Everything

Everything is the concept of all that exists.cite web
title = everything
url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/everything
publisher = Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
accessdate = 2008-06-17] Every entity, physical body, and abstract object is part of everything. Everything is the opposite of nothing, though an alternative view considers "nothing" a part of everything.

World

The "World" is a noun for the planet Earth envisioned from an anthropocentric or human worldview, as a place inhabited by human beings. It is often used to signify the sum of human experience and history, or the 'human condition' in general. ['This is the excellent foppery of the world...' -- Shakespeare, "King Lear", I.ii]

Especially in a metaphysical context, "World" may refer to everything that constitutes reality and the Universe: see World (philosophy).

Universe

The "Universe" is most commonly defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and constants that govern them. However, the term "universe" may be used in slightly different contextual senses, denoting such concepts as the "cosmos", the "world" or "Nature".

Experiments suggest that the universe has been governed by the same physical laws and constants throughout its extent and history. The dominant force at cosmological distances is gravity, and general relativity is currently the most accurate theory of gravitation. The remaining three fundamental forces and the particles on which they act are described by the Standard Model. The universe has at least three dimensions of space and one of time, although extremely small additional dimensions cannot be ruled out experimentally. Spacetime appears to be a simply connected smooth manifold, and space has very small mean curvature, so that Euclidean geometry is accurate "on the average" throughout the universe.

According to some speculations, this universe may be one of many disconnected universes, which are collectively denoted as the multiverse. In one theory, there is an infinite variety of universes, each with different physical constants. In another theory, new universes are spawned with every quantum measurement. By definition, these speculations cannot currently be tested experimentally.

In theoretical physics

In theoretical physics, a "theory of everything" (TOE) is a hypothetical theory that fully explains and links together all known physical phenomena. Initially, the term was used with an ironic connotation to refer to various overgeneralized theories. For example, a great-grandfather of Ijon Tichy — a character from a cycle of Stanisław Lem's science fiction stories of 1960s — was known to work on the "General Theory of Everything". Over time, the term stuck in popularizations of quantum physics to describe a theory that would unify or explain through a single model the theories of all fundamental interactions of nature.

There have been many theories of everything proposed by theoretical physicists over the last century, but none have been confirmed experimentally. The primary problem in producing a TOE is that the accepted theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity are hard to combine.

Based on theoretical holographic principle arguments from the 1990s, many physicists believe that 11-dimensional M-theory, which is described in many sectors by matrix string theory, in many other sectors by perturbative string theory is the complete theory of everything. Other physicists disagree.

In philosophy

In philosophy, a theory of everything or TOE is an ultimate, all-encompassing explanation of nature or reality.Rescher, Nicholas (2006a). "Holistic Explanation and the Idea of a Grand Unified Theory". Collected Papers IX: Studies in Metaphilosophy. ] Rescher, Nicholas (2006b). "The Price of an Ultimate Theory". Collected Papers IX: Studies in Metaphilosophy. ] Walker, Mark Alan (March 2002). [http://www.jetpress.org/volume10/prolegomena.html "Prolegomena to Any Future Philosophy"] . Journal of Evolution and Technology Vol. 10. ] Adopting the term from physics, where the search for a theory of everything is ongoing, philosophers have discussed the viability of the concept and analyzed its properties and implications. Among the questions to be addressed by a philosophical theory of everything are: "Why is reality understandable?" "Why are the laws of nature as they are?" "Why is there anything at all?"

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