Unless it gives you panic attacks and terrible all consuming anxiety that makes you question existence and reality, then....I guess it's still beautiful, but it kind of sucks
Love Kuhns videos because he has a childlike curiosity to understand the deepest questions in physics and philosophy, in other words: the deepest questions that humanity can pose...
@@esmerillia I do not see it as a big question in philosophy because I simply believe that you cannot get something out of nothing,if you are someone that except the idea that zero is a true number then you have more of a scientific mind than a philosophical one,they are a lot of things in science that seems to only make since in theory but the role of philosophy is to defend common sense, the real is what is rational!
These are great, but they're not new. A lot of people don't realize that. These are all excerpts from the old PBS series Closer To Truth, which started in 2000. I know they were still making it as recently as 2018 but it's not clear if they still are. Most of the ones being released on RUclips are 10 to 15 years old. Kuhn is much older looking now than he appears currently, and David Chalmers looks like a long dirty blonde haired young rock star whereas today he has short white/grey thinning hair.
Our main problem with the concept "God" is that we think, speak, or write with the "God of the Bible" in the background of our minds, but GOD is SOMETHING what we do not know: We have not the slightest idea of what 'GOD' really is! We have pictures in our minds, we have concepts in our minds, we speculate, but we do not know anything about HE/SHE/IT/God/GOD.
I really enjoy your great documentaries that try to tackle mind bending problems. I have a feeling that the answer of the question of why is there "something" rather than "nothing" lies in the deeper understanding of the concept of infinity!
“Because something does exist, there must be something that is self-existing; in that its essence is its existence.” That is a strikingly profound statement.
Before God can exist the concept of existence has to exist first, the phrase God create existence is a logical contradiction_you can create a thing that needs to there in the first place for you to be and do anything all
My friend your completely correct. Complete silence & peace, almost like before we were born..There is no hell or heaven, but the law of conservation..we return our atoms,etc back to the place they came from the start....Stars made every single thing that your body is made of...This is a fact.
Not according to most Eastern mystics and traditions. Of course, you can think what you like but there are feww who would agree that it is either that simple or that easy. Indeed both Buddhism and Hinduism carry warnings about such an apporach.
I had some sort of an epiphany when I was 5 years old, I remember it very vividly, when I asked myself this exact question, and it's been torturing me ever since. I 'm happy to find someone else who has realised that this is the most important question that anyone can ask. Great video.
Btw, I like Heidegger and the fact that he- aside from an obscure ancient Greek philosopher(whose name I can't recall) - bothered to put so much effort to deal with this question- and, in the process, helped many people realise its' importance, which cannot be overstated. It's the absolute philosophical question. The moment you ask this, you propably suspect that you can never answer it, maybe because the answer is embedded in the question to begin with- nothing should exist. Existance is irrational... and yet, here we are. People who say ''it's irrelevant'' or ''you can't ask this'' only prove how threatened they feel, because in their gut they feel that the shallowness of their ideology would be exposed by this simple question.
My life journey has been a puzzling one. I learned this language not that long ago and fell in love with it and it has allowed me to enjoy shows like this one, I cannot get enough of this show
Among all, Michio was the only one who didn’t answer the question at all, as if he didn’t hear it. He said things that are interesting but totally irrelevant to the question. Intellectual honesty calls for a simple “I don’t know” in situations like this. Robert ends the episode brilliantly by confessing he hasn’t moved an inch closer to truth on this question. And who has?
@@AltonMoore I mentioned Tyson as on a similar par with Kaku in my comment but then edited him out for brevity and also because I like him even more than Kaku. But you're right.
This question has a special meaning. Its own sense and feeling. There's no use to speculate about it in terms of preset life notions, you loose the question - it cannot be truly expressed in other words, decomposed to other concepts. The best thing I could do to not lose it - stop reasoning around it, keep the feeling, follow it as it is and see where it arise, see what you mean and feel by asking it. Feeling goes first, only then you can communicate it to your companion if he feels it too.
@Love Logic You know, without feeling identities, rational mind could not operate because it would not have notions and categories to manipulate in the first place. And if it defined something artificial, then manipulation results would not have meaning or sense. Sure we need rational during life on this plane. But I think questions 'what is sense of life' or 'why anything exists' go beyond categories of our normal life. And so we fail to answer them. We just cannot match the feeling which initiated this question with any combo of normal categories that we experienced here. And whatever rational explanation we create, it cannot answer to that feeling, leaving us unsatisfied with any explanation.
