Jul 10, 2008

Disclaimer: Universe is NOT simple

"Why is the Universe so simple ?" asks the mathematician, or more generally, why is simple mathematics (school mathematics) so successful at describing the Universe ?

The Universe, however, is generally not simple to begin with. Rather there are some aspects of the Universe (which we happen to be interested in) that can be computed easily. Put one sheep next to one sheep and you get two sheep (in the short term); so "putting next to each other" is isomorphic to a simple "+" operator. But what about the eddies and whorls in a ravine ? Cloud patterns ? And I haven't even begun to ask *creative* questions here.

An arbitrary, low-Kolmogorov-complexity aspect of the Universe is very difficult to compute. We as a species, shaped by evolution, happen to be interested in many simple-to-compute aspects.

The question should rather be phrased: Why does the Universe have any simple-to-compute aspects at all ?

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