(January 25, 2014 at 8:48 pm)orogenicman Wrote:(January 25, 2014 at 2:45 pm)MindForgedManacle Wrote: I think the reason why we ask 'why' is somewhat obvious: agency assumptions. We have this ingrained disposition towards attributing agency to things in the world. But of course, barring an infinite series, this is going to come to an end somewhere, probably ending in a brute fact.
I wouldn't suggest Krauss' "A Universe From Nothing" on this, to be honest. I think Krauss was playing a semantic game to get more book sales. And hey, I don't blame him. Publishers LOVE provocative titles; tends to get the books off the shelves. That's why we get things like "The God Delusion". But in Krauss' case he very clearly is being to fast and dirty with the word 'nothing', by which he just means quantum foam.
Perhaps you should read up on causality. David Hume's works iare always a good start here.
I doubt that anyone with half a brain would misunderstand what Krauss was saying when he used the word "nothing", particularly since he explained what he meant, though I could be wrong.
The problem is that Krauss specifically said that physics can and has shown how the universe came from nothing. Initially, it's clear he means that physics can show that the universe came from quantum foam. The problem is, Krauss has doubled down on the growing criticism and, in a debate against Dinesh D'Souza, said that it can show that the universe came from 'absolute nothing', which is utter bullshit. Krauss just needs to come clean, as his argument is a non sequitur in terms of the universe coming from 'nothing'.
