Paul Davies on an Ultimate Explanation Part 4/5

Philosopher and physicist Paul Davies give a fascinating and thought-provoking talk on the possibility of an ultimate explanation for our universe. Dismissing the multiverse and God, he outlines an idea for finding an explanation for the universe and physical laws within the universe itself.

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tB1jppI3fo

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXXFNnmgcVs

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok9APrXfIOU

Part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXqqa1_0i7E

Part 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVrRL3u0dF4



http://thesciencenetwork.org/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Paul
• Davies
• philosophy
• science
• universe
• cosmology
• physics
• quantum
• computation

[JayeHK]

Anyone know what the 10 to the power of 122 bits of information means? Fascinating.

[riversonthemoon]

I meant to respond to you earlier but I forgot. Check out the link in my response to heartthehorse.

[JayeHK]

Thanks. However, I can't seem to access that pdf. Tried with space, underscore and hyphen between "physics" and "papers" but all no good.

[riversonthemoon]

I sent you the link via PM.

[metacosmos]

Paul Davies is the best physicist-theologian of our times, his book "The mind of God" is the best Theology book ever written because he incorporates the last findings in Physics.

[riversonthemoon]

You're welcome. The link here doesn't work, so I posted the correct link on your channel page.

[heartthehorse]

Cool thanks for that, im not so good on the chemistry front, a bit of avogadro's number and i could have worked that one out...

[riversonthemoon]

"im sure there are more than 10 to the 122 atoms in the ocean"

Actually, the number of atoms in the known universe was determined to be 10^80 by WMAP.

The 10^122 number, refers to an ensemble of pure numbers that arise naturally from cosmological parameters, first noticed by Scott Funkhouser (love that name!). You can get a sense of what it refers to from this paper:

arxiv. org / ftp / physics papers / 0611 / 0611115. pdf

[heartthehorse]

sorry continued from above.... So that is a 10 with 122 zeros behind it, a very big number. Although you have to wonder how much a "bit" of information would be in the physical universe? Surely more than a single atom, im sure there are more than 10 to the 122 atoms in the ocean.

[heartthehorse]

122 zeros after it, a very big number. I would like to know how much of the universe fits into a "bit" of information? Surely it mus be more than a single atom.

[heartthehorse]

he is saying the maximum amount of information the universe can compute is 1 x 10 to 122. that is a 10 with