Our Mathematical Universe : My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality

Source: md5=AF85F96F9F2DFDF0DE2CFF325BD1DE4C, Adding bookmarks through MasterPDF. Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist. Fascinating from first to last—this is a book that has already prompted the attention and admiration of some of the most prominent scientists and mathematicians. Cover Copyright Contents Preface 1 What Is Reality? Not What It Seems What's the Ultimate Question? The Journey Begins THE BOTTOM LINE Part One Zooming Out 2 Our Place in Space Cosmic Questions How Big Is Space? The Size of Earth Distance to the Moon Distance to the Sun and the Planets Distance to the Stars Distance to the Galaxies What Is Space? THE BOTTOM LINE 3 Our Place in Time Where Did Our Solar System Come From? Where Did the Galaxies Come From? Galaxy Formation Our Universe Could Be Expanding Our Universe Is Expanding Making Sense of an Expanding Universe What’s Our Universe Expanding Into? The Cosmic Classroom Where Did the Mysterious Microwaves Come From? The Cosmic Plasma Screen Seeing the Afterglow Baby Pictures of Our Universe The Gold Rush The Cosmic Beach Ball A Microwave Background Comes of Age Where Did the Atoms Come From? The Cosmic Fusion Reactor Big Bang in Trouble What Is a Big Bang, Really? THE BOTTOM LINE 4 Our Universe by Numbers Wanted: Precision Cosmology Precision Microwave-Background Fluctuations Telescopes and Computers Gold in the Hills Dark Energy A 50% Batting Average Precision Galaxy Clustering From Derision Cosmology to Precision Cosmology The Ultimate Map of Our Universe A Lot Left to Explore Hydrogen Mapping What Is a Telescope, Really? The Omniscope Where Did Our Big Bang Come From? THE BOTTOM LINE 5 Our Cosmic Origins What’s Wrong with Our Big Bang? The Horizon Problem The Flatness Problem How Inflation Works The Power of Doubling Problems Solved Who Paid for the Ultimate Free Lunch? The Gift That Keeps on Giving Inflation Encore Sowing the Seed Fluctuations Eternal Inflation Unstoppable How to Make an Infinite Space in a Finite Volume THE BOTTOM LINE 6 Welcome to the Multiverse The Level I Multiverse What’s a Universe? What Are Level I Parallel Universes Like? Are Parallel Universes Unscientific? Evidence for Level I Parallel Universes Where Are the Level I Parallel Universes? The Level II Multiverse Many Universes in One Space Diversity! Fine-Tuning as Evidence for the Level II Multiverse Fine-Tuned Dark Energy Fine-Tuned Cosmology The Fluke Explanation The A Word What Can We Ever Hope to Predict? All Isn’t Lost Multiverse Halftime Roundup THE BOTTOM LINE Part Two Zooming In 7 Cosmic Legos Atomic Legos Nuclear Legos Particle-Physics Legos Mathematical Legos Photon Legos Above the Law? Quanta and Rainbows Making Waves Quantum Weirdness The Collapse of Consensus The Weirdness Can’t Be Confined Quantum Confusion THE BOTTOM LINE 8 The Level III Multiverse The Level III Multiverse The Illusion of Randomness Quantum Censorship The Joys of Getting Scooped Why Your Brain Isn’t a Quantum Computer Subject, Object and Environment Quantum Suicide Quantum Immortality? Multiverses Unified Shifting Views: Many Worlds or Many Words? THE BOTTOM LINE Part Three Stepping Back 9 Internal Reality, External Reality and Consensus Reality External Reality and Internal Reality The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth Consensus Reality Physics: Linking External Reality to Consensus Reality THE BOTTOM LINE 10 Physical Reality and Mathematical Reality Math, Math Everywhere! Shapes, Patterns and Equations Numbers More Clues The Mathematical Universe Hypothesis Reducing the Baggage Allowance Mathematical Structures What Is a Mathematical Structure? Baggage and Equivalent Descriptions Baggage and Mathematical Structures Symmetry and Other Mathematical Properties THE BOTTOM LINE 11 Is Time an Illusion? How Can Physical Reality Be Mathematical? Timeless Reality Past, Present and Future How Spacetime and “Stuff” Can Be Mathematical Description Versus Equivalence What Are You? The Braid of Life Living in the Moment Self-Awareness Predicting Your Future Where Are You? (And What Do You Perceive?) Predicting Your Future, Revisited Finding Self-Awareness Computing the Internal Reality: What Has History Taught Us? Don’t panic We perceive that which is stable We perceive ourselves as local We perceive ourselves as unique We perceive ourselves as immortal(?) We perceive that which is useful We perceive that for which awareness is needed When Are You? Beyond Popper’s Two-Timing Why Aren’t You an Ant? Why Aren’t You a Boltzmann Brain? The Doomsday Argument: Is the End Nigh? Why Is Earth So Old? Why Aren’t You Younger? The Measure Problem: Physics in Crisis Infinite Problems THE BOTTOM LINE 12 The Level IV Multiverse Why I Believe in the Level IV Multiverse Why These Equations, Not Others? Mathematical Democracy How the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis Implies the Level IV Multiverse Exploring the Level IV Multiverse: What’s Out There? Our Local Neighborhood Our Postal Code in the Level IV Multiverse The Structure of the Level IV Multiverse Limits of the Level IV Multiverse: Undecidable, Uncomputable and Undefined The Computable Universe Hypothesis The Transcendent Structure of Level IV Implications of the Level IV Multiverse Symmetries and Beyond The Illusion of Initial Conditions The Illusion of Randomness The Illusion of Complexity Initial Conditions Reinterpreted Randomness Reinterpreted How Complexity Suggests a Multiverse Are We Living in a Simulation? The Time Misconception A Different Sort of Computation Does a Simulation Really Need to Be Run? Relation Between the MUH, the Level IV Multiverse and Other Hypotheses Testing the Level IV Multiverse The Typicality Prediction The Mathematical-Regularity Prediction THE BOTTOM LINE 13 Life, Our Universe and Everything How Big Is Our Physical Reality? The Case for a Smaller Reality The Case for a Greater Reality The Future of Physics The Future of Our Universe—How Will It End? The Future of Life Existential Risk Our Dying Sun Asteroids, Supernovae and Supervolcanoes Self-Inflicted Problems Accidental Nuclear War An Unfriendly Singularity The singularity idea Who controls the singularity? The internal reality of ultra-intelligent life Reactions to the singularity Human Stupidity: A Cosmic Perspective Human Society: A Scientific Perspective The Future of You—Are You Insignificant? The Meaning of Life Why We Should Care About Our Own Universe Are We Insignificant? Are We Alone? Are We Really Insignificant? THE BOTTOM LINE Acknowledgments Suggestionsfor Further Reading Cosmology (Chapters 2-4) Inflation, Multiverse Levels l-ll (Chapters 5-6) Quantum Mechanics, Multiverse Level III (Chapters 7-8) Multiverses in General (Chapters 6 and 8) The Mind (Chapters 9 and 11) Mathematics, Computation, Complexity (Chapters 10-12) Future of Life (Chapter 13) Fundamental Physics, String Theory, Quantum Gravity Index A - B C D E F-G H-I J-K-L M N O-P Q R-S T U-V-W X-Y-Z A Note About the Author A Note on the Type "Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present, and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and ground-breaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories (his website gives a flavor of how they might boggle the mind), but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist. Fascinating from first to last--here is a book for the full science-reading spectrum"-- Provided by publisher