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Wild idea: Either there is a loophole in physics or there is not. By 'loophole' I mean 'some of the physics we don't yet know, has useful applications such as
by rwallace 8y ago
Wild idea:
Either there is a loophole in physics or there is not. By 'loophole' I mean 'some of the physics we don't yet know, has useful applications such as faster than light travel or unbounded computation, that could potentially be tapped by terrestrial civilization'. (As opposed to the alternative state of affairs where the Standard Model suffices to describe everything that will ever happen in our solar system.)
The expected value of research in fundamental physics is much greater if there is a loophole than if there is not.
Proposal: we should try to figure out what qualities the as yet unknown physics must have, conditional on a loophole existing. Then we should proceed on the assumption that it does indeed have those qualities, in order to maximize expected utility.
- dasil003 8y agoInteresting idea, though I would say if it’s measurable then we can’t rule out an application somewhere down the line no matter how esoteric the knowledge might seem now.
- rwallace 8y agoRule out absolutely, no, but we can say some kinds of physics are much more likely to be applicable than others. And what matters is applicability by terrestrial civilization. 'This could be applicable, but only by a civilization capable of building Dyson spheres' is irrelevant to us, because if we get to that point, we will already have made it past the Great Filter.