I wanted to share this article written by physicist Sean Carroll regarding one of the most fundamental questions that can be asked — why is there something, rather than nothing? I first came...
I wanted to share this article written by physicist Sean Carroll regarding one of the most fundamental questions that can be asked — why is there something, rather than nothing? I first came across this a few years back and have returned to it since for its concise summary of different answers to that question, and their relative pro's and con's. As a physicist myself, I also appreciate Carroll's ability to incorporate our current best physical understanding when it is relevant to the question, which is something that can be lacking in other contexts.
I would be curious to discuss with anyone who takes the time to read. This has really informed a lot of my thoughts on the topic, and I was reminded of it in responding to some comments in this fun thread on apologetics for theism that was posted a week or two ago.
For a more philosophical approach, I highly recommend "Heidegger: An Introduction by Richard Polt" to explore this exact question. To dig in further, it is very reasonable to ask "Why does the...
For a more philosophical approach, I highly recommend "Heidegger: An Introduction by Richard Polt" to explore this exact question.
To dig in further, it is very reasonable to ask "Why does the universe exist at all?" from a physics perspective.
But you can get even more granular when reflecting on your conscious experience and be like "Why does anything exist at all? Why am I experiencing this experience at this very moment?".
I had these sorts of thoughts a lot throughout my childhood, but recently I have had a very visceral internal experience of "Why the hell is this happening at all?". Nothing I write can communicate this internalization, but it does shake your sense of self and reality quite a bit.
Questioning my conscious subjective experience is such a deep rabbit hole to fall into. When I stare at the sky, I'm aware that I'm looking at an incomprehensible void. But it's still somewhat...
Questioning my conscious subjective experience is such a deep rabbit hole to fall into. When I stare at the sky, I'm aware that I'm looking at an incomprehensible void. But it's still somewhat easy to come up with reasons and theories as to why that exists.
But when I turn inwards... Things quickly fall apart. Having this conscious experience is a very strange phenomenon. How does it make sense? How can you rationalize it? What reason does it have to exist in its current form?
Having dabbled with psychedelics, I know that consciousness can "feel" immensely different. So why did mine settle on its current qualities? Why does, apparently, every living being have the same type of subjective experience? Sure, ours is more complicated than a rat's, but I believe that fundamentally they share the same "core".
Both we and a rat share the same basic reactions, instincts and needs. We perceive stimuli and the environment. We recognize predators.
You can come up with reasons for why consciousness exists. The main one, I think, is that it makes life more fit for surviving, spreading, adapting.
But why do we get to experience it in its current form? Why experience it at all? When you smash a wall, it "knows" how to fall and break apart. Of course, it doesn't possess any knowledge; physics takes care of it. So why isn't consciousness like that as well? What's the need for it to be experiencing itself?
It's a very strange topic to ponder. Whenever I focus my awareness on this, everything starts to feel absurd and nonsensical. And it becomes slightly amusing to witness the world around me, and every living being who is not aware of this paradox.
The concept of a 'nothing' only exists in the human imagination. It has no real-world analog, there is no 'nothing' you can point at in the real world. Wherever, whenever you point, something is...
The concept of a 'nothing' only exists in the human imagination. It has no real-world analog, there is no 'nothing' you can point at in the real world. Wherever, whenever you point, something is there. Nothingness is nonphysical nonsense and it doesn't even justify the argument for why something exists in the first place. Prove the 'nothing' exists beyond 'zero apples in the basket' and we'll talk, right?
I'm rather partial to cosmological natural selection as a way of thinking about it. I wonder what role if any intelligence is destined to play in the grand scheme of things. Repetition, subtle...
I'm rather partial to cosmological natural selection as a way of thinking about it. I wonder what role if any intelligence is destined to play in the grand scheme of things. Repetition, subtle variation, what infinitely old slowly evolving pattern are we a part of here?
Great topic. From a purely philosophical perspective, I really like Alan Watts take on the subject of nothing. He argues something and nothing contrast, are inseparable and one cannot exist...
Great topic. From a purely philosophical perspective, I really like Alan Watts take on the subject of nothing. He argues something and nothing contrast, are inseparable and one cannot exist without the other. Sort of a comforting cosmic thought.
Imagine nothing but space, space, space, space with nothing in it, forever. But there you are imagining it and you're something in it. The whole idea of there being only space, and nothing else at all, is not only inconceivable but perfectly meaningless, because we always know what we mean by contrast.
