Why is there something, rather than nothing? Also,, why do you think it exists in the way it does? Like it functions on laws, but why those particular set of laws and not slightly different ones?
I'm curious to hear the spectrum of answers.
I believe we exist just to worship God otherwise what's the purpose of life ? Laws just for justice and fix people
I think the universe came to existence by pure chance and our evolution gave us the opportunity to lead a thriving life
As for laws are you speaking of gravity, energy, motion, etc?
There is no reason why we exist. That's like asking why rocks exist. They're just here.
Life started our as single cell organisms and mutations are as random as you can be, however the weakest mutations die off while the strongest survive and make more of them. Over billions of years, it evolved into us.
According to my ex, it's all about her.
who knows? We will probably never know which is perfectly fine with me.
Interesting question … I feel the universe is nothing (or simply space ) with alot of something in it … I’ve wondered if this “empty space” continues going on forever / limitless , or if there’s an end / the farthest you can possibly go, but if there happens to be an end or a barrier, i than wonder what’s on the other side of that … I look at earth 🌍 & realize how we have such a perfect eco-system … we are at the perfect distance from the sun where life thrives in both the extreme cold temperatures of the poles to the extreme hot temperatures near the equator … water replenishes itself / we have abundant amounts of vegetation for vegetables / fruits / seeds / … just the right amount of elements in the periodic table to make things possible like an airplane ✈️ a cell phone 📱 a house with heating / plumbing / a car 🚙 ect … we are limited to what we have & yet have accomplished so much & have a long way to go … Just imagine 100 years ago, where there wasn’t a “cell phone” , or 200 years ago, where there wasn’t running water in most places , or 530 years ago when “The new world” wasn’t discovered / explored” .. now imagine 100 / 200 / 530 years from today into the future … this is just earth … imagine what’s out there in the universe.
This just triggered my mild ocassional derealization. 😭
It's fine though, I've partially snapped out of it and don't feel bad about it.
It's my own to deal with. Just thought it is an interesting addition to the question.
I'd LOVE it if there was nothing instead. While all I know is a * hypothesis * or two as to why it probably exists. My take is, at the end of the day, we are here and gotta just make it through. I don't think this is a question that will ever get an answer, at least not in this lifetime.
"Also,, why do you think it exists in the way it does?"
The way it does, which is?
"Like it functions on laws, but why those particular set of laws and not slightly different ones?"
What do you mean? What laws are your refering to?
To put people in of course 🙃 (thats a joke)
Not sure why the universe is here, but I think we're here to be given the opportunity to deal our struggles/trauma...to come home to ourselves.
I guess to answer your question about why we got the "goldilocks" conditions in the universe...either we got really lucky...which is pretty cool or something created this space...which is pretty cool.
I believe that our individual existences are put out there to experience certain events, emotions and fulfillments. I'm not sure what to call our "soul" or "energy" but I don't think we are here involuntarily. Like our spirits chose to lead the life we have under certain circumstances to be able to reach some sort of spiritual fulfillment, just like how a tree has a job, I think so do we, in more minor or major ways.
@MCcuddles Asking "why those particular set of laws and not slightly different ones?" Is essentially a meaningless question. The universe is what it is, and knows nothing about laws. The way the universe functions never changes, but our "laws" are constantly changing.
In ancient times, "the gods" made everything work at their whim, or perhaps, the earth rode around on the back of a giant turtle. The Greeks decreed that the universe rotated around the earth, and that was gospel until the 1600s, when Kepler and Galileo developed some new laws that put the sun at the center of the universe. In the early 1700s, Newton's laws refined and replaced Kepler's laws.
Newton's laws were valid until the 20th century when relativity and quantum mechanics changed all the laws again, and there is little doubt that the "laws" of universe will continue to change, well into the future, because there's still a whole lot that we don't yet understand. For example , will the universe continue to expand until it eventually just winds down, or will the expansion slow down, change to contraction, and result in another big bang? If only we knew how much mass there is in the universe, we could probably answer that question.
If, instead of asking why the laws are what they are, you were to ask "why does the universe function the way that it does?" the best answer is probably that there is no reason. It just does.
@denvermatt / @sburbkat / @GreatHornedOwl really nice answers !! I love this topic 🌌 lol
I have no answer to why I think the universe exists as I've not been convinced of any position regarding a specific reason for the universe existing vs not existing. I'm also not convinced there necessarily is a reason or needs to be a reason, but then that's a whole other topic.
