Properties of an evolved universe

[McGarr]

Hello All :)

I've heard it proposed that a reason for the fine tuned nature of our universe in a way to allow the existence of complexity and life could be that the universe itself is the product of evolution in a multi-verse.

I don't want to debate around the anthropological principle as I am sure that has been done many times on here.

My question is this - what properties or behaviors would be expect to find in a universe that had been selected towards some unknown fitness function?

Is there any are of mathematics or physics I could research that would help me learn about the general properties of highly optimized/selected/finely tuned causal systems?

Many thanks,

Ian

 

[tom aaron]

Hello All :)

I've heard it proposed that a reason for the fine tuned nature of our universe in a way to allow the existence of complexity and life could be that the universe itself is the product of evolution in a multi-verse.

I don't want to debate around the anthropological principle as I am sure that has been done many times on here.

My question is this - what properties or behaviors would be expect to find in a universe that had been selected towards some unknown fitness function?

Is there any are of mathematics or physics I could research that would help me learn about the general properties of highly optimized/selected/finely tuned causal systems?

Many thanks,

Ian

Interesting question

Some of your words need clarifying. In evolution there is no 'towards' anything. There just 'is'. No end function, goal, plan, etc. Biology is just chemistry that is just physics. Every atom is what it is because of the physics of the moment.

I'll let others suggest mathematics or other methods. However, in a nutshell, the variables would be what they are in our understanding of matter and energy...relativity...quantum mechanics, etc. What we understand of our Universe is what there has to be. Particles and waves (or whatever they are)have properties and this Universe is a reflection of those properties. We have laws of thermodynamics, entropy, etc.

I suppose the answer to studying all this is 'Physics'. One can get into the formation of atoms after the Big Bang, heavier elements from exploding stars, the forces inside the nucleus of an atom. However, it's all still latest understanding of physics.

Some other Universe? Nobody has a clue.

 

[McGarr]

Interesting question

Some of your words need clarifying. In evolution there is no 'towards' anything. There just 'is'. No end function, goal, plan, etc. Biology is just chemistry that is just physics. Every atom is what it is because of the physics of the moment.

Thanks for your reply.

I understand that evolution doesn't work towards anything. However, when something is evolved - that is it is the product of natural selection of it will have a tendency to exhibit the attributes that made it "fit". An obvious an example would be the potential to self- replicate (a-sexually or sexually) so one obvious trait that would suggest we live in an evolved universe would be if we discovered mechanisms through which this universe could create another. Or if for example the universe's fitness function was it's capacity to harbor life then we may find that the conditions needed to for life arising more often than would be statistically expected if the starting conditions were truly random. By starting conditions I meany anything acausal - so the fundamental laws of physics (whatever they may be) and then maybe things like quantum wave collapses, radioactive decay and the distribution of mass/energy at the big bang.

 

[Chalnoth]

Hello All :)

I've heard it proposed that a reason for the fine tuned nature of our universe in a way to allow the existence of complexity and life could be that the universe itself is the product of evolution in a multi-verse.

I don't want to debate around the anthropological principle as I am sure that has been done many times on here.

My question is this - what properties or behaviors would be expect to find in a universe that had been selected towards some unknown fitness function?

The selection would be for whatever process creates new universes. The only proposal I've heard of this is that astrophysical black holes might potentially form other universes with physical laws similar to the parent universe. If this were the case, then the laws of physics would be optimized to maximize the number of black holes formed. If there were some other model for the process that forms other universes, then that other process would be the one that is maximized.

I am somewhat curious what this model would say about black hole-black hole mergers, though. Either way, this is highly speculative.

 

[Drakkith]

Either way, this is highly speculative.

Too speculative for PF I think. Thread locked.