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How to build a universe from 3 objects

How to build a universe from 3 objects

Let's suppose you have a set of just 3 objects. It doesn't matter what the objects are, so we can write the set S as..

S={a,b,c}

All very simple. Just 3 objects in a set.

But a set of 3 objects has 2^3=8 subsets. So the set of subsets of S, let's call it S1, has 8 objects. That means S2, the set of subsets of S1 has 2^8=256 objects.

That means S3, the set of subsets of S2, has 2^256 objects. And that's big. It's about the estimated number of protons in the universe!

So from S to S3 we went from 3 objects to a universe.

It's probably best we don't talk about S4.

Why did I pick 3 objects as opposed to some other number? No critical reason, it was just a nod to elementary particle physics. The Standard Model has 3 generations of elementary particles. And the Color Force which binds these elementary particles together has 3 charges.

Content written and posted by Ken Abbott abbottsystems@gmail.com