[lbo-talk] New Scientist: "Medieval multiverse heralded modern cosmic conundrums"

[Les Schaffer]

the New Scientist article seems a little confused about what the authors
of the original paper demonstrated: there is no unwitting prediction in
Grosseteste's medieval model . what the authors did cleverly achieve is
to take Grossteste's hypotheses and claims about how matter and light
would interact and respond to each other, convert them to modern
mathematical form (simple partial differential equations) under some
reasonable interpretations of the Latin text, and solve them. The
solutions reveal various "types of universes" that could have be
achieved by varying input parameters of the model. Their point is that
Grossteste MIGHT THEN have conjectured multiverses if he could have
worked his model out in this modern, quantitative way.

even more interesting about the paper is its conclusion:

"""We cannot know Grosseteste’s view, but the computer simulations have
revealed a fascinating depth to his model of which he was certainly
unaware. In particular, the sensitivity to initial conditions resonates
with contemporary cosmological discussion and reveals a subtlety of the
medieval model which historians of science could never have deduced from
the text alone. The results provide a striking example of the benefits
of our methodology of collaborative reading of texts by a team which
contains medievalists, linguists and scientists. The approach is
uniquely different from traditional models of cooperation between
humanities scholars and scientists, where each group operates strictly
within its own discipline to address different questions of common
interest. In our project, the groups work together on a single question,
approaching it from different conceptual frameworks."""

i will miss Chuck Grimes as well; we used to communicate offlist
sporadically to discuss physics, mathematics, and technology. i was so
impressed with his ability to read technical articles and think deeply
and broadly about them. i'd like to think he would have loved this paper.

Les

On 03/14/2014 08:00 PM, Joseph Catron wrote:
> "When physicists translated a 13th-century Latin text into modern
> equations, they discovered that the English theologian who wrote it had
> unwittingly predicted the idea of the multiverse in 1225.