Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

[Bruno Marchal]

Hi Roger,

On 23 Sep 2011, at 07:37, Roger Granet wrote:

Bruno,

    Hi.  Yes, I am pretty much a materialist/physicalist.

So, you cannot defend the idea that the brain (or whatever responsible  
for our consciousness) is Turing emulable. OK?




When people say that there are these mathematical truths, platonic  
ideals, etc. that exist somewhere, I always say: Show me where they  
are.  Point them out now.



Mathematical truth is in the mind of persons. And assuming we are  
machine, mathematical truth is in the mind of numbers relatively to  
numbers.
Of course we have to assume all elementary arithmetical truth, like  
"17 is prime". Do you doubt them?

To ask that a number should be somewhere is a category error. Numbers  
are not space-time object. It means also that you assume space and  
time, which is a more complex notion than numbers.

I might ask you where is the physical universe, or where is time,  
where is space. Those are very useful local notion, but to reify them  
appears to be a gross extrapolation from our sensations. And besides,  
if the brain works like a machine (at some level), then I can explain  
why space and time emerges in the mind of some special relative numbers.





So, while nobody can disprove the existence of these things, we  
can't really do much with them either it seems to me.  There just  
more of the things people claim to exist but can provide no evidence  
for.  However, I admit that I can also never directly prove my ideas  
about what used to be called "non-existence" because no person or  
minds would be present there.  All we can do is use our unprovable,  
but hopefully logical, hypotheses to build internally consistent  
models that are consistent with known facts and that eventually can  
make testable predictions.   This is where I want to work towards  
because otherwise, it's all just talk.

OK. But then you have to build a sufficiently precise theory, so that  
we can criticize it. The problem with nothingness is that it is, a  
priori, just a word, indeed, and to make it precise requires some  
theory. For example, the quantum vacuum needs the quantum theory. The  
empty set needs set theory, 0 needs number theory, etc.




    In regards to consciousness, I feel pretty much the same.   
Consciousness is just the output of all the neurons, neural  
circuits, ion gradients, etc. in your brain.

This is extremely ambiguous. But from the UDP (the universal  
dovetailer proof), or UDA UD Argument, either the neurons, neural  
circuits, ion gradients, etc. in your brain, are Turing emulable, and  
in this case physicalism is refuted, or there are not, in which case  
you are developing a non mechanist theory (which is something I  
respect, although I expect such theories to be very complex one, and  
quite different from everything we know from observation and logic).



 Again, if it's something else, I'd say: Show me where this  
consciousness/mind is that's not in the brain.

It belongs, assuming mechanism, to the infinite number relations that  
you can derive from addition and multiplication alone.




My views may be colored by my job as a biochemist, though.  But, I'm  
guessing that most people in science may feel this way.

Most people in science, both atheists and christians, take Aristotle  
theology for granted, or are just influenced bu it, without really  
knowing. The only progress for Platonist theologians is that instead  
of being burned alive or bannished, they are just ignored. I'm not  
even sure that it is a progress, actually. To be sure I am not talking  
about my own work, which has been verified by courageous scientists,  
---I have been lucky, but on the whole history since the closure of  
Plato Academy in Athena (about 500 after JC).
What does not help today is the abyssal gap between the logicians and  
the physicists.




    For trying to think of why there is something rather than  
nothing, I don't think there can be any postulated conscious  
observer other than some physical property intrinsic to whatever  
existent state we're considering.  Otherwise, that doesn't explain  
where the observer comes from.

I am afraid you are begging the question by assuming something  
physical. Where does *that* come from. What is it.
Mechanism can explain were both matter/space/time, and subjectivity  
arise come from. They are derived from the addition and
multiplication laws of natural numbers. The origin is not direct, nor  
physical in any sense, but is made possible by the self-referential  
ability that some numbers display. The details of that explanation  
needs some amount of theoretical computer science. But the argument  
showing the incompatibility of mechanism and weak materialism (the  
doctrine saying that primitive matter exists) is accessible to anyone  
with enough patience + a passive understanding of Church thesis.
You might try to understand the 8 steps proof given here:
http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/publications/SANE2004MARCHALAbstract.html



    Thanks.