I run a number of companies based in Hong Kong and one of my great pleasures is accompanying Mr. Kuhn on his journey. The gift of knowledge and a better understanding of ourselves and the nature of our existence. I and many others are in his debt.
The question I always come back to is the peculiarity of being human. I assume that all things have being: rocks, televisions, and rabbits. And yet my experience of being is anchored to the one type of thing in the universe we know to be rational, capable of will and moral choice, and able to appreciate the awesomeness of reality. The odds and privilege of this seem beyond unfathomable.
Once something exists, nothing is impossible. It is basic mathematics. Perception or questioning that existence is irrelevant, as they are only variables in the equation of that existence. Once something exist it will continue to exist just the form can be different just as the variables in an equation can be changed even if the result will always be the same. So if we exist, the only question that we should ask ourself: is what we was before? (so we can learn from it, even if that is something we can't change) and what we wanna be in the future? (we should focus on this question as is the only one we can do something about it) ... not why we are at all.
I agree, Richard. It's like an always-on circuit which controls when everything else within the electrical and mechanical components of a device is on or offline. Can something truly be self-existing? Yes, if its existence is logically necessary for reality to function correctly. This makes it something necessary to always exist, never nonexistent, never needing to be brought into existence in order for it to exist, and therefore something logically natural to exist. Speaking of logic, some philospohers have come to accept that, absent of everything nonexistent which can exist prior to the existence of those things, possibility---and the logic which underlies it---must exist a priori. So, ultimately, all---including consciousness (including particles, forces, force carriers, and fields---and possibly a "Creator")---can exist only in subservient harmony with a bedrock extradimensional field of Logic.
Sir Robert Laurence Kuhn is not only intriguing, eloquent and mysterious, but he’s also very fascinating and mystical too. I just simply like his modern and contemporary style. He knows exactly how to define things and he knows exactly how to ask the right kind of questions, during his one on one interviews, with each and every one of his guests. Thank you for this magnificent presentation! Johnny, Montréal, Canada!
Agreed. He’s talking to the preeminent thinkers of our time, but he brings an energy and curiosity to the interviews that really seems to bring out the best in all of them.
I love this video. I also love how Dr Kuhn continues to stare at, nod, or stare and nod at the person he has interviewed long after they have finished their sentence. I'm glad his mannerisms are something rather than nothing...
I've done it. Many times. Donald Hoffman is on the right track, but certain variables aren't clear to him yet... I don't yet know if I should assist him with the progression. I'm so very conflicted..
I remember Max Planck's saying about the thoughts of Heidegger. We cannot solve the greatest mysteries of existence, because we ourselves; are part of that mystery 🧠🤎
This learned man has had conversations on fundamental questions with a plethora of other learned persons. Regrettably, not a single one of those questions has been satisfactorily answered.
I appreciate that there is a show where people can just sit and ponder about the nature of nothing/existence even though it will never ever lead to any conclusive conclusion.
When he says that he's going to Berkeley to see Hubert Dreyfus, he shows himself walking across the Stanford campus. No wonder he has questions. Like, "Where the fuck _am_ I?"
