Wednesday 22 September 2010

A ponder on spontaneous creation

I haven't got hold of Stephen Hawking's new book yet so I don't know the actual details of his statement that was splashed all over the papers recently that the laws of physics allow our universe to spontaneously create itself. But it got me wondering...

The multiverse idea suggests there may be other universes separate from ours out there (an infinite number?), with different laws of physics (which removes the need for fine-tuning of our laws to be suitable for life). Assuming no creator deity, it would follow that not only our laws of physics allowed the spontaneous creation of our universe, but the laws of all the universes that could exist in the multiverse must also allow spontaneous creation of their own universe (or they simply wouldn't exist).

So there must therefore be a subset of all possible laws of physics that allow spontaneous creation and they are the only ones that go on to create universes. Now we've all heard of physicists tweaking our laws slightly and wondering what that would mean (a 1% increase in gravity meaning stars don't last long enough to allow life to arise, a 1% decrease meaning stars don't form at all, that sort of thing) - but have they turned that process around and wondered how tweaking those laws effect the initial spontaneous creation?

Could it be that, as the parameters of the laws that allow for spontaneous creation are narrowed down, that they may in fact match up with the parameters that allow the universe they create to support life in some form? In other words, might the supposed fine-tuning also apply to the spontaneous creation of a universe?

Of course it wouldn't be a fine-tuning question at all, because if correct, then it would show that our type of universe is the only type of universe that could spontaneously create itself (and therefore the only type that could exist) - and so it would do away with both the need for a creator and the need for a multiverse to explain anything.

Bish bosh I'll take that prize thanksverymuch Mr Nobel.

(no doubt the answer is hahahahaNOhahaha but it was fun to think about for a few minutes)

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