
How scientific cosmology puts a new twist on the problem of evil (2017) - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/46/balance/evil-triumphs-in-these-multiverses-and-god-is-powerless
======
xamuel
Question for someone who actually knows the details: do Everett/Tegmark really
imply nightmare universes (as the article claims)? Or is this yet another
instance of the common misconception that "if there are infinitely many
universes, then all conceivable universes are realized" (a conclusion which
does not follow from the premise at all!)

And by "imply" I really mean "imply", not "imply with high probability". The
latter doesn't really mean very much in a context where anthropic principles
apply (and we would be utterly arrogant to pretend to understand the full
depths and details which anthropic principles would involve in a multiverse
setting)

------
gr3yh47
It seems to me this article starts from both an untested speculative
hypothesis (infinite multiverse), mixes in some poor theology, and then just
babbles on from that point.

------
RcouF1uZ4gsC
To be science, a theory needs testable hypotheses and falsifiability. Per my
understanding, the multiverse theories have neither. Just because scientists
speculate about something, doesn’t make it science, just as a lot of Isaac
Newton’s speculations were not science.

In the Middle Ages, learned people used to debate how many angels could dance
on the head of a pin. Now they debate multiverses. Neither are really science.

~~~
xamuel
Quite right.

Incidentally, you might be interested in a recent paper of mine arguing that
one extremely specific type of 'multiverse' (an extremely specific type of our
living in a simulation run in a higher universe) is falsifiable. It's a super
short paper using a deus-ex-machina you would never guess: soft errors! :)
[https://philpapers.org/archive/ALEATO-6.pdf](https://philpapers.org/archive/ALEATO-6.pdf)

------
yedawg
if 'you' are attempting to consider a spectra of possible universes, let alone
compare them or analyse them on a hypothetical x, y vector of possible
outcomes which stretches from now until the end of the "infinite" multiverse;
you will fuck it up royally. Infinity is not a mathematical concept, and is
instead abstract and used to practically account for unknown variables. While
the many worlds interpretation is cool, considering how it actually affects
anything we do or how we sit in the universe is a miserably hopeless feat.
probably have more luck searching for god in a piece of toast.

