How can something come from nothing?

NataIie: If something 'happened' then something must have made this happen. This something can by definition not be nothing.

So how can something come from nothing? It seems to me that:

If there is a GOD…then the GOD must have come from nothing…or the GOD always was.

If there is no GOD…then what IS either came from nothing…or always was.

Either way…something can come from nothing or something always has been…and if the Reality is the latter, we are just dealing with manifestations and changes in that something.

CoIin: A couple of thoughts...

@ - "If something 'happened' then something must have made this happen"

Quantum physics might have something to say about this notion of universal causality. Some events at the quantum level, we are told, are "uncaused".

Of course, this goes against our everyday experience, but our everyday experience tends to involve "medium sized durable goods". It serves us well in matters of mammoth hunting and furniture shopping, but I'd be wary of extrapolating human common sense to the domain of the very large, very small, very fast, etc. We can hardly expect extraordinary circumstances to accord with ordinary human intuition.

I'd also be careful about extrapolating from "all (or almost all) events have a cause" to "the totality of all events (i.e. the Universe) has a cause".

All humans have a mother. Does that entail that the human race as a whole must have a mother?

And even if you do insist on a "first cause", why just one?

DawnGurl: Well Colin 'uncaused' isnt quite correct. Its a matter (heh) of perspective; ye ole Relativity is rearing its ugly head. For the benefit of the uninititated (and Mr Kite) let me begin.

Imagine you are standing in front of a white elephant. Directly behind it is a pink elephant (pass the scotch). So we can say that the white elephant is before the pink. Now move to the left or right at a 45 degree angle. Now they are simultaneous; you can see both at once. Now stand behind the pink elephant. Pinky is now before whitey. This is how causality works. Whats changing is your perspective in time. Does A cause B? Does A and B exist at once and cause each other?" Does B cause A? The answer to all of these questions is :Yes.

Next lesson in the near future: N dimensional physics

Comrade_: "something always has been…and if the Reality is the latter, we are just dealing with manifestations and changes in that something."
I like this part. I'm not sure if there is a scientific explanation but from my thoughts, I think that there is no 'nothing' or beginning of everything. Yes there are aspects that had a beginning but the primary things (whatever they are) always existed.

..then I guess the question is immortality if this entity (be it god or some other element or space) have no beginning then it is possible of having no end as well...something else crossed my mind but can't explain it properly.

deuce916: "How can something come from nothing?" How do clouds appear from nothing? They don't really come from nothing, just come from something we can't see. And then they disappear, apparently into nothing. But in fact they don't disappear into nothing, just something we can't see. So maybe the universe is full of something we can't see. To us it's not there but in fact it is there. The question is "Why?". Why is the universe in existence? We all know it is in existence but why is it in existence? There is an answer. It's not a god. Maybe the universe is ever-changing. Humans have only been in existence in their current form for not very long. That means something must have been fuelling life before we came along. Can you guess what it is? It also fuels us. Can you guess what it is? Like I said, it's not a god that made us. We have evolved into our current form. So what fuels you during your day? Probably what fuels every living thing in the universe. So what fuels you also fuels everything. Can you guess what the answer is?

DawnGurl: The universe exists so I can play jazz

Comrade_: How can something come from nothing? - Ask a woman how they can construct a guilt-imposing argument out of thin air.

orkanen: My uneducated guess on this matter is that there are more dimensions than the 4 we presently observe, that most or all the laws of physics we "know" today will need revising, once we discover how to observe more dimensions. Something doesn't necessarily come from nothing or go back to nothing, they just change form, into dimensions we presently don't have access to.

Intolerance: What if its like what Buddha said, there is no begining or end, every thing is infinite like a Indras net. If lets say God create the universe, well something created him, the circumstance for his creation might be another universe or another god, and something created that god or universe. Or if you like Science, then something created the big bang, I guess superstring membranes colliding in the 11th dimension or something like that, and then something create the circumstance for those membranes and 11th dimension (like a higher dimension) and those had something that created those, like a fractal.

To specifically quote: "The universe has no finite value... ...size or shape... ...the universe we currently inhabit with its infinite array of stars and worlds can be likened to one grain of sand on a beach, were the grains of sand be different innumerable universes, and that within each grain of sand an entire beach with grains of sand exist that have entire universes of grains of sand within them, and that this process continues infinitly.

Intolerance: Also nothing can come from something, so the reverse seems plausable.

Ms_Mafdet_The Great: There is no such thing as "nothing". Everything is something.

Try and envision "nothing".

Even the word "nothing" is something - even the "concept" of nothing, is something.

Even a vacuum is something. Anyway, good luck

CoIin: God's response to constant howls of

"Why is there something rather than nothing? "

might be

"C'mon guys. If there was nothing rather than something, you'd still be howling".

(witticism stolen from Sidney Morgenbesser )

The point is that those who demand an explanation for "Why is there something rather than nothing" are appealing to the Principle of Sufficient Reason. The age-old PSR basically stipulates that "shit doesn't just happen" - there must be a reason or cause. Every event and every state requires an explanation.

If Mary arrives at the party punctually, we don't think twice. Whenever she's late, however, we wonder why. We look for reasons. We tend to forget, though, that the PSR is an equal opportunities employer. If the PSR applies when Mary is late, then IT ALSO APPLIES WHEN SHE IS ON TIME. If her lateness requires an explanation, then so does her punctuality.

Therefore, if you appeal to the PSR and hold that "something" (whatever that is ) demands an explanation, then it seems you'd have to extend the same courtesy to "nothing".

* looks in fridge * Why is there nothing rather than something?

ghostgeek: How can something come from nothing? Frankly, I don't know and never expect to know but nobody else knows either. It is just an illustration of the limits to human understanding.

roddyqe: .

ghostgeek: Exactly.

Evelyn99: Everything comes from something

thor1112010: To be or not to be? I do not think there is an answer in life or the afterlife. The soul is an energy aspect. Primordial.

thor1112010: Nothing is something. To be or not to be? How can either exist? I feel there is no answer that we can understand.

theHating:

theHating: In philosophy, it was thought that nothing by definition doesnt exist because you cannot define what doesnt exist. But it was also thought that to exist meant to BE, or a state of being, which amounted to change. It was this realisation that lead to the idea that without NOTHING, or EMPTINESS, or voids of being must exist because existence necessitates voids in order to facilitate change.

I think being and not being are two sides of the same coin.