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April 29, 2014

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Tegmark states that his core assumption is that there is a Reality that is completely independent of human sentience (not his word but valid by implication). The fatal flaw in that assumption is obvious: Both the universe AND human sentience exist, and without human sentience, there is no interest whatsoever in what existence is or might be. To postulate that the universe could or would exist if there was no human sentience conveys no information whatsoever - some human would have to do the postulating.

Mathematics is a mind game. There is a sense in which it could be said that everything is made out of mathematics, but that is tantamount to saying that Reality is mental in nature, and that the mind precedes physicality.

However, just like the old song says: ....this I tell you, brother; you can't have one without the other".

Willie R - As well thought out as your comment is you've overlooked something important.

There is no guarantee that humans are the only sentient beings in the universe.

Therfore our presence or lack therof in the universe may be of no great importance.

I tend to agree with you otherwise.

I am afraid that my comment is tautologically airtight and unequivocal, DLTII.
There is every reason to suspect that human sentience is not the only sentience - anyone who spends time with animals knows that they are at least aware of something...whether animals contemplate their existence is very much in doubt, however.
But human sentience and the cosmos are both starkly obvious, so attempting to describe the ultimate nature of Reality while methodically excluding human concern is a waste of effort. As far as we can know, humans are the only beings who have any concerns.

As far as we know so far. There is much about our universe we still don't know yet. As long as we keep looking and learning as a species we'll be better off overall, unless we destroy ourselves in the process.

I do have to say that human sentience isn't always all that obvious during my commute.

Thanks for the reply and clarification.

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