• bizso09
    55
    The physical universe (PU) is the universe we know. It obeys physical laws and we can do inductive or deductive reasoning about it. However, there are parts of the physical universe that fundamentally cannot be explained. It’s not a matter of doing more research and thinking to fill in the gaps of missing information, but rather these aspects of the physical universe are qualitatively different. Therefore, I introduce the concept of an external universe to explain these parts of the physical universe.

    The main characteristics of the external universe (EU) are the following. I argue that the following phenomena in the PU cannot be explained on a fundamental level without the existence of an EU:

    • EU contains the source of information originating the PU
    • EU contains the source of information originating each subjective experience in the PU
    • EU contains the source of information determining the outcome of randomness
    • EU contains the source of information determining the outcome of free will
    • There are multiple sources of information in the EU that are distinct
    • All information in the EU is fundamentally uncaused and generative
    • The EU is outside of the PU. It is not additive to the PU, but it affects the PU.

    Let’s take each statement one by one:

    1.EU contains the source of information originating the PU
    Trying to explain the origins of the PU is a difficult task, and it cannot be done from within the framework of the PU. Any such attempt leads to either an infinite regress of events causing other events, or giving up on the question completely, or performing an illogical mental jump that requires the creation of something out of nothing. There is no amount of research that can be done to explain an ultimate question of why there is something rather than nothing. Therefore, the source of origination has to come from outside of the PU, hence from the EU. In the EU, the source has no cause or explanation by definition.

    2. EU contains the source of information originating each subjective experience
    Apart from the fact that the PU is described as an objective reality, some hypothesize the existence of subjective experiences. However, then the question is how do these subjective experiences come about, and in particular what decides that a given observer is going to experience one subjective experience versus another. I argue that this task is fundamentally impossible to explain, and hence the information determining the existence of each subjective experience has to come from the EU. Each subjective experience has a distinct source in the EU. It is distinct, because each subjective experience can unambiguously tell which first person point of view they belong to. Having a single external source would mean that each first person perspective would be unified, all belonging to one, whereas having no external source means observers of subjective experiences simply would not exist. Once the source of the observer of a given person is determined in the EU, the rest of their existence is explained in the PU, by DNA, people having sex and development processes, and bran waves creating thoughts.

    3. EU contains the source of information determining the outcome of randomness
    Most randomness in the PU is only pseudo random, meaning that it can be deterministically derived from the state of the world. It is just a matter of gathering all the required information to make a prediction. However, in case there is true randomness, how is the outcome of the random event determined? For example, what value will a sample from a uniform distribution take or how is the decay time of an atom determined? The answer is that the information that determines the sample outcome has to come from the EU, and it must be fundamentally uncaused.

    4. EU contains the source of information determining the outcome of free will
    Free will can be regarded as a source of decision making that is non-deterministic, i.e. cannot completely explained by the state of the PU that results from the outcome of prior events, and non-random, i.e. it is not arbitrary. If free will was deterministic, consider what would happen if you predicted what someone was going to do 100 years in advance and you showed it to them. Will the person have the option to choose otherwise, in which case your prediction was wrong, which is not possible? If so, how would the person decide how to act? The only explanation is that their decision making has to be truly random, or more precisely it has to be generated the same way as random numbers are generated. The outcome of such a decision cannot have any probability distribution imposed upon it, in which case it would be predictable. Hence, the source of free will must come from the EU and it must be a fundamentally unexplained phenomenon that is non-restricted in any way. Once the information from the EU enters the PU, causality is applied and can be used to explain how decision making works in the brain based on the environment.

    5. There are multiple sources of information in the EU
    As we have seen, the EU originates information regarding the birth of the universe, randomness, subjective experiences, free will, and others. These phenomena all have different information content and determine different things. For example, there is a clear difference between the existence of two subjective experiences, in addition it is clearly mapped out which free willed agent corresponds to which subjective experience. This shows that there are multiple sources of information originating in the EU, and such sources of information are countable.

    6. All information in the EU is fundamentally uncaused and generative
    The source of information in the EU all has the property that they are originating sources and cannot be explained otherwise. There is no causation in the EU, only generation. It contains the seeds of the PU. If we regard the events in the PU as a graph explaining causation, the EU contains the multiple roots of the graph that injects seeds of information into the PU. The leaves of the graph would be events in the present time that unfold over time. The EU is fundamentally generative in nature.

    7. The EU is outside of the PU. It is not additive to the PU, but it affects the PU.
    The PU includes everything there is in the universe. So strictly speaking, there is nothing outside of it. Yet, the EU is outside of the PU. In a way, adding the EU to the PU will still result in the PU. One could regard the EU as an empty set, but with elements inside it. This looks like a contradiction, but one must note that the framework of logic and reasoning is difficult to apply to the EU as it can only work consistently within the PU. The reason is because the EU only contains the generating sources, but as soon as those things are generated, they enter the PU where they are subject to the laws of PU. One can regard the EU as a collection of brute facts, that live outside of the framework of the PU. For example, the EU contains the information that tells you why you are the person you are, i.e. why your observer first person point of view is tied to any particularly conscious awareness (See point 2.) Yet, in the objective reality of the PU, strictly speaking there is no first person point of view. So this information comes from outside of the PU, but nonetheless affecting the PU.

    The question of this post is that suppose there exists an EU as described above. What other properties can we derive about it based on our observation of the PU? So far, I've listed 7, but there could be more.
  • EnPassant
    665
    There are two spacetimes, quantum spacetime and physical spacetime. Quantum spacetime is an n-dimensional spacetime (it has been suggested n = 10 or 11). Physical spacetime is 4-dimensional. This effectively means there are two universes.

