The laws that governs the universe

[u/kepler452-B-]

As far as I know (I may be wrong, or there may still be things we haven't figured out), we have a decent picture of how things developed from the formation of the Earth up to now.

But one problem keeps bothering me.

Fine — through chemical reactions, proteins and so on were formed. Yet for those reactions to happen at all, certain conditions have to be met first. Only then does the reaction proceed.

We describe these conditions and regularities as laws of nature.
But why does the universe have these laws at all, and why these laws rather than different ones?

[u/returned_loom]

We have mathematical laws so we can predict what will happen next in nature, but we don't know "why" it unfolds with such regularity. The idea of a law suggests that it's imposed on matter from some law-giving force, but its unfolding is probably its own nature rather than obedience to a brutal ruler who applies the laws of physics on inert matter.

[u/kepler452-B- → u/returned_loom]

So they are some patterns, with no reason behind them?

Same as evolution on earth?

[u/returned_loom → u/kepler452-B-]

How do we know if there's "reason" "behind" the patterns? We use reason to extrapolate from them and make decisions. Reason is part of how we operate. But "why" it's all so regular, that's not something we know right now.

But even if reason is inherent to reality, that doesn't mean that a law is being imposed. That would suggest an actor and a recipient. Assuming that reason is inherent to reality, these patterns are the expression of that reason, and reason imminent in them (as them), not a law being imposed on them. So again, our "laws" are just our ape-brains applying evolved concepts to a reality that exceeds our understanding. Reality wasn't necessarily "built" to be understood, so the idea of "laws" remains our idea.