By laws, I mean rates and ratios that occur like pi, e, gravitational constant, universal gas constants, speed of light through a vacuum, etc.
All of these can be measured, and really could have been slightly different. They are arbitrarily assigned to our universe.
It's not a stretch to imagine that there may be another universe with a slightly different speed of light.
Why there should be a purpose?
@vivlnnw i really like that question!
I think “Why” is the wrong question to ask. It’s essentially an unanswerable question.
I simply accept that the universe does exist and the laws which govern its motions are the way it is. It’s up to us to discover and understand those laws.
Here’s Richard Feynman explaining how “Why” is a problematic question:
p.s.: Someone observed that I refer to Neil DeGrasse Tyson frequently. Yes. I’m a fangirl not just of him but of Feynman, Sapolsky, and several others. I think they way they explain things is easily understood, interesting, and very engaging.
@Babichev were you surprised to learn that Neil is agnostic, or have you always known this?
I think it's a great question to ask, ad it is the most interesting one I can think of. Feynman is free to disagree, but not every physicist agrees with him.
I think it's a bit silly for someone to try to define what is and isn't a good question, especially when the nature of the topic is so open ended.
But, Feynman is free to make silly statements.
@GreatHornedOwl - Newton’s laws are still valid. They have not been overturned. They still describe the physics of the natural world on the level at which we experience it. However, when things get very small, very hot, very cold, or very fast, the laws of Newtonian physics break down. That’s where the laws of quantum physics come into play. The laws of physics did not change, our understanding of physics expanded to include realms that we had not been able to measure before. One of the few things I know about quantum physics is that in the realm where classical physics apply, quantum physics do not, and vice versa. So whenever someone invokes quantum physics to explain something we experience in our day to day lives I know immediately they know less about quantum physics than I do.
One of the things that is very cool about the laws of physics is that it appears that they apply throughout the universe. They do not change whether it is here on earth, on another planet, or in another solar system. They appear to be universal.
I suspect that over time the laws of physics will not change but our understanding of them will probably change.
Neil said if you MUST assign a spiritual description to him it would be agnostic but he finds one word descriptors simplistic, insulting and inaccurate
Neil also said this -
Another fun thing is that, theist or atheist everyone has a cheat point where they want to stop thinking any further.
For theists, it's God made everything so we can't think beyond that.
For atheists, the universe just exists so we can't (or it isn't useful) to think beyond that.
Or for other atheists, the cheat point is the big bang.
I just started to reread "Why Does the World Exist" by Jim Holt. The top scientists, philosophers, theologians, and mathematicians he interviews all have different, oftentimes conflicting, explanations. They are all just speculating like everyone else. What exists and how it exists can be explained to varying degrees with general agreement, but as why it exists is guesswork even for the best minds who do little else but think about this.
Materialists and atheists seem satisfied to claim this all there is. That there is no higher purpose, no God, no creator, no afterlife. If I thought that I'd despair over being a brief flash of light amid an eternity of nothingness. I'm with Dostoyevsky: even if someone could disprove the existence of God and Christ with mathematical certainty, I'd believe anyway.
@snugbuddy the real growth edge there is processing the grief and accepting that you are brief and insignificant flash, but continuing to enjoy the ride anyway.
Albert Camus coined this philosophy and its called absurdist.
That there is no higher purpose, no God, no creator, no afterlife. If I thought that I'd despair over being a brief flash of light amid an eternity of nothingness
@snugbuddy
I really like this … reminded me of a very well known actor who said he believes that this is it, that there was nothing before & there will be nothing after , yet he chooses to do good.
I can't imagine a science class at a Christian school. Every answer on a test would be, "God did it."
@Mike403 Big Bang did it 😁
It exists because we think it exists. But possibly it's all an illusion. Who is to say that what we see is really there? And perhaps there are things existing that we don't have the ability to see. There are animals that can see things we cannot and smell things we cannot. Bats and birds have senses we don't even possess. Our human senses are very limited.
@MCcuddles2 wrote "The real growth edge there is processing the grief and accepting that you are brief and insignificant flash, but continuing to enjoy the ride anyway."
I believed that for a long time, but there was always a gnawing unsatisfied feeling. Just an endless stream of evanescent pleasures. Now when I look back any joy I had seems empty.