byrnema comments on Open Thread: July 2009 - Less Wrong

3 [deleted] 02 July 2009 04:00AM

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Comment author: byrnema 12 April 2011 09:28:12PM *  0 points [-]

I don't yet follow.

Could you paraphrase your main thesis statement?

(I think I am having trouble considering the counterfactual, 'imagine we had a universe where something could come from nothing'. Where should I start? Do somethings comes from nothing at any time t? Are there rules prescribing how things come from nothing?)

Comment author: DanielLC 12 April 2011 09:41:41PM 0 points [-]

A simple example would be a psuedorandom number generator. For example, f(t) = f(t-1)^2 + 1. Thus, if f(0) = 0 (nothing at t=0), then f(1) = 1.

The only way to get out of boundary conditions is to define the whole universe in one step. For example, f(t) = t^3 + 3*t^2 + 1, in which case you wouldn't have causality at all.