Nothingness

[pocaracas]

Observation: the Universe is spreading more or less homogeneously (That means at the same speed in every direction).
Since it is spreading, then, if we turn the clock backwards, it will come together.... closer and closer until it is at one single point in the space-time continuum.
What happens after that one point? we don't know. No one knows. We may speculate, the human mind is great at speculating...

.One option is an entity from some different dimensionality, that simply created a 3+1D drawing.
.Another option is that the space-time continuum is infinite and present zero average energy, but some quantum fluctuations bring forth a few virtual particles here and there and, on occasion, these come together and generate real particles. For each particle, a suitable anti-particle is generated also, so the net energy content is ZERO. The infinity of space-time makes it possible that a location exists where too many of these real particles are generated, thus yielding a Universe.
.Another option is.... lots of Universes.
.Another option is... we're inside the matrix.
.
.
.

Any guess is as good as any other, as long as we're aware that they're only guesses.

The trouble starts when some people claim they have the answer, but have nothing to support it, and push that answer onto other people as if it was the magic bullet. And harm those people who do not accept that answer.

[Harris]

Is there any learned atheist here with whom I can have Literary discussion or this site is ruled by bunch of naughty teenagers only?

[pocaracas]

OH, BTW,

---

Is there any learned atheist here with whom I can have Literary discussion or this site is ruled by bunch of naughty teenagers only?

The best I can advise are
- minimalist
and
- a_nony_mouse

enjoy them!

[little_monkey]

Question:
Atheist believes Universe pops out of nothing.

Is there any atheist in the world who can explain what exactly is “NOTHINGNESS or NIHILISM?”

Cheers

I'm a bit late on this thread as I don't post here very often. But I'll try to give you a picture of where physics stands on this issue.

One of the fundamental concept in QM is the vacuum state. Without it, the whole structure of QM falls apart. How is it define? simple, extract everything you can think from a quantum state: all electrons, all quarks, all photons, all gravitons, all Higgs boson, etc. and what you have is the vacuum state.

So now you have nothing. However, this vacuum has a lot of unsuspected properties.

1) When you calculate it, say for free scalar fields, it gives you infinite energy. You can hide it under the rug, which is ok in flat space, but in curved space, you can't ignore it, and now we think it is related to Dark Energy but exactly how, that has to be worked out.

2)You can shift the vacuum to a direction in order to break some symmetry - the Higgs Mechanism that gave us the Higg boson last year is built on that notion.

3)Near a black hole, a pair of particle/antiparticles can pop out of the vacuum, one of them gets trapped by the black hole, the other can travel anywhere to infinity (Hawking radiation).

4)Or you can even measure the force this vacuum will exert between two parallel plates if you squeeze these two together (Casimir effect).

Yet, you're supposed to have nothing!

Now, can we have a universe popping out of this vacuum? In light of what we know about the vacuum, we can't rule it out. It's definitely a working hypothesis.

You might argue that this vacuum is really not nothing. But this could also indicate that nothing can never exist, perhaps it exist in your imagination, but not in reality.

[JesusHChrist]

Is there any learned atheist here with whom I can have Literary discussion or this site is ruled by bunch of naughty teenagers only?

It's fucking lord of the flies here man until the grown-ups come home from work. And then it will be all the boring ontological this, and teleological that, mixed up with some cosmic Kalam bullshit.

Meanwhile, you get to deal with the knaves, oafs and fucking varlets of the Atheist Corporation.

How may I fucking not serve you today?

[Harris]

Thank you pocaracas for providing some relief after some teenagers have tried to tortured me. On your quotes I'll response tomorrow.

Thank you everyone who took time to respond my questions.

[Faith No More]

I really do not understand what you're talking about here. You've given us a lecture about not giving a crap about what other people think because these are "just words" and now you're saying that you don't want your son learning these words from you because of what other people think? So which is it, do we care about what other people think or not? Either we make a big deal out of them or we don't, it's as simple as that really (from my perspective anyway).

Firstly, I never said that you shouldn't give a crap what others think. You shouldn't, but I never said that. I merely said that words only have the power you bestow upon them.

