Theory of everything

Another result of our brain's desire to create broader and broader generalizations is the natural drive to develop "theories of everything." Traditionally, these have taken the form of god, religion, or philosophy, leading to a god concept or belief system. In modern times, those seeking a scientific theory of everything tend to focus on the laws of physics.
Amateurs Can't Do Physics
With the complexity of modern physics, you cannot really participate in the mathematical theory of everything game without an advanced degree. This does not stop armchair experts from jumping straight into the deep end when they have no business leaving the kiddie pool. A famous example of this is Terrence Howard, the actor who created a theory of everything based on sacred geometry, but then rewrote half the known laws of math and physics to make them fit his theory. Nassim Haramein's Cosmometry is another attempt by an amateur physicist and sacred geometry enthusiast to win the Nobel prize without creating a work worthy of publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Even those with advanced degrees have trouble contributing anything noteworthy. Physics is hard.
The armchair experts that generate pseudoscientific theories are usually just grifters or narcissists. Sometimes they are smart people who confuse the need to understand the world holistically with the need to understand it mathematically. The brain just wants to feel like it understands the world. Doing this is more about recognizing holistic patterns than making reductionist mathematical proofs. That is why religion has been able to satisfy the need for a theory of everything for thousands of years despite being very short on mathematical precision and rational deduction.
How is This Wiki Any Different?
metaculture bridges theory of everything gap by using a holistic fractal pattern as a metaphor to explain why a mathematical theory of everything is inevitable, even if we don't currently know all the details. It allows people to see the overall pattern of the universe and use that pattern to help the world make sense in both a rational way, and in an emotionally satisfying way that a unified field equation never can.
What do we make of the strong similarity between all of the sacred geometry cranks and the fractal theory of everything presented by metaculture? The fact that so many others see these universal patterns and recognize the connection between mathematics, science, evolution, and spirituality that they represent, is a strong argument in favor of this being a new cultural attractor. The difference is that all of the others at some point introduce some type of pseudoscientific theory or supernatural woo (usually panpsychism) because they tend to come from new age spirituality backgrounds rather than academia, and lack a commitment to materialism. The metaculture wiki is obviously not an academic work, it's pop-psychology and spirituality for sure. But, it makes no claims that violate materialism, nor does it propose any new scientific theories, nor overstate the implications of existing ones. It simply collects the necessary prerequisite concepts needed to develop a fractal theory of everything and presents them with a holistic and optimistic metanarrative.
A Metanarrative of Everything
These overlapping concepts describe the abstract principles that can be found everywhere throughout the universe. They form the basis for the "theory of everything" proposed by metaculture. However, instead of putting forth some amateur physics that can be easily debunked, this metanarrative asks you to look at the theories that have been proven and see how they reveal universal truths about reality that fit an overall pattern and simple story, even if we don't yet have the perfect equation to describe it.
The following principles are universal:
- Matter and Energy
- Mathematics and Logic
- Time
- Laws of Physics
- Fractals, Emergence, and Cosmic Complexification
- Evolution (progress based on incremental innovations)
- Self-Replication and Life
- Consciousness
- Love and Happiness
The proposed "theory of everything," which is really more of a metanarrative of everything since it cannot be expressed mathematically, can be summarized as:
Matter and energy came into existence and interact according to logical rules that can be described with mathematics, which we call the Laws of Physics.
When these rules are applied to every particle in the universe, at each moment in time, over billions of years, a self-organizing fractal pattern begins to emerge as gas clouds form nebulas and galaxies, stars explode and reform into planets, and eventually self-replicating molecules that form the origins of life.
This cosmological self-organizing process is itself evolutionary, and the self-replicating evolution of life accelerates the process of cosmic complexification. Complexification further accelerates with the emergence of consciousness and the ability for the universe to become self-aware and direct its own evolution.
Evolving, self-replicating consciousness inevitably has love and happiness at its core, since love is its primary evolutionary goal and happiness is its subjective reward.
These universal principles are what humans refer to as "god" or "spirit."
This perspective on the nature of reality sees these universal principles as inevitable emergent properties of any self-organizing universe, which is infinitely elegant, beautiful, sacred, and wonderful.
This is not a new or original idea, but a slightly different way to describe an idea that is shared by millions. Those who explain it with science tend to leave out love, happiness, and god. Those who focus on love, happiness, and god tend to get the science parts wrong. This story attempts to include both perspectives in a way that has universal appeal.
Every Theory of Everything, All at Once
Keep in mind that the theories discussed in this video are mostly thought exercises, not accepted science. However, it is interesting that so many have fractal, holographic, and other complex geometries at their core. It's likely the theory that eventually proves to be true will incorporate these principles. Therefore, the allegory of the fractal is apt and useful for our metanarrative. It gives us a good idea of how reality is organized without placing unreasonable bets on fringe theories that are unlikely to prove true.
Great movie. Tangentially relevant to the subject matter.
Music Theory
Maria Popova's The Universe in Verse is an annual celebration of music and poetry in science.
Here's Alan Lightman discussing music and the universe. A robust theory of everything must explain music, and music will likely help us understand the mathematical theory of everything when it is revealed.