From: mk_thisisit
Professor Krzysztof Majner, a leading Polish physicist, discusses the fundamental nature and role of physical laws, distinguishing them from the material world and exploring their implications for understanding the universe and life itself [01:00:00].
The Creation of Laws vs. The Material World
For Professor Majner, the “creation of the world” refers not to the surrounding material world, but to the “creation of the laws of physics” [00:00:00], [00:05:28]. He posits that the material world’s existence, as a realization or subject of these laws, is a secondary question [00:05:39]. The primary question is why the laws of physics exist [00:05:51].
Nature of Physical Laws
Physical laws are described as a “fundamental property of material” [00:05:05]. They are considered:
- Universal and Unchanging They govern the material world “both here and in the neighboring galaxy as well as a billion years ago” [00:05:15].
- Platonic Ideas Majner refers to them as “Platonic ideas,” meaning they are “objective, perfect, unchanging, universal” [00:05:59]. These qualities are “fundamental property of this world” [00:06:06].
- Elegant and Beautiful The beauty of Einstein’s theory and its equations is highlighted as “incredible” [00:00:31], [00:03:30], showcasing the inherent elegance of these laws [02:04:04].
True Laws vs. Understood Laws
There’s a distinction between “true laws,” written with a capital letter, and those “written with a small letter,” which are the laws currently understood by humanity [01:51:51]. Whether humanity will ever fully grasp these true laws is unknown [01:57:57].
Physics and Transcendence
As a physicist, Majner feels that “physics touches transcendence” [01:19:18], something that “exceeds the material world” [01:19:21]. The existence of these Platonic, universal, and unchanging laws suggests a “being beyond the material world that justifies their existence” [02:20:28]. While this indicates a contact with transcendence, it is distinct from concepts like God, transcendent ethics, salvation, or good and evil, which are matters of faith beyond physics’ scope [02:20:43].
Physics is consistent whether one believes in transcendence or not; it changes one’s “vision of the world” but not the scientific description itself [02:26:26].
Laws in Practice: Gravity and Time
Physical laws allow for incredible accuracy in description. For instance, Einstein’s theory of gravity “perfectly describes everything” known about gravity, and its equations contain “everything we know” [00:06:36], [00:07:25]. Although it might not be the “last word” as a classical theory, it is a “fantastic approximation” [00:07:18].
Physical laws also dictate phenomena like time dilation. According to the laws of physics, time runs differently based on factors like altitude and speed, as demonstrated by the necessity of correcting time in GPS satellites due to both special and general relativity [01:16:47], [01:17:01].
Limitations of Physics in Describing Life
Physics is characterized as a “simple science” because it describes the basic components of matter (electrons, protons, neutrons) which are identical and behave predictably according to universal laws [00:08:11]. This allows for incredibly effective descriptions where a law established for one electron holds true for all electrons [00:08:56].
However, the question of life—how identical atoms form living and non-living matter—is considered “beyond physics” [00:09:51]. Life involves functionality and self-organization, where atoms create complex constructs (DNA, RNA, proteins) that interact in functional relations, leading to organized, coherent behavior in macroscopic objects like humans [00:09:04].
While physics can describe objects like crystals, their organization is simple and repeatable, inherent in molecular symmetry [01:10:14]. The self-organization of life, exemplified by a child’s growth involving areas of minimal entropy at the expense of external entropy, represents a different, far more complex level of organization that “definitely exceed[s] in their complexity what physics is used to” [01:10:57], [01:13:35]. This is because the function of complex biological structures does not simply “result from the mere fact that we have a carbon atom and a hydrogen atom and an oxygen atom” [01:39:57], putting it “beyond the possibilities of description and understanding on the basis of physics” [01:42:28].
Current Research and Future Plans
Professor Majner is currently working on two main topics:
- Traces of Previous Aeons: With Roger Penrose, he is researching clues about traces left by a previous aeon in our current universe. One work has been published, and a second, potentially very convincing one, is anticipated [02:17:47].
- Heavy Dark Matter Particle: With Professor Herman Nikolai, he proposes a very heavy dark matter particle, too heavy to be produced at CERN but possibly created in the early universe. They hope it will be detectable in underground experiments designed to find particles that can penetrate the Earth, similar to neutrinos [02:18:02].
Majner plans to launch a YouTube channel to discuss both fundamental questions of physics and mathematics their interplay and implications and everyday phenomena, such as the rainbow or why a kettle hums before boiling [02:29:57].