Do we exist?

A few days ago, I was in school reading an article in one of my study books about what there was before the 'big bang' and even before the existing of the universe...

When I read this, I started feeling really strange, because how deep I thought about it, I just couldn't realize that the universe had once not been here... but if it had not been here once, then something should have created it, right?

Just try and imagine it for yourself, that there is NOTHING at all, just nothing, and then all of a sudden, or over a longer period of time there is the universe... It just doesn't make sense... in fact, it sounds like a story a small child would make up.

When you think of this all, you start asking yourself, does it all exist? Do I exist? What if i'm just a big fantasy, and the things i'm typing here on this forum only happen in an imagination somewhere, the people that I meet are fake, and so are the objects I touch... It would all just be a big fantasy... but if it is, where does it come from?
Sometimes, like moments like these, I just get lost into thinking about this stuff, and I end up with more questions than answers.

That way, for me, it would be easy to just agree with the theory that a god created everything. It's just the easiest way to think of it. All my questions are answered as soon as you involve a mighty god in it.

So this does explain why there are so many religions in the world. All over the world people were asking themselves these questions about the beginning of the planet etc. and because they simply didn't know better, they came to the decision that earth was created by a god. and becuase we still dont know better, we will keep believing in these kinds of stories... God I cant wait till scientists find out how to use the other 90% of your brain.

So let me know what you think of all this, I know it seems chaotic, and there's absolutely no facts in it, it just my thoughts and opinions, but i'm pretty sure that i'm not the only person here that has these thoughts...

Cheers,

Yes, the infinity equation really can screw with your mind. Our brains don't seem built to be able to understand something that large. You think, "ok, so the universe started with a big bang. What started the big bang? Something had to be there to bang, right?"

exactly, you're always searching for the one thing that created the other... that is, if you know that this thing has a beginning, wich you automatically assume, because here on earth everything and everyone has a beginning (and an end).

Some philosopher once posited that "Nothing is Real" maybe it was Kant....
Then again....maybe it was somebody from Star Trek.
Hope this clears everything up.

Next!

I think solving the problem of the beginning of the universe is a bit out of our reach at this point (and I'm using that term loosely since there may not really be a beginning).

Our minds are at the mercy of the Laws of Association, so in order to understand such a big concept we'll more or less have to take baby steps until we finally understand. Though I wouldn't say that we'll NEVER be able to understand, it just might take a while.

As for us not really existing... well I do believe I exist. We may just as well exist in our dreams too. It doesn't make it any less real.

what diference does it make?

Though I wouldn't say that we'll NEVER be able to understand, it just might take a while.

Yeah, of that i'm pretty sure. Would anyone think that people that are alive now will ever get to understand all of these things? I personally think not. It will probably not be until we get to travel further away in space.

We may just as well exist in our dreams too. It doesn't make it any less real.

Ofcourse I also know that I exist, even if it would be just in an imagination, I would still be here, and have fun with my 'life'. I don't really believe that our dream world is also another world. For in lots of the dreams I have I repeat events I had during the day. So that makes it just your mind, that is rethinking all the things that happened to you lately.

Just try and imagine it for yourself, that there is NOTHING at all, just nothing, and then all of a sudden, or over a longer period of time there is the universe... It just doesn't make sense... in fact, it sounds like a story a small child would make up.

The problem with imaginary objects is the precence of that which is imaging, thus becoming real. If nothing is nothing, trying to imagine yourself as nothing defines it.

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Mod edit - fixed italics

[edit on 6-10-2006 by masqua]

Imagine the Quantum Theroists today that are having trouble with all the energy that the "nothing" between the stars (dark matter) has energy! I don't believe there is any such thing as "nothing". It is merely unknown.

I've also got a problem with the concept of Time. Time since the Big Bang. I don't think I'm alone in believing our very model of lineal time is flawed.

You'll find Quantum therorist that posit the idea that there is enough energy in the "nothing" between the subparticles that make up atoms, to cause a "big bang".
Maybe the Big Bang that we are in, is nothing more than a lab experiment gone bad?

now i'm hating this thread, i mean i hate it when this thoughts come to my head, it's like it gets stuck in my head for like 15-30 minutes before it goes away, oh i just prefer no to think of it......

Yep, I've felt that. You can't imagine it, because it's not logical, our brains can't grasp the concept logically without resorting to nonsensical reasoning.

