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The Ontology of Many Worldsand Thomistic Modal Realism
Max Andrews
PhD Philosophy Student
University of Edinburgh, Scotland
A continuation of
W. David Beck and Max Andrews, “God and the Multiverse,”
Philosophia Christi 16 no. 1 (Summer 2014): 101-115.
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The Church Father Origen:
But this world, which is itself called an age, is said to be the conclusion of many ages. Now the holy apostle teaches that in that age which preceded this, Christ did not suffer, nor even in the age which preceded that again; and I know not that I am able to enumerate the number of anterior ages in which He did not suffer. I will show, however, from what statements of Paul I have arrived at this understanding. He says, “But now once in the consummation of ages, He was manifested to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” For He says that He was once made a victim, and in the consummation of ages was manifested to take away sin. Now that after this age, which is said to be formed for the consummation of other ages, there will be other ages again to follow, we have clearly learned from Paul himself, who says, “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us.” [There will be a time when] all things are no longer in an age but when God is in all.
De Principiis 2.3.5.
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The Church Father Origen:
[And] now I do not understand by what proofs they can maintain their position, who assert that worlds sometimes come into existence which are not dissimilar to each other, but in all respects equal. For if there is said to be a world similar in all respects (to the present), then it will come to pass that Adam and Eve will do the same things, which they did before. There will be a second time the same deluge, and the same Moses will again lead a nation numbering nearly six hundred thousand out of Egypt… and everything, which has been done in life, will be repeated… But what may be the number or measures of this I confess myself ignorant, although, if anyone can tell it, I would gladly learn.
De Principiis 2.3.4.
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Thomas on why there are a variety of things:
For he brought things into being in order that his goodness might be communicated to creatures, and be represented by them; and because his goodness could not be adequately represented by one creature alone, he produced many and diverse creatures, that what was wanting to one in the representation of the divine goodness might be supplied by another. For goodness, which in God is simple and uniform, in creatures is manifold and divided and hence the whole universe together participates the divine goodness more perfectly, and represents it better than any single creature whatever.
ST 1.47.1, 2.
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An example of an entangled state:
A singlet is a zero spin particle and there are two possible outcomes for a particle’s spin—up or down.
After an measuring apparatus is introduced
Which becomes
Such a state then evolves according to the Schrödinger equation
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When the observer makes an observation the observer becomes entangled as well.
This evolves into a non-collapsed stateNon-Collapsed State
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Fig. 2 Diminishing tree model
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Planck’s time:
(value = 5.39056 × 10-44s)
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Max Tegmark on “God”
[I] certainly believe the laws of physics in our universe allow life forms way more intelligent than us, so I'd expect that they have evolved (or been built) somewhere else, even at Level I. I think many people wouldn't be happy to call them "God", though, since they would be outside of our cosmic horizon and thus completely unable to have any effect on us, however smart they are (assuming there are no spacetime wormholes). However, perhaps they can create their own "universe", for instance by simulating it, playing God to its inhabitants in a more traditional sense. And perhaps we ourselves live in such a created/simulated universe.
Max Tegmark, “The Universe of Max Tegmark,” http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/crazy.html (accessed Jan. 24, 2013).
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Fig. 1 MWI “future” branching
[1] ∀e(e iff Te)
[2] ∀p(p iff ~Te)
Now, suppose the world ensemble tree T isn’t the only possible T. There are also T1, T2, T3, … Tn that seem to fall into the same subset of p. What determines the “T” that is actualised?
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Planck’s time:
(value = 5.39056 × 10-44s)
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Fig. 1 MWI “future” branching
Can D interact with G? No, “branch hopping” isn’t permitted.
Now, if D and G continue to evolve and certain states of affairs continue along those branches then perhaps future <Dn,Gn> result in attacking eagles. <Dn,Gn> would be branches that eventually grow closer instead of farther apart.
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