Everybody has his or her own particular worldview, philosophy, a set of truisms, a concept of reality, and overall, a degree of certainty on just how the world works. Equally true, that worldview evolves as you grow older. Santa Clause was probably part of your worldview when you were five years old, but unlikely at fifty-five. I’m no exception to the rule, so here are my latest ‘set-in-cement’ thoughts on how the world operates.
After posting some 250-plus essays, it wouldn’t be surprising if I hadn’t solidified some sort of worldview. While not yet the be-all-and-end-all of my worldviews, it’s a good start, and a good exercise. When setting down all your fundamental beliefs, at least based on my doing so, I found out that I’ve sometimes ended up trapping myself into believing two entirely contradictory things. That in turn required a total re-examination of my overall set of worldviews. As I said, it’s a useful exercise and an ever ongoing one (#).
Normally one has certain fundamental principles that form the bedrock foundation of their worldview on life, the universe and everything. I’ve boiled my fundamental principles down to two absolutes.
ABSOLUTE BEDROCK FOUNDATIONS
* Something cannot be created from absolutely nothing. Conservation laws rule.
* Something cannot happen without any reason at all. Causality rules too.
THE COSMIC CONNECTION
* Why is there something rather than nothing? Let’s say there’s a 50-50 probability between a universe that contains nothing and one that contains something. Or even make the ratio 60-40 or 99-1 or even odds of a billion to one, as long as the probability of a something universe isn’t zero. Then, well that’s something to be said for a something universe. Now a nothing universe isn’t bio-friendly and a something universe can be, so since we’re a friendly bio-entity that must mean we live in a something universe. So, as far as we are concerned, that’s what there is something rather than nothing, because if there was nothing we wouldn’t be here to ponder the issue.
* Since I have shown (to my satisfaction anyway) that space, time and matter/energy cannot have been created by a Big Bang event (or by any other means), then of necessity the Big Bang event happened in existing space, time and with matter/energy already in existence too. Therefore there was a before the Big Bang and if there was one such before the Big Bang event there could have been more than one, in fact an infinite number of before the Big Bang events, or in other words, an infinite number of Big Bangs.
* The Big Bang could not have been a micro event, as to stuff the contents of our Universe into a tiny volume would result in the Mother of all Black Holes and while a Black Hole can evaporate, our Universe condensed down into a Black Hole would result in a Black Hole of large enough size that it would take trillions upon trillions of years to do so. That’s in contrast to the standard model of the Big Bang event which suggests it was more akin to a ‘wham-bam thank you ma’am’ quickie. I like to think of the Big Bang more as the Mother of all Pseudo-Supernovae. I say ‘pseudo’ because the Big Bang wasn’t literally a supernova since the ratios of elements created in the Big Bang don’t parallel that created by real supernova. I see the pseudo-supernova more akin to zillions upon zillions of people all increasingly squeezing together while madly rushing the department store front door at the start of the post-Xmas sales (collapsing universe) then fanning out again (Big Bang and expansion) once past the door and into the store proper, rather than an actual explosion.
* Though I personally consider both time and space to be concepts, and not things, others believe that time and space are indeed things. Be that as it may.
* To avoid awkward questions regarding space and time, as in what’s beyond and what came before, I just plain postulate an infinite time and space without any quantum ‘atomic structure’. In other words, both time and space are infinitely divisible into smaller and smaller segments. There is no ultimate structure involving time and space that cannot be further divided. If you don’t care for the word “infinite” then substitute “forever” or “eternal”.
* That an infinite cosmos exists in both time and space makes sense since there are forces which (in theory) can extend their influence out to infinity in time and in space – gravity and electromagnetism. If you shine your flashlight, beam it out into space, there’s nothing to stop it going on indefinitely through space and in time.
* If time and space are infinite then that implies a cyclic cosmos in that everything that can happen does happen and infinite number of times. So, you get another go and another and another and another. However, because you have no consciousness of time between the time of your demise and the time of your next hatching, which could be millennia later in a distant galaxy far, far away, your existences are pretty continuous. However, you’d never know the nitty-gritty of your previous existences, though perhaps it might explain senses of déjà vu. But, in addition to multi-universes in the same space, but over time, there is multi-universes spread out in space at the same time. That follows if the cosmos is infinite in volume. Of course if the cosmos is infinite in volume then right now there are up to an infinite number of you in all possible variations. My use of “you” refers not so much to your various physical forms and lifestyles but to your mind which gives you our sense of “you”. Your mind after all really is what defines “you”.
* Because space is infinite in time, and time is infinite in space, there was no first cause; therefore, there’s absolutely no requirement for any supernatural deity or deities to act as a creator.
