- #1
VonWeber
- 52
- 0
What does modern physics say about "uncaused" effects
The old Cosmological argument says that everywhere we see an effect like motion or change we see a cause. This is a useful way of looking at everyday things. It goes on to say that regressing they form a chain. This is something we experience and take for granted. The argument goes on to say that they can't go on forever, and that we must stop at one and only one uncaused cause. I can see no reason to assume that they can't go on forever or stop at any single uncaused cause.
I don't really know a lot of physics. I wonder if current physics has any bearing on this question? First of all, even though we may not readily see them there might be many 'effects' with no known cause. But it would be pointless to argue if every motion we ever observe has a cause. I've heard about quantum fluctuations and people have claimed that energy sporadically appears and dissapears. I suppose it's open to a lot of interpretation, but I wonder if this is something like a 'effect' without known causes. Then there is the big bang. To a lay person such as myself it kind of looks like you could trace everything back to a small set of causes. However I am aware that time and space don't follow our everyday intuition on that scale. Any thoughts that point me in the right direction would be appreciated.
The old Cosmological argument says that everywhere we see an effect like motion or change we see a cause. This is a useful way of looking at everyday things. It goes on to say that regressing they form a chain. This is something we experience and take for granted. The argument goes on to say that they can't go on forever, and that we must stop at one and only one uncaused cause. I can see no reason to assume that they can't go on forever or stop at any single uncaused cause.
I don't really know a lot of physics. I wonder if current physics has any bearing on this question? First of all, even though we may not readily see them there might be many 'effects' with no known cause. But it would be pointless to argue if every motion we ever observe has a cause. I've heard about quantum fluctuations and people have claimed that energy sporadically appears and dissapears. I suppose it's open to a lot of interpretation, but I wonder if this is something like a 'effect' without known causes. Then there is the big bang. To a lay person such as myself it kind of looks like you could trace everything back to a small set of causes. However I am aware that time and space don't follow our everyday intuition on that scale. Any thoughts that point me in the right direction would be appreciated.