The universe, in all its vast complexity, is governed by a surprisingly small set of rules. None of these laws has any component of morality but are rather 26(currently, there are more that need to be found) fundamental constants that can’t be measured except as statements of relation to one another. What does this mean for our understanding of existence itself and our place within the universe?
The Illusion of Absolutes
In our quest to define the features of the universe that we have encountered, we’ve identified 26 physical constants that like the speed of light cannot be broken. These include familiar features that we can experience like the gravitational constant, as well as less intuitively familiar forces like those that describe particle interactions. However, these constants are not as absolute as they seem. They are dimensional, dependent on arbitrary units like meters, kilograms, or seconds.
Physicists have come to realize that we need to use dimensionless constants that don’t rely on these arbitrary units. These constants describe relationships rather than absolute values. For example, instead of defining gravity by a universal gravitational constant, G, we can express it in terms of dimensionless parameters relative to other forces.
The Existential Implications
The fact that the universe is governed by relative relationships rather than absolute written laws has profound existential implications. It suggests that even the most fixed rules of the universe are simply a convenience for describing what we perceive as compared to other things we perceive. There are no other rules.
Any rule that can be broken is not a Law like these constants are, but an even more arbitrary convenience. We go beyond Hassan I Sabbah here, who stated Nothing is True Everything is Permitted, and we state that certain relationships can be numerically described as a ratio in the same way at every point in our universe and nothing else is true.
There are no other rules. The creator gives no commandments. As long as your behavior stays within the ratios of what can be manifest in the universe there is no other constraint. Now being a lifeform in a group of lifeforms there might be some practical considerations for survival reasons or just a desire to exist pleasantly, but from the perspective of the reality we live in there is no right and wrong. Are you going to find this terrifying, liberating, or true, false, indeterminate, and meaningless?