Is the Universe Alive? The Fascinating Theory of an Evolving Cosmos

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the provocative idea of whether the universe itself can be considered alive, drawing parallels between biological evolution and cosmic development. Participants engage with philosophical, scientific, and theological perspectives on the nature of existence and the universe's complexity.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants assert that the universe is alive, arguing that since humans are made of the universe, it must also possess life.
  • Others challenge this view, stating that while the universe contains living organisms, this does not imply that the universe itself is alive.
  • A participant references the biblical creation story, suggesting that many believe humans were formed from "almost nothing," which raises questions about the origins of complexity.
  • Another viewpoint suggests that there is a hierarchy of intelligence constructing the universe, though this perspective intersects with religious ideas.
  • Concerns are raised about the rationality of discussing biblical concepts in the context of scientific discourse.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing opinions on whether the universe can be considered alive, with no consensus reached. The discussion includes competing views on the relationship between life and the universe, as well as the implications of religious narratives.

Contextual Notes

Some arguments rely on philosophical interpretations of existence and the definitions of life, while others invoke religious texts, leading to potential limitations in rational discourse.

RAD4921
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The following is part of an article from New Scienstist Magazine where a physicist contemplates whether the universe is alive.
I think it goes without saying that the universe is alive. YOU ARE MADE UP OF THE UNIVERSE AND YOU ARE ALIVE. To think otherwise would be to deny one's own existence.

Is the Universe alive?: The radical idea that our Universe may be evolving like a living creature is making cosmologists think like biologists
15 January 1994
JOHN GRIBBIN
Magazine issue 1908
Nobody would argue that human beings appeared out of nothing. We are complex creatures, and could not have arisen 'just by chance' out of a brew of chemicals, even in some warm little pond of the kind envisaged by Charles Darwin. Simpler kinds of living organisms came first, and it took hundreds of millions of years of evolution on Earth to progress from single-celled life forms to complex organisms like ourselves.

Could something similar have happened with the Universe? It is a large complex system which, some cosmologists argue, cannot have appeared by chance. Simpler universes came first, they say, and it may have taken hundreds of millions of universal generations to progress to a universe as complex as our own.

Lee Smolin, professor of physics at the Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry at the Pennsylvania State University, is a leading proponent of this idea, which also takes on ...

The complete article is 2264 words long.
To continue reading this article, subscribe to New Scientist. Get 4 issues of New Scientist magazine and instant access to all online content for only USD $4.95
 
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RAD4921 said:
I think it goes without saying that the universe is alive. YOU ARE MADE UP OF THE UNIVERSE AND YOU ARE ALIVE. To think otherwise would be to deny one's own existence.
The universe contains living organisms, but that does not make the universe itself alive. How does this "deny one's own existence"? This makes no sense.
 
RAD4921 said:
...Nobody would argue that human beings appeared out of nothing...
Well, sure they would, or at least almost nothing. In fact the vast majority of Americans believe in the human creation story in Genesis where the male human body was formed out of (1) dust of Earth (2) breath of god, about as close to nothing as one can get for the formation of a entity as complex as the human body.
 
The living universe

Evo said:
The universe contains living organisms, but that does not make the universe itself alive. How does this "deny one's own existence"? This makes no sense.

It is an observable fact that the universe is alive and thinking, at least in part. Some may call it a leap of faith but this is strongly suggestive, at least to me, that the universe is alive and thinking as a whole.

I am not a religious man but it appears to my middle-aged mind that there is some type of hierarchy of intelligence that is contructing the universe. How this coincides with the Judeo-Christian "God" is a different story.
 
The biblical fact

Rade said:
Well, sure they would, or at least almost nothing. In fact the vast majority of Americans believe in the human creation story in Genesis where the male human body was formed out of (1) dust of Earth (2) breath of god, about as close to nothing as one can get for the formation of a entity as complex as the human body.

This is one of those rare circumstances where I agree with the bible in that man was created from dust. The Earth is the ash (stardust) flung out from a super nova explosion.

Whether we or anything else for that matter was created from nothing can be debated since there appears to be energy hidden in the vacuum of space.
I could go on to argue if "nothing" even exist but that has already been discussed by myself and others in previous threads
 
Discussions based on biblical or similar ideas aren't something that can be rationally discussed, therefore aren't allowed within the guidelines.
 

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