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

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The discussion explores the philosophical idea that the universe could ultimately sum to nothing, questioning whether all matter, antimatter, and energy might cancel each other out. Participants debate the implications of the Big Bang and whether it’s possible for the universe to have originated from zero. The conversation highlights that this concept is more philosophical than scientific, as quantifying such a sum is inherently challenging. There are disagreements on the validity of the arguments presented, particularly regarding the laws of the universe and their implications on the sum of existence. Ultimately, the thread raises profound questions about the nature of existence and the laws governing it.
erickulcyk
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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
 
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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.
 

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