A Universe From Nothing (Lecture)
Lawrence Krauss gives a talk on our current picture of the universe, how it will end, and how it could have come from nothing.
Krauss is the author of many bestselling books on Physics and Cosmology, including “The Physics of Star Trek.”
If you’ve ever wanted to answer that annoying question, “how could the Universe have formed from nothing”, then watch this video.
Lawrence Krauss is funny, informative, and if you watch the entire video (it’s over an hour long, so you might need to pause it a few times), he will blow your mind. Lawrence seems like a pretty cool guy.
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great lecture! he covers a lot of really interesting cosmology topics very quickly, i actually wish the talk was longer. lots of interesting stuff here, including whether the universe is curved or flat, multiverses, and the quantum explanation for the existence of dark matter.
Great doc!
Lawrence is saying that dark matter is new. I did not know what he meant by that.
My extrapolation is that dark matter is Quantum itself, that flicks in and out of our Universe, and at 10 to the 500 power of parallel Universes every “Planck time”. Planck Time is the speed of light.
He is talking about “Null Physics” when he says the Universe started from nothing, from the number “0″. Which I wrote on a different TDF doc.
He is saying that we are irrelevant, I disagree!
“Quantum Theory clearly states, fundamental particles are empty of inherent existence and exist in an undefined state of potentialities”.
They do not become “real” until a mind interacts with them and gives them meaning. That means if nobody was here, there would not be a Universe as we know it! It would still be in, an undefined state of potentialities, in the vast sea of Quantum energy.
Simply stated “You get what you are looking for”
Or “what you consistently focus your attention on you manifest in your life”
The Astronomy stuff was spot on though! How to measure distance etc:
But like Lawrence said, nobody knows everything!
To add more mystery, time and space are not real! they are illusions, everything happens at once, there is no past, present, or future. That is not me saying this, it is Quantum Mechanics.
@Razor
I pretty sure that quantum theory/physics/mechanics only deal with “real” things. Nothing depends on someone thinking about it to be real… information is there weather or not we observer “or think” about it. We just dont know a state until we measure it. Think of it this way…
1) I use a iron system to produce a photon
2) but fail to measure it
3) but you were able to measure it
4) so I go look at my system logs and confirm it was created.
Did the process of you measuring the photon “step 3″ cause my system logs to change “step 1″ just because your brain got involved “step 4″ before mine “step 2″? I think not.
Think about this
1a) since you were able to measure the photon
1b) quantum mechanics knew I had to produce a photon
2a) since my system created a photon
2b) quantum mechanics knew I needed a system
3a) since I needed a system
3b) quantum mechanics knew a star should nova to create iron
4a) since I need a star to nova to create the iron element
4b) quantum mechanics knew to have a big bang and populate the universe with hydrogen.
If you read that in reverse (4b-4a-3b-3a) order it says that the entire universe has been planned out. If the entire universe was planned out then it wasn’t our brains that caused it but the last brain in existence.
`Oh dear,’ says God, `I hadn’t thought of that,’ and promptly disappears in a puff of logic.
Oh, and since a quantum leap(most basic element of quantum mechanics) is the process of the electron “jumping” from one energy level(space) to another very quickly(time) means you need both space and time.
but what do i know… im just here for the coffee
When you break matter down to its component parts, it has been proven under lab conditions, in separate cases, that matter in its basest form is waveform and is affected differently when different people view it, this has been repeated globally. It doesn’t get much more real than that.
The trouble with mainstream science is that it has become (perhaps it always was?) so dogmatic and Tainted by politics and media, that little of anything worthwhile is allowed through what is in effect a firewall.
Ashangel:
Thank you, you are correct. You can change photons, either into a wave or particle simply by thinking wave or particle. I think that also answers Hate_Machines questions in minimal words!
Ever since I was about 9 years old I had always wondered why my experience of laying with my eyes open, my entire body submersed in a full tub of water, was so memorable. It had been about twenty minutes since I had sloshed the bathwater around with my hands, and so there were no bubbles left from the Mr. Bubble powder I had put in. I opened my eyes underwater looking up, and then I gave the surface of the water a vigorous swoosh with my right hand, and bubbles on top of bubbles formed. I even saw bubbles inside other bubbles. I looked at those bubbles for a while. And then I raised my head and chest out of the water, and looked at the stirring action of my hand creating more and more bubbles. And then I realized that this was an act of creation.
I call this visual my Mr. Bubble Theory of MultiVerses: The Black Holes that exist in our universe are the outer boundary of someone else’s universe. And the Black Holes in that other universe, someone else’s universal boundary. And these MultiVerses can appear in permutations of parallel and series as well as of course cascade. Some universes shrink and disappear; some get too big for further continuance and Pop! becoming the outer boundaries of neighboring universes. Our universe’s extreme examples of temperature (pockets of localized energy), time, and physical space are trivial in our own universe, taken as a whole; and are not even perceived in any neighboring universe.
All the time, everywhere, new infinitesimally small spaces and all-encompassing universes are created from some energy source which is unknown to us in our own universe. That energy of creation is unknown because we cannot see or otherwise empirically measure that source of stirring energy from beyond, or underneath, our own universe’s outer/inner boundary. That creative energy Source might as well be some kid with swollen wrinkly tiger-skin, sitting in a full bathtub, sloshing his hand around the existing ether and making bubbles for his own entertainment. And then the kid gets out of the tub and go does something else. Just another Saturday afternoon bath, just another day; nothing special.
