> So what if some of the physics we study is actually not how the universe looked at the start? Could the speed of light have changed because of aliens weaponizing physics in past wars?

Yeah I thought all those stars looked suspicious.

http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/papers2/physics/astrophysics/Starivo...

http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/papers2/physics/astrophysics/black-h...

http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/papers2/physics/astrophysics/The%20m... (starting at page 203, chapter 9)

http://www.xenology.info/Xeno.htm

previously on HN, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10252222

http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/seti-megastructures-jason-...

It would be quite funny if it turned out that religious people were sorta right and our visible universe is just a cell in some other dimensions' creature butt, for example.

Ultimately right, but for the very wrong reasons :). Happens sometimes. See e.g. Galileo.

yeah, the book was pretty mind blowing. That book blew my mind the way reading Philip K Dick did when I was 16. I didn't think books could do that anymore. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a further exploration of the ideas mentioned in this article.

You should try the short story "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. Just finished reading it, it's the story that Arrival is based on. Haven't seen the movie yet, but the story managed to blow my mind in the same way Death's End did.

Bad news, the film is unwatchable if you know the plot. At least it was for me.

"Stories of Your Life and Others" Ted Chiang

On the off chance that there is any confusion, the story itself is titled "Story of Your Life," and it is also part of a collection of short stories published as "Stories of Your Life."

Is it possible to read the book without reading the first two parts beforehand?

naw, it's a 3-book long novel and none of the story would make sense without the first 2. The first 2 are good too

Death's End? I think it is, but previous books are amazing too.

The idea of changing the physics of the universe occurs several places in sci fi. E.g. the Heechee Saga has the Heechee hide themselves behond the event horizon of a black hole after they discover that some civilization appears to have made changes to the universe in order to trigger a big crunch followed by a new big bang with physics more to thir own liking.

See also Azimov's "The Gods Themselves".

Also; "The Last Question" by the same author. Its a short story with a similar premise.

The Xeelee Sequence deals with similarly ambitious plans for the universe.

first thing i thought of too. really amazing book, though i think book 2 was the best of the three.

> Could the curled up dimensions string theory postulates be actually be another consequence of powerful entities doing wide-scale manipulation of the universe?

So what you are saying is that there is a chance Godlike beings with advanced mastery over physics could exist?

Godlike power is a function of technology and what the universe allows. The universe allows for splitting atoms, and thus we've packaged that ability into a bomb that's l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶L̶a̶n̶g̶h̶o̶r̶n̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶R̶a̶k̶u̶r̶a̶i̶ a bigger direct display of power than almost anything the God of the Bible did post deluge.

Or consider we've fucked up the climate change problem and Earth suffers from runaway global warming. We all die. 500 years from now, an alien probe from Proxima Centauri passes through the Solar System. The aliens would see Earth and wonder how a Venus-like planet formed in (what we call) a habitable zone. Maybe they'd end up reconsidering their models of planetary evolution ("Surely it couldn't be aliens", they'd say, "that's ridiculous! There's no proof of other life out there except our own!").

Maybe the wide-scale manipulation of what we today consider fundamental physics is possible. Surely, a lot of popularly accepted sci-fi technologies would be able to do that if one would follow them to their obvious conclusions at scale (one shovel can dig you a ditch; a thousand shovels will dig you a great canal). And if it is possible, what's to say it hasn't already happened?

> Godlike power is a function of technology and what the universe allows.

Your comment reminded me of Author C. Clarke's third law:

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke's_three_laws

If you read the article, you'd notice that this reference is made in one of the first few sentences.

Note that Venus is in what we call a habitable zone.

So is Mars.

Thanks for the correction! I hope the general intent of my example is still somewhat clear though.

We should send carbon sequestration probes and contaminate it with life.