Is it possible that the sum total of everything is nothing?

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter erickulcyk
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Sum
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the philosophical and theoretical question of whether the universe could be a complex expression of nothing, considering concepts such as matter, antimatter, energy, and the laws governing them. Participants examine the implications of these ideas in the context of the Big Bang and the nature of existence.

Discussion Character

  • Philosophical inquiry
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant proposes that if all matter and antimatter were created from nothing, they could potentially balance each other out, leading to a state of nothingness.
  • Another participant questions what the positive and negative components would consist of in this theoretical framework.
  • A participant argues that the question is philosophical rather than scientific, pointing out the difficulty in quantifying the sum of all components of the universe.
  • One participant challenges a claim about the relationship between protons, electrons, and neutrons, indicating that the earlier assertion was incorrect.
  • Another participant raises a point about the foundational rules of mathematics, suggesting that one cannot claim that all laws of the universe sum to zero without considering the implications of those laws themselves.
  • A later reply dismisses the thread as silly, indicating a lack of seriousness in the discussion.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views, with no clear consensus on the validity of the original proposition or the implications of the discussion. Some engage in speculative reasoning, while others critique the philosophical nature of the inquiry.

Contextual Notes

The discussion involves unresolved assumptions about the nature of matter, antimatter, and the laws of physics, as well as the philosophical implications of defining existence and nothingness.

erickulcyk
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Hello all,

I was wondering if you think it's possible that our universe is just very complicated very of expressing nothing. That is, if you took the sum of all the matter, antimatter, energy, anything else that I'm forgetting to mention, and the laws that govern them, could you end up with everything canceling each other out and nothing left? I think the theory is know that everything there is was contained in the big bang and it just expanded to form the universe. For Instance, we could say there were x things at the time of the big bang, so if you summed everything together today there would still be x things. Is it possible that there was 0 things at the time the the big bang, and 0= x-x. We can then say x = z^2-y+x+y-z^2 and so on... So we build a universe from nothing, aided by the plus and minus (which I think would be universal expansion and gravity respectively). Does this make sense or am I missing something here?

Thanks for your input,

Eric
 
Space news on Phys.org
I suppose it could be if matter and anti matter were created out of nothing it would balance.

I don't think I have seen anything made of anti matter yet though, so that's speculation on my part.
 
This depends on what the + and the - would consist of.
 
This question is more philosophical than scientific, as your second statement
"That is, if you took the sum of all the matter, antimatter, energy, anything else that I'm forgetting to mention, and the laws that govern them, could you end up with everything canceling each other out and nothing left?"
is inherently impossible to quantify.
 
Charlatanza said:
... for every proton there is a electron and a neutron...

That is not true at all. (Not hitting you, just saying facts)
 
homogeneous equations are always nice
 
Yeah but then who made the rule that x-x = 0?

You can't say that all the laws of the Universe sum up to zero, because "sum" is also a law. You can't escape it.
 
This thread is silly.
 

Similar threads

High School Age of Universe: Big Bang, Braneworlds & Perspective
  • · Replies 22 ·
Replies
22
Views
4K
High School Big Bang and Infinite Universe
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
3K
High School Did the big bang create something from nothing?
  • · Replies 26 ·
Replies
26
Views
5K
High School Questions About the Growth of the Universe
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
Undergrad What was there before everything came to existence?
  • · Replies 39 ·
2
Replies
39
Views
5K
High School The infinite and the infinitesimal
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
3K
High School The observable and non-observable parts of the Universe
  • · Replies 38 ·
2
Replies
38
Views
7K
Undergrad Why do we still see the CMB today?
  • · Replies 103 ·
4
Replies
103
Views
13K
Undergrad Density fluctuations in a homogeneous linearly expanding universe?
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
3K
Undergrad Question on the horizon problem
  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
3K