Arrogant smug man, wise in his own eyes. I wonder if he’s ever calculated the odds that he himself might not be 100% correct.
“Arrogant smug man, wise in his own eyes. I wonder if he’s ever calculated the odds that he himself might not be 100% correct.”
Perhaps, but have you come up with anything better recently?
Also its not just his opinion there are many many other (respected) scientists pursuing this theory.
Judging by your comment you probably didn’t like Zeitgeist either?
Cosmology is more and more rewarding, with topics like dark matter and energy, black holes, and more. Exciting new quantum field theory has reduced many equations to plain numerical terms and yielded a cosmic model that finds dark energy and black holes to have distinct roles in interstellar space by restoration of momentum. The latest atomic topological function is written in terms of spacons and chronons with timespace boundaries of action.
Recent advancements in quantum science have produced the picoyoctometric, 3D, interactive video atomic model imaging function, in terms of chronons and spacons for exact, quantized, relativistic animation. This format returns clear numerical data for a full spectrum of variables. The atom’s RQT (relative quantum topological) data point imaging function is built by combination of the relativistic Einstein-Lorenz transform functions for time, mass, and energy with the workon quantized electromagnetic wave equations for frequency and wavelength.
The atom labeled psi (Z) pulsates at the frequency {Nhu=e/h} by cycles of {e=m(c^2)} transformation of nuclear surface mass to forcons with joule values, followed by nuclear force absorption. This radiation process is limited only by spacetime boundaries of {Gravity-Time}, where gravity is the force binding space to psi, forming the GT integral atomic wavefunction. The expression is defined as the series expansion differential of nuclear output rates with quantum symmetry numbers assigned along the progression to give topology to the solutions.
Next, the correlation function for the manifold of internal heat capacity energy particle 3D functions is extracted by rearranging the total internal momentum function to the photon gain rule and integrating it for GT limits. This produces a series of 26 topological waveparticle functions of the five classes; {+Positron, Workon, Thermon, -Electromagneton, Magnemedon}, each the 3D data image of a type of energy intermedon of the 5/2 kT J internal energy cloud, accounting for all of them.
Those 26 energy data values intersect the sizes of the fundamental physical constants: h, h-bar, delta, nuclear magneton, beta magneton, k (series). They quantize atomic dynamics by acting as fulcrum particles. The result is the picoyoctometric, 3D, interactive video atomic model data point imaging function, responsive to keyboard input of virtual photon gain events by relativistic, quantized shifts of electron, force, and energy field states and positions.
Images of the h-bar magnetic energy waveparticle of ~175 picoyoctometers are available online at http://www.symmecon.com with the complete RQT atomic modeling manual titled The Crystalon Door, copyright TXu1-266-788. TCD conforms to the unopposed motion of disclosure in U.S. District (NM) Court of 04/02/2001 titled The Solution to the Equation of Schrodinger.
Ashangel: Yes, I have come up with something better recently.
Firstly, he mentioned that judging distance was nearly impossible without a “standard candle” and that a supernova was 1 billion times brighter than our own star. Nice number, but even that is just a guess. They also consider that everything is constant, including time; not necessarily so. God could have spent billions of years in preparation for the creation of the earth, but perhaps not also; I tend to think the Universe was created “in process” in some way. When God said, “Let there be light” then all light sources could have been created as they are now in expantion instantaniously in process.
He’s despirately trying to prove there is no God in his lecture, so places much faith in “dark matter” and 70 of the missing energy of the universe in it, and his own interpretation of how the universe must be, so he can know how it ends. He says that “something always comes from nothing,” so he can devoide the universe of God.
Only a foolish man, no matter how intelligent would be so smug as to say that he knows how the universe bagan and will end without a god; I may not be a theoretical mathmatician, but I do have something better; understanding that science is explaining (perhaps) how God did what he did and does what He does now without negating His very existence.
If 13.5 billion years ago is when the universe “began” than what was there before that? Atoms fluxuating in and out of existence as he suggests? I think not; it was God, and anyone that is so arragantly opposed to even the possibility that God is real desirves very little respect from me.
If he is correct, then it all matters not anyway. He’ll die; you’ll die; we all die and it’s just over. If so, we’ll all find out soon enough; but if I’m correct, there is an eternity yet to come to contemplate what mathmatical calculation and theory we believed in enough to de-faith our souls and separate ourselves from God forever. I’d much rather live my life as I am now, knowing and learning, and believing and trusting, than to believe in this person’s very difficult to understand theory of some really powerful “nothing” from which everything started from 13.5 billion years ago.
He failed to mention that the whole universe is dying. This is issue is addressed in the Bible (wonderful science) in that it talks about a New heavens and a New Earth that are to be re-created, but as a atheist, there is no hope, so he rightfully comes to the conclution that “Life will get a whole lot worse, and will never ever get better!” LOL! Lovely.
Yes, whether or not you think so, at least I think I’ve found something a whole lot better.
Mr. Razor: I read what you said about “dark matter”. Might “dark Matter” be spiritual in some way? The Bible says that which is seen is temporal, but that which is unseen is eternal, giving greater “weight” to that which cannot be seen.
In reference to this Quantum Theory, it is interesting to also know that one of the admonitions of the Bible is “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” and “Take every thought captive according to Christ” and the power of life and death resides in the “tongue” or in other words, what we say.
