 5," but this relies on an external input to be random. A human solving it would either just choose which number, or use some other method such as rolling dice. A computer would rely on its own random algorithm, which would in turn rely on either the computer's clock and some irrational numbers, or minute physical motions in the air that it detects. There simply doesn't seem to be any equation or algorithm that's intrinsically random. If there was, then making random number generators would not require such roundabout methods.
But when we get an equation with variables, we can simply plot every possible value of each variable on a graph instead of choosing just one to plug in, allowing all possibilities to be true at once.
So this leaves us with 3 possibilities: that the universe is purely deterministic, that some physical phenomena cannot be described purely mathematically, or that all possible outcomes are realized at once. The first possibility can be ruled out, as it has been observed to be false, and I'm pretty sure the scientific community would reject the second idea (though I could be wrong). This leaves the third. The idea that multiple possibilities are true UNTIL they are observed doesn't seem to work, because in that case, when the wave function collapses, what it collapses into is yet again random, with only one outcome being true, which leaves us with the same problem.
If you see any flaws in my reasoning (which I'm pretty sure you will
) don't hesitate to comment.