I just found this 1.5hr visit (SETI Talk) with Lee Smolin really insightful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QIJtICy-vE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QIJtIC

I just found this 1.5hr visit (SETI Talk) with Lee Smolin really insightful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QIJtICy-vE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QIJtICy-vE In short, Smolin urges moving from the "Naturalism 1" view of the universe (timeless, 'physics in a box') to "Naturalism 2" in which the Now takes a more central role, and the universe may have evolved (including the 'constants'). In the last half-hour it becomes clear how much effort he's put into these ideas ... and quotes several well-known personages who voiced similar concerns ( Charles Sanders Peirce, Einstein, Dirac, Feynmann ...)