If a spiritual world exists (our souls, the angelic, the demonic, and most certainly the Divine) where might that world be in your understanding of such things? Just curious.
It’s very easy for my mind to grasp the concept of Quantum Theory in reference to creation — God’s mind; God’s creation; let’s learn more about how He did it rather than trying to disprove His very existence.
Nonetheless, it’s just a theory.
Charles B:
Dark matter: Since our Universe is one of unlimited Universe’s, multidimensional, there are greater, and lesser, Universes than our own.
Our Dark Matter could be a bleed through from a greater super Universe than our own, same as our gravity. that may be why our gravity is such a weak force.
We ourselves and everything else are multidimensional, with unlimited reality’s. The reality we are in is not that focused, RE: Sasquatch, UFO’s, Bermuda triangle, the unexplained etc: that come in and out of our existence.
I guess you can say the reality as we know it is in our minds eye.
If you were not here Charles, there would not be any reality for you.
If nobody was here, would there be anything?. Yes there would be, but it would be fundamental particles of empty inherent existence that exist in an undefined state of potentialities and probabilities, in the vast sea of Quantum energy.
People do not realize how much power they really have!
And I am not trying to disprove anything, believe what you want Charles if it makes your life easier, it does not matter, we all go to the same place!
:D
Mr. Razor: You do a good job of simplification for the lay person.
However, Quantum Theory begs the question, “What is a person that they might manifest an existence?” Would an animal count? Or a plant? A virus? Or does it require a more sentient being? Do we have a soul? Do those of us that believe in a soul have one and those that don’t, don’t, according to Quantum Theory? What’s your favorite color? And lastly, is there any measurable way to verify this Quantum “theory” or are you just going by “faith” from something someone somewhere somehow has thought up? :-)
Charles B:
A person is consciousness, that they might manifest an existence.
“I think, therefore I think I am”
Everything is consciousness, the Universe is conscious, from the smallest one cell Amoeba and upwards. but different as we know it.
We are all souls, a better word is multidimensional entity, whether we believe it or not.
Yes you can verify Quantum Theory, Even the uncertainty principle.
Google-”Schrodingers Cat”
My favorite color for my vehicles are white, red.
I do not go by faith.
:D
Correction:
I should of said up to “Schrodingers Cat” which is a thought experiment.
An intrigue story telling of the rarified world of physics to the closest possible for layman understanding on the latest knowledge of our Universe and beyond. Even if this is but only one of the many possible explanations, and there are lots of the explained ideas that I could not follow, it is still a very interesting and awesome talk…
@Ashangel and Achem
All the research suggest that you can record a photon as either a wave or a particle but not both (Wave–particle duality).
When you fire a single photon through a couple of slits at a phosphorous plate the photon CANT be “affected differently when different people view it” or that “you can change photons, either into a wave or particle simply by thinking wave or particle.” When it hits the plate it will always be a single particle. What is important about the slit experiment is that when you record a large number of these particles you will notice a interference pattern forms. This would suggest that before it hit the plate it was actually a wave. Achem you can stress your pretty little head all you want and and you will never change the outcome of the experiment.
@Charles B.
“Only a foolish man, no matter how intelligent would be so smug as to say that he knows how the universe bagan and will end”
I say to you “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
@Achem
I say to you “pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate”. Why must you invent concepts and add them to already complicated concepts to justify yourself.
“Everything is consciousness, the Universe is conscious, from the smallest one cell Amoeba and upwards. but different as we know it.”
WTF is this dribble… everything is consciousness… but different as we know it.
I ask you then to prove this concept in simple terms that a simple man like my self might be able to reproduce the results.
1) that everything is consciousness
2) that the Universe is conscious
3) Amoeba is conscious
4) but different as we know it.
Compare Quantum Theory to other mathematical mysteries like pi. We do not know the answer to pi. Just like we do not know how the universe began. Does that mean that pi doesn’t work… Of course not, it just means that like pi as we get more accurate ways to measure it we get better results. And the results can be shown as accurate in other mathematics. Does that mean we have a perfect answer… No, it just means we have a mathematically sound answer.
There is a good chance that humans will never know the answers to many of the questions of the universe. There is a good chance that we will just exhaust all mathematical possibilities and settle on knowing we know all the possibilities just not which one is right.
meh… whatever… maybe god did create a conscious universe with spiritual dark matter and Noah and Jonah and photons that change state based on how hard we think about it, with people posting **** about spacons and chronons, and no mention of budah or the thousands of just as emperical religions.
HaTe_MaChinE:
I do not have to prove anything to you, nor do I have to justify
myself! I am not your teacher, and if you want results from people, show some respect.
tenesne?. tenes, quid dicam?.
Hate_Machine
October 30th, 2009 at 04:43
@Razor
Well done Mate, I’m trying to get your understanding across to others that think right:- http://www.911oz.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=6193 Hope You don’t mind..?
“Krauss is one of the few living scientists that Scientific American has referred to as a ‘public intellectual’, and is the only physicist ever to have been awarded the highest awards of all three major US Physics Societies: the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Institute of Physics.” Wikipedia
Hail Professor Krauss! Your arrogance is rightly deserved!
Charles B.
If the lecturer has an encounter with God, I wonder how he would try to refute it? The seeing of the unseen may help him see everything, ultimate reality! I like the way you explain things Charles.
