RE: In one page or less
At 9/13/01, you wrote: Yes, words like alternation and succession definitely imply that time is involved. But you are saying that this is a timeless construct (like Platonia of the multiverse) ? Charles Time as I understand the usual usage involves the concepts of fixed cycles measured by a clock and potentially reconstructible histories - example: why does time have an arrow if each law of physics is symmetric to time reversal [ The behavior of some subatomic particles aside.] I do not see how these concepts are compatible with the postulate. I have to admit that I miss the reference to Platonia. Hal
RE: In one page or less
At 9/13/01, you wrote: -Original Message- From: Hal Ruhl [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] This is a simple and short effort to present my current ideas. To aid communication it is not intended to follow an established means of mathematical expression. I am completely out of time so I hope it reads ok. Please let me know if I've misunderstood... 1) The single postulate is The total system contains no information. That's a good starting point. It implies a sort of information symmetry in which every bits of information is cancelled out somewhere else. 2) The Nothing contains at least some information: Whenever it is manifest any question asking if it is manifest must receive the response yes. The idea here is that while manifest the Nothing must consider itself to be true. This is information in the form of the ability to resolve a meaningful question. I don't understand this bit at all, sorry! 3) #2 violates the postulate so the system must contain more component(s), i.e. a Something or succession of Somethings or an ensemble of all possible Somethings that balance or neutralize this information. 4) The Nothing since it contains information can not be stable with respect to the manifestation of the other component(s) or the system again violates the postulate because no neutralization is possible. Why is no neutralisation possible for a stable Nothing ? Can't it be balanced by another stable Something (or Nothing, perhaps) ? The above information must be balanced out by an equal amount of information that make the manifestation of the Nothing false rather than true. If the Nothing is ever false it must be replaced by Something. 5) Any individual Something or a simultaneously manifest ensemble of all possible Somethings must also comply with #2 so are violations of the postulate and unstable with respect to the Nothing. 6) The instabilities result in an alternation between the Nothing and the other component(s). 7) The incorporation into the system of a FIXED other component which is either an individual Something or the complete ensemble of Somethings is a selection representing additional information which can not be balanced out by corresponding antipodal information present in the Nothing. 8) The way to make the total system comply with the postulate: a) The Nothing alternates with a succession of Somethings randomly selected [no rules of selection control] from the ensemble. b) The selection of the next Something out of the ensemble must be random or the selection process is additional information in violation of the postulate. c) The ensemble contains an infinite number of individual Somethings so there can be no endless loops of repeats which would represent additional information and are forbidden by the postulate. --- Evolving universes are successive isomorphisms to some portion of each successive Something. Each manifestation of the Nothing corresponds to the emptiness or gap between successive discrete isomorphisms of universe evolution. Enduring evolving universes with fully deterministic rules of isomorphism succession find no home in this model because the gap for such universes would quickly become open ended. This violates the Nothing Something alternation. The total system or Grand Ensemble is the Everything. It contains no information and it can not contain enduring fully deterministic universes. This sounds very interesting. I wish I could understand it better! If you have time could you post something which is more understandable to the layman? I will try as soon as I see what all the initial comments are. Hal
In one page or less
This is a simple and short effort to present my current ideas. To aid communication it is not intended to follow an established means of mathematical expression. I am completely out of time so I hope it reads ok. 1) The single postulate is The total system contains no information. 2) The Nothing contains at least some information: Whenever it is manifest any question asking if it is manifest must receive the response yes. 3) #2 violates the postulate so the system must contain more component(s), i.e. a Something or succession of Somethings or an ensemble of all possible Somethings that balance or neutralize this information. 4) The Nothing since it contains information can not be stable with respect to the manifestation of the other component(s) or the system again violates the postulate because no neutralization is possible. 5) Any individual Something or a simultaneously manifest ensemble of all possible Somethings must also comply with #2 so are violations of the postulate and unstable with respect to the Nothing. 6) The instabilities result in an alternation between the Nothing and the other component(s). 7) The incorporation into the system of a FIXED other component which is either an individual Something or the complete ensemble of Somethings is a selection representing additional information which can not be balanced out by corresponding antipodal information present in the Nothing. 