Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Georges Quenot
Norman Samish wrote: Why is there something rather than nothing? When I heard that Famous Question, I did not assume that nothing was describable - because, if it was, it would not be nothing. I don't think of nothing as an empty bitstring - I think of it as the absence of a bitstring

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Stephen Paul King
Hi Norman, - Original Message - From: Norman Samish [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: everything-list@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 12:14 AM Subject: Why is there something rather than nothing? Why is there something rather than nothing? When I heard that Famous Question, I did

Re: Unprovable Physical Truths and Unwinnable Arguments

2006-03-06 Thread John M
George: Thanks for this delightful story (..ies?) I met Chaitin once for a brief chat and did not like him: he was too sharp for me (though very friendly). His quoted idea is something I will keep to use it against closed-minded physicists (or provide it to open-minded wifes of them). John

Re: Unprovable Physical Truths and Unwinnable Arguments

2006-03-06 Thread Norman Samish
Gentlemen: George Levy's moral is correct. George's encounter with his wife reminds me of a similar encounter with my wife. I told her, "Some people feel that there is something rather than nothing because everything can be represented by strings of numbers, and numbers must exist. Do

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread John M
Hi, Stephen, when I first made the mistake of barging int ontology I started from Nothingness and continued: once it becomes aware of it's nonexistence it starts to exist and realizing its emptyness it became Somethingness. I had a good laugh. Since then (~1990?) I don't think in so smart

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Brent Meeker
Stephen Paul King wrote: Hi Norman, - Original Message - From: Norman Samish [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: everything-list@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 12:14 AM Subject: Why is there something rather than nothing? Why is there something rather than nothing? When I

RE: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread John Ross
Kris Kristofferson sings, Nothing ain't worth nothing but its free. -Original Message- From: everything-list@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brent Meeker Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 10:36 AM To: everything-list@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Why is there something

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread John M
Kim, you described an epigon (I suppose) It happened in the 20s at an 'avant-guard' performance that the pianist walked in with a big hatchet and chopped the piano to pieces, then took a bow and left. (I did not call that a concert). People like to expect what they are used to. John --- Kim

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Benjamin Udell
Norman, Stephen, Brent, list Why is there something rather than nothing? When I heard that Famous Question, I did not assume that nothing was describable - because, if it was, it would not be nothing. I don't think of nothing as an empty bitstring - I think of it as the absence of a

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Norman Samish
Thanks to all who replied to my question. This question has bothered me for years, and I have hopes that some progress can be made towards an answer. I've heard some interesting concepts, including: (1) "Numbers must exist, therefore 'something' must exist." (2) "Something exists because

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread John M
OK, Norman, here is my challenge to your 'new' question to answer without retrospection or self-reference: Why do we speculate? And don't you speculate too long on the answer. John M --- Norman Samish [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks to all who replied to my question. This question

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Brent Meeker
--- Kim Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Somebody once wrote a piece of music which in fact involved not writing a piece of music at all. The score of the piece merely instructs the pianist to sit down, open the lid of the piano and wait out a period of 4' 33 then close the piano lid

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Dominic Tarr
well, john cage is a musician who people talk about a great deal more than listen to Somebody once wrote a piece of music which in fact involved not writing a piece of music at all. The score of the piece merely instructs the pianist to sit down, open the lid of the piano and wait out a

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Georges Quénot
Norman Samish wrote: Thanks to all who replied to my question. This question has bothered me for years, and I have hopes that some progress can be made towards an answer. I've heard some interesting concepts, including: (1) Numbers must exist, therefore 'something' must exist. (2)

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Benjamin Udell
I think that an alternative that deserves more consideration than it usually gets (though I don't embrace it, I just consider it), is the idea that existence, though not contradictory, is a non sequitur -- that there's something brute arbitrary about it. Some people hold the view that others

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Brent Meeker
Benjamin Udell wrote: In standard first-order logic, the phrase everything exists would be taken to trivially mean “that, that is, is, or the like. Is there a way to say it in a non-trivial sense in first-order logic at all? Is it an idea that can be logically expressed at that basic level?

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Benjamin Udell
Of course, it's supposed to be confusing, one is supposed to ponder it in its aporia. I didn't consider a naming operator. Objectual quantification, which I've taken Quine at his word that it's the standard kind, does not require that everything in the variable's range be indicable, able to

Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Roger Granet
Hi. I've been reading the postings of this group for awhile but haven't yet posted anything on my own. However, the question of Why is there something rather than nothing? is of interest to me, so, if you're interested here are my thoughts. Overall, my answer to the question of why is

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Hal Ruhl
The question contains its own answer. The Nothing, the Everything [the All as I call it], and various Somethings are not mutually exclusive but rather they are simultaneous. Hal Ruhl --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed

Re: Why is there something rather than nothing?

2006-03-06 Thread Kim Jones
But your 20s avant guardist actually *did* something in relation to his act! My pianist just sits there. There's a difference, don't you think? In your case something is given, in my case nothing is. There is no mystery in your case. The mystery in mine is why some people thought they had