@@howtobeatadrum Stanford University is knowingly and deceitfully lying about physics. THE ABSOLUTE, BALANCED, EXTENSIVE, AND CLEAR MATHEMATICAL PROOF REGARDING E=MC2 AS F=MA: Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy, AS E=MC2 IS F=MA. The Earth (A PLANET) is a MIDDLE DISTANCE form that is in BALANCED relation to the Sun AND the speed of light (c), AS the stars AND PLANETS are POINTS in the night sky; AS E=mc2 IS F=ma !!! This NECESSARILY represents, INVOLVES, AND DESCRIBES what is possible/potential AND actual IN BALANCE, AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. Very importantly, A PHOTON may be placed at the center of WHAT IS THE SUN (as A POINT, of course); AS the reduction of SPACE is offset by (or BALANCED with) the speed of light (c); AS E=mc2 is F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. The stars AND PLANETS are POINTS in the night sky. The sky is blue, AND the Earth is ALSO BLUE. (OVERLAY what is THE EYE in BALANCED RELATION to/WITH what is THE EARTH.) E=MC2 IS F=ma !!! TIME DILATION ULTIMATELY proves (ON BALANCE) that ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity, AS E=mc2 is F=ma. INDEED, TIME is NECESSARILY possible/potential AND actual IN BALANCE; AS E=mc2 is F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. The stars AND PLANETS are POINTS in the night sky. SO, THE EARTH is E=mc2 AS F=ma IN BALANCE. Objects fall at the SAME RATE (neglecting air resistance, of course), AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy. It ALL CLEARLY makes perfect sense. BALANCE and completeness go hand in hand. So, get a very good LOOK at what is THE EYE. (Very importantly, outer "space" involves full inertia; AND it is fully invisible AND black.) "Mass"/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. E=MC2 IS F=ma. Gravity AND ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy are linked AND BALANCED opposites, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity !!! Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy. BALANCE and completeness go hand in hand. Consider what is the speed of light (c) as well. Carefully consider the man who IS standing on what is THE EARTH/ground. Touch AND feeling BLEND, AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy IS gravity. Energy has/involves GRAVITY, AND ENERGY has/involves inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE. The ultimate mathematical unification of physics/physical experience combines, BALANCES, AND INCLUDES opposites, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma (ON BALANCE !!!); AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity !!! "Mass"/ENERGY involves BALANCED inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE consistent with/as what is BALANCED electromagnetic/gravitational force/ENERGY, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Gravitational force/ENERGY IS proportional to (or BALANCED with/as) inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. Gravity/acceleration involves BALANCED inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE, AS E=mc2 is F=ma IN BALANCE; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY !!! Therefore, objects (AND the falling men) fall at the SAME RATE (neglecting air resistance, of course); AND the rotation of WHAT IS THE MOON matches it's revolution. MOREOVER, a given PLANET (INCLUDING WHAT IS THE EARTH) sweeps out EQUAL AREAS in equal times consistent WITH/AS F=ma, E=mc2, AND what is perpetual motion; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity; AS E=MC2 IS F=ma IN BALANCE !!!! Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma. This NECESSARILY represents, INVOLVES, AND DESCRIBES what is possible/potential AND actual IN BALANCE !!! Great. By Frank DiMeglio
These are stupid academics. I know a ton of people, including myself, smarter than these guys. They are nobodys. He doesnt interview the best intellectuals. Kuhn is also a closet atheist in disguise. Not a genuine truth seeker.
Please pardon my gushing, but this has got to be the best introduction to an episode ever. The poignant narrative and epic soundtrack are perfect. Thanks for this series.
I like your channel because you ask almost all the same questions that I have forever asked in my head. And till date I haven't found one answer that could somewhat quench my thirst for knowing and understanding the concepts.
As a Groovist; as we all are, I believe the reason we're here, as One of billions, is to create a global Groove! As One, we all are to love what we're doing (creating music), feeling the power of the virtual mob, are happy, and happily practicing the third & activating step of evolution! Our purpose is to Be enjoying creating, ... music!!!
I recently discovered your channel, and subscribed after first couple videos. Excellent format you have here. I love it I mean how you simply sit in front of an expert and try to get to the questions and we all get educated, or left mystified
Yeah the trouble is... This channel has been going for years... And poor old Lawrence is no closer to truth... He never settles on a position... I’m wondering how much longer he will continue
@@bazstrutt8247 Would you prefer that he settles on a lie? Maybe he'll never find the Truth, but he can for sure eliminate many ideas that are not the Truth. By doing that, he will be closer to Truth (I think this was his idea behind the title as well). Maybe you're right: perhaps the hopeful idea that there are a finite amount of non-Truths and therefore within a reasonable time, one could go one-by-one through all of them and by elimination finally arrive at the Truth is ALSO an incorrect idea, because there are either (1) an infinite amount of non-Truths or (2) there are a finite number of them, but they are so many that one could never eliminate all in a reasonable amount of time. Then you have 2 choices: settle for a lie, or accept that your journey may never end. But which lie to settle for and why even settle for one? That would launch you on another journey perhaps, or you might just get tired and settle for your latest lie. Many people settle for lies because they honestly mistake them for the Truth or they just don't care. But what do you have to lose when seeking the Truth? The journey fills your soul with beauty, and keeps your mind sharp, so that it can function better when you are existentially threatened. It's better to continue seeking the Truth because you have nothing to gain from the alternative.
that doesn't make sense, though. if the universe can come from nothing, then why would it need a real beginning point? it has an infinite age then. what i am saying is that the universe can push that nothing wall back forever. it doesn't have to ever not exist no matter how far you travel back in a ship we can calculate the age of our universe but not the totality of existence.