Hate Machine,
I like your Socratic philosophy on non-conforming views. hahaha
THis site is great.
Interesting points guys!
Spiderman, very funny.
All was well until HATE MACHINE came along..
Apropriate name!!
What Is It that makes some people sooo angry??
I will chime in about the universal consciousness “dribble”.
Science does not dismiss the idea of GOD, it reinforce the idea of GOD. The problem is that religion is very close minded when it comes to updating theology even in the face of empirical evidence ( power hungry corrupt leaders/clergy)….I believe they say you will go to hell if you change any ideas in the Bible?….WOW talk about propaganda, and that just the Bible. the Quran, Torah, and Upanishads are all pretty much like that..only found Buddhism to be somewhat open ended.
Once you realize GOD is not a guy sitting in the corner of the sky/universe, or that HE exists outside of of the universe, and that GOD IS the Universe ( all matter, dark matter, forces, universes, dimensions, beings, people, etc) things become clearer. “Big Bang and Star Stuff” for scientists ….”we are all sons of GOD, GOD is in all of us, GOD is in all places at all times” for the religious.
But the ideas in the Bible were for men 4000 years ago( aprox age of the first books within the Bible)in a way a man of 4,000 years ago could comprehend; with parabels and metaphor ( 2,00 for new testament). Krauss said it himself in his own lecture…(paraphrased) what I am saying to you is a stretch/bit of a lie becasue the true explanation is with math, I have to translate with language you can understand with words.
I mean imagine trying to explain the internet to a guy 2000 years ago ( let alone 100)? Or a guy 2000 years from now explaining his technology to us?
Creationism because of Genesis? Its a metaphor for the Big Bang. Boom let there be light, forces, gasses,matter, Star Stuff, planets, organisms and then man. Man made made from Clay and eating the apple from the tree of knowledge? A metaphor that man is made from the same stuff as Earth ( carbon, h20, etc)and that we have evolved to become intelligent/self aware.
Everywhere you can see a form of consciousness/intelligence “not as we know it” as you go up from the relatively chaotic “dumb” micro, then applied to make a seemingly more conscious intelligent complex “macro”. Or to put it simply things become greater than jsut the sum of their parts. Elements/Compounds = reactions and creation of substances, cells/tissues= biological functions, neurons/brain=consciousness and thought, creature/groups= organized habits and rituals, organism/community= civilization and cultural phenomena, niche/ecosystem= global system connecting many by their daily activities.
Just because we know how lightning and procreation works does not mean its not miraculous that it even happens, or thats its not amazing how it happens.Just because we understand how our physiology,biochemstiry, and neurochemistry works does not mean its not amazing we have a consciousness and will. Just because we can explain these things does not mean GOD no longer exists because of knowing a tiny fraction of existence and being egocentric enough to compare everything to ourselves, or have a puff of incomplete logic ( incomplete due to assumptions).
Does the possibility exist that something exists with will and consciousness when everything in existence is taken to account? And would it not be a consciousness greater than our own….or at least different than our own?
P.S. I know some people might argue that well if the Earth is greater than us and has a greater conciosuness…why doesnt it get rid of the human plague? Well we arent killing the planet, it will exist with or without us, it was here before us and will be here after us. We are jsut making it inahbiatele for ourselves, so we are really killing ourselves.
P.P.S. I find it ironic when Krauss bashes GOD and religion when he says he wants to know how everything works so he knows how it all ends. GOD envy much?
If god does exist and he did create the universe for us I would bet all my money that he created everything so he could watch us for amusement. Eternity must be boring.
@Javier
I completely agree. But I think there are two reasons for this whole experiment.
Reason 1 being that GOD/Universe doesnt just observe us; he lives through us. Since he is ( by my hypothesis) the accumulation of everything and at all times, that includes our life experience and knowledge. Furthermore since we all die and “go back to GOD” and in a sense become GOD, I believe we get to be a part of this. Sort of like playing a video game to experience one characters life/role in a game…then picking another character from a different game. So you really do one to others as yo do to yourself because you eventually experience everyone’s lives. ( now take into consideration the string theory hypothesis of infinite multiuniverses, and the “videogames” are endless).
Reason 2 is that each of our lives are unique. There is no other “javier” in this universe, at this point in time,wherever you live, that has the exact cumulative experience. Sure you may share similar experiences as others, but not from the perspective from your unique life with the plethora of unique interactions of people around you ( who are also unique). So not only is every human/nonhuman experience cultivated and observed when time reaches infinity, I believe this is the mechanism in which the GOD/Universe understands itself.
I think these ideas can partly answer some theological questions such as why is there evil (which is a relative term) in the world and why do bad/good things happen to good/bad people. Because in order to truly understand everything….everything with every possibility must happen.
I`m just left with one question: what was DancingSpiderman doing with his LEFT hand that made his bubble bath so memorable!
Hi Yavanna… FYI: The moderator of this documentary website would like for us to keep our comments restricted to the topic of the documentary.
But, if you’d like to engage in ENDLESS camp and frivolity concerning the activities of my left hand, you can join me over at YouTube ! Click on the blue link “DancingSpiderman” above. Over at YourTube, be forewarned… rebut me at yer own risk!
Sure I`ll sub ya :)
Krauss makes some genuinely interesting points. However, I really dislike his over the top atheist attitude. It’s like how monks excavating old Roman structures find “evidence of God”, because they were looking for it before they started digging. His idea is that “well of course it had to be this way, that’s how math breaks down”.
