Why is there anything at all? (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, June 09, 2008, 01:46 (6010 days ago) @ George Jelliss


> The second premise, that every effect has a cause, is the questionable one. According to quantum theory an event does not need a cause. It can just happen. The universe can appear as a "fluctuation in the void". This does not violate the law of conservation of energy, since the positive energy tied up in matter is balanced by the negative potential energy of the expanding universe, the total remains zero.
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 It is simpler to suppose that the universe just appeared, out of nothing, because nothing is an unstable state; it only takes a small change and you have something.
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> What I'm not sure of with this argument is whether the "nothing" from which the universe came is the same as philosophical "nothingness" or is some sort of physical "void". Can they be identified as the same? Victor J. Stenger in his books, such as "God the failed hypothesis" seems to do this. 
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> An alternative view is that the universe is everything that exists, - By definition Stenger is wrong. Our space is a froth of quantum potential particles. We only know our space and can only describe our space. Our space can trigger quantum events. What if the universe is all there is and appeared out of nothing. What is the universe expanded into? That would be an absolute void in which there is by definition nothing, no quanta to be potential, and that would certainly be true if our universe 'is everything that exists'. - It is not as simple as Stenger and George make it seem.