scientist have battled for a long time with a niggling philosophical concept live as the anthropical principle . The gist of it is that man should n’t reckon themselves particular ; despite the laws of physics appear to be favorable to intelligent life like us , there must be other reasons for its   emergence .

A   especially enthralling practical program has to do with gravity and space - time . We live in a pretty just continuum with three spatial dimension and a time property , but is this 3 + 1 configuration the only possibility for lifespan ? have more than one proportion of time throws predictability out the windowpane and more attribute of space make orbits unstable , mean   the cosmos of the solar organization is unimaginable .

The contestation for less than three dimensions is not as strong . Physicist James Scargill has recently published   a paper inarXivshowing that there are ways to make gravity employment in a 2 + 1D universe . The theory of gravity does n’t work like ours , but it does earmark for stable orbital cavity . The investigator key it as “ a not - obviously - fatal ( though strange ) cosmogony . "

Scargill adjudicate to take this a step forward . Having build that gravity works ( albeit differently ) , he looked at ways for sprightliness to subsist . He went for a simplistic approach to life base on mathematical conception , although not like that of the   sentient geometrical shapes of Abbott ’s satiric workFlatland .

“ I have turned to research that has been conducted into the properties of biological nervous networks , and create a family of planar graphs which seem to exhibit many of the properties which have been conjectured to be important for complex brains , ” Scargill , who works at the University of California , Davis , said in thepaper .

These net are complex , but the researcher states that while it   is intriguing , it is certainly not conclusive to adjudge that a complex mastermind inhabits the gravitationally gonzo 2D macrocosm . Scargill is really intrigued if he has overlooked some consideration necessary for this complexity to exist .

His line of reasoning bring in us back to   the anthropical principle . If a 3 + 1D universe is the only one that works , this can not be because of life , as a 2D universe might also be in the running for that . Maybe a more complete theory of physics ( or a ripe consideration of biological neural networks ) will   help us to crystallise that up .

[ H / T : MIT Technology Review ]