Reply to @chrisrice, the Founder of Humanist
Hey @chrisrice,
Thanks for the summery. And yeah, I remember talking with you about this.
My respond to the question:
Can the "Theory of Everything" be as simple as the number 0?
Was (or should be): It depends what you mean by the number 0.
If I remember correctly I asked you whether you believe math is discovered or invented.
What I (simplistically) mean by that is; does the number 0 exists, as an abstract object, independently from our consciousness? In that case math would be discovered.
Or does the concept of zero / nothing / emptiness, exists and is it our consciousness that identifies that concept as the number 0? In that case math would be invented.
In physics there is this 'problem' of how to create an Universe out of nothing.
There are ofcourse therories out there that try to deal with this. The Zero-energy universe we already mentioned.
One of my (new) favorites is the Holographic principle, which basically says that you can describe our reality in a lower dimensional surface.
I like these ideas because they question our physical reality to be real in the first place.
Our brains are very good processors, but they still present the reality to us in the form we can understand. That doesn't necessarily mean it is reality.
Statistically speaking, it should be more likely that nothing exists, rather then that something exists. So to circle back; it is certainly possible that your "Theory of Everything" is actually nothing.
That’s when I mentioned the oddity of Fibonacci numbers and ...
Well, for me as a mathematician, it is not the oddity of the Fibonacci numbers per se. Don't get me wrong; it is a mathematically interesting sequence, but I don't find it as odd to me.
Perhaps because the Fibonacci sequence is the most well known, that leads to the Golden ratio, which is said to appear frequently in nature. However there are lots of Integer Sequences and also other Metallic ratio's can be found.
Fun fact:
Since the Golden ratio is about 1.6, you can use the Fibonacci sequence to convert between miles and kilometers.
Just take the (closest) number you want to convert;
- If it is in miles, the next Fibonacci number will be the same distance in kilometers.
- If it is in kilometers, the previous Fibonacci number will be the same distance in miles.
What strikes me as odd is the fact that our perceived reality is so well described mathematically. Hence the question whether math is discovered or invented.
If mathematics not only describes reality, but is reality, it might be discovered. On the other hand I think we also invented at least some mathematics to describe/solve other problems. Are you familiar with the Simulation hypothesis? If we would live in a simulation it should not be a surprise that our world is mathematical.
Another view I have is that we actually invented our world. Our brain shows us the world as we perceive. There's no need for 'something' actually being there. We could just create our world out of 'nothing' ourselves.
Can you expand on some of my ideas with your own ideas?
I tend not to hang up on the question of existence. As far as I'm concerned I exist, the world around me exists and so are my experiences in it. Whether or not it is real doesn't matter because my experiences are real to me.
For me it's not a realization of not existing, rather the realization of being insignificant. It really doesn't matter what I do. There's no significant influence I have on the order of things happening in the Universe.
That doesn't mean you can't live a meaningful life. I feel that in a sense I'm then also free of suffering because I choose to live my life the way I do.
@chrisrice
But to continue this discussion properly, maybe you can elaborate a bit of your experiences? What does 'suffering' mean for you? In what way are you in control of this, or what do you do about it?