Question

[Sinister Intents]

Why does the universe even exist? How is any of this even possible? How can something come from nothing? Why shouldn't everything just not exist? Why is anything anything? What would create the big bang? What happens when the universe ends?

[The Jay]

It exists because the Rock says so.

[Sinister Intents]

It exists because the Rock says so.

The Rock exists unlike god at least, but how am I sure I exist outside of seemingly perceiving and others perceiving me?

[RedWorker]

The Rock exists unlike god at least, but how am I sure I exist outside of seemingly perceiving and others perceiving me?

You think therefore you exist. I think the notion that oneself does not exist is ridiculous, but I've asked myself many times what you've wrote in the OP.

[The Intransigent Faction]

Since you posted this in the Sciences and Environment forum, I'm assuming you're looking for more of a "hard science" answer than a philosophical one (as in the earlier 'meaning of life' thread).

Either way, we don't know. That's almost definitely not the answer you're looking for, but it's the honest one. The most advanced scientific theories, though, suggest that (this) universe exists because of a perfect storm of conditions which occurred in at least one rare instance in an unimaginably vast space. As "unlikely" as those conditions are, they don't suggest some hidden purpose any more than someone winning the lottery should think it was rigged in their favour just because the odds against them were so high.

[RedWorker]

The most advanced scientific theories, though, suggest that (this) universe exists because of a perfect storm of conditions which occurred in at least one rare instance in an unimaginably vast space. As "unlikely" as those conditions are, they don't suggest some hidden purpose any more than someone winning the lottery should think it was rigged in their favour just because the odds against them were so high.

The question is not how probable it is, the question is how come the "point zero" of the universe contained such elements which could result in such a storm of conditions? Or can something be created from the nothing? Or is this kind of thought not applicable here?

[The Jay]

The Rock exists unlike god at least, but how am I sure I exist outside of seemingly perceiving and others perceiving me?

Your consciousness arises out of the chemical reactions in the brain. I guess that you could call it an emergent property of neural networks but I'm no neurologist. You do not exist as a thing, but things allow you to exist. Fire is just really hot gas that glows. You cannot have fire with one reaction, only millions. You are fire.

[Sinister Intents]

Can something literally come from nothing? We exist but why even at all? There is no point

[The Intransigent Faction]

The question is not how probable it is, the question is how come the "point zero" of the universe contained such elements which could result in such a storm of conditions?

Yeah, it is, because probability is absolutely relevant to that question (if you're talking about current answers to that question as you put it, you won't be able to avoid probabilities). Sorry if it's somehow unclear but I don't see another way to put it.

[BIXX]

You think therefore you exist. I think the notion that oneself does not exist is ridiculous, but I've asked myself many times what you've wrote in the OP.


You presume that what thinks, exists. That does not necessarily have to be true.

[The Intransigent Faction]

Can something literally come from nothing?

According to some physicists, yes.


We exist but why even at all? There is no point.

Yeah, we just do.
"Why?" is a question you could ask ad-infinitum.

[Sinister Intents]

According to some physicists, yes.



Yeah, we just do.
"Why?" is a question you could ask ad-infinitum.

What're links since I can't really search? I have to know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Slippers]

Why does the universe even exist? How is any of this even possible? How can something come from nothing? Why shouldn't everything just not exist? Why is anything anything? What would create the big bang? What happens when the universe ends?

Nobody knows. Or, at least I don't.

It's wild. It really is.

[bcbm]

Why does the universe even exist?
one membrane bumped another and exploded our world into existence


How is any of this even possible?

its structured by certain laws but 'where it comes from' in an ultimate sense isn't known


How can something come from nothing?

maybe there never was nothing


Why shouldn't everything just not exist?

chance


Why is anything anything?

chance


What would create the big bang?

two membranes colliding


What happens when the universe ends?

do you mean past the edge or timewise? past the edge is eventually perhaps some sort of shell of the membrane, but it could just be infinite nothingness. timewise everything just gets real cold and stops.

[BIXX]

maybe there never was nothing


Maybe there still is nothing.

[Red Economist]

Why does the universe even exist? How is any of this even possible? How can something come from nothing? Why shouldn't everything just not exist? Why is anything anything? What would create the big bang? What happens when the universe ends?

Does the Universe have to chose whether it exists or is it's existence objective of our choice? You're ascribing the property of conscious choice to matter- which does not automatically possess consciousness. consciousness is a property of the brain- which is a very special organization of matter, in that electrical signals become 'thoughts'.

Think about it- is there a difference between existence and non-existence, or is the difference between them really something we see in our heads, not in the external world.

I'm loath to go against scientific opinion as I respect scientists and recognize that they have spent years on these subjects, but in the Soviet Union that idea that 'something came from nothing' caused headaches for Soviet Scientists, especially in regards the idea of the origin of the universe coming from the 'big bang' because it conflicted with party dogmas. They tried their best to fit dialectical materialism with the big bang- but honestly the idea of effect without cause is problematic for Marxists. The same goes with Quantum Mechanics because it also proposed a similar breakdown of causality. In both cases, it leaves a space for an original cause or 'prime mover' (i.e. God) and this has been a problem for atheists.
On a purely 'intuitive' level, my hunch is there's something wrong with the idea of the big bang and quantum mechanics- and that they've gone too abstract by replacing logic and mathematics and not openly admitting it's a philosophical problem, not just a scientific one. But I'm reluctant to put my 'hunch' up against the scientific consensus, even thought it is more comforting to believe something came from something. So I'm on the side of the ignorance of my own dogmas on this one if only for my sanity and my atheism.

[The Intransigent Faction]

What're links since I can't really search? I have to know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/sep/02/stephen-hawking-big-bang-creator

[JahLemon]

Can something literally come from nothing? We exist but why even at all? There is no point
I think that the laws governing the universe at the beginning of, or possibly before, the big bang may have been different, so things such as causation may not have existed.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

The "Big Bang" is simply a state of high temperature and density in the early universe, chiefly important for nucleosynthesis. Classical extrapolations from that state end in singularities - this was proven to be the case by Penrose and Hawking - but we know that classical physics breaks down at the temperatures and densities involved.

If there is an initial point in spacetime, asking what came before it or caused it is like asking what is south of the South Pole. Nothing, not in the sense that the South Pole is north of some sort of void, but in the sense that the question makes no real sense.

Hawking's proposal is his pet theory that he pushes in popular works, but it doesn't work as advertised. In fact a QFT vaccum is emphatically not nothing, it has quite a bit of structure and is able to do a lot of interesting things (in addition to being a bit arbitrary).