We know what we mean by white in comparison with black. We know life in comparison with death. We know pleasure in comparison with pain, up in comparison with down. But all these things must come into being together. You don't have first something and then nothing or first nothing and then something. Something and nothing are two sides of the same coin. If you file away the tails side of a coin completely, the heads side of it will disappear as well. So in this sense, the positive and negative, the something and the nothing, are inseparable—they go together. The nothing is the force whereby the something can be manifested.
-Alan Watts
I'm shocked to see a project I worked on getting mentioned here! All those neurons are in visual cortex (and watched some human movies at one point). I don't have much insight on the philosophical...
I'm shocked to see a project I worked on getting mentioned here! All those neurons are in visual cortex (and watched some human movies at one point).
I don't have much insight on the philosophical question at hand, but I appreciate others are exploring the dataset.
I always had my own phylosophical or rather physical approach to this question. Our brain is neither nothing nor indefinite, so we can't comprehend these two concepts and there always has to be...
I always had my own phylosophical or rather physical approach to this question. Our brain is neither nothing nor indefinite, so we can't comprehend these two concepts and there always has to be something that isn't indefinite.
I wanted to share this article written by physicist Sean Carroll regarding one of the most fundamental questions that can be asked — why is there something, rather than nothing? I first came across this a few years back and have returned to it since for its concise summary of different answers to that question, and their relative pro's and con's. As a physicist myself, I also appreciate Carroll's ability to incorporate our current best physical understanding when it is relevant to the question, which is something that can be lacking in other contexts.
I would be curious to discuss with anyone who takes the time to read. This has really informed a lot of my thoughts on the topic, and I was reminded of it in responding to some comments in this fun thread on apologetics for theism that was posted a week or two ago.
For a more philosophical approach, I highly recommend "Heidegger: An Introduction by Richard Polt" to explore this exact question.
To dig in further, it is very reasonable to ask "Why does the universe exist at all?" from a physics perspective.
But you can get even more granular when reflecting on your conscious experience and be like "Why does anything exist at all? Why am I experiencing this experience at this very moment?".
I had these sorts of thoughts a lot throughout my childhood, but recently I have had a very visceral internal experience of "Why the hell is this happening at all?". Nothing I write can communicate this internalization, but it does shake your sense of self and reality quite a bit.
Questioning my conscious subjective experience is such a deep rabbit hole to fall into. When I stare at the sky, I'm aware that I'm looking at an incomprehensible void. But it's still somewhat easy to come up with reasons and theories as to why that exists.
But when I turn inwards... Things quickly fall apart. Having this conscious experience is a very strange phenomenon. How does it make sense? How can you rationalize it? What reason does it have to exist in its current form?
Having dabbled with psychedelics, I know that consciousness can "feel" immensely different. So why did mine settle on its current qualities? Why does, apparently, every living being have the same type of subjective experience? Sure, ours is more complicated than a rat's, but I believe that fundamentally they share the same "core".
Both we and a rat share the same basic reactions, instincts and needs. We perceive stimuli and the environment. We recognize predators.
You can come up with reasons for why consciousness exists. The main one, I think, is that it makes life more fit for surviving, spreading, adapting.
But why do we get to experience it in its current form? Why experience it at all? When you smash a wall, it "knows" how to fall and break apart. Of course, it doesn't possess any knowledge; physics takes care of it. So why isn't consciousness like that as well? What's the need for it to be experiencing itself?
It's a very strange topic to ponder. Whenever I focus my awareness on this, everything starts to feel absurd and nonsensical. And it becomes slightly amusing to witness the world around me, and every living being who is not aware of this paradox.
The concept of a 'nothing' only exists in the human imagination. It has no real-world analog, there is no 'nothing' you can point at in the real world. Wherever, whenever you point, something is there. Nothingness is nonphysical nonsense and it doesn't even justify the argument for why something exists in the first place. Prove the 'nothing' exists beyond 'zero apples in the basket' and we'll talk, right?
I'm rather partial to cosmological natural selection as a way of thinking about it. I wonder what role if any intelligence is destined to play in the grand scheme of things. Repetition, subtle variation, what infinitely old slowly evolving pattern are we a part of here?
Great topic. From a purely philosophical perspective, I really like Alan Watts take on the subject of nothing. He argues something and nothing contrast, are inseparable and one cannot exist without the other. Sort of a comforting cosmic thought.
I'm shocked to see a project I worked on getting mentioned here! All those neurons are in visual cortex (and watched some human movies at one point).
I don't have much insight on the philosophical question at hand, but I appreciate others are exploring the dataset.
I always had my own phylosophical or rather physical approach to this question. Our brain is neither nothing nor indefinite, so we can't comprehend these two concepts and there always has to be something that isn't indefinite.