God is in semantics.

[Dooker]

The Universe exits. It is here and was probably created by the big bang( even christians acknowledge this). If that is so, than something made that happen. That "something" is god. This comes to a semantic definition of "something". Suffice it to say, if "something" didn't cause the universe to be, none of us would be here. I don't know how you reconcile that "something" as being anything but a god. This is where I think Christians et al, are wrong in thinking that my statement here agrees with them. They don't have a monopoly on god. Just because I believe there was a prime mover of the universe doesn't mean I think it was Moses, Jesus, Mohammed or any other human derived deity.

Anyways, thoughts on the semantics of "something"?

I have no problem with limitless regress.  Unless you've already decided to go with a first cause, it is the obvious alternative.  The only reason we shrink from limitless regress is thermo dynamics.  But that only applies to closed system and we're in no position to assume the universe is truly unitary and therefore closed.  What we know as our universe may very well fit within a superstructure which we may never be able to verify.

For my money I am willing to grant prior necessary and sufficient causes but a first one seems more absurd to me than the idea of infinite priors.

That there would be some thing (my bolding on your quote by the way) is no problem.  But that the idea that this thing would be a 'subject' has no appeal whatsoever apart from the way it ties into ancient folklore.  I'm certainly not giving that any creedence.  Are you?

Nope, no credence, but on the same level I cannot imagine the amount of commitment it would take to create the periodic table of elements  in its complexity and interaction. I don't attribute it to a subject, just something that we as human beings can never understand or comprehend. I haven't even read up on limitless regress, which I will do, but don't you think there are some aspects of reality the human mind is utterly incapable of grasping....like infinity? Also on thermo dynamics, are you referring to entropy?

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Right but thats too mathematical! More specifically, why math is true. I'm talking about why the rules of the black hole are true! why is gravity true? What, because it "just is"! No way, something made the rules. Something set it up, how gravity works, how space and time works, everything. It's not from anything remotely in this solar system, lest the galaxy, I don't know, but something, whatever "it" is made the rules and we'll never know what. That "it" gives me some solace, and I just don't see that as delusional like most of the earthly religions.

If it gives you some solace, that's fine. I still don't buy a supernatural cause.

When I was in physics we were forced to derive most of the equations ourselves before we were given them. In this way I learned how interconnected the universe and the laws that govern it are. Most of our physical laws seem to be fixed, relying on something else. Each law or equation relies on others, and they all feed back into each other.

This is why I describe our current model of the universe as a puzzle with missing pieces. It seems likely that the things that "make the laws of physics what they are" will be some natural cause (or causes) that will interconnect with the others. We are so close that at times it seems we can almost make out the shapes of those missing pieces, but each time we get close we find still more to learn.

Edit: I just noticed the "why math is true" line. Math is true by definition. It is a set of axioms and rules. It is completely arbitrary. If you follow those rules then you are doing math. If not, not.

Right "axioms and rules" but what makes the rules. The rules in math get much more complex and even break down in quantum mechanics. I don't know how you can't see something more to it. I know, I sound like a zealot when I say that. Yes, two objects means two, three objects means three but in an alternative universe that could be flipped. Maybe some kind of mirror image effect makes 2 always equal 4, and all of mathematics is different. Im sort of going of the cliff here but quantum mathematics has all kinds of crazy stuff going on and nobody knows how it works. Just saying

[Natachan]

Math is invented. By people. It isn't some transcendental thing, it is something we made up. We are pattern seeking animals and we made rules and patterns that we call math that happen to match up with what we observe in reality. Facts about reality may be discovered but math is not.

Quantum physics is tedious and obnoxious. There is no such thing as "quantum mathematics" only math that is used in describing the quantum and we still made that up.

I hate to be nitpicky about this, but I'm an engineering major. I loves me my maths.

[Whateverist]

Yeah, the idea that the energy in a system can only wind down. But if we don't have the big picture of where all the energy and matter is or how it interacts across distances .. then it really isn't much a of an objection.

Infinity doesn't bother me and is managed quite well by human reasoning I think. Besides aren't you saddled with it, with or without magic genies?

I believe the periodic table owes its complexity to the underlying structure of matter. If the underlying substrate isn't chaotic it is reasonable to expect patterns based on that regularity. It is a beautiful thing. It just isn't in need of a watch maker