8) The way to make the total system comply with the postulate: a) The Nothing alternates with a succession of Somethings randomly selected [no rules of selection control] from the ensemble. b) The selection of the next Something out of the ensemble must be random or the selection process is additional information in violation of the postulate. c) The ensemble contains an infinite number of individual Somethings so there can be no endless loops of repeats which would represent additional information and are forbidden by the postulate. --- Evolving universes are successive isomorphisms to some portion of each successive Something. Each manifestation of the Nothing corresponds to the emptiness or gap between successive discrete isomorphisms of universe evolution. Enduring evolving universes with fully deterministic rules of isomorphism succession find no home in this model because the gap for such universes would quickly become open ended. This violates the Nothing Something alternation. The total system or Grand Ensemble is the Everything. It contains no information and it can not contain enduring fully deterministic universes. Hal
RE: In one page or less
-Original Message- From: Hal Ruhl [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] I think I get it. If nothing exists, that is a state which contains some information (i.e. nothing exists). To reduce the total information content of the system to zero, the state of nothing existing must be balanced by states in which something exist. Is that right (roughly) ? Yes that is my current offering to the effort. I see the Everything since it contains all information as both manifest and not manifest simultaneously. It would be in a sort of fuzzy logic state like 1/2 rather than either 0 or 1. If nothing exists, including any external time, then the Everything (also known as the Plenitude, perhaps) contains all available states as a fixed N-dimensional structure (N might well be uncountable infinity). If there *is* an external time, on the other hand, one can imagine some sort of alternation between Nothing and Something. (Otherwise the only sort of alternation possible is a sort of logical one, perhaps?) Charles
RE: In one page or less
-Original Message- From: Hal Ruhl [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 2) The Nothing contains at least some information: Whenever it is manifest any question asking if it is manifest must receive the response yes. I don't understand this bit at all, sorry! The idea here is that while manifest the Nothing must consider itself to be true. This is information in the form of the ability to resolve a meaningful question. I think I get it. If nothing exists, that is a state which contains some information (i.e. nothing exists). To reduce the total information content of the system to zero, the state of nothing existing must be balanced by states in which something exist. Is that right (roughly) ? (SNIP) This sounds very interesting. I wish I could understand it better! If you have time could you post something which is more understandable to the layman? I will try as soon as I see what all the initial comments are. OK, I look forward to reading more... Charles
RE: In one page or less
-Original Message- From: Hal Ruhl [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, 13 September 2001 4:35 p.m. To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: In one page or less Dear Charles: In response to another of your comments and to clarify: If nothing exists, including any external time, then the Everything (also known as the Plenitude, perhaps) contains all available states as a fixed N-dimensional structure (N might well be uncountable infinity). I think it is important to identify a fixed system as a selection which is itself information. The alternation between a Nothing and a new randomly selected Something out of the ensemble of Somethings is not a fixed system. The succession of Somethings is a little like generating a random number [the Everything] by adding a new random string of bits of random length to an existing random string of bits. The final result is for sure all and no information simultaneously, but the particular string that will be produced remains fuzzy. Unfortunately our language frequently defaults to words that hint of the concept of time since we have not yet created an adequate vocabulary for describing a timeless construct. Yes, words like alternation and succession definitely imply that time is involved. But you are saying that this is a timeless construct (like Platonia of the multiverse) ? Charles
RE: Conventional QTI = False
-Original Message- From: Russell Standish [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] I wasn't referring to that snippet, but another one discussing the evolution of superclusters of galaxies. The theory predicts that the universe will ultimately come to be dominated by said clusters. The snippet I mentioned seems to be referring to our measured velocity of ca 600km/s in the direction of the Virgo supercluster, although that wasn't explicitly mentioned in the article. Yes, I know the one you mean (the snippet and the supercluster). An article on the future evolution of the universe. That suffers from the same objection to the prediction that we'll fall into our galaxy's black hole, namely that the dynamics of the situation might be such that our galaxy is 'evaporated off' from the supercluster's potential well rather than 'relaxed into' it. (However I realise you were just making a casual remark in passing so maybe all this analysis is getting a bit over the top) Re our own supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way - I assume we're in a stable orbit about that one, with the usual caveat that its impossible to prove stability of any arbitrary n-body orbit of course. The sun does seem to be in a very stable orbit about the galaxy - almost circular, in fact. See Rare Earth for an explanation of why this is one of the many factors that had to come out just right for us to exist at all... Charles