Thank you so much for raising and discussing these questions. This mystery is so fundamental to our existence. I found this online one day when I was once again wondering what on earth the purpose was for being here. "There is a greater purpose for you in the world, a greater purpose that has brought you into the world, a greater purpose that is meant to serve the world that you see and the world to come. The reality of this purpose-its meaning and its expression-exists beyond the grasp of your intellect. It is something that resides deep within you. God has placed it deep within you, within a deeper Intelligence within you, an Intelligence that is called Knowledge. Your attempt to understand this purpose with your intellect will always fall short of the mark, for the intellect was not designed to comprehend things of this magnitude. Trying to understand the deeper Mind of Knowledge is like trying to understand the Mind of God. It is better not to try." From the Revelation "Your purpose and destiny" by Marshall Vian Summers
I am reminded of an encounter between Moses and God in the Old Testament. God was speaking to Moses and at one point Moses asked for God's name. Moses was supposed to deliver a message to his fellow Hebrews suffering in Egypt and Moses concluded that they would demand to know who sent him - they would want to know the name of the god that sent him. The gods of the different peoples had names like 'owner,' 'majestic king,' 'star,' 'grain,' and 'destroyer.' God responded somewhat cryptically. He said, "I AM WHO I AM (Yahweh)….tell them I AM has sent me to you.' Yahweh has also been translated to, "He brings into existence whatever exists." Yahweh - a name that references self-existence.
''Nothing'' is absolute. There's no time or space for anything to exist, neighter for a Big Bang to occur, The fact that we are here means there must always have been something.
Simple, because there's a debate to determine if there's a creator or not, that's 'why'. No creator = just is, creator = why?. Creator assumes a motivation by an intelligence. I'm not arguing for either, simply explaining that a why may exist beyond humans if it's determined there's some type of creator or all of reality is a single entity that has a will and intent.
Thank you for sharing your quest with us Dr Kuhn. At 5 years old I had a meltdown because I couldn’t find anyone who could answer my distressing question :’what does nothing look like and what is outside the universe’. Until Now had no idea it was not a stupid question that nobody obsessed about. The question remains of course, but at least it’s a little less lonely to know others are disturbed by the same conundrum. The proposals in this video do not scratch the itch I suggest, or perhaps I am not smart enough for them to help scratch mine…🙏
Absolutely love Robert Kuhn's channel Closer To Truth. I've admired and listened to Michio Kaku so many times over the years. Perhaps the Genesis to it all is Time. One vibrating strand of possibility only exists because of it. Time can only exist if it's expanding forward, creating matter to push itself against , whic ultimately sets a sustainable Speed for Light , and quantum parameters. Matter didn't create Space. Space didn't create Matter or Time. Time created it all.
Thank you for another powerful installment in your mind-challenging video series. Well done with insightful interviews of deep thinkers. As for the question “Why something rather than nothing” or the mystery of existence, here’s my quick take. I have never been heavily troubled by this query. To ask “why something rather than nothing” presupposes that 1. the “default” and natural state of existence is that of simple nothingness (an unjustified assumption in my view); and 2. Simple nothingness is just simple and NOT what I call a “Perfect Absolute Eternal Nothingness.” Perfect Absolute Eternal Nothingness for me is a PURE BLANK of space, matter, energy and time with NO possibilities or potentials for anything to ever come out of it and NO values, mathematics, numbers or any abstraction within it. There is NO option for anything other than Perfect Absolute Eternal Nothingness to ever exist - and it exists forever. Since what obtains in our Reality is plainly NOT this perfect nothingness, there must always have been a primordial Something - which then produced something else, which then produced still something else, ad infinitum. Thus, the solution is simply a definitional one - how one defines “nothingness.” Thanks again for your video.
Agreed. I can't see how it could be any other way. Not only is it counter intuitive but it seems to be completely illogical. True absolute nothingness in no way shape or form could ever give rise to something. That's why the nothingness as described by quantum mechanics is full of stuff lol. There is a fundamental something that is necessary. That which has always existed and always will. That which is the 1st cause of all effects.
