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The Universe as an Open System

宇宙作为一个开放系统

基本信息

批准号：
AH/W010569/1
负责人：
Karim Pierre Yves Thebault
金额：
$ 34.46万
依托单位：
University of Bristol
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2022
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2022 至无数据
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FW010569%2F1
关键词：
Universe Open System

项目摘要

Throughout science a distinction is made between systems and their environments. Systems can be treated as either open, if they exchange energy, matter, heat or information with the environment, and closed if they do not. Since the system is so much smaller than the environment, such exchanges are assumed to be asymmetric, from the environment to the system. Often, all that is assumed about the environment is that is very large compared to the system, since it is the latter that is being studied. As was pointed out long ago by Bertrand Russell (1903), strictly speaking all systems within the universe should be expected to be open, since the force of gravity is universal. If we accept Russell's argument, there is then only one 'system' that can be treated as a closed system: the universe as a whole. If the 'part' of the universe being studied is the entire universe, then it seems obviously true that there can be nothing left to play the role of the environment, and thus that we are, by definition, studying a closed system. Despite the persuasiveness of the universe as a closed system viewpoint, there are three plausible arguments why it may prove insightful to represent the universe as an open system after all. Each of these arguments will be investigated in this project. More specifically, we will conduct a synthetic and integrated analysis of cases and in doing so establish the philosophical and physical viability of modelling the universe as an open system. Our core methodological question is whether scientists are justified in treating the universe as an open system merely as a pragmatically useful falsehood, or whether there are good reasons to accept the universe as an open system as a genuine ontological claim. We aim to defend the ontological claim that the universe is an open system, in a limited and precise sense, based upon a formally and conceptually rigorous analysis of the relevant system-sub-system relationships. In particular, this project will (i) provide new formal and conceptual tools to understand both the universe and our place in it; (ii) evaluate the motivations and implications of the idea of the universe as an open system, (iii) characterize openness in three important physical contexts via a detailed study of the appropriate mechanisms; (iv) demonstrate that these mechanisms can be linked together by considering the role of epistemic agents as an information processing system embedded within a universe and weakly coupled to a measuring apparatus and the rest of the environment; and (v) defend the ontological claim that universe is an open system in a limited and precise sense.

在整个科学中，系统和它们的环境是有区别的。系统可以被视为开放的，如果它们与环境交换能量，物质，热量或信息，如果它们不这样做，则关闭。由于系统比环境小得多，这种交换被认为是不对称的，从环境到系统。通常，所有关于环境的假设都是与系统相比非常大，因为正在研究的是后者。正如伯特兰·罗素（Bertrand Russell）在1903年指出的那样，严格地说，宇宙中的所有系统都应该是开放的，因为引力是普遍存在的。如果我们接受罗素的论点，那么只有一个“系统”可以被视为一个封闭的系统：宇宙作为一个整体。如果被研究的宇宙的“部分”是整个宇宙，那么显然，没有任何东西可以扮演环境的角色，因此，根据定义，我们正在研究一个封闭的系统。尽管宇宙作为一个封闭系统的观点很有说服力，但有三个似是而非的论点可以证明将宇宙表示为一个开放系统是有见地的。这些论点中的每一个都将在本项目中进行研究。更具体地说，我们将对案例进行综合和综合分析，并在此过程中建立将宇宙建模为开放系统的哲学和物理可行性。我们的核心方法论问题是，科学家是否有正当理由将宇宙视为一个开放系统，仅仅是一个实用的谎言，或者是否有充分的理由将宇宙作为一个开放系统接受为一个真正的本体论主张。我们的目标是捍卫本体论的主张，宇宙是一个开放的系统，在有限的和精确的意义上，基于形式和概念上严格的分析相关的系统子系统的关系。特别是，该项目将（i）提供新的形式和概念工具，以了解宇宙和我们在其中的位置;（ii）评估宇宙作为一个开放系统的想法的动机和影响，（iii）通过详细研究适当的机制，描述三个重要物理环境中的开放性; ㈣证明这些机制可以联系在一起，办法是考虑认知主体作为嵌入宇宙中的信息处理系统的作用，并与测量仪器和环境的其他部分弱耦合;（5）为宇宙是一个有限而精确的开放系统的本体论主张辩护。