>Two possible theories
>that you create some kind of primordial universe, maybe very different
>in nature from our own, possibly mathematical in form, but such that
>intelligent life can evolve. Then that intelligent life will naturally
>create simulations or baby universes which explore all different kinds
>of physics, including structured ones like ours with matter, space,
>distance, time, dimensions, etc., concepts which may be absent from their
>own universe.
Or, even neater, you follow Lee Smolin's reasoning: baby universes are a
side-consequence of black holes, the most numerous source of these parents
is a cosmos in which stellar black holes are freshly created during many,
many billions of years, a further incidental side consequence of which is
the creation of carbon in life-affirming quantities :) which is freely
scattered into the surrounding medium even as a new universe is pumped up.
The only problem I have with this, as I've said before, is that I don't
really see why the babies need to closely resemble the parents (although
Mitch once made some comments on this that I couldn't follow).
Damien Broderick