Multiverse (If Any) The Laws Of Nature May Remain The Same


 A number of extraordinary things have to go right for life on Earth to go well. Even small changes in gravity, or changes in other fundamental forces can make the difference between our universe and a universe that is completely uninhabitable.

Based on theoretical models, some scientists argue that if one of the many basic constants of the universe differs significantly, life will not be able to form.


"Most physicists haven't really thought about it, or even heard about it," Geraint F Lewis, a cosmologist and astrophysicist at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney in Australia, was quoted as saying by PopSci on Sunday (22/5/2022).




But recent research in the field provides other alternatives and estimates that fine-tuning itself may be an illusion, perhaps due to the lack of a big picture in the analysis of potentially different universes.


"It may not be as simple as we think," said Miriam Frankel, science editor for Conversation, and a freelance journalist who wrote the report for the Foundational Questions Institute.



"As you delve into these big questions, you'll realize how much is actually missing from physics. Physicists still don't have a very good 'theory of everything'. The results of the Muon g-2 experiment last year, for example, made some scientists talk about power a fifth realm that has the potential to change the game, "he said.


If we live in a multiverse, how is the multiverse formed and how does it work?


"Cosmological constants directly affect the formation of life through the creation of stars and the elements produced by stars. If you shift fundamental values ​​such as the force of electromagnetism, it will change the way stars are formed and potentially stop them producing carbon, an essential ingredient for life on Earth." said the report.


"However, some star models show stars are more flexible than scientists expected," Frankel said, so they may be able to produce living conditions under different universal values.


Also, it is conceivable that life can be formed without carbon, although the case of life based on another element, silicon, is not solid. Scientists tend to look for ways in which life like the Earth can be formed, but in the end they do not know what kind of life may be unrecognizable that can form in a differently structured universe.


Most studies that have looked at what happens when you change a universal constant have only focused on one constant at a time. For example, if the force of gravity is too weak or stronger, it will prevent the formation of life as we know it.

"However, recent evidence suggests that changing some constants together may be more likely to make the universe work, giving change the opportunity to equate with others," the report said.


Other experiments have hinted that the universal constants associated with the expansion of the universe may have changed over time, meaning that they would not be really constant at all. If these and similar findings succeed, they will undermine the whole concept of fine-tuning, the report said.



"It's basically hard to say how weird our universe is. How can you say this universe is weird when we don't know what the universe is like ?," Lewis said.



In fact, we may never get direct answers to these questions. "I think the way the debate is framed today is actually a bit confusing. Because I think the fundamental problem is unscientific," said Jason Waller, a philosopher at the University of Kenyon who wrote a 2020 book on fine-tuning arguments.


Waller thinks the attempt to explain fine-tuning misses the key fact that there will always be another level to explain. If the multiverse, or simulated reality, or even entities like gods are responsible, we still end up with the same question: why this explanation and not the other?

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