Naked Science Forum
On the Lighter Side => New Theories => Topic started by: snorkfort on 01/12/2016 22:43:00
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"God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is going on with the prime numbers." - Statement falsely attributed to Paul Erdos, but actually a paraphrase by Carl Pomerance of something he imagined Erdős and Mark Kac might have said.
Prime numbers, though seemingly irregular, form a pattern when visualised as a 2-dimensional array - the Ulam Spiral. Please check it out on Wikipedia.
There are other interesting phenomena and patterns associated with the prime number sequence, but I'm not mathematically literate enough to discuss them.
One thing certain, though, is that the prime numbers and the mysterious patterns found in them exist as a fundamental property of the universe independent of human observation.
The prime number sequence cannot be compared to other number sequences like the Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci sequence is entirely regular, and is simply a convenient proportion (1.618) that occasionally pops up in natural (usually living) phenomena.
What I want to say is that the bizarre Ulam Spiral has existed as a property of the universe since the beginning of time. The prime numbers (and therefore the mysterious Ulam Spiral) exist as a fundamental property of anything (for example matter) that is countable or quantifiable. It is inconceivable that a universe could exist without including anything countable or quantifiable. Anything that exists must be countable and quantifiable.
If science has taught us anything, it is that all the laws of nature are interdependent. The Ulam Spiral is part of this cosmic web of interconnectedness and mutual dependency. What distinguishes the Ulam Spiral is that we know it inevitably exists in any universe of countable phenomena. All universes (including hypothetical alternative universes) must include countable/quantifiable phenomena, because for something to exist, it must be countable. Therefore all universes must include ALL the other interconnected laws of nature of which the Ulam Spiral is one part. Therefore all universes must have the same laws of nature. If there are multiple universes, these universes are countable. Therefore the entire system of countable universes must also have an Ulam Spiral and be subject to the same laws of nature. Therefore, there is only one universe. And the laws of nature are not arbitrary. The laws of nature are an inevitable consequence of the existence of anything, simple because anything that exists is countable and quantifiable.