I can't say anything for sure, but wouldn't you rather exist? I would, hence I think so. Making myself believe we don't exist would be... very bad. Once you're dead, nothing exists to you. So you can say all existence is merely a perception, in a tangible form to properly interact and understand.

[edit on 7/10/06 by Xar Ke Zeth]

i have my own little thiery...here it goes. our brains, think of nothing as something not being there. But in reality something is everything.. See space seems like nothing but its something,(its space...right?)... well what else is there....hmmm..aha!! Temerature...to us temperature is something right??? But if we didnt feel it? It it would be nothing...we wouldnt even think of it...anyways...u know the big bang thiery wich i think is crap...well i have a better expenation. Since space is empy and suposibly nothing....other things that dont effect us must exist.... sorry ur probably confused now..well so am I anyways...but u can see where I was trying to go with this...i hope

i am fairly certain that i exist, but it might just be the drugs.

if anybody sees me, please let me know post-haste... until then i shall be very concerned.

now i'm hating this thread, i mean i hate it when this thoughts come to my head, it's like it gets stuck in my head for like 15-30 minutes before it goes away, oh i just prefer no to think of it......

Yeah, I have the same thing, but it already feels better when you start discussing these things with other people, sure you will end up with nothing but crazy theories, but still it makes me feel better :p

Since space is empy and suposibly nothing....other things that dont effect us must exist.... sorry ur probably confused now..well so am I anyways...but u can see where I was trying to go with this..

I know what you mean. And it's not a bad theory I think. Think about infra red and ultra violette, until scientists did research about this hardly anyone knew about these things. And the same goes for supersonic sounds. We don't hear it if we don't use modern science. So why would we bother thinking about its existence?

What if the universe itself is a simulation? We model all kinds of stuff, weather, traffic, biology, right? What if the big bang was the beginning of the simulation?

Say somebody else wanted to time travel by some sort of VR/sim, and they'd need to create a complete AI world with near infinite timelines AKA parallel universes from our perspective of it. The sim would allow the "real existence somebodys" to travel through these accurate parallel realities at different times.

QP says matter is both a wave and a particle, and that unobserved matter exists as a wave in any possible state until it's observed, and then it becomes a particle. Could that be simulation behavior?

Maybe the big bang should be called the big boot.

...therefor I am. That's all I need to know. As for the Big Bang, it's probably an incorrect assessment for how our universe came into existance, it's just the best guess we have now based on available evidence(which is increasingly being called into question).

It is an interesting topic, but going in a very familiar direction...
To me, it is so obvious that it is IMPOSSIBLE that anything becomes out of nothing.
I am just a human, and I know we can crush the stone into dust, possibly turn dust into a stone. But, we cannot make something out of nothing. Nor can we see an example in nature of this happening.
It is a MIRACLE that universe exists.

Now, if you are scientific, if you really want to take all possible theories into account, how can you so flatly reject an existence of a CREATOR? I mean, we hardly know anything, but, somehow, somebody taught us that it is not the CREATOR, it cannot be.

Why are we so scared of the existence of some force, beyond our capability of understanding, that CREATED universe?

I am not talking about primitive, simplifying concepts, I am talking about the great DESIGNER of universe. I do not know HOW that entity exists, but I can see so many LAWS in the cosmos that tell me it is NOT THE COINCIDENCE as the modern "scientists" claim.

Do we exist? ofcourse.

I mean granted, when you break us down, we're just a bunch of atoms and empty space. But thats still being existing. I mean we are made up of something, and even if its mostly nothing, we're still something

I think this is a good treatise to consider when one is considering existence. It might not answer all your questions, but it is perhaps the most famous analysis of the matter of existence.

MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY

What if the universe itself is a simulation?

I have thought about that too, it would be really weird if we were to find out that we're just a (computer?) simulation. But I think it's a bit too far fetched... I mean, would our characters we have in video games like the sims also have their own mind and thoughts? I really don't think so.

''I think, therefor I exist" I have heard this quote quite a number of times in my life, but I still don't know who said it. Could someone tell me please?

Whoever made it up, he has a good point, but robot's and computer can also 'think', maybe not in the same way as we do, but they can do stuff without us telling them to do it (like installing spyware :p) so that's sort of thinking too right? But then again they do exist also... wait, now im confusing myself



[edit on 10/7/2006 by NoSuchAgency]