Quote:
|
Originally Posted by EWright
… What are the chances that the universe is a living entity and may even have a conciousness of its own?
|
Not very good, I think.
Problems of a rigorous definition of “consciousness” aside (and there are huge problems with this, spanning half a century of modern mathematical formalism alone), if the human brain is any guide, the universe has serious connection problems with
signal speed. The time it takes a signal to traverse an astronomical structure, such as a galaxy, is measure in tens of thousands of years, while the apparent age of the universe, even according to unconventional theories, is only tens of billions of years, so, at most, theses structures could have had only a few million “thoughts”, not nearly enough by human standards.
The chance that the universe may, in the very distant future,
become conscious, is significantly better. Many 20th century scientists have harbored private, religious-like beliefs that the purpose of the universe is to become conscious, in a way analogous to how successively larger biological organism have evolved on earth. Eugene Wigner is rumored to have spoken seriously along these lines, and Frank Tippler has written a (long and somewhat bizarre, even for Frank Tippler) book expounding of it, under the name “omega point theory”, titled “The Physics of Imortality”.
