The purpose of this list is to consider the nature of the fabric of reality. How much can our deepest theories of the world -- including quantum physics and the theories of evolution, computation and knowledge -- explain? Do they point the way to "a unified theory of everything", as David Deutsch argues in his book? Is quantum theory literally true, as the many worlds view (and most thinking in the field of quantum cosmology and of quantum computation) assumes? Is the human race "...just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting round a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies", as Stephen Hawking asserts? What are the implications of quantum theory for the understanding of the significance of knowledge? Is certainty possible in mathematics? Where does free will fit in the picture painted by quantum theory? What is the scope of virtual reality? What are the implications of the nature of the fabric of reality for everyday life?
2009/12/8 Elliot Temple <curi@...> ... People like video game because video games are pleasant... well at least I do. The learning of physics or whatever
... Some facts are doubtable. The only question is "can you doubt your consciousness right now?" ... Yes. because if you answer "Yes I can doubt that I am
... I believe the contrary. If someone introduce a particularization, it is up to him/her to explain in what sense the distinction is relevant. If it is not
... I agree that statements like "Space and time and spacetime are not properties of the world we live in but concepts we have invented to help us organize
... I disagree. One has to understand, for example, the physics of rotating through the deck: it's *free*. You can do it over and over and over. This is