Re: Why no white talking rabbits?

From: Eric Hawthorne <egh.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2004 10:36:41 -0800

Hal Finney wrote:

>What about a universe whose space-time was subject to all the same
>physical laws as ours in all regions - except in the vicinity of rabbits?
>And in those other regions some other laws applied which allow rabbits
>to behave magically?
>
>

While this may be possible, we seem to have found so far that the
universe admits of many
simple regularities in its complex systems and its fundamental laws.
Therefore many of the
essential properties (future-form-and-behaviour-determining properties)
of these complex
systems admit of accurate description by SIMPLE, SMALL theories that
describe these
simple regularities in the complex systems.

I challenge you to come up with a simple, small, (thus elegant), and
accurately explanatory
theory of how space-time could be as you propose above, and also how
this wouldn't
mess up a whole bunch of other observed properties of the universe.

My point is I don't think you (or anyone)'d ever be able to come up with
a small, simple,
yet explanatory theory of the white rabbit universe you suggest.

AND THAT THEREFORE, at least according to how we've always seen the
essential aspects
of the universe conform to simple elegant theories and laws before, THE
RABBITS SCENARIO
(bizarrely strange yet still straightforwardly observable spacetime
pockets)
IS UNLIKELY TO BE THE TRUE STATE OF AFFAIRS in the universe.
 
Could such a bizarre universe exist? Well possibly, (I personally think
not an observable one),
but in any case it would be a highly difficult universe (unmodellable
with simple models) and
physicists would be unemployed in that universe, as their predictions
based on simple, clever
theories would never turn out to work. Magicians and wizards (those able
to pretend they'd been
responsible for the last bit of observed extreme weirdness) would hold sway.

Eric
Received on Fri Jan 09 2004 - 13:48:36 PST