The Universe as an Open System
Final Report Abstract
This project investigated whether the universe should be treated as an open or a closed system. In scientific practice, systems are typically considered open if they exchange energy, matter, or information with their environment, and closed if they do not. However, as Bertrand Russell (1903) already noted, all systems within the universe are subject to gravity, making full isolation impossible; only the universe as a whole might plausibly be considered closed. Despite this, we explored three compelling reasons for representing the universe as open. Our interdisciplinary project, combining philosophical, formal, and physical perspectives, assessed whether treating the universe as an open system is a mere pragmatic fiction or a defensible ontological claim. We developed new conceptual and formal tools, analysed mechanisms of openness in three key physical contexts, and showed how they interconnect via the role of epistemic agents as embedded information-processing systems. Our results support a limited but precise interpretation of cosmic openness. The project offers a novel framework for understanding the universe and our place within it as fundamentally open, in both physical and epistemic terms.
Publications
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Everett, the Informational Interpretation, and the Open Systems View, Workshop on the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Tel Aviv University, Israel (invited talk)
Cuffaro, M. & Hartmann, S.
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Reasoning in Physics: The Bayesian Approach, Einstein Lecture Series, FU Berlin, Berlin, Germany (invited lecture)
Hartmann, S.
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From the Infinite Universe to the Effective World, 14th Congress of the French Society for the History of Science, Bordeaux, France (refereed talk)
Rivat, S.
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From the Infinite Universe to the Effective World, Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für die Geschichte der Wissenschaften, der Medizin und der Technik, Ingolstadt, Germany (refereed talk)
Rivat, S.
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Ken Wilson’s Early Concept of Effective Theory, History and Philosophy of Physics Seminar, IHPST & SPHERE, Paris, France (invited talk)
Rivat, S.
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Mutually Independent Existence and the Open Systems View, European Philosophy of Science Association Meeting, Belgrade, Serbia (refereed talk)
Cuffaro, M. & Hartmann, S.
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On the Analogy between Effective and Open, Symposium Open and Closed Systems in Quantum Physics and Cosmology, Foundations2023: The 21st European Conference on Foundations of Physics, Bristol, UK (refereed talk)
Hartmann, S. & Rivat, S.
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Open Systems Across Scales, Congress of the French Society for the Philosophy of Science, Paris Nanterre University, Paris, France (refereed talk)
Rivat, S.
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The Open Systems View and the Everett Interpretation, Conference of the Society for Metaphysics of Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada (refereed talk)
Hartmann, S.
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The Open Systems View and the Everett Interpretation. Quantum Reports, 5(2), 418-425.
Cuffaro, Michael E. & Hartmann, Stephan
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The Open Systems View in Field Theory, Symposium Open and Closed Systems in Quantum Physics and Cosmology, 9th Biennial Meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association, Belgrade, Serbia (refereed talk)
Rivat, S. & Hartmann, S.
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The Open Systems View on an Informational, or (neo-)Bohrian, Approach, Foundations of Physics Conference, Bristol, UK (refereed talk)
Cuffaro, M. & Hartmann, S.
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The Principle of Complete Positivity and the Open Systems View, Workshop Principles in Physics, University of Wuppertal, Germany (invited talk)
Cuffaro, M. & Hartmann, S.
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Wait, Why Gauge?, British Society for the Philosophy of Science Annual Conference, Bristol, UK (refereed talk)
Rivat, S.
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Wait, Why Gauge?, Foundations2023: The 21st European Conference on Foundations of Physics, Bristol, UK (refereed talk)
Rivat, S.
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Wait, Why Gauge?. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
Rivat, Sébastien
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Why Discretize? Philosophical and Historical Lessons from Lattice Gauge Theories, Workshop Discreteness and Precision in Physics, IHPST, Paris, France (invited talk)
Rivat, S.
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Die Philosophie offener Quantensysteme, Workshop Quantenphysik an der Schule 2024, Heisenberg-Gesellschaft, Lautrach, Germany (invited talk)
Hartmann, S.
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Open systems across scales. Synthese, 205(1).
Rivat, Sébastien
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The Open Systems View. Philosophy of Physics, 2(1).
Cuffaro, Michael E. & Hartmann, Stephan
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The Reference of Theoretical Terms in Light of Effective Theories, Seminar Les Jeudis de l’Histoire et de la Philosophie des Sciences, ENS Ulm, Paris, France (invited talk)
Rivat, S.
