Big
questions – concise resolutions
What is life?
Life is a natural
process like any other consuming free energy in least time. Hence animate
exhibit the same ubiquitous characteristics as inanimate. Namely skewed
distributions accumulate from sigmoid growth and decline curves which display
the ubiquitous power laws on log-log plots.
Read more: Natural process –
Natural selection, Why
did life emerge?, Natural patterns of
energy dispersal, Looking
for LUCA, Gaia
again
Abiogenesis or panspermia?
Since there is no
demarcation line between animate and inanimate, there has neither been a
genesis nor a seeding life.
Read more: Natural process –
Natural selection, Why
did life emerge?, Looking
for LUCA, Ecological
succession as an energy dispersal process, Roots of diversity
relations, Natural
patterns of energy dispersal, Gaia again
Why so many species?
Species, animate just
as inanimate are means and mechanisms to consume free energy whereas order and
complexity are no ends themselves. Diversity will increase when more species
allow an ecosystem, economic system or any other system to consume more free
energy. Conversely, the number of species will decline when less will allow the
system to consume more.
Read more: Natural process –
Natural selection, Why
did life emerge?, Ecological
succession as an energy dispersal process, Natural patterns of
energy dispersal, Economies
evolve by energy dispersal
Space colonization – Future or fantasy?
A viable planet will
have life of its own. Even when seemingly similar to ours, yet it would be
incompatible with that of ours. To convert an unviable planet to a viable one
will exceed our means. We do not only live on the face of Earth, but the Earth
as a whole is a living planet.
Read more: Natural process –
Natural selection, Why
did life emerge?, Ecological
succession as an energy dispersal process, Cause of chirality consensus, Gaia again
Are we alone in the
Universe?
We are not alone, but
a part of the Universe among all other natural processes. There are numerous
local circumstances where natural processes have advanced far and perhaps even
beyond those states we witness on Earth. Nonetheless, we may remain isolated
from other civilizations by vast distances in space and time.
Read more: Natural process –
Natural selection, Why
did life emerge?, Natural patterns of
energy dispersal, Gaia
again
What is consciousness?
Consciousness is a
means, like any other, to consume free energy. Awareness of activities enables
coordination of actions. Not only individuals but also cells and societies and
other systems monitor their own doings and surrounding processes in order to
facilitate their consumption of free energy.
Read more: Cultural naturalism,
Economies evolve by
energy dispersal, Natural
games, Thoughts
about thinking
From where do values and moral ascend?
One values means and
deeds good as much as they contribute to the free energy consumption.
Conversely one deems acts and thoughts evil as much as they prevent from
consuming free energy. All evaluations are subjective, at best inter-subjective
as much as subjects are integrated with each other. Values and moral will
change along with changes of an individual, community, society or any other
system.
Read more: Cultural naturalism,
Economies evolve by
energy dispersal, Natural
games
Does one have free will?
One has free will up
to the amount of free energy in one’s command to direct natural processes among
alternative trajectories. Conversely without free energy, there are no means to
make any choice to proceed.
Read more: Cultural naturalism,
Natural games, Thoughts about
thinking
What is information?
Information is
physical in its representation whose meaning is valued by the free energy that
a message endows.
Read more: The physical character
of information, Physical
portrayal of computational complexity, Looking for LUCA
Why are some mathematical problems so hard to
crack?
For a solution to
exist, the mathematical equation must relate to a stationary state. Conversely,
theorems and conjectures that concern non-stationarity
but require stationarity in a proof produce a
conflict.
Read more: Physical portrayal of
computational complexity, All
in action, Space,
time and machines
What are the basic constituents of nature?
The photon is the
basic constituent of nature, since no change of state will yield less.
Read more: All in action, The
meaning of mass, Natural
patterns of energy dispersal
From where do new qualities emerge?
When any two or more
constituents integrate, the natural process engages also ingredients, at least
one photon, from surroundings or expels ingredients to the surroundings. Due
this influx or efflux of quanta new qualities are irreducible to the system’s
prior constituents. The integrated or disintegrated quanta allow for new paths
of energy transduction that manifests themselves as the new qualities.
Read more: Natural process –
Natural selection, All in action, Natural emergence
What sets the arrow of time?
The irrevocable
consumption of free energy sets the arrow of time. A quantized flow of energy from
the system to its surroundings or vice versa is a flow of time.
Read more: In the light of time, Threads of time, Least-time paths of light,
Least-action
perihelion precession, Probing Mach’s principle
What is the cause of causality?
A flow of quanta will
cause a change of state.
Read more: In the light of time, Threads of time, Tangled in entanglement,
The
capricious character of nature, On intractable
tracks
Why is the future unpredictable?
When flows of energy
and their driving forces cannot be separated from each other, everything will
depend on everything else and the future trajectories cannot be predicted with
certainty. Future does not exist for a prediction prior to its execution. Only
stationary-state trajectories are computable as well as those paths without
alternatives.
Read more: In the light of time, Natural patterns of
energy dispersal, All in action, The capricious
character of nature, On intractable
tracks
Why are all observations limited by uncertainty
of at least one quantum?
To observe the
observer must receive at least one quantum from the object, hence the object
will change upon the observation at least by one quantum.
Read more: In the light of time, Tangled in entanglement
What is the meaning of mass?
The mass is a measure
for how much quantized flows of energy on their bound paths of a body will
project on the freely propagating surrounding density of photons. Conversely,
the mass is a measure for how much photons of the surrounding space must
condense their paths to stay in balance with the bound energy density of a
body. In the energy-mass equivalence E = mc2 the
squared speed of light denotes the self-projection, i.e., the norm which
characterizes the properties of free space.
Read more: All in action, The
meaning of mass
What is free space?
Free space is not
empty but embodied by photons which are on the average in pairs of opposite
polarization. Hence the free space is without electromagnetic fields, yet the
vacuum’s energy density comprises photons that propagate on their least-time
paths (straight lines) to abolish any density difference.
Read more: All in action, The
meaning of mass, Probing
Mach’s principle, Cosmic rays report from the structure of space
What is gravity?
Gravity is a force
like any other difference in energy that will drive motions to abolish the
differences in energy densities. When the surroundings, like the contemporary
Universe, is sparse in energy density, bodies of a
system, such as nearby galaxies, will move toward each other to release quanta
from the system to its sparser surroundings. Conversely, when the surroundings,
like the nascent Universe, is dense in energy, bodies of a system, such as
distant galaxies, will move apart from each other to acquire quanta to the
system from its denser surroundings.
Read more: All in action, The
meaning of mass
What is inertia?
Inertia is the
response by the Universe to a system’s change of state. In the system’s change
of state at least one quantum will either be acquired from or expelled to its
surrounding vacuum density that maintains in balance with the whole Universe.
Read more: All in action, The
meaning of mass, Probing
Mach’s principle
What is the fate of the Universe?
The Universe in its
entirety is a natural process that progresses by breaking its symmetry to lower
and lower in the quest for the equilibrium with its zero-density surroundings.
At the heat death everything has been broken down to the lowest group of
symmetry U(1), that is, to extremely cold photons.
Read more: Space, time and machines,
Least-time paths of
light, Least-action
perihelion precession, Probing Mach’s principle,
All in action, The meaning of mass