Why is there something rather than nothing? By 'something' I include space and time themselves, not just things that exist within them.
I don't know.
Nobody does.
Nobody ever will – any explanation would utilise logic and laws of physics, both of which are 'something' and so the explanation would be bootstrapping.
Positing 'god' doesn't get around the question – the posited god is a 'something', and raises far more questions than it answers.
So get over it – accept that there are unknowable things and don't be scared by it.
10 comments:
gods aside, we are all at the mercy of a little thing called fate. most of us know this, a few of us get sidelined with religion or anarchy, but we are a fatalistic species. we are all nihilists really, and lies aside, all of us know the true nature of our being. there is no hope for us, we dont even try =)
NO!
there is no fate. there are no gods meddling in our lives.
you have free will and you are responsible for your life and your actions. don't be a spineless cop-out. only people who want to be sheep try to absolve themselves of responsibility for their own lives and believe in fate/god etc.
We have something rather than nothing because the state of nothing is unstable. It's that simple!
i think free will is relative. I don't believe in it in any meaningful way. The strong can easily talk about free will.
But it's not a cop-out to accept the reality.
'only people who want to be sheep try to absolve themselves of responsibility for their own lives and believe in fate/god etc.'
i believe in fate on a biological level, certainly. But i don't believe in a god. Besides, believing in an abrahamic god specifically means you can't also believe in fate - the two don't go together since god supposedly gave us 'free will.' This is getting complicated...
anon - that's a nice soundbite from some current theoretical physicists... but the framework in which the nothingness is unstable is something, is it not? I'll not pretend to have read the paper they published but I am a professional physiscist and I know that this particular theory is one that has not made any testable predictions that have been verified.
notme - my views on free will are also a bit confused. there have been some very interesting experiments with sensors attached to measure brain impulses. the subjects are asked to make a decision and it is found that the unconscious makes the decision and then passes it to the conscious; i.e. the scientists know what the decision is before the subject is conscious of having made the decision. this doesn't mean there is such a thing as fate though. that is just superstition, but does form part of a new religion i've been formulating ;)
I've always taken a standpoint of , just because we don't or can't know the explaination for something, that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. It doesn't make things miracles of god (For all intents and purposes I'm athiest), we just don't have the knowledge, science, or technolgoy to find the answer... yet.
It does pose an interesting question when it comes to the Conservation Laws of physics. If nothing is created or destroyed, only changes form, where DID the original forms come from? Clearly there is form now (matter, energy, momentum, etc) but if you assume everything has an origin, how did these things come into being? It's a very interesting thought.
Res, I know that experiment. I posted a link to an article on free will a few days ago on SW.
The experiment just reflected what I already felt on the subject. The analysts say the issue isn't whether it exists or not, but whether people believe it does. Apparently, knowledge of this discovery may increase levels of apathy and I quote, 'sociopathy,' but I don't know if I agree that it would. After all, what the tests show is that by definition, we don't control our apathy, so they've totally contradicted themselves in the same article. LOL.
i almost missed that part. You've been formulating a new religion? Oh God! Not another one...
Hmm, i'd like to know more about this nonetheless.
oh you were joking. Oh my god i'm so aspie today. :)
you've raised my incentive to complete a post on my new religion. enjoy :p
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