(unknown charset) Re: this very moment

From: (unknown charset) Fabien BESNARD <Fabien.BESNARD.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 23:17:40 +0200

This is the first time I post on this list, so I must apologize if I speak
about something which has been debated many times. I must also apologize for
my english.


>James, I recently came up with a realization that I think is exactly what
>you are saying. Basically, I realized that if we accept that everything
>exists already, then why the hell do we need to bring up probability?
Sure,
>it seems as though we live in a universe in which laws govern the way
>particles behave, but that's only because that universe is guaranteed to
>exist, somewhere in the plentitude.

I think I have an argument against this idea that every kind of universe
exists in the "plenitude" : if this were correct, we would almost certainly
live in a universe that is generic, and complex enough to allow intelligent
lifeform (this what Max Tegmark says, for instance). But what about
universes in which crazy things happen, but not often enough to prevent the
existence of lifeforms ? For instance, we could imagine a world governed by
the same laws as ours, but sometimes a miracle happens (for instance a guy
comes from nowhere and turns water into wine). In fact, many people believe
that such a world exists, and that we live in it ! These kinds of worlds, I
will call them "magic worlds", are much more numerous because of the vast
amount of magical thing that we can imagine. So it is very improbable that
we live in a world where there is no magic, as it seems to be the case. I
think that this rules out the theory of "plenitude". If you want to have a
coherent theory of "plenitude", I think that you should put much less things
in this "plenitude". It seems as though even in this setting you do not have
complete freedom : here is what I think : to have an intelligent being in a
universe you must have a mathematical structure underlying this universe,
and perhaps no mathematical structure is consistent with miracles or magic.

Fabien
Received on Wed May 10 2000 - 14:15:44 PDT