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13th Century Multiverse Theory Unearthed
ananyo writes: "Robert Grosseteste, an English scholar who lived from about 1175 to 1253, was the first thinker in northern Europe to try to develop unified physical laws to explain the origin and form of the geocentric medieval universe of heavens and Earth. Tom McLeish, professor of physics and pro-vice-chancellor for research at Britain's Durham University, and a multinational team of researchers found that Grosseteste's physical laws were so rigorously defined that they could be re-expressed using modern mathematical and computing techniques — as the medieval scholar might have done if he had been able to use such methods. The thinking went that the translated equations could then be solved and the solutions explored. The 'Ordered Universe Project' started six years ago and has now reported some of its findings. Only a small set of Grosseteste's parameters resulted in the "ordered" medieval universe he sought to explain, the researchers found; most resulted either in no spheres being created or a 'disordered' cosmos of numerous spheres. Grosseteste, then, had created a medieval 'multiverse.' De Luce suggests that the scholar realized his theories could result in universes with all manner of spheres, although he did not appear to realize the significance of this. A century later, philosophers Albert of Saxony and Nicole Oresme both considered the idea of multiple worlds and how they might exist simultaneously or in sequence."
B: The limits of modern models and measurements for the physical universe were exhausted - reaching a limit with Einstein and Heisenberg, etc., so that any further extrapolations require fantastical imaginations, worthy of 14th century Alchemysts.
C: Bad cheese.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
He must have had big balls to propose his theories.
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
It wants its Slashdot summary back.
Well not right after I posted. Did you kill their server?
A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.
If you taste enough alchemy experiments, you'll imagine all kinds of whacky stuff.
Table-ized A.I.
Dear ArcadeMan from Universe CK-34B,
please send 5000 Bitcoins to the following address: 1LHuLKyHDndUdjgKUsmfAG8tDnXZ5fTuUA
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Here there be dragons. Lots of them.
I would have a sig but I am too busy updating programs and restarting my computer
it is a relatively weak news but nonetheless it's sad to see how people cannot accept the fact that a lot if not all the greatest scientists, inventors and innovators had a rather mystical and deeply philosophical side in their lives... that side to side to rigorous mathematical papers there were much more 'unscientific' studies... it's the human attraction for what is hidden and mysterious that always lives in the minds of explorers and scientists are first and foremost explorers.... we are creating a simplistic view of science through washed out propaganda and childish mottos.... sometimes so-called geeks should read more carefully the biographies of the giants on whom shoulders they stand...
Hindu handles this multiverse-thingie with nothing more than poetry. first?
Arthur C. Clarke?
I read about this last week... Yes, if you take any significantly crazy dude from 1000 years ago and examine his theories in a modern light, his theories will likely end up baring an uncanny resemblance to the truth.
I grew up in a cult of wacko child molesters who tried to teach us about some place outside of this universe where winged creatures lived and where you supposedly were transported to when you died, unless you went to the other dimension where there was a big fire. All sounds so foolish now.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
It is weird the church failed to burn him as heretic. I guess they missed his work?
I'm not sure where you get the idea that angels and demons have no free will. Back in the child molesting cult that I grew up in, I was taught that they have free will. Specifically (and I have no idea where the cult got this information, since the bible starts at the creation of earth and man and it doesn't seem to cover the creation of angels, but I was taught that religion had no place for logically questioning what you were taught) the cult told me that a bunch of angels were created and they wondered where they came from. Someone said "I created you, worship me". The angels looked and said "hey, you look just like us, what do you mean that you created us?" but the guy who wanted worshiped said " err..... yea, I look like you because, .... because, ..... because I created you in my image! Yea, that's it, I created you in my image" They thought it over. Some figured out this was just silly but other angels bought it, or at least decided not to rock the boat and just in case it was the truth they would play along. There was a big fight between the angels and the group that didn't but the story lost and were cast out. They became the demons. That pretty much tells me that they had free will. Or that the story is all bullshit.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Over at 'the other place' the guy who did some of the computer modelling for the project has chipped in with some insights that are a bit more interesting than those (dare I say it) here (there, I did).
https://news.ycombinator.com/i...
eg Here's a thread from there:
T-A 18 hours ago | link
So the Economist's point is that a "research" project exploring an idea about the universe which has been known to be incorrect for centuries somehow proves the value of the humanities? Really?
14113 15 hours ago | link
Yes. It provides a lot of information about the history of science. Most importantly, Grosseteste was one of the first to use what we now think of as the scientific method, and (I believe) the first to suggest a 'big bang like' start to the universe.
He's essential in the history of science for introducing aristotalean traditions and ideas, to the scientific discourse at the time, as well as being one of the early founders of science. For that reason at least he's well worth studying, and especially his ideas, which are very close to what we have now. What the science researchers are doing is helping the historians formalise his ideas in todays language and notations so that their similarities can be seen with todays ideas.
Source: I worked on this project over last summer as a computer science student visualising his explanation for the start of the universe.
If Joseph Campbell is to be trusted, the Upanishads describe a multiverse many centuries before this upstart whelp.