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Does the Universe Have to make Sense? Why?

Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 11:07 pm
by Robert Arvay
I began reading a Sci-Amer article on Naked Singularities, and did not get very far, before I ran into the statement that physical reality has to make sense. Does it? And if so, why?

I am asking, of course, from a physicalist standpoint. Ideally or Spiritually, the answer is easy. If the universe is intentional, if it is the product of conscious volition, then of course it would be expected to make sense to the Creator (unless for some peculiar reason He designed it not to, but that idea is incomprehensible to me).

From a purely physicalist point of view, I know of no principle that prevents paradoxes. Indeed, from a physical point of view, the universe has no purpose, no plan, no empiric meaning. It has no evidence of these, unless one refers to such Biblical phrases as, nature reveals the handiwork of God. But such quotes are deemed to have no place in physicalist science.

Quite to the contrary, physicalist scientists have made such statements as, anything that can happen, must happen, and it must happen an infinite number of times. What this means is that there must be infinite numbers of universes inhabited only by clowns on tricycles juggling bowling pins while reciting nursery rhymes. While that may make sense to a physicalist, I doubt that many people would find it to do so.

Going deeper than that, it is statistically possible for the universe to explode at any instant, due to the quantum nature of space and matter.

Going deepest of all, it is possible for an instance to occur in which two mutually exclusive events both take place. That is a logical impossibility, but is it a natural law that all natural laws must be consistent with each other? Maybe they are, but if so, then why? What prevents the illogical, indeed, the impossible, from happening? Nature seems not to care. Or does it?

Why can’t Through the Looking Glass be real?

Why don’t naked singularities, if they exist, simply violate the laws of nature with impunity? Is there an inviolable principle that prevents it? Or is there a supernatural edict that forbids it?

Is it possible, in nature, for a phenomenon to observe itself—from within itself? If that were possible, we would have consciousness. But, what if it is a physicalist impossibility that happens anyway?
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