You are welcome,

Bruno


From: Bruno Marchal <marc...@ulb.ac.be>
To: everything-list@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:02 PM
Subject: Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

Roger,

Your theory is still physicalism in disguise. You can't explain  
consciousness from that.
I will ask you what is your theory of consciousness, before giving  
more detail on this.

Your notion of 'nothing' is vague.

You might dig a little bit on mathematical logic: it has been proved  
that if you don't postulate the natural numbers, then you cannot  
derive the existence of them. So, unless you defend a form of  
physical ultrafinitism, your theory cannot account for the existence  
of 1, 2, 3, ... (and thus of digital machine and their belief).  
Actually I don't think your theory can derive the number 1.
A bit more below.



> Jon,
>
>    Hi.  Thanks for the feedback.  The empty set as the building  
block
> of existence is exactly the point I as making in my original posting
> that started this thread.  What you're referring to as the empty  
set,
> I was referring to as how what has previously been called absolute
> "non-existence" or "nothing" completely describes, or defines, the
> entirety of what is present and is thus an existent state, or
> something. This existent state of mine is what others would call the
> empty set.  The reason this is worth thinking about is because just
> saying that the empty set is the basis of existence doesn't explain
> why that empty set is there in the first place.  This is what I was
> trying to get at.  Additionally, there has to be some mechanism
> inherent in this existent state previously referred to as absolute
> "non-existence" (ie, the empty set) that allows it to replicate  
itself
> and produce the universe, energy, etc. This is needed because it
> appears that there's more to the universe than just a single empty
> existent state and that things are moving around.  What I  
suggested in
> the paper at my website was that:
>
> 1. Assume what has previously been called "absolute non-existence".

This is already unclear by itself. Words like "absolute", "non" and  
"existence" assume a lot.


>
> 2. This "absolute non-existence" itself, and not our mind's  
conception
> of "non-existence", completely describes, or defines, the entirety  
of
> what is there and is thus actually an existent state, or  
"something".

Why? You need some observer of that "absolute non-existence" to get  
a definition of what is there. You are using implicitly the  
reflection axiom of set theory (at this stage you have already a  
theory equivalent with (N, +).


> This complete definition is equivalent to an edge or boundary  
defining
> what is present and thus giving "substance" or existence to the the
> thing.

In your mind only. You go from nothing to the empty set (which is  
not nothing). At the meta level you go from { } to { { } }. So you  
are using again the reflection principle (which is a very strong  
axiom). Without using some explicit axioms, the passage from { } to  
{ { } } needs some brain or universal machine at the meta-level.


> This complete definition, edge, or boundary is like the curly
> braces around the empty set.

Yes, but the ability to put a boundary around what we comprehend is  
a non trivial mind mechanism. Brains (people) and Turing machine  
(the 1-person linked to it) can do that, but not an empty set by  
itself. You are using a rich metalevel to justify a less rich level,  
but your theory needs both the level and the metalevel.


>
> 3. Now, by the assumption in step 1, there is also "absolute non-
> existence" all around the edge of the existent state formed in step
> 2.  This "absolute non-existence" also completely describes, or
> defines the entirety of what is there and is thus also an existent
> state.  That is, the first existent state has reproduced itself.  I
> think that the existenet state that is what has been previously  
called
> "absolute non-existence" has the unique property of being able to
> reproduce itself.

It needs some mind or machine, to do the reflection.


>
> 4. This process continues ad infinitum

Where does that infinitum comes suddenly from? You are assuming the  
natural numbers, like you assume the finite sets above (or  
equivalently the reflection principle).



> in kind of a cellular automaton-
> like process to form in a big bang-like expansion a larger set of
> existent states - our universe.
>
>    This is described in more detail in the paper at my website at:
>
> 
https://sites.google.com/site/ralphthewebsite/filecabinet/why-things-exist-something-nothing
>
> There's also some more detail on how the above process can lead to  
the
> presence of energy in the universe.

You reinvent naïve set theory. It would help you to formalize your  
idea so that you can compare it with others.


>
>    Tegmark's assumption of a mathematical construct as the basis of
> our existence doesn't explain where this construct comes from or how
> it reproduces to form the universe.

