Epistemology of Design (The limitations of science)

by Matt , Sunday, December 13, 2009, 20:03 (5241 days ago) @ dhw

dhw,-While that was a piece worthy of John Cleese, I don't think you're taking this seriously; I really think my idea provides a numerical measure that would allow you to really start answering the question, "Can life happen by chance?" The problem here is that I can't go through the math which is frustrating, and leads to bad metaphors because I can't think of a way to communicate this so everyone can understand me...-I wish I could put my brain into yours so you could see what I'm trying to say here, I'm not trying to be facetious or anything; but if the universe is a "quantum computer" like Lloyd states, there's MANY questions that we should be able to finally get a crack at--and this is just one of them.-I spoke some time ago about how quantum computers would render all crypto technology null and void. The universe itself *knows* all prime numbers.-What you'd do to break the code is essentially "ask" the computer what the key is and it will "magically" give it to you. There is a way to start defeating it however, and that's to pick a key that consists of prime numbers larger than the total number of particles in the universe. The universe's knowledge has limits, which itself is a piece of information that is absolutely invaluable...- Similarly the universe "knows" all possible combinations that exist of the particles that lie within it. If you were to give a quantum computer a combination of particles representing the code of life--if it gave an answer back of "yes" then it literally means that life is predetermined. Whether by God or accident, whatever created the universe set in motion a chain reaction that would end up in ourselves. -The problem here is that you would have to have a quantum computer as big as the universe; but I think there's computational tricks to get around that. -This actually... gives a bit more weight to the idea of a universal consciousness, though what would be going through the universe's "mind" would always be in a state of flux. Since every particle contains information about the universe all things are tied together more closely than one could ever imagine...-I really, really wish I could go through the math with you guys... though I don't mind ridicule I think you'd appreciate it better! I know you think this is fantasy but I really feel I've stumbled onto something profound...