[~ot] why is programming so fun?

[Simen Kjaeraas]

John Reimer Wrote:
> Don't you think you would be lucky that "2+2=4" occurs
> consistantly in a random chance universe.  

I find it unlikely (though not impossible) that life would exist in a universe where 2 + 2 != 4. However, if we assume that every possible universe exists, we would exist in that (those?) most fitting for our survival.

Logically, we exist on earth because the sun is too hot, and pluto is too cold. "How lucky we are that the earth is just the right distance from the sun, has just the right amount of this and that..." Yes, it is a rare coincidence. But if it weren't so, we wouldn't be here to consider it.

You've probably heard of the Many-worlds interpretation. It holds that 'everything happens, but in seperate universes'. Meaning that all possible result of all actions, will in fact happen, and each will spawn a new universe in which that exact thing took place. Again, we would not exist in the universes where the earth never formed, nor the ones where the third world war in the 1960's removed the human race from the face of the earth.

As for 'every possible universe', imagine all constants (speed of light, strength of gravity, Planck's constant, electron volt, etc) being variables, and one universe existing for every combination of these. Then add any possible beginning of such a universe (always existed, formed in a big bang caused by quantum fluctuation, space-time bubble that detached from a neighbouring universe, suddenly springing fully-formed into being, etc), any possible point in their existence... And when you're done with that, check out Max Tegmark's Ultimate Ensemble (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_ensemble). Now you've got a universe with 7 dimensions of space, 4 dimensions of time, and all coordinates are of type split-complex dual octonions.

-- Simen