OOO      O      if you've been following closely, you'll noticed
O   OO OOO      that a "theory of everything" falls neatly from
O O             this package.
 O OOOOOO       
O               but let's approach from a different direction,
  OOO OOOO      shall we?
OO   OO OO      
    O           a "theory of everything" is the holy grail of
OOOO   OOO      physics these days. back in Einstein's day,
     OO         it was called a "grand unified field theory",
OOOOOOOOO       and it's what he worked toward most of his
  OOO           life.
OO OOOOOOO      
O               basically, it's the set of rules that describes
 OOOOOOOOO      why the universe is the way it is. it should
                explain EVERYTHING - once you have the theory
OOOOOOOOOO      of everything (t.o.e.) you don't need any other
O     OO        theory. nowadays we have several competing
OOOO OOOOO      theories (relativity, quantum electrodynamics,
                gravity, string theory, etc.) not all of which
OOOOO OOOO      play nicely together. the t.o.e. will fix that.
     OOOO       
OOOOO OO O      physicists and philosophers agree that the
     O OOO      t.o.e. - whatever it turns out to be - ought to
OOOO  O         be "elegant". it should be simple, self evident,
   OOO          easy to state. it should offer insight into why
OOOOOOOOOO      things are they way they are.
        OO      
OOO  OOO        most physical theories these days are *not*
OOOOO   OO      elegant (no offense.) the theory of gravity, for
   O            instance, says that masses attract one another
OOO  OO OO      - but offers no explanation why they attract at
OOOOO           the rate they do - nor why they attract at all -
      OOOO      why not repel?
OOOOOO          
OO   OO         and what about the big questions: why do we see
   OOOOOOO      three dimensions? why only one dimension of
OOO             time? what the hell is time? why is the universe
   O  OOOO      non-deterministic? is it infinite? if not, why
OO  OOO  O      is it so enormously outrageously big?
       OOO      
OOOOOOOO        and perhaps the most important question of all:
 OOOOOO OO      why does the universe follow this particular set
O  OO           of rules, and not some other set of rules?
 OOOOOOOOO      
O               ...
 OOO O  OO      
    O O         there is, i think, only one possible t.o.e.
 OO  OOOOO      which satisfies the requirement of elegance:
OOOO            they all exist. for each and every different
OO  OOOOOO      possible t.o.e., there is a real live universe
                that follows its rules. the whole universe is,
OOOO  OO        in fact, this collection of universes. some call
 O  O   OO      it the multiverse.
     OOOOO      
OOOO   OOO      ...
   OOO          
OOO   OO O      but this is exactly what we learned from our
O  OOO          discussion of mathematical existence. in it, we
OOOOOOOOOO      said that anything which exists in the world of
  O             mathematics exists physically, too.
OO     OOO      
O OO OOOOO      what are these mathematical things? they are
 OOOOOOO        anything which has a consistent ruleset to
        OO      define it. a t.o.e., if you will. and so they
OOOOOOO  O      all physically exist. and the entire collection
 O     OO       of them is the multiverse.