rog1039

Does anyone think that once we build a complete and correct theory on the physics of the universe that we will have discovered everything there is to discover?

Meaning, I think it's a reasonable assumption that everything that occurs in the world is a result of the interactions between molecules, atoms, quarks, strings, etc. I think incredibly complex behavior (in people, meaning someones attitude and why they act a certain way as well as the general behavior of physical objects, such as a leaf falling of a tree) can be broken down into interactions between the most basic objects that make up the universe. I would have to say the argument about counting coming from Mandal doesn't hold here. Mainly for this reason: In a purely physical level (meaning I'm trying to look at this from outside a human perspective), countings and integers don't exist. The universe doesn't count stuff. There is no such thing as counting. Counting and integers are ideas created by us to help us model the universe.

I also think it is unecessary to learn everything there is to know about complex behaviours to be truly knowledgeable. For example, there is a set of numbers known as the Mandelbrot set. This set of numbers is infinite (or at least I'm pretty sure it is), and the graph of the Mandelbrot set, while bounded, is infinitely complex. As such it is known as a fractal, but that is besides the point. It is impossible for a person to know everything there is to know about the Mandelbrot set. We could turn every person on the planet into a mathematician and have everyone study this set of numbers and it would be impossible to know everything about it. However, if one knows how it is created, one can recreate the Mandelbrot set with out difficulty. The differential equations that form the Mandelbrot set are incredibly simple, yet they create something of unimaginable complexity. My point is, I believe something similar may be the case for the universe. A simple set of rules define the interactions between the most basic objects in the universe. And while incredibly complex behaviors may result, those behaviors are still the result of the interactions of the atomic level (or smaller, depending on whatever is the most basic constituent objects are made of).

Of course we could try to analyze why I put off doing my homework in favor of responding to threads on this board. I'm sure we could get a physcologist in here and he could learn about my life and my behavior and build complex theories any why I procrastinate all the time. Or a physicist, with knowledge of the true physical laws of the universe could just tell it in less human terms. "He procrastinates because these chemicals in his brain fire in this manner which is caused by the interactions of this neuron with this neuron, which is further caused by the chemical attraction of this molecule to this one, which is futher caused.....on and on until we reach the most basic objects that make up the universe.

End point is this: If everything in this universe is caused by the interactions between the most basic objects in the universe and are goverened by a set of laws, then once we discover these rules, what is left to discover?