Is the Universe Really That Simple?

Author: irkovi M.M.

Source: Foundations of Physics, Volume 32, Number 7, July 2002 , pp. 1141-1157(17)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

The intriguing recent suggestion of Tegmark that the universe—contrary to all our experiences and expectations—contains only a small amount of information due to an extremely high degree of internal symmetry is critically examined. It is shown that there are several physical processes, notably Hawking evaporation of black holes and non-zero decoherence time effects described by Plaga, as well as thought experiments of Deutsch and Tegmark himself, which can be construed as arguments against the low-information universe hypothesis. Some ramifications for both quantum mechanics and cosmology are briefly discussed.

Keywords: complexity; decoherence; nonunitarity; philosophy of cosmology

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Astronomical Observatory Belgrade, Volgina 7, 11160 Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia; arioch@eunet.yu

Publication date: 2002-07-01

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