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Is the universe (multiverse) self-explanatory?

Is the universe (multiverse) self-explanatory?

  • Total voters
    16
Gambit

Gambit

Well-Known Member
Kilgore Trout said:
What is understandable is the human need for explanations understandable from a human perspective. Unfortunately, this need gives no actual insight into things we don't actually understand.
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It is this kind of attitude that would keep us in abject ignorance.
 
Rick O'Shez

Rick O'Shez

Irishman bouncing off walls
Gambit said:
Well, if the universe (multiverse) is not self-explanatory (which is your viewpoint as made evident by your voting "no"), then this implies that something beyond it must be invoked in order to explain it.
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Not at all, it just means we don't understand it yet. None of us do.
 
beenherebeforeagain

beenherebeforeagain

Rogue Animist
Premium Member
Not self-explanatory doesn't mean Not understandable. It means it will take some work to figure it out. In the end, it may be that we won't be able to understand everything about it, but we already seem to understand it a bit better than we used to.
 
R

raw_thought

Well-Known Member
If the proposition that "everything possible exists" (the muti-verse proposition) is true, then the proposition that the multi-verse exists is true.
 
R

raw_thought

Well-Known Member
From nothing (and that includes no physical laws) everything is possible. Quantum mechanics recognizes that. Virtual particles from nothing happen every nano second.
 
R

raw_thought

Well-Known Member
beenherebeforeagain said:
Not self-explanatory doesn't mean Not understandable. It means it will take some work to figure it out. In the end, it may be that we won't be able to understand everything about it, but we already seem to understand it a bit better than we used to.
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You are confusing ontology with epistemology . If something is unknowable does not mean that it does not exist.
 
beenherebeforeagain

beenherebeforeagain

Rogue Animist
Premium Member
raw_thought said:
You are confusing ontology with epistemology . If something is unknowable does not mean that it does not exist.
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Uh, no. Where in my statement do I say or imply this?

The ontology is that the nature of the universe/multiverse may or may not be completely understandable. I maintain that it's nature is at least partially understandable to humans; it is not, however, "self explanatory." By its very nature, it may have aspects that we simply cannot understand--if that is the case, then there are things that exist that we do not/maybe cannot know about.
The epistemology is that we have the ability to at least in part understand the nature of the universe/multiverse. Our knowledge has improved, but we still don't know everything, and we may not have the capacity to understand everything. That's the implication of Godel.
 
leibowde84

leibowde84

Veteran Member
Gambit said:
Well, if the universe (multiverse) is not self-explanatory (which is your viewpoint as made evident by your voting "no"), then this implies that something beyond it must be invoked in order to explain it.
Click to expand...
That's not true. It just means we don't have the explanation yet. Science hasn't figured it out yet, and it might never be able to. But, our ignorance in no way proves or even suggests that won't some day be self-explanatory to us.
 
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