Again, lots of very insightful points, but his attitude really depresses me. The guy needs to trip balls on a couple grams of really good shrooms and feel fascinated by the fact that anything exists at all.
@lee evans
I agree. His tunnel vision is frustrating at times. Its very annoying when he belittles other scientists, religion ( any chance he gets), and theories he doesnt agree with ( string theory) by calling those ideas/people crackpots and cracking jokes relentlessly.
I mean sure he doesn’t have to believe in everything, but his arrogance leaves him to dismiss too much.
In fact he seems to be guilty of the very thing he tries to dismiss….subjectivity. He says that he ‘knows the truth’ and past generations and future generations will observe the Universe differently and will be wrong”. Pretty sure every generation has geniuses who think they have it all nailed down. They know they dont know it all, but they believe their theories are laws
WOW. I think I’ll need to view this multiple times to get a better handle on many of the concepts Krauss breezes through. That being said, I’d rate this doc/video very highly.
He seems to have turned off many previous posters with his perceived arrogance, but I found him to be engaging and witty while delivering some pretty complex stuff. I think much of what he says with certitude is meant to be facetious. After all, he declares his love of cosmic mystery and admits that we can’t know everything. He also posits that we are even more significant in the universe than we had even previously imagined. Conversely, what I find arrogant are delcarations of belief in an invisible man that created me in my own image and is watching everything I do- like Santa Claus.
@Triad – Most likely forced(against my will) celibacy and Mountain Dew.
@BBC – I bet he would record the results and try to reproduce the encounter so he can show the community his findings… Just like any good scientist would do.
@lee evans – I wish I could take a few grams of anything and see the world like Dr Krauss sees it for just a few hours.
@Oliarguello – I like where you are going with this, it is very romantic… but like most romatic ideas it has no bases in logic.
First problem I see is the if god is everything then he is nothing. If x + God = y + God then we drop God and show that x = y without him.
Second problem I have is that I don’t find lightning miraculous. Awesome yes but not miraculous. With a bit of time, effort and alot of money there is no doubt that i can create all the lightning I want.
Third, Im pretty sure that eating the apple was original sin… not a metaphor for our construction.
Fourth, Evil is a feeling, idea or concept. Evil is intangible. You cant get a evilmeter and record how much evil is in 1 mole of carbon. You show to me a glass of water that is more evil then another and I have no doubt I will be able to explain why.
Last, bad things happening to good people has be demonstrated in game theory for many many years now. I think John Nash got a Nobel prize proving how to make bad things happen to good people in economics.
@Javier – Well if god is omnipresent then he already knows what we will do. He knows the beginning of time and the end. If he wanted to create humans then he already knew he was going to create humans and already knows how it is all going to turn out. God should be above time. If he isn’t then he isn’t much of a god. Must be pretty boring to be god… but he already knew that.
If god is something in another dimension of the multiverse pulling the strings of our universe and seeing what happens, then he is not a god he would just be some “thing”. A creature. Maybe a very advanced creature… or maybe a very dumb creature. To the fungi even the leaf cutter ant is God, and the anthill is the “videogame”. Does the ant or fungi understand the complete workings of the anthill. No. Does that make a anthill miraculous. Maybe to some. To the rest of us it is an interesting hole in the ground filled with fascinating animals. Nothing more.
Then there are those that make up features of the anthill, “The ants bring in the spirit leaves from the magical forest to kill the dirt demons and free the fungi from eternal damnation.” and get their panties in a ruffle when someone talks to them with aragonce.
Yeah, I Know I’m a bad person and full of spite. If you think I’m wrong… I don’t care. If you feel I’m wrong… I don’t care. If you can show me where I’m wrong… please post back.
@Hatemachine
Thanks for the comments. I appreciate your disposition. It’s such a breath of fresh air to see someone voice their opinions without being angry or spewing personal attacks. I always appreciate constructive criticism because it make me think more and either helps me dismiss one of my prior notions, refine my ideas, or open my eyes to something totally new!
["I like where you are going with this, it is very romantic… but like most romantic ideas it has no bases in logic.”]
Thanks! Of course most of what I say is just hypothesis based on what I know, read, and experienced. I use to have a stint as an atheist, and the only reason I lean towards a belief in GOD ( or Universe with intent and will) is because I have seen personal miracles. Not the lighting or births phenomena as I mention later in my commentary, but true modern day miracles. There is a person (you can call her prophet, spiritual healer, or currandera…but she doesn’t go by any of those terms) who can tell you specific details about your health, past, present and future, without you uttering a word. And Not in a “you feel underappreciated at work” generalized mumbo jumbo, but specific things like ( just one of many examples)“your boss is going to call you into his office this week. But don’t worry he is going to ask you to travel out of state for business” ( and she said that to me and my job never has required me to travel). Mind you the whole time you enter the room you never say a word, she doesn’t ask you anything, she just hovers her hands around your body without touching you. She has also ( in the course of months) cured people of incurable diseases such as HIV, cancer, tumors, and advanced leprosy ( also some potentially dismissible things so I wont mention unless someone is curious)
In her sermon ( we follow Jesus and believe in GOD) she will at the end bless the globe and mention global events to come by specifics such as dates , regions, names, etc. Some of the more significant ones that come to mind are ; S.E. Asia Tsunami, The Popes’ death( predicted by day), Hurricane Katrina, the pandemic warning of the swine flu but that its nothing to worry about in terms of deaths, some earthquakes, fires, etc.
