An exceptionally simple theory of everything...
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I'm not sure about "exceptionally simple," but at a glance it looked very...profound?
Anybody here speak particle physics?
[Edit]
A little investigation affords us this enlightening tidbit:
Lisi's main work in theoretical physics is his Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything, which proposes a unified field theory combining a grand unification theory of particle physics with Albert Einstein's general relativistic description of gravitation, using the largest simple exceptional Lie algebra, E8. In a paper posted to the physics arXiv on November 6, 2007, Lisi describes how gravity, the standard model bosons and fermions can be unified as parts of an E8 superconnection. This unified field theory attempts to describe all fundamental interactions observed in nature, and stands as a possible theory of everything, unifying Albert Einstein's general relativity with the standard model of particle physics. The theory, called E8 Theory, also predicts the existence of many new particles.
I'm still not sure I understand.
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93,
I'm a math person and was studying mathematics before I got sucked into the philo dept. via formal logic. I understand much of it, and looked at it when it first surfaced a couple of years ago.
The basic formulation is one part analysis, one part mathematical proof, and one part prediction. It says that by mapping the observed recurrences of certain patterns at various topological scales onto an extremely broad ring (an algebra including addition and multiplication), you can both see and predict explicit symmetries.
The upside of this is that if it is true then a UFT is possible, which is one of those debatable issues. The topological symmetries will become apparent at each scale, presenting a meta-symmetry and allowing a single theory to describe all of them. The downside is that it is a bit tail-swallowing...in order to use the symmetries as the theory states we need to first find them at each scale, which is tantamount to finding the UFT in the first place because part of the problem is the Standard Model has blind spots...places it doesn't know how to look at or in principle can't look at. A UFT closes those blind spots.
It does, however, point out new places to look along with the predictions, so this might not be an issue. Already a new symmetry (Golden Ratio) was discovered on the quantum scale, so it looks promising. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100107143909.htm
As far as I can tell, the math works. I was never into Lie algebras, really, but I knew about them and I was into topology.
93, 93/93
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Alrah, But how many of them will be able to understand this without having the extensive background? This is a pretty specialized area. If you study this sort of thing, you have my congrats. Its beyond me, I was an English major who ran from anything math-related-:)
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Alrah, I agree with you in theory. I just don't have unlimited time or energy to pursue studies that may be fringe interests. (In this case, its not even an interest, sorry.) My time is taken up with those things I care about, and I have to make choices about allocating energy. If you have ever tried to write even a good short story, not to mention anything longer, you'll know how much concentration it takes. You only finish because either someone is breathing down your neck, or you are so in love with the story that you are determined to finish. This is how I feel about what I write and study. I do think that most of us are autodidacts. And I agree with you about schools. But with me it would be about choices.
On the other hand, there were several PBS programs about physics that I did like because they were directed toward the non-scientific audiences wihtout being dumbed down. Well maybe scientists would say they were dumbed down.
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@Alrah said
"Well, it's certainly a very exciting time for math and physics Puck.
It remains to be seen what reaction the magical/occult world will have to it. Any predictions?
"93,
It'll have no bearing on the occult, other than us continuing to say that as science gets more stuff figured out it seems to be replicating the insights of occultism, to which they will reply with Frazer science is magick that is proven to work and magick is an attempt at science that fails. They will only acknowledge the parts of existence that fit into their boxes, while we will always be pushing the envelope and adding things to our ontologies.
Once we knew reason was just one of many tools for dealing with reality. Only some parts of our experience are susceptible to it, and we used to know that. Now we might give it lip-service, but we have gotten so excited with how well reason has worked in the realm where it works that we decided to act like nothing else exists. Hence literature, philosophy, the arts, relationships, spirituality, and love, since none of them are amenable to logic, have been devalued and generally degraded. Last night I had a colleague, an old and dear friend, try to complain that "romance just doesn't seem rational to me" (as if she were the only one) and try to engage in cost-benefit analysis of her love-life. And this is from an occultist and Thelemite!
As far as an increase in magickal understanding due to a UFT...most likely not, considering we already have one that includes the spiritual and physical...it's called the Qabalah.
93, 93/93
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I long to entangle my being around ideas, I have found much pleasure first in the occult world,
and now more so with the scientific.In high school I was in a bad place and didnt take advantage of learning, esp. math and science. When I attempted algebra back then, I remember being so arrogant as to think...."how is this going to help me live my life!" Yet I delved into the occult and discovered hidden worlds. I was fasinated by the fact that it worked, I could cast a spell and make magick according to my will! Yet no one would really say why. Well a few decades later I see quantum physicts explaining to me exactly how magic works. I recently read how science is de-occultizing the world, how there is apparently little mystery left, we know why the thunder booms, we see how the flower unfolds, we see how the egg splits.....
The fabulous thing I have found is that when these theories explain, when these questions are answered, it opens the door for such new worlds, such new perceptions that we can hardly recognize our own thoughts and feelings. It invited us to ask new questions and to look deeper.
So magickally while I know that I can be in two places at the same time, it is such a fun and exciting process to apply this concept to my day to day life. I cant tell you how much joy I have found just thinking about the fact that I am not really touching anything, that while I think I am in physcial contact with an object, I am not. Being able to wrap my brain around these ideas is so empowering, and helps me become so much more then I ever could have been if I had not looked into what was really going on in my world. I know I have heard the term "arm chair occultist" yet I think that for me it is more true to say, that while I am folding laundry, doing the dishes, mopping the floor my mind is entangled in a world that goes far beyond these tasks. Applying esoteric ideas to your real life, walking in both worlds at the same time is for me at least more powerful then any incantation, magic circle or bubbling cauldron.
My first dose of physics was via Ramtha, and the group from What the Bleep Fred Wolf's video of Dr. Quantum are brilliant and fun to watch. Even my little babes understand him! As I read these books and learned these teachings I kept saying to myself, this is what the occult teaching are, this is what I have known in my being and it is nice to see that science is backing up what I knew in my heart to be true.
While I know it is going to take me some time to grasp any of the "everything" theory, I know that I am going to have fun trying.