Laws of the multiverse.
Are physical laws the same in one galaxy as they are in another? The assumption of science is that they are—that laws are universal. In the New York Times, Paul Davies writes of alternative scientific thinking to the effect that our universe is just one of its kind in a multiverse. (*) In every universe, different physical laws would prevail. This would, in Davies’s words, put truth “forever beyond our ken.”
Of course, that is not right. There would likely be rules governing the metaverse itself, and metalaws governing what kind of laws are possible in any universe. If the metaverse conjecture were accurate, we would simply have to seek knowledge of those laws. There is no need to despair. Truth is still within our ken.
April 14th, 2003 at 17:01
That’s fascinating!
But I think it might be hubris to expect that we can ever figure it ALL out. In my view, we’re lucky to have figured out as much as we have, with brains designed in the Stone Age.