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TRADUZIR |  |
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Principle of sufficient reason:
"I am granted this important principle, that nothing happens without a sufficient reason why it should be thus and not otherwise"
SPACE
When applied to `space', or the problem of `position' in the universe, this enables us to ask `is there a reason why the universe, in its entirety, might not have been created, or come into being, two foot to the left?'
And the answer is of course `No': we would not know any different, nor would the universe.
TIME
Similarly, if asking `is there a reason why the universe, in its entirety, might not have been created, or come into being, one year earlier, or later?'
Again the answer is `No': we would not know any different, nor would the universe.
Principle of the identity of indiscernibles:
"That no two different objects can have the same description" or "That if there is no discernible difference between the descriptions - identities - of two supposedly different bodies, or locations, then they are one and the same thing."
This principle means that any body, particle or location must be capable of being uniquely identified in the universe: leading to the further conclusion that there must be sufficient variety in the universe to enable this.
Principle of sufficient variety:
"That the universe has sufficient variety to endow all bodies with unique identities or descriptions, of relationships and locations."
That is, without the need to use more information than the universe could hold.
SPACE
The conclusion implies that the concept of absolute space, or of a `fixed' position in the universe, is non-valid: any position in space is merely relative to the bodies and beings in the universe;
- moreover, it further implies that each body and being in the universe contains within its description information defining its instantaneous relationship with all other bodies and beings in the universe: i.e. `entanglement'.
TIME
The conclusion means that we cannot talk of any `absolute time', merely of a point within, and relative to, a succession of events;
- moreover, Leibniz seemed to be of the opinion that each body or being therefore contains information not only about its past but also about its future: i.e. `entanglement in time'.
The principle of sufficient variety would also mean that a homogeneous or zero-variety universe is impossible.
That is, a `big crunch' or `big freeze' or `heat death', because they would be `zero-variety' conditions, are ruled out: the universe is therefore potentially ever-lasting and eternal.
More interestingly, taken at face-value, the conclusion would also exclude a universe-creation by a `big bang' - another zero-variety state.
That is, our Universe began, and exists, in a way not presently understood by mainstream science.
That even the least action, no matter how `inconsequential' it might appear to be, must have consequences and outcomes throughout our universe.
Diplomat, mathematician, logician and philosopher - of physics and rationalism among other disciplines - his logic led him eventually to refute `materialism' and to re-define the concepts of `space' and `time'.
His often quoted line `the best of all possible worlds' may have been due to his mathematical and physics reasoning leading to his own expression of `parsimony', along with `least action', and `sufficient variety' - "the most perfect [world], that is to say the one which is at the same time the simplest in hypotheses and the richest in phenomena" - from `Discourse on Metaphysics'
Leibniz' thoughts on basic physics led him to anticipate Einstein's later foreboding (as did Wallace) -
"Reality cannot be found except in One single source, because of the interconnection of all things with one another. ... I maintain also that substances, whether material or immaterial, cannot be conceived in their bare essence without any activity, activity being of the essence of substance in general."
- Gottfried Leibniz, 1670
Acknowledgements for inspiration and starting points to:
Lee Smolin and his book `The Life of the Cosmos'
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