Thanks for your comment Mark.
Quote:
However, does that relationship hold even if there is no universe (and noone to contemplate it)?
For the universe to come into existance as a consequence of laws of nature alone - it would have to be the case that the laws and relationships of mathematics and science must still be true in the absence of a physical universe - and then the universe arises as a result.
|
We already know that many of the laws of physics such as the conservation laws are a consequence of mathematical symmetry.
Instead of the mathematics simply describing the conservation laws, the laws can only exist due to the underlying symmetry.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Noether...ryTheorem.html
Did mathematics exist prior to the Big Bang? Quantum field theory says yes.
In fact the Big Bang may have been the result of symmetry breaking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetry_breaking
Symmetry breaking has explained a number of phenomena such as Inflation and the existence of Z and W bosons.
Regards
Steven