On 8/7/2011 11:40 PM, Roger wrote:
Hi. I used to post to this list but haven't in a long time. I'm a biochemist but like to think about the question of "Why is there something rather than nothing?" as a hobby. If you're interested, some of my ideas on this question and on "Why do things exist?", infinite sets and on the relationships of all this to mathematics and physics are at:https://sites.google.com/site/ralphthewebsite/ An abstract of the "Why do things exist and Why is there something rather than nothing?" paper is below. Thank you in advance for any feedback you may have. Sincerely, Roger Granet (roger...@yahoo.com) Abstract: In this paper, I propose solutions to the questions "Why do things exist?" and "Why is there something rather than nothing?" In regard to the first question, "Why do things exist?", it is argued that a thing exists if the contents of, or what is meant by, that thing are completely defined.
Things that are completely defined are mathematical abstractions: like a differentiable manifold or the natural numbers. One might even argue that an essential characteristic of things that exist is that they can have unknown properties. But perhaps I'm misreading what you mean by "defined". Maybe you just mean that things that exist either have a property or not, independent of our knowledge. So Vic either has a mole on his left side or he doesn't, even though we don't know which; whereas is makes no sense to even wonder whether Sherlock Holmes has a mole on his left side.
Brent
A complete definition is equivalent to an edge or boundary defining what is contained within and giving “substance” and existence to the thing. In regard to the second question, "Why is there something rather than nothing?", "nothing", or non-existence, is first defined to mean: no energy, matter, volume, space, time, thoughts, concepts, mathematical truths, etc.; and no minds to think about this lack-of-all. It is then shown that this non-existence itself, not our mind's conception of non-existence, is the complete description, or definition, of what is present. That is, no energy, no matter, no volume, no space, no time, no thoughts, etc., in and of itself, describes, defines, or tells you, exactly what is present. Therefore, as a complete definition of what is present, "nothing", or non-existence, is actually an existent state. So, what has traditionally been thought of as "nothing", or non-existence, is, when seen from a different perspective, an existent state or "something". Said yet another way, non-existence can appear as either "nothing" or "something" depending on the perspective of the observer. Another argument is also presented that reaches this same conclusion. Finally, this reasoning is used to form a primitive model of the universe via what I refer to as "philosophical engineering".
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