The reasons presented in favor of a mathematical universe read somewhat like rehashed arguments used by deists&#x2F;theists.<p>&gt; For something to be physical it must be present at some time and place within the universe, and for something to be abstract it must exist outside of space and time.<p>No. He is redefining words here. &#x27;Physical&#x27; is not usually defined as &quot;exists in space and time&quot;. Abstract thoughts or concepts do not exist outside of space and time. Abstract thoughts are the results of the modeling capabilities of brains and exist very much in the physical world. It isn&#x27;t even known whether &quot;existing outside of space and time&quot; is a coherent concept.<p>&gt; but if the universe is a mathematical object, it needs no creator (on Platonism at least),<p>Firstly, this is the Kalam argument all over again. It isn&#x27;t clear at all that the Universe <i>needs</i> a beginning or whether the &#x27;beginning of the Universe&#x27; is a coherent concept at all.<p>Secondly, even assuming mathematical platonism is true, and even if &#x27;creation&#x27; was a prerequisite for the universe,  mathematical platonism has no construct to go from &#x27;describing a universe&#x27; to &#x27;creating a universe&#x27;. That seems to be quite an important thing to miss.<p>&gt; Our universe is fine-tuned because it is one which has the ability to support conscious thought selected from an infinite multitude of mathematical structures, most of which are lifeless.<p>This is very problematic. Once you start thinking about &quot;different mathematics&quot;, you lose all foundations upon which you can reason. Logic does not work anymore. Even if it were true at all, no human could possibly have meaningful thoughts about it. Besides, if we abandon the concept of our &#x27;mathematical structures&#x27; in other universes, what do the words true and false itself even mean?<p>There&#x27;s lots of handwaving with (very) incoherent concepts and dubious logic in this post to make the argument for a mathematical universe.