A. Wolf wrote:
>> Does "model" imply a theory which predicts the evolution of states
>> (possibly probabilistic) so that the state of universe yesterday limits
>> what might exist today?
>>
>
> No. Model means a mathematical object. One specific, unchanging,
> crystalline object you can hold in your hand and look at from a bird's-eye
> view.
>
>
>> So why the reference to "today" and "yesterday".
>>
>
> Because those are parts of the object I'm referring to. I'm not looking at
> a time-sequence of objects...I'm considering time and events and the many
> universes that stem from it as part of the solitary object itself.
>
>
>> So you're taking a block universe picture in which time is implicit some
>> sequence of states.
>>
>
> It's a static model that includes all that infinite branching.
>
>
>> But I'm concerned about what defines "consistent". If it is just
>> non-contradiction then any sequence of states seems to be as good as
>> another. The mathematical consistency only applies within each state.
>>
>
> That's not true at all! For example, something going faster than the speed
> of light would be a contradiction in our current universe.
But not a logical contradiction. It would just contradict our assumed
model of physics, i.e. a nomological contradiction.
> Just because you
> can envision something doesn't make it mathematically possible.
>
It does unless there are some axioms and rules of inference such that
adding the thing I envision allows one to infer a contradiction. That's
why I was asking about the model - does it have axioms and rules of
inference?
Brent
> Math is full of contradiction...it's how we prove nearly all mathematical
> results. Contradictions are those things we know to be false
> (non-existent). From a physicist's perspective, the universe is a
> mathematical object. If you need examples of mathematical contradiction I
> would be happy to supply them.
>
> Anna
>
>
> >
>
>
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Received on Fri Nov 07 2008 - 18:14:19 PST