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Path: utzoo!dciem!ntt
From: ntt@dciem.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: numbering alternate universes
Message-ID: <332@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 29-Aug-83 19:10:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: dciem.332
Posted: Mon Aug 29 19:10:40 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 29-Aug-83 19:56:56 EDT
References: <1944@tekecs.UUCP>
Organization: NTT Systems Inc., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 26



	"You cannot assume that all decisions are binary.  The various
	constants of nature had to be chosen (by God, or whomever), for
	instance, and they are in general irrational numbers.  The
	entire irrational number would have to be included in the
	universe-description, but that requires an infinite number of
	bits, so you can never get to the part that represents the next
	decision."

    A single bit stream can still be used, as long as there are only a
    countable number of such irrational numbers.  You simply interleave the
    bit stream representations of those irrationals with the rest of the
    information describing the universe.  Of course, your bit stream is now
    infinitely long, and so problems such as comparing two universes become
    rather hard.

Can you map a countable number of irrationals onto one bit stream?  I thought
it had to be a finite number, and I don't think we can assume that a finite
number will do for all possible universes.  If I'm wrong, please tell me
how to do it (by mail).  --Anyway, can we not conceive on a universe that
has an analog of the Uncertainty Principle but in which physics is NOT
quantized?  I would think that such a universe would generate uncountable
infinities of irrationals.

Mark Brader, NTT Systems Inc., decvax!utzoo!dciem!ntt