From: Hal Finney (hal@rain.org)
Date: Sat Jan 02 1999 - 22:47:47 MST
I believe that conditions at the beginning of the universe are
fundamentally different from those at the end.
The beginning was a very smooth and uniform environment. The end (if
the universe collapses) is expected to be lumpy and nonuniform.
In Tipler's theory, it is actually necessary for the ending of the
universe to be specially engineered to be as nonuniform as possible in
order for infinite computations to exist. The universe must be put into
a series of shape oscillations, alternately contracting/expanding along
different directions. This shear phenomenon causes energy differentials
to continue to exist, which can be used to power computation. Unless life
is able to direct the universe into this specific, unnatural pattern of
collapse, the universe becomes uniform and nothing more happens.
This would seem to indicate that the early universe, despite being
exceedingly hot and dense by our standards, was not a good environment
for evolution. Without energy differences there is no way for life to
exist.
Hal
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