I have some theories about her, but I wont go into unless someone is interested.
[“First problem I see is the if god is everything then he is nothing. If x + God = y + God then we drop God and show that x = y without him.”]
The only issue I see with this logic is that x and Y are part of GOD/Universe in my suggestion. So its more akin to GOD=x+y . Your equation wouldn’t work in my hypothesis because since I mention GOD is everything ( including forces, matter, energy, dimensions, etc) something cant exist in addition to GOD/Universe.
[“Second problem I have is that I don't find lightning miraculous. Awesome yes but not miraculous. With a bit of time, effort and alot of money there is no doubt that i can create all the lightning I want.”]
Very true, but I mentioned, just because we know how something works, ( I was also trying to imply we can mimic the events) does not mean its not amazing . I was trying to make a point about how we become jaded by our own intellect. For instance, the cell phone. When the cell phone was just a rumor in a few magazines people were thinking “ WOW that would be so amazing….a phone that I can use anywhere without a cord”. Now we have mini computers for phones ,with tons of apps, that nobody even bats an eye to. Same with an email…I mean I don’t jump for joy every time a message I send to China is received in seconds, but when I take a step back and think about how humanity is able to manipulate his surroundings and create great things , from essentially stuff from the ground….I am amazed and in awe.
I suppose your definition of miraculous lies closer to the “ beyond human comprehension” definition where I lean towards the “ wonder/marvel” definition. I don’t believe in magic, even the supernatural/unexplained has a mechanism or explanation…we are just unaware those details.
[“Third, Im pretty sure that eating the apple was original sin... not a metaphor for our construction.”]
I don’t think there was an actual Adam or Eve or a tree with a magical apple since I believe in evolution. Sin is only evil when recognized and when it has intent. Prior to self awareness, man was blissfully ignorant. Afterall, we don’t see animals as raping each other or hurting/killing each other as signs of evil, but as natural social habits that we call mating and group alpha ranking. The evolution shame of nudity was that we clothed ourselves with fur out of ceremony ( from hunting), then necessity ( migration into cold climates), and the practice persisted and evolved to lead us to have shame of our nudity ( cultural). I don’t think someone ate an apple and suddenly being nude was shameful.
Besides if man was naive prior to the apple, wasn’t sin innocent until after the digestion of the apple and not prior to the picking and biting? A mute point since I don’t believe in that event…just seems there are holes in the flow of events and accountability of consequences in that story.
[“Fourth, Evil is a feeling, idea or concept. Evil is intangible. You cant get a evilmeter and record how much evil is in 1 mole of carbon. You show to me a glass of water that is more evil then another and I have no doubt I will be able to explain why.”]
I completely agree. Evil is innate and part of the social contract within a culture. In fact what is evil to us is perfectly normal to another culture. Its frowned upon here for a widower to breed with her deceased husbands brother if the husband bore no son, in other cultures its law. We consume beef everyday; cows are sacred in India.
But brain imaging can detect lies, and I wonder if evil intent in general can be scanned? Afterall, serial killers have a specific physiology and psychological past with certain parts of their brain damaged (frontal lobe) creating animal propensities ( not that everyone with these brain damages are serial killers, but 75% of serial killers have this brain damage). Obviously not a perfect science right now, but remember chemistry had its root in alchemy.
[“Last, bad things happening to good people has be demonstrated in game theory for many many years now. I think John Nash got a Nobel prize proving how to make bad things happen to good people in economics.”]
Very interesting. I was not aware of this phenomenon in game theory ( have never looked into game theory). I will research it and read up on John Nash. Thanks for the heads up!
how can everything be god if god is the “creator” unless you are assuming parts of god are finite….all of this is just assumptions that are completely baseless.
occams razor my friend.
PS. there is a great documentary on John Nash here on the site.
@Epicurus
I never said GOD is the creator of the Universe. I said HE is the Universe. I dont believe he is an entity that sits in the corner of the Universe somewhere…that would be like saying you are your liver or, brain, or kidney….no you are all your organs, cells, chemicals, etc. ( i know that metaphor is limited and flawed but you get the gist of it).
I base my ideas on what I have experienced, which I cannot ignore.
And I am using Occams Razor. There is scientific evidence for how the physical realm works, and I have witnessed miracles that the miracle worker attributes to GOD. I am simply trying to explore the spiritual realm with given scientific data.
Like I mentioned before…I dont beleive in magic and the spiritual world/supernatural has to have explanations and mechanisms. If you have an alternate hypothesis that incorporates empirical evidence along with what I have experienced…would love to hear it.
i will definitely check out that doc thats on here. THANKS! :)
This is an amazing speech. There probably has to be at least a trillion different things to go right for me to be sitting here posting this message amongst you all. haha
Great, well rounded speech which cover a range of fascinating and timeless, as we as currently relevent topics. Good watch!
Time is self is the fourth dimension. As even carl sagan has said.
The cosmology of the atom shows us that a large portion of substance in a signal atom is popping in and out of this physical reality faster then the speed of light. and the universe is made of atoms as you are made of these atoms as well. This means that a large part of “u” is popping in and out of this reality a billion times a second. Now you can relate this to “the observer” who with out having the observer no fixed speed or time can be measured. This says to me that with out the observer nothing can be fixed in time. Yet the observer is spending half of its existence outside of time.
