Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

Which came first
Multi-verse or
Poet?  
Click here for infinite regression of universes

   Post 72. January 29, 2019

  Multiverse versus First Cause

   Infinite Regression vs Eternal Existence

 Some scientists are like little kids, who imagine there's a monster under the bed, so they refuse to look. But what if it's not a manmade Frankenstein monster, but merely the mysterious darkness of nescience (ignorance)? The scary monster that spooks those angelic atheists is the tyrannical Yaweh-Jehovah-Allah of the Abrahamic faiths, with their either/or existential dilemma : eternal bliss or eternal horror. However, there is another possiblity for what lurks in the unenlightened underbed, besides an infinite regression of dust bunnies.  

The BothAnd alternative, G*D, is a philosophical conjecture similar to "Dark Matter". It purports to explain the improbable appearance of an astronomical universe from the near-nothing of a pin-prick singularity1, without adding any un-warranted assumptions about the nature of the preternatural source of the world we know & love & fear & hate. Although descriptive metaphors are necessary for communication of concepts, they should not be taken literally. Since this diffident deity doesn’t seem to interfere with the normal operation of natural processes, there’s no reason for fear or worship

Currently, there are only two plausible explanations for the explosive emergence of our almost infinite world from an atomic scale easter egg2 full of things-to-come. The hypo-thetical Big Bang Singularity was an impossibility under the rules of reality that apply to the space-time universe, hence was not a physical object. Yet, theorists picture it as a sub-micro-scopic funnel-like wormhole from a previous incarnation of space-time-energy-matter into our little bubble of ever-changing stuff.

The other side of that bottleneck is imagined as an infinite cosmic breeding ground, known collectively as The Multiverse3. The wormhole then functions as a birth canal for an egg-like wanna-be-world to emerge from a statistical ovary into physical actuality. As in the Flat Earth theory though, the array of multiverses is "turtles all the way down"4 , with no point of origin. These earthlike archetypes are familiar, so they are no more scary than a flock of dust-bunnies under the bed.

The only other alternative to the endless causal chain of the M'verse, with its chicken-or-egg conundrum, is some kind of self-existent creative principle. Since this abstract5 First Cause6 concept is not a physical object, or even a googleplex of objects, it is not as warm & fuzzy as the ranks of turtles marching from over the horizon. It's not something we can identify with, except in the way we identify with our own intangible minds, functionally labelled as Self or Soul.

As a causal explanation, the Multiverse is imagined as something like an infinite chemistry set, that randomly tries all possible combinations of matter, energy, and physical laws, until it accidentally hits upon the bio-chemistry of Life. Then somehow, living things, after ceaseless trial & error, somehow become aware of their own purposes by constructing brains that function as self-aware information processors. Our local iteration of the interminable world-making process seems to function predictably and automatically, like a well-oiled mechanism. But it’s a self-programmed machine-making-machine, “designed” by eons of blind heuristics. So, the obvious signs of teleology & purpose must be ignored as irrelevant.

Post 72 continued . . . click Next

1. Initial Singularity :
A hypothetical dimension-less mathematical point from which our 4D world emerged. It’s a transition from infinity to definity, from possibility to actuality.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_singularity

2. Easter Egg :
Hidden software code containing a surprise for the finder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media)

3 . Multiverse :   
Literally, and paradoxically, “many wholes”. Sometimes called the Many Worlds Theory. Each “world” is supposed to have a randomized set of properties that are subject to Darwinian Natural Selection. Only a select few of these possible worlds has the “right stuff” to become a cosmos with a mind of its own; i.e. to produce sentient creatures.

4. Turtles theory :
Explanation for existence by assumption of infinite regress. In other words, “it has always been thus”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down
Click here for turtles image

5. Abstract :
Ideal instead of real. An idea considered apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances. The essential qualities of an entity.

6. First Cause :
The self-existent being, G*D or Multiverse, from which every chain of causes must ultimately begin.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/first-cause

Multiverse Magic :
How our world squeezed thru the wormhole
Click Here for popup

First Cause Argument :    The relevant difference between First Cause and Multiverse theories is that of Whole versus Parts. Analytical & Reductive thinkers imagine the source of all things as a collection of pieces, while Synthetic & Holistic thinkers envision the lot as a single entity. Particles are real tangible things, while the ensemble is merely an idea. So how could an an abstract idea cause anything?
   Cosmologists have calculated that the universe was caused by a mathe-matical Singularity [below], which is not a physical thing, but merely a definition – an idea. So the cause of our world is attributed to an idea. Our world is an idea realized.
   But Reductionists implicitly believe that ideas are powerless, and that only things are causes. So, they assume the prime cause of the Big Bang must be something physical, like a mother universe with an infinite supply of world eggs.

Singularity :
Astronomers calculated the expansion of our universe as a diminishing mathe-matical function, which eventually reaches an infinite value equivalent to a dimensionless point. At that point, the universe is no longer a 4 dimensional reality, but merely a zero dimension concept, an idea. But that idea has the power to introduce a new world into reality.