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Stream: theory: philosophy

Topic: Why is there something instead of nothing?


view this post on Zulip Keith Elliott Peterson (Jan 18 2024 at 04:43):

Just asking some simple questions.

view this post on Zulip JR (Jan 18 2024 at 05:19):

Nozick and Peter van Inwagen suggest that there may be something rather than nothing simply because there are more possible worlds where there is something than there are worlds where there is nothing (Nozick 1981: 127–128, van Inwagen 1996). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10670-020-00277-6

view this post on Zulip Madeleine Birchfield (Jan 18 2024 at 05:21):

Mathematicians would be out of a job if they had nothing to study.

view this post on Zulip Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Jan 18 2024 at 07:24):

JR said:

Nozick and Peter van Inwagen suggest that there may be something rather than nothing simply because there are more possible worlds where there is something than there are worlds where there is nothing (Nozick 1981: 127–128, van Inwagen 1996). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10670-020-00277-6

lmao these arguments are so sus to me... in comparison St Anselm's had a pretty solid thing going on

view this post on Zulip Morgan Rogers (he/him) (Jan 18 2024 at 09:30):

How do you know there isn't also nothing?

view this post on Zulip Keith Elliott Peterson (Jan 18 2024 at 09:57):

Madeleine Birchfield said:

Mathematicians would be out of a job if they had nothing to study.

I'm doubtful about that.

view this post on Zulip Mike Shulman (Jan 18 2024 at 18:02):

We do have nothing to study. We call it \emptyset. Of course, we also have other things to study.

view this post on Zulip Madeleine Birchfield (Jan 18 2024 at 18:34):

What I mean by "nothing to study" is if mathematicians were required to work inside of the empty membership-based set theory, or inside the empty category, or inside the empty univalent universe.

view this post on Zulip Mike Shulman (Jan 18 2024 at 18:35):

Yes, I was making a joke. Sorry. (-:O

view this post on Zulip Stelios Tsampas (Jan 18 2024 at 19:08):

I like to believe that nothingness was living a very content life, until it realized its own absurdity. Then, like another Wile E. Coyote, it spontaneously combusted and turned into all possibilities, all at once.

view this post on Zulip Daniel Geisler (Jan 19 2024 at 05:45):

I was going to post about Zen, but I had nothing to say.