In a message dated 1/3/00 6:09:41 AM Dateline Standard Time,
welsberr@inia.cls.org writes:
MB>Finally, even something as odd as the current Many
MB>Worlds Hypothesis (used to side-step Fine Tuning)
MB>is not really new. The materialist Democritus would
MB>write:
MB>"There are worlds infinite in number and different in size.
MB>In some there is neither sun nor moon, in others there are
MB>more than one sun and moon."
[...]
Wesley:
>That's a nice quote. The link to Wheeler's views, though,
>appears to be missing.
Contact B&T. They introduce this quotation by speaking of the opponents
of teleological notions:
"As with Empedocles we see inklings of some parallels with modern
evolutionary biology and the 'many worlds' interpretation of quantum
theory in their writings."
There's nothing *really* new about all of this. Things either terminate
in mind/purpose or matter/chance. The matter/chance mentality
typically needs very large numbers (time, planets, and now even Universes)
to account for the unlikelihoods found in reality. In the end, it's
"Take your pick." As Glenn Morton recently posted:
>Quantum leads one to either need an ultimate observer or a belief (equally
>based upon faith) of a many-world's hypothesis.
>"If we remove the problem of observership in quantum mechanics by adopting
>a Many-Worlds interpretation as may be mandatory if one is to interpret
>quantum cosmology without introducing the 'Ultimate Observer', then it is
>possible to reduce the Strong Principle to the Weak one." ~ J. D. Barrow,
>"Patterns of Explanation in Cosmology," in F. Bertola and U. Curi, editors,
>The Anthropic Principle, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 9.
The interesting thing about the many worlds hypothesis is that it
is a science-killer. No need to explain any contingent fact because with
an infinite number of universes, one of them would have that fact and
ours just happens to be it. Instead, we approach contingent facts from
the teleological perspective, whereby reality is assumed to be rational
and coherent.
Mike
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