> On 6 Jan 2015, at 12:09 pm, LizR <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Sounds a bit like sophistry. The question could be rephrased 'why/how does
> anything exist?' - which is a natural continuation of the questions
> scientists have been asking for a while. If you aren't interested in why and
> how things work, then don't bother to do science.
>
> "Why is there something rather than nothing?" was just one person's choice of
> phrase. I wouldn't read too much meaning into his choice of words.
I submit the following as possible equivalent expressions:
Why is there something rather than nothing (given that nothing would be a whole
lot easier)
Why do I believe there is something (would I recognise nothing if I ran into it)
If I believe there is 'nothing' yet still encounter something, was I wrong
Would this be evidence of the co-existence of nothing and something? Dark
matter seems to do a good job of being nothing and something at the same time
Leads to all the classic kids' questions:
Why am I here
Why do I believe I am here
Why am I me and not someone else
Who or what am I
What is the meaning of life (you may perhaps substitute 'consciousness' here)
What is the purpose of life (ditto)
Why does anything make sense
Does anything make sense
Why do I think things make sense etc...
Why do conscious creatures need to know these things?
Kim
>
>
>> On 6 January 2015 at 13:43, 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> From: meekerdb <[email protected]>
>> To: [email protected]
>> Sent: Monday, January 5, 2015 4:34 PM
>> Subject: Re: Why is there something rather than nothing? From quantum theory
>> to dialectics?
>>
>>> On 1/5/2015 3:50 PM, LizR wrote:
>>> Eternal inflation seems to assume there is something because "there has
>>> always been something". However if so, it sidesteps the underlying issue -
>>> why is there this (eternal) something? The question itself - and any
>>> attempted answer - can't be answered causally.
>>
>> "Sidesteps"? or shows it's an invented issue. If there were nothing would
>> the issue be why isn't there something? Why should nothing be
>> unquestionably accepted as the default that needs no explanation?
>>
>> Nice question.
>> No easy answer jumps out as being the obvious answer either. Why the human
>> mind seems to come up with this assumption over and over again across
>> various cultures and periods of history. Why do you think humans seem to
>> accept this by and large as the default base state of everything. Could it
>> be an artifact of the way our minds work?
>> The idea of nothing as the default base state of the universe -- before God
>> (or Nature) created everything - seems quite widespread.
>> -Chris
>>
>> Brent
>>
>>
>>
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