Re: Conventional QTI = False
I wasn't referring to that snippet, but another one discussing the evolution of superclusters of galaxies. The theory predicts that the universe will ultimately come to be dominated by said clusters. The snippet I mentioned seems to be referring to our measured velocity of ca 600km/s in the direction of the Virgo supercluster, although that wasn't explicitly mentioned in the article. Re our own supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way - I assume we're in a stable orbit about that one, with the usual caveat that its impossible to prove stability of any arbitrary n-body orbit of course. Cheers George Levy wrote: Russell Standish wrote: Anyway, it looks like we're falling into a supermassive black hole right now, but we've got about 100 billion (10^11) years before we hit the event horizon. (Reported in New Scientist a couple of issue ago). George wrote: To avoid any scheduling conflict, I'll make sure to enter this in my scheduler. I wouldn't want to miss this for the world. George Charles Goodwin wrote: According to NS for 8th Sept the supermassive hole at the centre of our galaxy has been observed with much greater precision due to a flare which occured when matter fell into the accretion disc. But it doesn't say anything about us falling in Or is this just a general statement based on the momentum exchange which will take place inside the galaxy over the next few 100 billion years? Because momentum exchange can go either way - either the Earth (or what's left of it) is flung out of the galaxy or it falls into the central black hole. Similarly if the galaxy itself is orbiting a supermassive hole at the centre of the local group (say) that might also lead to 'evaporation' of the galaxy from the group or collapse into the central hole I just thought you needed to be aware of that. Set your scheduler for either ice or fire, a bang or a whimper Charles Thanks for the weather report Charles. I'll get dressed in layers, take my sunscreen lotion, and pack a good lunch. George Dr. Russell Standish Director High Performance Computing Support Unit, Phone 9385 6967, 8308 3119 (mobile) UNSW SYDNEY 2052 Fax 9385 6965, 0425 253119 () Australia[EMAIL PROTECTED] Room 2075, Red Centrehttp://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks International prefix +612, Interstate prefix 02
RE: In one page or less
-Original Message- From: Hal Ruhl [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] This is a simple and short effort to present my current ideas. To aid communication it is not intended to follow an established means of mathematical expression. I am completely out of time so I hope it reads ok. Please let me know if I've misunderstood... 1) The single postulate is The total system contains no information. That's a good starting point. It implies a sort of information symmetry in which every bits of information is cancelled out somewhere else. 2) The Nothing contains at least some information: Whenever it is manifest any question asking if it is manifest must receive the response yes. I don't understand this bit at all, sorry! 3) #2 violates the postulate so the system must contain more component(s), i.e. a Something or succession of Somethings or an ensemble of all possible Somethings that balance or neutralize this information. 4) The Nothing since it contains information can not be stable with respect to the manifestation of the other component(s) or the system again violates the postulate because no neutralization is possible. Why is no neutralisation possible for a stable Nothing ? Can't it be balanced by another stable Something (or Nothing, perhaps) ? 5) Any individual Something or a simultaneously manifest ensemble of all possible Somethings must also comply with #2 so are violations of the postulate and unstable with respect to the Nothing. 6) The instabilities result in an alternation between the Nothing and the other component(s). 7) The incorporation into the system of a FIXED other component which is either an individual Something or the complete ensemble of Somethings is a selection representing additional information which can not be balanced out by corresponding antipodal information present in the Nothing. 8) The way to make the total system comply with the postulate: a) The Nothing alternates with a succession of Somethings randomly selected [no rules of selection control] from the ensemble. b) The selection of the next Something out of the ensemble must be random or the selection process is additional information in violation of the postulate. c) The ensemble contains an infinite number of individual Somethings so there can be no endless loops of repeats which would represent additional information and are forbidden by the postulate. --- Evolving universes are successive isomorphisms to some portion of each successive Something. Each manifestation of the Nothing corresponds to the emptiness or gap between successive discrete isomorphisms of universe evolution. Enduring evolving universes with fully deterministic rules of isomorphism succession find no home in this model because the gap for such universes would quickly become open ended. This violates the Nothing Something alternation. The total system or Grand Ensemble is the Everything. It contains no information and it can not contain enduring fully deterministic universes. This sounds very interesting. I wish I could understand it better! If you have time could you post something which is more understandable to the layman? Charles