Secondly, it is my belief that swearing should not be stigmatized, but no matter what I feel, I do not want my son to be adversely affected by it. If my son runs around repeating my swear words, people will judge him directly, and it is not fair for him to be judged based on something that I am responsible for.

So, to recap, it isn't a big deal, but if people are going to make a big deal out of it regardless, I will not subject my son to others' negative judgement because of a decision I have made. Get it now?

[Ben Davis]

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I am a Muslim and student of philosophy and comparative religions. I am doing a research work and part of my activities is to surf on different religious sites in order to read people’s religious and non-religious opinions about God. I had been surfing on different religious sites like “Reasonable Faith, Christian site run by Dr. William Craig”, “IRF, Muslim site run by Dr. Zakir Naik”, and some other religious sites including Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Jainism, etc.

It is something shameful what I find on the “atheist” site that I have not met on any religious site. It is the use of extreme vulgar language and disrespect to each other. We can argue on each other’s point of view but argument doesn’t mean use of language that is reprehensible and inhumane.

What I found after reading many threads on this site as if the real joy and pleasure of an atheist is to tease and degrade a person, who has faith in God, down to the level of low life, which is an act of extreme immorality. As if atheist is a little boy, who has pushed his fingers into his ears and starts shouting loudly for the purpose to humiliate the speaker and this act of his becomes the source of his pleasure. In atheism, I feel there is zero tolerance among its followers. To devaluate a person and run away mischievously is very easy compared to stand firm and answer with reasons by being within the limits of respect and grace. We are here to learn from each other not to kill each other. Anyway, knowing all possible harsh consequences in response to my critique on atheism, I still dare to post a question here in hope to enter in a healthy discussion instead of receiving shocking words.

Question:
Atheist believes Universe pops out of nothing.

Is there any atheist in the world who can explain what exactly is “NOTHINGNESS or NIHILISM?”

Cheers

---

Harris,

How DARE you misrepresent me in such an underhanded & disingenuous way! Who do you think you are to make such dispicable generalisations about people! And you have the nerve to call others disrespectful?! You have demonstrated that you have no practical concept of what respect actually means!

You want ad-homs? You got 'em!

You antagonistic, conniving, insulting, small-minded, even smaller-witted, reprehensible, immoral, pathetic excuse for a human being. I find it laughable that you claim to be a student of any kind, for with a personality like the one you display here, you will surely fail to progress to any meaningful level. The disciplines of philosophy & comparative religion will be better served if you were to quit them now before you embarrass them any further. You couch your insults in such a thinly-veiled pretence of respectability that anyone with but a passing familiarity of hyperbole or innuendo would laugh in your face for displaying such vulgar transparancy.

P.S. No expletives required.

[Harris]

“It's fucking lord of the flies here man until the grown-ups come home from work. And then it will be all the boring ontological this, and teleological that, mixed up with some cosmic Kalam bullshit.”

Listen boy, I love to have a chat with you but unfortunately you speak in language that I don’t understand. Better, you go and take few elementary classes of English Language before you try to convey your ideas to me.

Have a nice day.

[Darkstar]

Just a few things I would like to point out:

-It is entirely possible to be incredibly offensive without swearing. You can only hear that gays and atheists should die before you realize this.

-It seems a significant stretch to consider the use of certain words (that do not contain a derogatory connotation towards a particular group) as "inhumane". Inhumane is a law that makes it illegal, and possibly punishable by death, to be homosexual.

-If you think that people here do nothing but ridicule and taunt theists, you are not getting a representative view (or are easily offended).

-Atheists do not necessarily believe the universe comes from nothing. Most do not claim to know.

-The reason that there is not swearing on religious forums is either because they restrict free speech, or they ban any dissenters before there is a chance for anyone to swear (likely both).

-You should have made an introductory thread. It is against the rules to insult people in those.

I try to be as polite as possible in all endeavors (even when theists are rude to me), but you cannot expect everyone to be like this. The best thing you can do is to choose your battles, and not get so worked up over swear words, but only things that are personally offensive.

That is all.