Our universe is a most special system. Its most distinctive feature is that, according to science, its life path began in a low-entropy ini...
Our universe is a most special system. Its most distinctive feature is that, according to science, its life path began in a low-entropy initial state. From this state, the universe continues its life as it gradually moves toward a state of higher and higher entropy, until at the end of its life course it reaches a state of maximum entropy.
The evolution of closed systems, such as the universe by definition, typically follows this path in a physically well-understood way. The fundamental unanswered question about our universe, on which by definition nothing else exists, is how the initial low-entropy state was possible or came about.
Today, science can only offer speculative answers to this problem. The one that combines the initial low entropy state with the continuous entropy growth is the assumption of the existence of an eternal inflationary universe, which might logically fits the condition of entropy growth, but requires a system whose physical reality carries disturbingly peculiar conditions, according to the scale of our experienced worldview. Furthermore, although the existence of an eternal inflationary universe is logically consistent with the expectation of entropy growth and could also provide an initial low entropy state, the reality of the existence of an eternal inflationary universe as a physically closed system is also a difficult to understand, but seemingly necessary condition for this model as well.
According to the empirical principle of Occam's razor, if more than one model is possible to describe reality, the one that requires fewer or simpler assumptions is likely to be closer to reality. Is it possible to find a simpler model of our universe with a low initial entropy state than the eternal inflationary universe, one that requires fewer and simpler assumptions and still corresponds to reality as we know it?
The biggest problem that must be solved in order to understand the existence of our universe is the requirement of the special initial state, the necessity of the low-entropy starting condition. In the search for a possible model of the existing universe, let's consider the life of the universe strictly according to the level of order, which also corresponds to the concept of entropy, as the level of order is one of the various physical definitions of entropy. It is safe to say then that the universe must have had a high degree of orderliness at the beginning of its existence, and this orderliness is steadily decreasing over the course of the universe's life course.
However, the decreasing order does not seem to apply to the world around us. When we look around, we see that order is not necessarily and strictly decreasing in the world we live in.
Considering the concept of entropy, we typically explain this observational phenomenon by stating that where entropy decreases locally, it does so at the cost of increasing entropy even more elsewhere, and even where gravity plays a role in the apparent increase in order, we point out that in the presence of gravity, the natural increase in order still does not result in a decrease in entropy by taking into account other factors of entropy, such as the role of heat generated by gravity.
For our purposes now, when we try to understand and explain the existence of the universe, let's stick strictly to the analysis of order, and let's look at the life path of the universe strictly in terms of the degree of order. It is safe to assume that at the beginning of the life of the universe, the orderliness of the universe must have been at a maximum state, a state that presumably came about in some way that must also have been part of the life path of the universe.
Here, we should definitely abandon the concept and role of time, which, according to our scientific view, came into being with the birth of our universe, and strictly stick to considering only the flow of events. Based on our accepted concept of time, the possibility of physical occurrence of events without the existence of time cannot be ruled out, because for example, according to our view of time and events, the birth of the universe can't be an event of the flow of time. (Instead of the supposed physical existence of time, it seems more appropriate to consider time as a descriptive property of our universe anyway.)
From this consideration, we can also state the logical conclusion (not arising from the observation of physical reality) that the universe should have reached its maximum order from a less ordered state. From a purely theoretical point of view, and strictly in terms of the degree of order, if we could find a possible model of a physical system that spontaneously goes from a maximally ordered state to a disordered state and naturally returns to the maximally ordered state, then such a physical system could theoretically be a possible model of the universe as it exists in reality.
It follows from this hypothetical model that the maximally ordered state of such a system should be the unstable equilibrium state of the system, which state can spontaneously and by itself break in a change, resulting a disordered and non-equilibrium state for the whole system, which will continuously return to its ordered, equilibrium state throughout the continued life of the system.
Such a theoretical model could be an unorthodox, cyclical model of our universe, but perhaps also a model corresponding to Occam's razor, considering the simplicity of different models of our universe. What physical system could operate in this way?
A system consisting of many identical particles forming homologous structures can behave in this way if the constituent particles of the system, which are in local physical interaction with each other and are fixed in position by these mutual effects, perform similar types of vibrating motions by themselves.
For such a system, the system-wide synchronized resonance, the ordered state is the balanced equilibrium state, which is intrinsically fragile and unstable. In such a system in the state of global resonance, if the vibrating motion of a single particle of the system spontaneously and independently deviates from the vibration corresponding to the global resonance, its environment in global resonance can force it to vibrate again in a synchronized manner. However, if the spontaneously occurring desynchronized vibration of several particles exceeds a limit characteristic of the system and deviates from the vibration corresponding to the global resonance, when the vibration of the neighboring particles cannot restore the global resonance, the entire system would suddenly undergo a state change, go into a desynchronized state, the global resonance of the system ceases, and the entire system goes into a disorderly vibrating state of particles corresponding to the characteristics of the system.
The global synchronized resonance of the system, the total order, is the unstable equilibrium state of the system. When the global resonance is lost, the vibrations of the particles that form the system continue, but they are not in synchronized motion with each other, a disordered state is born. However, this state is not the equilibrium state of the system. In the system, local resonances determined by the vibrations of the particles that make up the system can form and move within the system, and when they meet, they can connect to form even more complex resonances, forming structures that can interact with each other in a way that corresponds to the given resonances. These local resonances can stabilize the globally unordered system, but eventually, as these local resonances dilute in the system, the vibrating particles can again form a global resonance, a system-wide ordered equilibrium state, and another cycle can repeat itself.
This hypothetical model of the universe could provide a natural explanation for the special low-entropy initial state. Could our universe be such a system? This model corresponds to the grid model of the universe discussed in several thoughts, in which model other laws of our physical world, which are currently difficult to explain by theory, can be interpreted naturally.
If the model is indeed the suitable model for our universe, then all other laws and features of our physical universe must be also interpretable in terms of the grid model. Can the grid model be the proper model of our universe?
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