Wonderful writer.
“Causality within the universe is not fundamental,” said Page. “It is an approximate concept derived from our experience with the world.” Strict causality could be an illusion, a way for our brains, and our science, to make sense of the world. But without strict causality, how can we take responsibility for our actions? A crack in the marble foundation of causality could send tremors into philosophy, religion, and ethics." Does the mere fact that cosmology ends up rejecting strict causality echo throughout all of the sciences? Maybe, this could be the greatest fruits of cosmological study. In the U.S. we have too strong a habit of incarcerating people because we too strongly see that they "caused" some horrible event like say an armed robbery. If we want to solve this problem outside of strict causality and instead recognize that we are where we are due to probabilities, don't a whole new set of questions and solutions jump to the forefront? Instead of merely incarcerating this person, doesn't it make more sense to look at his/her initial conditions (pre-crime) and look for ways to prevent this person, and others in similar conditions, from taking the same terrible path? I've got to imagine it makes sense.
This always blows my mind when I think about it. But I love accessible writing like this. I bought a copy of Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos the other day because it's supposed to be a good layman's guide to the universe. My poor arts brain can't handle too much of the science behind it all...There were no moments before the moment of smallest size because there was no “before.”