Comment by l33tman

This is far from the truth in particle physics. The symmetries we've found there (together with the Lorentz symmetry from special relativity) guides and constrains the math very strongly, to the degree that it allows you to predict the photon and the other force-carrying particles, and it even allowed predicting the existence and mass of the weak force carriers (discussed in the article) along with the Higgs mechanism that gives masses to them and most of the other particles. This is certainly a triumph of the Standard Model.

There are limits to how much you can do though, I mean at some point it's going to be "just math that fits reality". If you try to enumerate the number of mechanisms and realities that could give a decent enough diversity of composition that life can arise in some form, there's going to be more than our universe possible.