[Last Update: June 6th, 2018] ContentsIntroduction
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D. Jon Scott’s Website ► Science
☢ The Sci-Phi Sector ☢
Science & Natural Philosophy
Copyright © 2017 by Dustin Jon Scott
[Last Update: June 6th, 2018]
Introduction
From the Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge”, science is, etymologically speaking, the body of knowledge resulting from the systematic study of nature. The word “science” has also come to mean the systematic study itself, and has recently even been verbed in forms like “I’m going to have to science the shit out of this.” (The Martian, 2015)
I.a. Philosophy of Science
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I.a. The Scientific Method
“The only point of the scientific methods is make sure you are not fooled into thinking that something is true that is not, or thinking that something is not true that is. That is the only point.”
— Neil Degrass Tyson (Rogan & Tyson, 2017, 1:26)
I.b. Observational Problems
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I.b-1.) Cognitive Bias
Typing of words should happen here.
I.b-2.) Occam’s Razor
The scientific precept known as Occam’s Razor states that given any body of evidence or data, the simplest explanation for that data is the most probably correct explanation.
Unfortunately, this is completely unfalsifiable.
I.b-3.) Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
Like reaching into a car seat for a coin, wherein the act of stuffing one's hand between the cushions separates the fabric and causes the coin to move further away from you, so too does the act of attempting to measure very small particles change their position and/or trajectory (Rogan & Tyson, 2017; 59:00).
II. Nature of Reality
Cosmological constant:
Λ = (1.5∓.02)×10-9 J/m3
In other words, the universe’s cosmological constant ranges from 0.000000000148 to 0.000000000152 Joules of vacuum energy (“anti-gravity”) per cubic meter of spacetime, or 0.00000000015 ∓ (≤0.000000000002) J/m3.II.a. Illusory Universe
Virtual Universe hypotheses:
II.a-1.) Holographic Universe
The 4-dimensional (3 spacial dimensions plus 1 time dimension) universe we feel like we live in could in fact be a projection of some 3-dimensional (2 spacial dimensions plus 1 time dimension) goings-on upon the event horizon of some singularity, or at the edge of the universe (upon the inside surface of what seems from our perspective to be an inverse quantum singularity - or big bang).
II.a-2.) Imaginary Universe
If life on Earth, which seems so perfectly adapted to living and interacting in a 4-dimensional (3 spacial dimensions plus 1 time dimension) realm could actually just be 4-D projection or representation of some 3-dimensional (2 spacial dimensions plus 1 time dimension) goings-on in some realm removed from that which we feel we indwell, then it stands to reason that the holographic universe might not even be objectively real at all, but may be a subjective experience generated by the animal brain. We animals feel like we inhabit a common 4-dimensional universe because we all share common ancestors and need to communicate with one another (interspecies signaling such as threat displays) and are thus constrained by natural selection to generate roughly compatible imaginary 4-dimensional realities (language/communication constrains thought; Sapir-Whorf hypothesis), but we're really all just interacting in some 3-dimensional (2 spacial dimensions plus 1 time dimension) realm á la the holographic universe model, or in some other way occupy a reality meaningfully different from the reality we animals feel we commonly inhabit.
This would go a long way toward explaining why humans take so easily to imaginary realities not only in the forms of government, laws, borders, fiat currency, credit, account statements, and the like, but also our indulgence in fantasy and fiction; our animal brain naturally impells us to create imaginate realities anyway, so we're already neurologically geared for it.
II.a-3.) Simulated Universe
It has been suggested that the universe might actually be a simulation.
Probability argument: If simulated universes can be created with as much detail as our universe, then simulated universes will eventually outnumber "actual" universes. Thus, there is a greater chance that our universe is a simulated universe than there is that out universe is a "natural" universe.
II.b. Multidimensionality
The universe has traditionally been conceived of as 3-dimensional.
Duration/time added as 4th dimension at least as early as H. G. Wells (The Time Machine).
In Joe Rogan Experience #310 - Neil Degrasse Tyson (Jan 15, 2013), from about 1:46:00 minutes in to about , Neil and Joe discuss what some might call the "sensory inadequacy" of humans, or what Joe describes (at about 1:46:46) as "The Fart Principle", which basically states that without a knowledge of which sensory experiences we might be lacking — a worm can't know that it lacks a sense of sight, for example — there could concievably be things occuring all around us that we have no clue about. In Joe's Fart Principle there could be, for example, invisible, gaseous alien life-forms living side-by-side with a species that had no sense of smell and would therefore probably remain for quite a long time completely unaware that they were living amongst beings beyond their sensory experience, in much the same way that Earthworms are presumably largely unaware of the existence of humans, and even when disturbed by humans might not necessarily be aware that humans are lifeforms.