Who then is the observer. You are . And because you “observer” you bring into existence time and speed. That answers the question who is the creator?. You are.
Who then is god? You are. And because you spend this “time”(for a lack of a better word) out side of time “u” can not have been born nor will “u” ever die.
@Oliarguello- “the only reason I lean towards a belief in GOD is because I have seen personal miracles.”
Not to disrupt an intelligent discussion but what about all the absolutely horrible things that happen everyday? They clearly outnumber the amount of “miracles”…. If these “miracles” are ones basis for faith and there reason for believing in a god then what does that mean for all these atrocitys worldwide? My point being is that I know it’s comfortable believing in a higher power but at the end of the day why can’t **** just happen?
Razor- “would there be anything?. Yes there would be, but it would be fundamental particles of empty inherent existence that exist in an undefined state of potentialities and probabilities, in the vast sea of Quantum energy.”
@Razor What about the 100′s of thousands of years of fossils that can be unearthed from before even the most primitive humans were around? Are they materializing from the minds of the archeologists considering they’re the first to see them since they died? Those fossils represent more then just “fundamental particles of empty inherent existence”….. whatever that’s supposed to mean. They were living animals that lived and thought long before us.
We are one small planet among many galaxies and maybe even multiverses… If you believe in that then are we alone? If not what’s to say we’re not a figment of some ET’s imagination? Where does it stop? I find it amazing the things that the human brain can contemplate but I think it’s this same function of the human brian that can confuse a person.
It is said that in the double slit experiment they interpreted the particle as a wave so as not to break the princible of contridiction. It was groundbreaking but since then using quantum theory and quantum entanglement they have found that it is indeed possible to be in two places at once….even up to a mile away!
@ doe:
Did you say you are confused? At first it can be a bit confusing.
You asked about the 100,000 years of primitive fossils,
Well, not to utterly confuse you, it is because time is an illusion, everything that happened already happened, so we are just pulling out snapshots. It is just something that we chose to interpret.
Yes, Entanglement, can be in 2 places at once, not just a mile away, but unlimited millions, billions, miles away.
I never said I was confused…. I said some people, I know your just gonna say I don’t understand while not even attempting to explain anything but in my opinion you talk about stuff i’m willing to bet you don’t fully understand.
How can a person even debate someone that says “everything that happened already happend…” uhh yeah it’s called the past, I don’t see how this helps your point any! Fossils aren’t simply snapshots or something we choose to interpret. I’ll agree with you on the “time is an illusion” but not the way you see it, I believe time is just a way to manage our lives… I don’t believe it should be turned into a tangible object to be twisted by modern mathematics, our whole time system is based on our rotation which is drastically different depending on which planet your on. There only starting to measure time using the constant beat of a photon.
I mentioned quantum entanglement because this proves that the double slit experiment has more then just one possibility that does not include the particle turning into a wave in order to interact with itself, infact it split into 2 particles which previous to this experiment was unknown and impossible due to the well known principal of contradiction law(This law prohibits being in 2 place at once). There was no actual particle turning into a wave just an interpretation of such that has since been changed, so this experiment does not show that humans have the ability to change matter with our minds.
Last thing I want is to come off as an ******* and ruin this discussion, I would like to hear your interpretation without the use of phrases like the quote in my previous post. Try and make it simplified like your talking to a friend and not add as many ambiguous words as possible.
@DOE:
Well a lot of bad things do happen, but I don’t blame GOD. People and nature are influenced by the Devil to do evil things. Now, one can replace the words GOD and Devil with universe and chaos respectively. After all chaos is a relative term, as is evil. A disease may be seen as chaotic (evil) to a person but it makes a germ, bacteria, or virus thrive from its perspective. The death of a animal or person may be tragic for a person, but its needed for the …excuse the Disney idiom….”circle of life”. A widower (with no son) having sex and getting pregnant by her late husbands brother is vile to us, but its law in some other cultures. Evil in humanity is relative, but its all about the intent to do an evil deed.
But none of that harms the Universe…using the law of thermodynamics that nothing can be created or destroyed, only transformed, there is no chaos or evil from the perspective of the entire Universe. (And yes I believe devil/chaos is part of GOD/universe akin to how an organ is part of you but its not who you are). Chaos and evil stem from our egocentric views and are deemed as unnecessary, but holistically they are necessary processes.
Those are reasons for the mechanics of chaos/evil, but whats the purpose/meaning?
Well how can we grow as a race or individual if we are not challenged. A hero that has no struggle to overcome, or moral character to be tested, is nothing more than a scarecrow( since it is not threatened ,or aware, to be destroyed and has no choices to make). Who is regarded and revered as a person?…the person who manages to love life and thrive amidst a life full of tragedy and struggle, or the person born with a silver spoon in their mouth and never had to work for anything? Theologically its a process in which GOD weeds out the strong/loyal/harmonious against the selfish/evil/chaotic. The harmonious go to ‘heaven” the chaotic goes to “hell”; but eventually everything goes back to harmonious/heaven GOD ( see Harrowing of Hell).
