Why does the universe exist at all?

[St Leo]

Originally posted by techumseh
No, no, no. That's just fancy talk for "you're not allowed to ask the question."

Okay. What is the sound of one hand clapping in a forest when there are no hands around to clap?

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Kidicious


Everything has a beginning.

Why?

Nothing can just always be here.

Then what was there before it?

The universe began because it will one day end.

How do you know that?

[techumseh]

Originally posted by St Leo

Originally posted by techumseh
No, no, no. That's just fancy talk for "you're not allowed to ask the question."

Okay. What is the sound of one hand clapping in a forest when there are no hands around to clap?

Why didn't you say so in the first place?

[Solly]

I think a more interesting discussion would be backward-causality that is evident in delayed-choice experiments.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Saras
Two divided by zero is infinity; it's zero divided by zero that's undefined. IIRC.

Zero divided by zero is undefined in that it can be a lot of things depending on what limits you set.

For example sin(x)/x as x -> 0 is one, whereas 2sin(x)/x as x -> 0 is 2. etc...

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Saras
Two divided by zero is infinity; it's zero divided by zero that's undefined. IIRC.

No, it's also undefined. Anything divided by zero, divided by infinity, multiplied by infinity, or raised to the power of infinity is undefined.

lim 1/x as x approaches 0 from negative = -∞

lim 1/x as x approaches 0 from positive = ∞

since -∞ != ∞

ergo
lim 1/x as x approaches 0 is undefined

[techumseh]

I get the mathematical stuff. But why is asking why the universe exists like asking what you get when you divide by zero? Explain that "cause and effect are internal to the universe bit"?

[Odin]

Originally posted by Kidicious


it will one day end.

No it won't, it does not have enough matter to stop the expansion. it will just run down more an more forever as it continues to expand at an ever accelerating rate.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Vince278
As a matter of fact, they now believe our universe started from a Planck-sized nugget massing about 20 pounds.

I thought it was 20 grams?

/me looks for his copy of The Inflationary Universe...

[Az]

No, it's also undefined. Anything divided by zero, divided by infinity, multiplied by infinity, or raised to the power of infinity is undefined.

lim 1/x as x approaches 0 from negative = -∞

lim 1/x as x approaches 0 from positive = ∞

since -∞ != ∞

ergo
lim 1/x as x approaches 0 is undefined

Calc 1, my love, how I missed you.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Odin


No it won't, it does not have enough matter to stop the expansion. it will just run down more an more forever as it continues to expand at an ever accelerating rate.

Wasn't aware that they had come to a conclusion about this yet.

Btw - how does the ID's talk their way out of this ? I mean, it must be pretty embarassing that their "intelligence" has made such an miscalculation.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by techumseh
Ok, I get it. But why is it here?

Asking why appears to be a question without an answer, or perhaps it is a meaningless sentence.

Why is the earth here? Why is the solar system here?Why are you here?

Not all possible, grammatically correct, constructs in English are meaningful.

[Vince278]

Originally posted by Park Avenue
I think a more interesting discussion would be backward-causality that is evident in delayed-choice experiments.

On a quantum scale time flows both ways.

[Zkribbler]

Why does the universe exist at all?

Zkribbler's Short Thesis on the Reason for the Universe.

Asking "why" implies a "because" exists.

Keep in mind that, the universe is a closed system and will someday collapse in on itself (see Poul Anderson's Tau Zero), thus dooming all matter and energy to oblivion.

Because both matter and energy are foredoomed, they themselves cannot be raison d'etre of the universe.

What do they produce that will exist long after they are gone? Why metaphysical things of course. There can be no thoughts without brains; no souls without bodies.

Conclusion: The universe exists as an engine to create thoughts and/or souls.

Next question, please.

[Kidlicious]

Ok. Ok. I'm just going to ****ing admit that I don't know the damn answer to this ****ing question.



Does anyone have any LSD?