Without assuming the natural numbers, you just cannot get them.



> Wheeler's idea that the
> distinction between the observer and the observed could be the
> mechanism of giving existence to non-existence could be fit into my
> idea, I think, by saying that the observed is what has previously  
been
> called "absolute non-existence", and the observer is the fact that
> this "absolute non-existence" completely defines the entirety of  
what
> is present

It can't.
Also, Wheeler's idea can be phenomenologically retrieved in the  
Everett many-worlds view of the quantum, which itself can be  
extracted from arithmetic if you assume that the brain works like a  
natural machine. Wheeler seems to have come back to that multiverse  
idea.
You might take benefits by using what people already agree on in  
this list. Look at my answer to jon (nihil).

Bruno


> and is like the edge or boundary defining what is there.
> Speculating even further, one could say that this edge or boundary  
is
> the same as the strings/membranes that physicists think make up the
> universe.
>
>    Anyways, thanks again for restarting this thread!
>
>                                                              Roger
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sep 19, 2:27 am, nihil0 <jonathan.wol...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> This is my first post on the List. I find this topic fascinating  
and
>> I'm impressed with everyone's thoughts about it. I'm not sure if
>> you're aware of this, but it has been discussed on a few other
>> Everything threads.
>>
>> Norman Samish posted the following to the thread "Tipler Weighs  
In" on
>> May 16, 2005 at 9:24pm:
>>
>> "I wonder if you and/or any other members on this list have an  
opinion
>> about the validity of an article 
athttp://www.hedweb.com/nihilism/nihilfil.htm
>> . . ."
>>
>> I would like to continue that discussion here on this thread,  
because
>> I believe the article Norman cites provides a satisfying answer the
>> question "Why does anything exist?," which is very closely  
related to
>> the question "Why is there something rather than nothing." The  
author
>> is David Pearce, who is an active British philosopher.
>>
>> Here are some highlights of Pearce's answer: "In the Universe as a
>> whole, the conserved constants (electric charge, angular momentum,
>> mass-energy) add up to/cancel out to exactly zero. . . Yet why not,
>> say, 42, rather than 0? Well, if everything -- impossibly, I'm
>> guessing -- added up/cancelled out instead to 42, then 42 would  
have
>> to be accounted for. But if, in all, there is 0, i.e no (net)
>> properties whatsoever, then there just isn't anything substantive
>> which needs explaining. . . The whole of mathematics can, in
>> principle, be derived from the properties of the empty set, Ø" I  
think
>> this last sentence, if true, would support Tegmark's Mathematical
>> Universe Hypothesis, because if math is derivable from nothing (as
>> Pearce thinks) and physics is derivable from math (as Tegmark  
thinks)
>> and, then physics is derivable from nothing, and presto we have a
>> theory of everything/nothing.
>>
>> I think Pearce's conclusion is the following: everything that  
exists
>> is a property of (or function of) the number zero (i.e., the empty
>> set, nothing). Let's call this idea Ontological Nihilism.
>>
>> Russell Standish seems to endorse this idea in his book "Theory of
>> Nothing", which I'm reading. He formulates an equation for the  
amount
>> of complexity a system has, and says that "The complexity [i.e.,
>> information content] of the Everything is zero, just as it is of  
the
>> Nothing. The simplest set is the set of all possibilities, which is
>> the dual of the empty set." (pg. 40) He also suggests that Feynman
>> acknowledged something like Ontological Nihilism. In vol. 2 of his
>> lectures, Feynmann argued that the grand unified theory of physics
>> could be expressed as a function of the number zero; just rearrange
>> all physics equations so they equal zero, then add them all up.  
After
>> all, equations have to be balanced on both sides, right?
>>
>> Personally, I find Ontological Nihilism a remarkably elegant,
>> scientific and satisfying answer to the question "Why is there
>> something instead of nothing" because it effectively dissolves the
>> question. What do you think?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your comments,
>>
>> Jon
>>
>> On Aug 8, 2:40 am, Roger <roger...@yahoo.com> 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 isthere
>>> 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 istheresomething
>>> 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 istheresomething 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.  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  
istheresomething 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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