Virgil Șerbănuță edited untitled.tex  about 8 years ago

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Then, for the given intelligent beings we would say in the first case that their universe has a \definitie{finite observable description} and in the second and third case that it has an \definitie{infinite observable description}. Of course, a possible universe $U$ could have multiple types of intelligent beings, each type perceiving the universe in a different way. Because of this difference in perception, for some intelligent beings the universe $U$ may have a finite observable description while for others it may have an infinite observable description.  If we can have infinite descriptions, then the set of optimal systems of axioms\footnote{Using \ghilimele{set of axioms} in some contexts may make the text harder to read, so I'm replacing it with \ghilimele{system of axioms}.} would have the same cardinality as the set of real numbers $\reale$. \footnote{Note that for easier writing, I will sometimes use $\reale$\ as a number, i.e. \ghilimele{the number of is $\reale$} instead of more complex phrases that uses \ghilimele{cardinality}.} Indeed, for the planets-on-a-line example above, we could select any subset of planets and get an universe with an optimal set of axioms that is distinct from any other subset. The set of all subsets of $\naturale$ has the same cardinality as $\reale$, so the set of optimal sets of axioms would have at least this cardinality. On the other hand, each set of axioms is written using an at most countable number of symbols over a finite alphabet, so there can't be more than $\reale$ sets of axioms.\footnote{See e.g. \href{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinality_of_the_continuum}. \href{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinality_of_the_continuum}[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinality_of_the_continuum].  The cardinal of the set of letter sequences is between the power set of $\naturale$, which can be easily put into 1:1 correspondence with the set of letter sequences over a binary alphabet, and the set of sequences of integers, which is a set of sequences with an infinite alphabet. Both have the same cardinality as $\reale$.} When talking about a mathematical description of the universe as one sees it, it is obvious that the description may depend both on time and place, i.e. the laws of the universe as observed at a given time and place can be quite different from the laws at another time and/or place. If these differences are unpredictable, then an intelligent being will never be able to find a full mathematical description of the universe, even if we assume that it could live through all these changes (as time passes, and/or as it moves through the space).