As for “why can’t **** just happen”.. Lets look at the human being. We can take an approach that describes people as mindless sacks of chemicals that simply respond to the stimuli of its environment ( as intricate and complex as those chemical interactions and environmental cues can be). But I don’t entirely believe in such a nihilist view. I believe we have intellect and will that can surpass ( to a point) our genetic dispositions and environmental circumstances. My body can crave sugar but I am not an animal who is a slave to my desires and needs to eat it when its put in front of me. I can choose not to consume the soda placed in front of me. I view the Universe the same way. Its not just a collection of matter , force, energy etc; it also has a will, intellect, and plan that I call GOD.
And I know one can argue that my refusal to drink the soda is just a consequence of another nihilist phenomena from prior experience, knowledge, influence etc….. But in the end nobody can know for sure short of an experiment that has a cross between a Star Trek Holodeck ( for environmental consistency), The Truman Show ( for observation without intervention), genetic clones ( physical consistency) and extrapolating and inserting souls ( as the variable factor).
Am I just a byproduct of the Big Bang and the cascade of events following it up to this point, and my future is already pre-determined? Or am I a person who has choice? I believe its both. I am a byproduct of innumerable circumstances to be in existence and to be where I am; and if every possible factor in existence (and how they interact) was able to be calculated then my future can be determined. But since there are infinite variables that cant currently be calculated ( even if it could ,wouldn’t the calculation then in fact affect my decisions and have to start over after each calculation at infinitum?) at any given moment of my existence I have choices. Even if I abandon choice and do nothing and have total apathy, that’s still a choice I would make. Choice seems inescapable. (there may be a flaw in my logic there about choices’ illusion/manifestation….would love to hear if anyone has a constructive critique or alternative theory).
We are all seeking answers and the truth. We must keep an open mind and truly expose ourselves to both sides of an argument and not dismiss anything because of bias. The more knowledge the better ( after all a neuroscientist, chemist, housewife, and poet can all interpret a cup of coffee differently but they are all correct).I had a stint as an atheist, as I mentioned, but I can not dismiss the direct miracles I received prior to it happening with proof of intervention. So any theory or hypothesis I come up with has to have the spiritual realm incorporated. But don’t get me wrong….I know there are lots of evil people in the churches and a lot of dogma are just blatant lies or half truths that were seen as total truths in the time they were told, but have not evolved. Like the view of the atom….. the Bohr Model was revolutionary but is now just seen as a half truth since our model of the atom has evolved.
doe
Try to picture time like a cube. Within this cube contains all the probabilities of past, present, and future. Now, imagine a dot within the cube. This dot is you and your ‘now’. Because we perceive time in linear you will be moving in one direction. After some duration there will be a line drawn within the cube.
I know this sounds funky but it did helped me to understand how all realities could have happened already. And all probable pasts still exist.
Razor
Explain to me about ENTANGLEMENT like I am 11 years old. Please? :)
doe
addendum
And your choices in reality will be shown as directions of the line within the cube.
Thanks for the response oliarguello.
@Joe- Hard to tell but that second response seems more directed towards me… I asked him to explain his views on his beliefs because i’m interested. I fully understand all that can be understood about entanglement given my limited resources. If by chance that was a serious question then my apologies. Hard to tell over the net.
I really like the attitudes here, hard to believe it’s just a comment section….
@ doe:
Just got on the computer, google “Julian Barbour” for his end of time theory. Can’t explain everything on blogs. Will direct you though.
@ Joe: Quantum-entanglement is a strange feature of Quantum physics,
if you link together say, two particles that makes them two parts of the same entity, separate them and put one part say, in the deep feild of space, 13.7 billion light years away. A change in one particle is “instantly” reflected in the other.
Good analogy for time by the way.
that was cute …. does using the word “cute” insult you who think science is so important , understanding the details of it’s language of math , al it is is another languauge i can not speak chinese , but speak other languauges , heck i can ot een function in my own languauge or draw within the lines ..( spell and use grammar ) …. what does STRING theroy mean ” i dunno ”
love it ! what a geat show of humility , i wish more scientists would be such examples for the real legions to learn from maybe .
and then the Q – n – A at the end is DESERT ( the choclate cake with ice cream and whipped topping w/ a strawberry big enough to share 0 if? if there is anything like IN FI NITE , ahhh what a great concept for in fi nite is just in fite to a mind that can process as little info as our bio machine can or any amchine we can CONCIEVE of out into what we currently call in fi nite ….
back to the old question i found int he holographic model of the universe in the sci am article ,,, and i thought where am i as i am doing this observation .
why is the or this or ANY unvierse so F’ing important anyways …. all would be in a 1 before the bigining of expansion and beyond PERCIEVABLE limits we hold to thru times to come of in fi nite growth in ablity to percieve … still in a 1 ( for lack of a better word tool , i repeat the Lao … i know not what it is so i call it Tao ) and double slit quatum babble …just drops in a bucket of un imporatnce except that there is nothing better to do than accept the idea of no’s so we can play
WOW! I am no scientist however I am intrigued with science. All fields of science especially cosmology and particle physics. Lawrence Krauss makes it very easy for the average person to hang on to his every word and learn in plain English what he is presenting. This Documentary is entertaining, enlightening, and very funny at times. Well done!I will watch it again I am sure.
LOL, I love richard. other than his comment media studies. I am a science student that went in to media studies. Can he explain why Americans are ignorant, lonely, but dominate? I can through media studies.
Quite intriguing,Good lecture from a perspective. On close,however still so much unanswered.