They're standing so close to the chalkboard they had to move the writing around their heads
this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2024
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What they see:
Hrm, they seem off by a little, maybe... 42 units?
That is in addition to life & everything.
Given universe is 0, then life and everything will be 42 but it's also possible that the unspecified operator between universe and the rest (life and everything) is dependent on parts of the universe equation and might be something else
I don't get it (the joke and the purpose of the universe)
It all equals zero. There is no purpose or meaning. Optimistic take: because that's not what math does. Pessimistic take: because there is none.
Note that an absurdist or existentialist who likes not having to perform to a divine meaning may prefer this state of affairs to being told what to do. The author is making humour out of scientists gleefully proving nothing matters. But I think glee at nothing mattering should be the normal reaction. Unfortunately, it seems most neurotypicals would rather be told what to do.
Meaning or purpose doesn’t have to be divine. I think the search for meaning or purpose in life is fairly important to many people.
There is no search for purpose. That's a viewpoint influenced by thousands of years of authoritarian religions. The belief in "glorious purpose" may not be divine in understanding, but it is divine in causation. What there is instead of a search for purpose, is the creation of purpose. You get to choose. And that choice can even mean choosing to surrender yourself to a god, if that's your informed decision.
Personally, I chose to dedicate my life to doing good. But I think it's a mistake to imagine that the universe wants this of us. The universe is made up of people, and what most people want is to do what they're told, operate according to the systems they know, keep their heads down. If there is an intention the universe has, it's to participate in capitalism and create value for the shareholders. Fortunately, that's fucking silly, and we get the choice not to do that without a fight. We are imbued with radical freedom by our essential nature. It cannot be taken away except by our ongoing consent.
Optimist take: Because there is none! (whoo)
Optimistic take: because they just rearranged it to equal 0 by subtracting something from both sides as is often done in "these quantities are conserved" types of equations in physics!
So we still don't know the true purpose...
I took it to be contrasting the "thrill of discovery" with doing math that would be boring and tedious to most people.
Damn, what would you even do with that information if you figured it out at 10:05am on a workday?
Yes?
Laws of thermodynamics ensure that it's a zero sum game at best.
Zoom in on that zero, boys! Show us those vacuum quantum fluctuations!
Is this what's meant by the null hypothesis?
My favorite is when they discovered the universe has zero energy curvature which means nothing goes in and nothing comes out. Somehow it made more sense that zero could split into thing and antithing and we don't even question it anymore.