Me: 'Whatever happened to Occam's
Razor? This stuff makes Plato's Forms look like one of the most sober and
parsimonious metaphysics imaginable! I would like to point anyone interested in
this stuff to an amazing non-performance of a book called "Cosmosapiens"
by John Hands. Hands has the nerve to subject all these theories (the Big Bang,
Inflation, multiverse theories and much more) to the actual evidence we have,
rather than arcane mathematical models that try to extrapolate from it in various
directions, or else wild speculation (or both). None of them come out well. The
universe looks as if it is much other than these theorists try to paint it.
Here's a clue: multiverse theories usually try to blunt the implications of
something called the Goldilocks Effect. What
sorts of conclusions is Hands trying to avoid?'
Socrates: 'There is a world of
difference between the Multiverse as mathematical probability explaining
phenomena here and the Multiverse as topic for speculative writing. Your problem is with the latter, not the former. Speculation produces much tosh but
allows creativity to flourish. Meanwhile, maths is maths, physics is physics
and we slowly explore the data and the consequences of the data. But unless you
are familiar with and can manipulate 22-dimensional matrices
in your head, you are just somebody n the crowd watching a game you cannot
fathom and relying on commentary.'
Me: 'As indeed are you by such a
measure, unless you can perform those feats yourself! But seriously, do you
think ANYONE can do 22 dimensions in their head? Moreover it's not required -
even the most arcane string theorists only run to about 13, from memory.
Moreover, one can get fairly well educated about such matters without just
'relying on commentary', so I stand by my comments, and question whether "the
Multiverse as mathematical probability explaining phenomena" is seriously
distinct from sheer speculation. The nature of the various notions of the
multiverse makes that a serious question.'
Bottom-line: 'Bullshit! There is no
alternate version of me on any plane of existence that listens to Rick Astley,
watches reality TV, shows clear signs of having latent psychic energy, eats
smashed avocado on toast, or prays to any god. Being just a regular 'Joe' (in
this case 'Manuel'), I have always sensed the multiverse hypothesis had
validity. If true, and the number was infinite and consciousness was unbound by
the physical, is it possible every time we make a personal decision we move to
another universe that supports the decision? Just sayin'. WTF did I do wrong to
end up in this Trump crappy universe?'