    The physical universe is an emergent property of the quantum universe of energy. It is 'conjured up' from quantum spacetime.

    The reason is because the EU only contains the generating sources, but as soon as those things are generated, they enter the PU where they are subject to the laws of PU. One can regard the EU as a collection of brute facts, that live outside of the framework of the PUbizso09

    This one reason why quantum physics is confusing: When there is an n-dimensional event in the quantum universe that event is reduced from n dimensions to 4 dimensions so n - 4 dimensions of information are lost. Moreso, a quantum event is registered in the physical universe as a physical trace effect. eg a spot on a photographic plate is a trace effect. But these trace effects are necessarily physical 4 dimensional objects in the phsical universe while the event that caused them is an n-dimensional event in the non physical universe of energy. So physicists are reduced to trying to measure an n-dimensional event with a 4-dimensional ruler. No wonder quantum physics is weird.
  • jgill
    3.5k
    From NOVA online:

    One of the missions of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the behemoth accelerator straddling the French-Swiss border, has been to test the possibility of unseen extra dimensions . Since the discovery of the Higgs Boson in 2012, completing the Standard Model of particle physics, the idea of looking at such extensions has become more central.

    To establish the existence of extra dimensions with the LHC, there are three major avenues of attack. The first involves finding echo versions of existing particles, called Kaluza-Klein states. These would be like the known particles in all respects, except more massive, like overtones in music. At a proton-proton collision energy of 7 trillion electron volts, searches have been made for Kaluza-Klein gravitons, Kaluza-Klein gluons and others, so far to no avail.

    Physicists are also using the LHC to search for evidence of gravitons seeping into higher dimensions. Such signals of otherwise unexplained missing energy would have to be sifted from enormous numbers of collision events, carefully ruling out a plethora of more mundane possibilities, such as escaped neutrinos.

    Evidence for extra dimensions could also show up at the LHC in the form of microscopic black holes, predicted by certain higher dimensional theories. Famously, before the LHC opened, alarmists raised a fear of such objects destroying the Earth, despite calculations showing they would harmlessly decay within a tiny fraction of a second. Despite the hopes and warnings, miniature black holes have yet to be detected among the collision data of LHC experiments.

    Currently, the LHC is switched off and being revamped in preparation for cranking up its collision energy almost twice as high as the previous run. In 2015 it is expected to reopen and collide protons at 13 trillion electron volts, offering the possibility of producing more massive particles and more unusual events. The upgrade will offer a greater chance to detect evidence of extra dimensions.
  • bizso09
    55

    That's very interesting that each time an event is created, information is lost while passing down to our universe. However, I argue that in this external universe, information cannot be reasoned about using our conventional techniques as events in that space are "brute facts without explanation". You cannot apply the framework of logic. Interestingly, we can deduce this fact using logic from within our universe PU, because our universe interacts with the external universe (EU).

    The question of identity assignment is one such problem that is not possible to answer using a logical framework. The question is that one day I wake up in the world, and I became conscious. There needs to be some information in the world that determines my identity, namely who or what I am. Even if this identity reduces to merely a given first person perspective or point of view, that needs to be determined where or what that point of view is in the world. However, this determination, although exists, it cannot be explained logically.

    The problem is there must be a unique information content specifically for me in the world. However, as soon as there’s more options available, i.e. there exists multiple first person perspectives, the assignment problem becomes ambiguous, and hence the information specifying my identity becomes ambiguous too.

    One possible resolution is that each conscious being lives in their own unique world that was made just for them. In that case their identity is equal to the universe, i.e. everything that exists, so the mapping is unambiguous. However, as soon as multiple parallel universes can exist with multiple conscious beings, the identity assignment problem resurfaces, but this time across multiple universes.

    This problem is not possible to be solved using a logical framework. When I ask, how come I am this particular being, there’s two solutions: Either I am the only being in existence, or that there is no “but”, it’s just how it is.

    Although choosing the first option might look attractive, it still doesn’t explain that although it is only me that exists, how come I exist at all? So in fact, this would require another illogical statement, namely everything exists, just because. So in a way, assuming the existence of an external universe that provides the necessary information required to resolve these issues and remain consistent within our universe, is itself unavoidable. This external universe has to give the answers without further question, and asking about a piece of information coming from this external universe as to how come it’s that way and not the other way, would not be sensible.
  • EnPassant
    665
    That's very interesting that each time an event is created, information is lost while passing down to our universe. However, I argue that in this external universe, information cannot be reasoned about using our conventional techniques as events in that space are "brute facts without explanation".bizso09

    Mathematical physics seems to be one way into the quantum universe, which is why it is so successful.

    The question of identity assignment is one such problem that is not possible to answer using a logical framework.bizso09
    Suppose you are in a restaurant with another person. You are both in the same external reality but your experience of it is different from the other person's experience of it. For example, he is looking at you and you are looking at him so these are two different experiences. Your experiences are different because you both have different perspectives or points of view, on the same reality. So maybe the 'you' is largely a point of view on the world.
  • bizso09
    55
    So maybe the 'you' is largely a point of view on the world.EnPassant

    That's correct, but it's the 'you' that's supposed to tell me which perspective I am.
  • EnPassant
    665
    That's correct, but it's the 'you' that's supposed to tell me which perspective I am.bizso09

    Hardly possible. All possible relationships between people are infinite. Maybe that's what life is, infinite creativity.
  • Vladimir Krymchakov
    11
    I left this forum forever.
  • Marchesk
    4.6k
    There is only one universe.Vladimir Krymchakov

    Not if there's a multiverse with each universe being separate and having it's own laws.
  • Kenosha Kid
    3.2k
    However, there are parts of the physical universe that fundamentally cannot be explained.bizso09

    Name one example please.
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