Phil said:

>Sagan took this idea one step further speculating in Sci-Fi that the
>constructors of this universe embedded codes in physical constants like pi.

I'm a Sagan skeptic (I think he was over rated). However this is an interesting concept. If the universe was an artifact then it is reasonable the Creator would leave a serial number or designer's logo in one of the physical constants, e.g. the speed-of-light, Planck's constant., Boltzmann's constant, etc. However I don't think Pi is open to manipulation even by a "God". This raises a more fundamental question: Which is more basic, physics or mathematics? If one could show that physics is more basic than mathematics then Pi is something that a "God" could play with. However the counter argument is that a "God" must operate under a set of rules and those rules could be described by mathematics. This gets in the subject of metamathematics and the fundamental nature of "being", etc. I've tried to meditate on this problem more than once. I always end up in an "infinite goto loop" and give up. Some problems are just too hard.

Gary