Will we know why had universe began, why there is something instead of nothing.
We don’t even know if there is a reason or not. If stuff like cause and effect are properties of the universe itself, they they don’t necessarily have to apply to it coming into existence (and if time and space are merely a part of the universe with no equivalent beyond, then the concept of it being caused by something runs into the issue of there being no time before it for a cause to occur and no place before it for that event to happen in).
There could be some equivalent of all those things of course, that the universe exists within, but we can’t just assume that.
Me laying in bed having an existential crisis.
"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened."
- Douglas Adams
That would explain the last few years.
Doubt it. The universe never cared, so there’s no real why.
Yea, just like… do shit.
There’s a reason?
There is no reason, it’s just random shit causing random shit. If random shit happens on the universes timescales of billions and trillions of years then cool stuff is bound to happen eventually. There’s no rhyme or reason for it.
I assume they’re talking about a reason as in a cause, not a reason as in a purpose.
It’s not random. It’s chaos.
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But it’d be cool to understand how the universe is even here. Why do we have particles and energy? Where does all that come from?
Well depends on what you mean by “scientific”. Do I think modern science is capable of seeing anything beyond the testable and observable? No way, so there is nothing to determine a “why” with science alone. If there is an answer to why the universe began, I believe you’d have to ask the Infinite Void and hope for a response. According to the big bang theory we all came from one place, i.e. one “thing” created the entire universe, so only that “thing” would know “why” we were created.
Is this question an example of the halting problem?
Asking “why” only makes sense in the context of a conscious decision, unless you accept something like “because the Big Bang happened” as an answer.
We’re entirely too removed from the start to know with 100% certainty. The best we can hope for is a plausible theory.
I’ve sometimes thought, that if there is a purpose or reason for our universe, it’d make most sense to me that its some form of random number generator.
That said, I also accept that this whole thing, me as part of this universe, is just a happenstance. We happen. It happens. This happens. Now happens. Nothing more to it than that.
The happenings can be important to some, can echo, and harmonize, or create dissonance in the future, but fundamentally there is no guiding hand outside reaching in, and so what we make of this, and the actions we make, is just what happens on the skin of the here and now of this universe.
Empirical observation can get you the what and the how, but I don’t think it will ever tell you the why. Who says there even is a why?
The difference between “how” and “why” doesn’t seem very meaningful to me. For example- why does water boil? It boils because molecules gain enough energy through heat to transition states.
In that same sense, OP’s question
why there is something instead of nothing.?
There’s a non zero chance that we eventually understand the mechanisms behind the big bang and can explain how nothing turned into something. Therefore we will be able to explain the why, no?
The problem with the question of why is that you can always ask why again. Say we do understand the mechanism of the big bang. You can still ask “why” about why things are that way. Which is why in my view that’s still more of a “how?” “Why” is more of a question for philosophers than scientists imo.
But is that not the same way with “how”?
How do objects fall to the ground? → the Earth exerts a gravitational force on them
How does Earth exert a gravitational force? → All objects with mass create a gravitational field that attracts other masses
How do objects create a gravitation field? → Mass warps spacetime and this curvature directs objects to follow paths towards the source of the mass
and so on, etc
I think the “why” exists only with the idea that the universe is directed in some way. e.g. “How can I see around my room”? Photons. “Why”? Because I turned on the light.
Why?
No
How?
MaybeScience doesn’t answer the Why?* questions. Philosophy does.
Are we a brain in a jar living in a simulation? Are we creation of God? There isn’t an experiment that can test those hypothesizes.
* Why? has different meanings and science does answer some of them and the one that I assume you are asking is one of them that it doesn’t.
