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Not OP, but of course physics. Not that this is necessarily the ultimate answer, there may as well be yet another layer, a layer explaining why physics is the w
by danbruc 10y ago
Not OP, but of course physics. Not that this is necessarily the ultimate answer, there may as well be yet another layer, a layer explaining why physics is the way it is. But strictly speaking that would probably still be physics. This is of course also pretty dangerous, one easily ends up with an infinity of layers, each trying to explain the layer above.
It ultimately comes down to questions like why is there anything at all. But those seem way out of reach at the moment and maybe they will remain forever. Being part of what you are trying to study may obstruct your view in an unsurmountable way.
- exodust 10y agoMr brain literally hurts when I attempt to imagine the final answer behind the universe. I get to a point where my brain quivers and pushes me back like I'm not meant to be lurking there. Off limits, out of bounds. It's so annoying not knowing. Where did all this matter come from, and if it's always been here, then how the hell has it always been here, and why is it like it is. What caused the nature of nature? I bet God doesn't have the answers either. Why would God know the source of God? It wouldn't. This is why I kind of like that recent movie called "Arrival" or the proper name "Story of your life". A new language delivered from Aliens would be great to tackle the big questions.
- ivm 10y agoForm is emptiness and emptiness is form.
- btmorex 10y agoYou could just as easily say that consciousness is all that exists and the physical universe is the illusion. There is no objective reality.
- danbruc 10y agoThat changes just what reality is, what thing you are trying to understand. It is no longer something outside and independent of your mind but your mind itself and the things within it. Your mind would become the objectively real thing and you could still study the structure of your consciousness, of your experiences, what causes the regularities in them we call the laws of physics and so on. We essentially just decided to ignore most of such possibilities most of the time, from solipsism as you mentioned over Last Thursdayism [1] to living in a simulation or the Matrix. They may seem interesting to ponder about at times but in the end they just prevent you from learning anything at all. You can always come up with a strange scenario in which anything you might believe turns out to be falls. That certainly sounds kind of arbitrary and unscientific, but without some founding assumptions about reality you get nowhere and that is of course not helpful at all. We should certainly keep an eye on those assumption and we do, living in a simulation for example pops up quite frequently, but for the moment our success seems to justify our assumptions. [1] The world came into existence last Thursday in precisely the state of last Thursday with all the memories and evidence of the time before last Thursday just to fool us.
- ThomPete 10y agoYou can say there is a reality it's just not objective and can't be for reasons I would be happy to expand on if necessary.
- justifier 10y agowhat is physics without 'topics such as quantity, structure, space, and change.'(o)? (o) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics
- danbruc 10y agoSee my response to btmorex. [1] [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13792713 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13792713
- justifier 10y agoi saw it.. that's a response to me?.. but your response seems hindered by the logical fallacy of proof by assertion (o) i explain why i feel that way: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13792787 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13792787 (o) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_by_assertion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_by_assertion
- danbruc 10y agoMy bad, did not notice both comments were by you.