II.c. The Multiverse
II.c-1.) The Bubbleverse
Inflationary Multiverse; multiverse of bubble-universes created each in its own period of inflation subsequent to a common singularity.
Dark Energy. Expansion is speeding up. Vacuum activity at the quantum level contributes energy to "empty space".
The universe we live in appears to have a very small but non-zero cosmological constant; 120 orders of magnitude smaller than the predicted value (Albrecht et al., 1:01:40)
II.c-2.) The Treeverse
Furcating-Lineage Multiverse.
Self-replicating universe. The universe might be hospitable to life because the universe is itself alive.
Yggdrasil
II.c-3.) A Bubbleverse of Treeverses, or a Treeverse of Bubbleverses?
Which is the omniverse and which is just one of many multiverses? Does each bubble-universe or pocket-universe in the bubbleverse (omniverse) produce its own treeverse (multiverse) of furcating quantum timelines? or does each quantum event for which there exists more than one possible outcome split the entire bubbleverse (multiverse) into multiple bubbleverses to create a treeverse (omniverse)?
II.c-4.) Parallel Universes
The question of which type of multiverse subsumes the other may be moot. It may be, for example, that there is only a bubbleverse, and that each pocket-universe contains particles that are quantumly entangled with particles in other pocket-universes, so that if Schrödinger’s Cat dies in one universe it must live in another, not because of one universe splitting into two in a fractal or tree-like pattern, but because of some kind of causal relationship between two thitherto identical pocket-universes that had always been separate. In other words, "quantum universes", or alternate timelines, or whatever one wishes to term the different versions of our universe, do not converge as we follow them backward through time, as in the furcating-lineage version of the many worlds interpretation, but instead run parallel to one another, each from its own distinct big-bang.
II.c-5.) The Immanent Multiverse
Each particle exists essentially in the center of its own universe.
An atom then exists in a sort of "multiverse" made up of three quark-universes; each quark exists in the center of its own universe, in which it makes up an atom with the help of two other quarks.
II.d. Cyclic Universe
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II.d-1.) The Duoverse
Inspired by String Theory. Two parallel universes / branes repeatedly collide due to vacuum energy, and this collision is the big bang (Albrecht et al., 1:08:17)
III. Nature of the Self
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III.a. The Ego, or Homuncle (Homunculus)
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III.b. Illusory Self
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III.b-1.) Materialistic-Deterministic Illusory Self
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III.b-2.) Spiritually Illusory Self
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III.b-3.) Panpsychism
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IV. Other Stuff, to be integrated
Pierre-Simon Laplace, "gravitational potential field" pervades all of space. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwdY7Eqyguo
Bibliography & Works Cited
☢ The Mysterious Architecture of the Universe - with J Richard Gott
☢ Infinite Worlds: A Journey through Parallel Universes
☢ Andreas Albrecht, Alan Guth, Andrei Linde, Neil Turok. Multiverse: One Universe or Many? World Science Festival
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUW7patpm9s>
☢ Does the Multiverse Really Exist? Space Science Documentary
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ5sr2z-pVM>
☢ The Whispering Mind: The Enduring Conundrum of Consciousness. Youtube (Jan 24, 2014)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7RL__ZgdEw>
☢ Neil deGrasse Tyson: We Might Be Living In Higher Dimensions…But Our Senses Can’t Tell Yet. Youtube (Aug 7, 2017)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM_HPAXwJFw>
☢ The Big Bang: Things You Didn't Know |Space Science Documentary. Youtube (Dec 3, 2015)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrjJvOHqHoI>
☢ Kaku, Michio. What is Consciousness ? - Three Stages of Consciousness. Youtube (Mar 3, 2016)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONlo9WcKgQ>
☢ Rogan, Joe & Tyson, Neil. Joe Rogan Experience #919 - Neil deGrasse Tyson. Youtube (Feb 21, 2017)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhHtBqsGAoA>
☢ Neil deGrasse Tyson: Neil deGrasse Tyson on Knowledge vs. Thinking. Youtube (Jun 9, 2014)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwoohzjscHY>
☢ Quantum Gravity Research: What Is Reality?. Youtube (Mar 4, 2017)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ztlIAYTCU>
☢ Mad Hatter Productions: Consciousness Mind Over Matter Consciousness Secrets Documentary. Youtube (Jun 17, 2017)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvXYQ1QSFV4>