Why is there anything? (Introduction)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Saturday, December 24, 2011, 15:22 (4696 days ago) @ David Turell

Took a little time to navigate to the right place, but this set of lines is the first time I've seen the "Why is there something" question valid.

"I freely admit that this question appears to make perfect sense. This means the material universe is “contingent,” as philosophers put it, meaning it is “not necessary”—it did not, so far as we can tell, simply have to exist. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask why it does in fact exist. Or, at least, it sure seems like we have every right to ask that question—and to expect that there is an answer to it, however hard it may be for us to discover what the answer is."

Emphasis added.

My initial thoughts are: There's two possible states for the universe, to exist, or not to exist. And insofar as our equations describing the Big Bang are correct, it is absolutely certain that *A* universe would exist.

The real question is thus, in my mind, not "Why is there something," but "Why isn't there nothing?"

I know enough about how they work these simulations to know that a firm answer to that question via science doesn't exist. The fact that a universe containing carbon chemistry can exist without one of the four fundamental forces... This is why last summer I stated that we spend far too much time trying to study universe models similar to our own and not enough studying the aberrations.

If we want an answer to this question, we need to open our minds up and study aberrant universes.

I find myself very much in the same mind as Barham in that defense.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"