So, the Universe is a self-expanding fireball, where the emptiest of vacuums is frothing with activity at its smallest size, where we and everything we see are the crust afloat amidst truly vast rivers of invisible matter, knotted into a framework predicated on a mass of interacting webs, constantly expanding at an ever-faster rate. At the largest level, galaxies are distributed like pinpoints of light in crenulated waves, looking like atol reefs in an ocean, or the circular waves that course through earthly explosions.
At the tiniest level, everything is comprised from interacting fields of oscillations, coming together to form coherent stabilities in particular ways and from the description of this, the Standard Model, all physical phenomena can be modelled with astonishing accuracy. There are just four fundamental forces - gravity, electromagnetism (which accounts for light and electricity, amongst other things) and two abstract ones: the weak and strong nuclear forces. These forces mediate the four interactions *anything* in the Universe can have. It turns out that these forces are mathematically related by symmetries, so might actually be reflections of a single, unified force. In practicality, discovering this requires extremely high energies - which may be in reach of the LHC or its immediate successors. This single force would truly be the Alpha, yet it wouldn’t solve the deepest of deep problems in Physics - is the most fundamental property of the Universe symmetry or computation? To explain the face-off more clearly, consider symmetry in terms of how it is ‘broken’, or the idea that the Universe as we see it is the result of absolute symmetries of space, matter, energy and time shattered into relationships dictated by some unseen influence, like a piece of burst balloon coming to rest on an irregular surface. You could consider the unified force’s first possible interaction (protip: with itself) to cause a profoundly complex shower of assymetric debris - matter and anti-matter, positive and negative, up and down, strange and charm. But not only matter and energy, but the flow of time, and the coalescence into scale that the x, y and z dimensions won from the rest of the spacial avenues needed to sustain enough modes of oscillation for all matter and interactions. Likewise, this collapse of perfect symmetry across all things - and perhaps with it, the collapse of perfect equilibrium - also breaks the ’supersymmetry’ of fundamental particles. This comprises a complete replication of all the particles of the Standard Model with properties switched around to accommodate every possible variant within their given classes. It’s a demand of the mathematical symmetry between the forces and should some deeper broken symmetries be uncovered, this mirror material holds candidates that could explain what dark matter is - and dark energy could be the result of a supersymmetric partner for the (still speculative) graviton. Maybe. In terms of computation, the Universe can be seen as a gigantic set of sequential steps. Many operations happen in parallel, but they occur in sequences. One thing affects another in a logical manner and as such, the Universe can be understood at its deepest level as a vast computation of mathematical relationships - and let’s not forget that those relationships aren’t invented, only discovered.
So, is the Universe the computed breaking of a symmetry or is computation the result of a broken symmetry itself? One and Zero might have once been the same thing. Personally, I’m not entirely happy with singular, unified conclusions as they’re a bit too neat and pleasing to be real but you never know - if maths does do such an awesome job of describing a universe, then maybe it is a spectacular computer. It’s a bit of a shame, then, that I’ve wasted some resource and time in it looking up the skirt of a hanged Jewish woman in Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway.
Now don’t get me wrong - I still like a bit of WW2 and I fucking love abstracted combat that I can chew the fat over, fuck up with over-exuberance and then try to crack again in a restrained, sensible manner. Naturally, like the others in the series, it breaks down into a puzzle game of timing and position rather than the true horrors of war. I’m thankful of its beautiful gore engine, though. It turns into a FPS at times and I blew up this Nazi with a grenade and it cut him in two. His torso was in a sink and his legs were next to a bed. It was fucking sweet. I then was allowed to steal his mounted MG42 and fire it FROM THE FUCKING HIP into two more Nazis, smashing the table they were hiding behind in the process. I was tempted to play the entire game wielding that MG42, wading in whenever shit went wrong and proving that sheer RAMBO will get you past any cognitive shortcomings. Sadly, the game drops one of its glorious collection of howlers and dictates what weapon you carry at the start of every level. Cunts. The storyline, as you’d expect, is exactly the kind of sickly second-hand hero-worshiping sentimentalism the WW2 game setting shits out, still wringing the drained corpse of Band Of Brothers for every last bit of reference and cultural value. Needless to say, it’s sloshy, insulting time-wasting bullshit that offends with its fevered clamour for historical respectibility and emotional sensitivity at every dialogue piece and un-fucking-skippable cutscene.
But, y’know, the killing is really good.
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