9 ms·

Does reversing time makes it "easier" to get life, than the current direction?

by atx42 4y ago

willis936 4y ago
No one can be sure, but I can effectively time reverse my AC in the winter for efficient heating. :) Metaphysics isn't necessary (or helpful) in figuring out how we got here.
- atx42 4y ago
  Interesting. I guess it gets back to "first cause" argument. If life is organizational, does it require an organized process to form. Isn't metaphysics the only thing we have to figure out how we got here? Provable or not? Even science agrees that there are true statements that are not provable.
  - willis936 4y ago
    Math says there are statements that are not provable. Scientific intellect is an entirely empirical set of descriptions of observations. All of its models have finite domains. Speculating outside of determined physical limits is metaphysics: pure fiction. It adds nothing of value and certainly has no bearing on important questions like the origin of life or the universe.
  - leephillips 4y ago
    We don’t need an organized process, intelligence, or intentionality to create order. We just need a flux of energy. We observe order arising without the intervention of an organizational force all the time, all around us. If you, like me, enjoy observing clouds, you may have noticed that they often form regular geometric patterns, often an area of stripes with a definite wavelength. This is a form of convection pattern that you can also observe in your kitchen. Nobody arranged the clouds that way; the order appeared “naturally”.
leephillips 4y ago
The direction of time is just a convention, and the laws of physics are (still, as far as I know) time-reversible, so this is really irrelevant. You need an energy source to make anything, including life.
- pfortuny 4y ago
  All except for (precisely) the heat equation, which is not time-reversible (there is a “loss of information” as time passes, very badly and roughly speaking). See https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/628720/why-heat-equation-is-not-time-reversible-time-arrow-in-mathematics https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/628720/why-heat-equ...
  - leephillips 4y ago
    The heat equation is not a law of physics.

Does reversing time makes it "easier" to get life, than the current direction?

by atx42 4y ago

Does reversing time makes it "easier" to get life, than the current direction?

No one can be sure, but I can effectively time reverse my AC in the winter for efficient heating. :) Metaphysics isn't necessary (or helpful) in figuring out how we got here.

atx42 4y ago
Interesting. I guess it gets back to "first cause" argument. If life is organizational, does it require an organized process to form. Isn't metaphysics the only thing we have to figure out how we got here? Provable or not? Even science agrees that there are true statements that are not provable.
- willis936 4y ago
  Math says there are statements that are not provable. Scientific intellect is an entirely empirical set of descriptions of observations. All of its models have finite domains. Speculating outside of determined physical limits is metaphysics: pure fiction. It adds nothing of value and certainly has no bearing on important questions like the origin of life or the universe.
- leephillips 4y ago
  We don’t need an organized process, intelligence, or intentionality to create order. We just need a flux of energy. We observe order arising without the intervention of an organizational force all the time, all around us. If you, like me, enjoy observing clouds, you may have noticed that they often form regular geometric patterns, often an area of stripes with a definite wavelength. This is a form of convection pattern that you can also observe in your kitchen. Nobody arranged the clouds that way; the order appeared “naturally”.

leephillips 4y ago

The direction of time is just a convention, and the laws of physics are (still, as far as I know) time-reversible, so this is really irrelevant. You need an energy source to make anything, including life.

pfortuny 4y ago
All except for (precisely) the heat equation, which is not time-reversible (there is a “loss of information” as time passes, very badly and roughly speaking). See https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/628720/why-heat-equation-is-not-time-reversible-time-arrow-in-mathematics https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/628720/why-heat-equ...
- leephillips 4y ago
  The heat equation is not a law of physics.