* Cyclic universe: As suggested above, there was a Big Bang but there was also a before the Big Bang. IMHO there was a Big Bang before that and another before that. Despite the observation that our Universe is ever expanding, and ever expanding at an ever faster rate, there are ways and means, alternative cosmologies, that can result in, and require, a cyclic universe scenario, which, if you wish to count each universe as separate and apart, results in a Multiverse at least over the time dimension. As hinted above, there would be an infinite number of these cyclic universes.
* There is a Multiverse; that follows of necessity if you postulate an infinite yet dynamic cosmos in time and space. Apart from a cyclic Multiverse as per above, there can also be a spatial Multiverse – universes existing not as discrete universes at the same point in space at differing times, but discrete universes existing in differing points in space but at the same time.
* The interior of a Black Hole is the absolute final frontier of all final frontiers left as the undiscovered country. Here there are dragons for sure!
* Causality rules as per my absolute bedrock foundations – there is absolute predetermination (therefore no free will). No matter what happens, that happening had a cause, and more likely as not, that happening will in turn be the cause of a further happening, and so on down the line (or up the line if you run the film backwards). In cosmology terms, the Universe did not, could not, create itself because a cause cannot cause or bootstrap itself.
* Causality rules in classical (macro) physics. Probability rules in quantum (micro) physics, at least that’s the standard micro model as proposed by physicists. However, quantum mechanics has IMHO deeper cause-and-effect principles. Probability as a concept is observer dependent. In a universe without any observers, without any life, would it be meaningful to invoke the idea of quantum probability or uncertainty? It’s not that difficult to imagine a universe without life. In fact that no doubt was the state of our universe for several billion years post the Big Bang event. Before any life evolved anywhere, the cosmos ticked along in clockwork (cause-and-effect) fashion very nicely, thank you very much. If it did so before humans were thought of in anyone’s philosophy, it can and will continue to do so despite humans being now present and accounted for and befuddled by the realm of indeterminacy exhibited by quantum mechanics. Ultimately quantum physics will be founded in causality just like classical physics.
* There are no free lunches as per my absolute bedrock foundations – no creating something-from-nothing is allowed. That’s because IMHO conservation laws governing the creation and destruction of matter and energy, even time and space, are absolute.
* String Theory as an alternative to the standard model of particle physics is absolute nonsense and will remain so until proponents put some experimental runs on the board.
* General Relativity and Quantum Physics have been, are, and forever will remain separate and apart. They are incompatible in theory as well as in practice and never the twain shall meet. Translated, there never will be a unified theory of quantum gravity.
* There is no meaning or purpose to the cosmos – it just is. That puts the kibosh on the Strong Anthropic Principle which suggests that the Universe was designed to be the way it is in order to give rise to life and intelligent life. It was the Universe’s way of being able to contemplate its own navel.
* The Weak Anthropic Principle is however stating the bleeding obvious, which is that because life exists in the Universe, the Universe must possess laws, principles and relationships that make the Universe a bio-friendly or Goldilocks Universe.
* In infinite time and space and a Multiverse, extraterrestrial intelligence will have come to pass if at least one such universe is a Goldilocks universe, which is actually required since in an infinite Multiverse anything that can happen does happen – an infinite number of times.
* The Universe is the way it is. Whether the Universe is good, bad or ugly; indifferent or malicious, there’s nothing you can do about it, so cross it off your ‘need-to-worry-about-this’ list.
(#) It recently struck home how often we shift our worldviews. We have no worldview at birth. Our worldview at five is one that’s full of self, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, imaginary friends, and parties with lots of cakes, cookies, soda pop and presents. All of that certainly changes, and drastically so, when you hit the teens when your worldview shifts to the opposite sex and sex and rebellion against all things adult. Maybe somewhere there’s an easing in period, a first stirrings, where you start to acquire a worldview of a God and heaven and angels and all things bright and beautiful (that’s probably imposed on you by parents and social mores). Then you get thrust out (usually by choice) into the adult world that’s full of bills and responsibilities and employment and/or family life raising your own brats. During all of this you probably never really think of the ‘natural’ cosmic context you find yourself in. But that tends to come as you pass the half-way mark and start heading downhill. The Big Questions come more to the fore and you start to adopt a worldview that makes comforting sense away from the normal routine worldview of taxes and nasty bosses and your kids in trouble with the police again. Again, for most, that tends to revolve around God and heaven and angels, etc. But some people start thinking more outside the comforting religious box and more about space and time, and before and after, and finite vs. infinity and what non-religious Big Picture makes the most philosophical and logical common sense. And whatever specific you come up with can also shift as you reflect on your earlier reflections without end as new concepts and connections come into being or focus which you’ve got to ponder and fit into the master worldview jigsaw puzzle you’ve established.
To be continued.
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