Far out cosmology: why rigid natural laws (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, September 24, 2022, 17:02 (789 days ago) @ David Turell

Ethan Siegal's non-answer:

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/why-does-nature-obey-laws/?utm_source=mailchimp...

"No matter what physical system we consider, nature always obeys the same fundamental laws. Must it be this way, and if so, why?

"Throughout the entire Universe, everywhere we look, we see an endless variety of structures that have formed at all different stages of cosmic evolution. With a tremendous number of planets, stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and components of the great cosmic web, no two objects that we find are ever identical. And yet, the fundamental laws that they obey — from the quantum to the cosmic — never appear to change. All across the Universe, gravity works the same way, atoms exhibit the same quantum transitions, and the fundamental constants all remain unchanged throughout time and space.

"But why is it that way? Is there anything forbidding it from being different?

***

"Physics, although it’s very good at answering questions of “how” things are, is lousy at taking on questions of purpose, such as “why” things are. Here are the best statements we can make about it.

"In many ways, it’s the most remarkable fact of all about the Universe: that the constituents, the laws, and the constants of nature, on a fundamental level, do not change throughout space and time. Yes, the structures that they bind together to form change; the conditions under which they exist and interplay with one another change; the various phenomena that emerge from their interactions change. The various complex systems that come into existence are chaotic enough that, in all the Universe, no two are ever truly identical.

"But the fundamental constituents (i.e., the particles/quanta), the laws that they obey (i.e., the interactions between them), and the constants that govern their relationships (i.e., the “amount” of any property we examine) are all truly constant.

"If this weren’t the case, reality as we know it would be impossible. The fact that reality is consistent from moment-to-moment and location-to-location is the only thing that enables the Universe to be comprehensible in any meaningful fashion. To illustrate this, let’s look at what would happen if any of these three entities — the constituents, laws, or constants — weren’t universally fixed.

"Imagine that any one of the particles we have and know today, including every particle within the Standard Model, wasn’t a constant. That doesn’t mean “Imagine that one of these particles was unstable,” but rather “Imagine that one of these particles ceased to exist and that either no new particle came to replace it or that one or more novel particles that don’t presently exist came to exist in its stead.”

"What would be the consequence of that?

"The answer, like it or not, is that everything that exists in the Universe, as we know it, would fundamentally cease to exist, and would be replaced with something new."

Comment: He goes on to tell us how it all has to work together in a wonderful exposé of quantum particle physics. But the underlying 'why' is never answered, Fine tuning is never mentioned. The reason why is it has to be this way is to have life appear. It must be exactly like this as a purposeful design for life. It must have been designed!!!