I read a hypothetical argument a long time ago which can be adapted to suggest there is meaning to the whole universe (or at least, everything in it) moving.
Imagine a world in which particles move around under some laws of physics rather similar to our own, except that there is a rare and unusual phenomenon. Occasionally a particle blinks a special color twice, and then gets an impulse moving it in a certain direction. It gets “kicked” in effect by some unknown force, and the kick is preceded by this blinking.
More rarely, this happens to several particles at once. They all blink in unison, and then they all get the same kick in the same direction.
Even more rarely, an odd exception happens. All the particles in the universe blink, but then nothing happens. There is no kick.
Now there are two possible explanations here. One is that whenever a particle blinks, it gets a kick in some direction. The other is that when a particle blinks, it gets a kick, except if all the particles in the universe blink, they don’t get a kick.
The first explanation is simpler, and as argued in earlier discussions here might well be preferred. However it seems to require us to consider it meaningful that the whole universe (or, again, all the particles in it) got a kick in some direction and so presumably there is some sense in which it is meaningful to consider the state of motion of the whole universe.
The point is that even though such motion is unobservable, if an explanation of the universe is simpler in Bayesian terms if it permits discussion of such motion than if it excludes it, that explanation might be preferred. Hence we should not exclude possible elements of reality simply because they are epiphenomenal. The better guide is theoretical simplicity.
Even if you assume the centre of mass of the universe to stay fixed, if all particles in the universe except one blinked, then you would see the one particle that didn’t blink being kicked the opposite direction; if half the particles in the universe blinked, you would see those which blinked being kicked at half the speed, and those which didn’t being kicked at half the speed in the opposite direction, etc. So it’s not like the case when all particles blink is the only special one.
I read a hypothetical argument a long time ago which can be adapted to suggest there is meaning to the whole universe (or at least, everything in it) moving.
Imagine a world in which particles move around under some laws of physics rather similar to our own, except that there is a rare and unusual phenomenon. Occasionally a particle blinks a special color twice, and then gets an impulse moving it in a certain direction. It gets “kicked” in effect by some unknown force, and the kick is preceded by this blinking.
More rarely, this happens to several particles at once. They all blink in unison, and then they all get the same kick in the same direction.
Even more rarely, an odd exception happens. All the particles in the universe blink, but then nothing happens. There is no kick.
Now there are two possible explanations here. One is that whenever a particle blinks, it gets a kick in some direction. The other is that when a particle blinks, it gets a kick, except if all the particles in the universe blink, they don’t get a kick.
The first explanation is simpler, and as argued in earlier discussions here might well be preferred. However it seems to require us to consider it meaningful that the whole universe (or, again, all the particles in it) got a kick in some direction and so presumably there is some sense in which it is meaningful to consider the state of motion of the whole universe.
The point is that even though such motion is unobservable, if an explanation of the universe is simpler in Bayesian terms if it permits discussion of such motion than if it excludes it, that explanation might be preferred. Hence we should not exclude possible elements of reality simply because they are epiphenomenal. The better guide is theoretical simplicity.
Even if you assume the centre of mass of the universe to stay fixed, if all particles in the universe except one blinked, then you would see the one particle that didn’t blink being kicked the opposite direction; if half the particles in the universe blinked, you would see those which blinked being kicked at half the speed, and those which didn’t being kicked at half the speed in the opposite direction, etc. So it’s not like the case when all particles blink is the only special one.