From: mk_thisisit
Physics continues to grapple with profound fundamental questions regarding the nature of the universe, including the origins of physical laws and the emergence of life [00:09:55]. These topics highlight the current limitations of scientific understanding and computational capabilities [00:12:53].
The Origin of Physical Laws and Physical Constants
A central challenge in physics is determining the origin of its fundamental laws [00:00:21]. Similarly, questions persist about why physical constants — such as the electron charge or the Planck constant — possess their specific values and not others [00:00:24], [00:10:04].
Physicists acknowledge that they do not have definitive answers to these fundamental questions [00:09:47], [00:10:18]. While the “anthropological principle” suggests that if these constants had different values, life as we know it would not exist, this is considered an “escape from the answer” rather than a true explanation [00:10:22], [00:10:34].
Understanding the Origin of Life
The question “What is life?” remains a major enigma [00:10:43], with a seemingly sharp boundary between living organisms and inanimate matter [00:10:52]. Significant problems arise when trying to comprehend how organic compounds were initially formed on Earth [00:11:06]. Even with knowledge of early Earth’s conditions (temperature, atmospheric composition, available elements), scientists struggle to understand how life could have arisen through self-organization [00:11:15], [00:11:32].
An analogy can be drawn from the fabrication of transistors:
- Top-down approach: This involves carving structures into silicon wafers, which is how transistors are currently manufactured [00:11:48], [00:12:11], [00:12:14].
- Bottom-up approach: Physicists are exploring methods where elements are combined under specific conditions to allow structures, like transistors, to build themselves [00:11:56], [00:12:07]. However, even for relatively simple structures like transistors (millions of times less complicated than a human organism), scientists cannot yet force atoms to self-arrange [00:12:16], [00:12:23].
Current computational capabilities present a major barrier to describing biological processes from first principles [00:12:43], [00:12:51]. Simulations are limited to approximately a million atoms for a billionth of a second [00:12:56]. This means many chemical and even more biological phenomena cannot yet be simulated, even though quantum mechanics is believed to describe organic systems [00:13:07], [00:13:18]. Consequently, the specific processes responsible for the boundary between life and inanimate matter remain unknown [00:13:28].
Laws of Physics Versus Information
Another profound question is whether the laws of physics or information came first [00:13:38]. This type of question often touches upon human faith [00:13:46]. Information is understood as a physical process, with every physical process considered a form of calculation moving from initial to final conditions [00:14:10], [00:14:17].
Despite these ongoing challenges, the existence of such questions underscores the importance of continued scientific research, indicating that the pursuit of knowledge will never truly end [00:14:49].