How The Universe (Something) Appeared From Nothing (Video)

By on August 3, 2011 in News 10

Granted this video is a promo for the New Scientist‘s recent issue on “existence”, it’s pretty interesting, if you are OK with incomplete answers. (Figuring out how the universe got so large is still a serious head-scratcher.) My takeaway after watching this, is if “something” is not really that different from “nothing” (according to our human perception) then, well, there is still much to ponder …

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  • Anonymous

    I got something out of that.

  • http://twitter.com/Boom_Briggs Al Briggs

    I got nothing out of that.

  • Anonymous

    More evidence suggesting that life is just a ride.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000480492140 Tony Traverso

    thanks now my brain hurts

  • EvolvedApe

    I want my money back.

  • Word Eater

    How much pot was smoked to come up with that theory?

  • Nirvanasteve

    The more of modern physics I hear, the more it sounds like they’re just inventing ways of saying “we don’t know”. “Something is the same as nothing”? Try making that statement to anyone with a rudimentary grasp of philosophy and they’ll laugh you out of the room. I hope the actual article is more intelligent than that video. 

  • chinagreenelvis

    The definition of “nothing” as used here does not take into account that there was ever a time in which the system itself did not exist.

    The system – the potential universe and the ability inside of it for things to exist – is a given. When you reduce the amount of “stuff” inside the universe to a state described here where nothing exists within it, you get the strange quantum behavior of particles popping in and out of existence. But that does not provide a scenario in which the universe itself is not a thing, and therefore the properties of entropy can be applied to it.

    If you remove the system, if you remove the universe itself, you do not have a system in which to apply these principles to. You have either absolute nothingness (which is ironic since “absolute nothingness” is not something that can be had) or you have whatever is “outside” or “before” the universe, but what is that? Another universe full of smaller universes like our own? What would be outside of that universe? Even trying to think in these terms is currently nothing more than an exercise in absurdist philosophy.

    In short, “nothing” can mean very different things. This example does not tackle the problem of “something from nothing” in the ultimate sense of the word.

  • http://www.ContraControl.com/ Zenc

    You can’t get your money back but you can get off the ride anytime you’d like.

  • Sidartha

    I agree with this video. Buddhism has known this to be true for over 2,000 years.