Great comment! But as i see it, nothingness doesn't exists as you state it, it just isn't. I don't think that the assumption of nothingness is unjustified either. Not in a sense of matter, but rather consciousness. If there is no life after death for example, i would just be that after i die, nothing at all. I think of it in a similar way to that there can be different types and sizes of infinity, then it could also maybe be different types of nothing. My nothing after i die would be smaller than the potential great nothing of a universe that never came to be, but it's still an justifiable example of nothing. Hope it makes any sense, lol.
Grattata Great response! But we can take what you call “nothing”, namely whatever definition you choose for it, and engage in a deep mental exercise; namely a process of elimination. We can keep of taking away from it more and more aspects of reality. At the end, the argument is that we are left with a Perfect Absolute Nothing - which is then an option for how Reality could be. In fact, RLK has done this very analysis 7 years ago at a lecture for a Chopra Foundation seminar. It’s a fascinating talk. Since such a “nothing” does not exist (since you and me and the world are obviously here), a primordial Something must obtain. Make sense? Lol Cheers! ruclips.net/video/DDr2K99FzAw/видео.html
@@grattata4364 I know this comment is a year old but I just wanted to say that your comment was exactly the same intuition that came to my mind and you helped crystallize my thoughts so thank you! I also don’t believe in nothing in the sense of space/time/matter nothing but certainly nothing as a concept is something (hehe). What did I experience before I was born? What will I experience after I die? What does a man with no eyes see? Maybe these are incoherent questions but their “nothingness” seems much more real than the absolute universal nothingness
The only intuition I've had that allows me to think I'm making progress in answering Why Something..... is in thinking about the number one (1). Great series!
This is fabulous. Watching this again after nearly a year I am in awe of this question and the questioners. The world of course continues as a great mystery and wonder. Barry Weprin
Not saying I believe this but...Maybe that's one of the reasons why we are here. To give God or the universe the experience of wonder. Anything all knowing would lose wonder.
Yes he or she just want to wonder us that what he wants the ability of to creat or vanish some thing are not in our hands thts leads us to belive him GOD IS GREAT
Imo the hardest questions about reality won't be answered completely by science alone.. I think at least some measure of philosophy will need to be invoked.
@@ferdinandkraft857 We currently 'assume with no evidence' that something has infinite life. If true where would it go? If false then that could be a possibility.
Imo unless their is a God... this universe will end... and be again... and has been before. Why wouldn't it have? We know it is possible for it to exist ..
This is something I've been unable to shake, I've had this inner knowing that time is so short and I'll be an old man or gone in what feels like a few seconds but will be a lifetime, it's a constant dread. And what makes it even worse is not having answers and most likely never knowing the what, where, and how we're here.
That's the ultimate contradiction of human existence. We are able to ask these questions but also be aware that there's a possibility we'll never know the answers or even if they are knowable at all.
It's all anthropomorphic semantics. But what else is there? We are the only conscious Observers that we know of. Why that is the case in a 14 billion year old universe should be the really scary question.
The most fundamental question is also the most absurd. Existence and its inevitable counterpart, Non-existence, together comprise an inscrutable mystery. If there were tangible answers to these philosophical riddles, there would be no wonder, no beauty, no art, and ergo, no reason left to live.
For existence to arise from truly "nothing" is clearly impossible. Therefore, existence must be eternal. Eternal existence explains why something exists instead of nothing. Existence is -- because it always was!
The mistake in this type of a priori reasoning is the assumption that nothing and existence are related, that existence must be the product of nothing (which the a priorists consider to be impossible). Why is it not possible for existence to be self-generating? When existence emerges it leaves no space for nothing because there was nothing to obstruct its emergence.
Equations are made inside consciousness so they just came from consciouses , the entity that make question is the answer for that questions . Consciousness is the ultimate reality .
I can see where your coming from, but try staring at a Digital Clock and think "STOP" inside your head. It won't stop. So from that we conclude that material existence != Mind/Perception. You can't find my password or hack my account using your Mind either.
Why do you feel it necessary to write in Jacobean English? Is that the language of God? On a serious note, why do you bother to type what you have typed? Do you think it will change the opinion of one person? Are you not merely virtue signalling, which I believe is a sin?
You do realize he basically said nothing at all?! Because it can only exist that way - according to his limited view of the universe The fact that no one knows how the universe works in the first place is the clear proof that we literally cannot disprove the existence of God, alternate universes and other unknown phenomena
well his argument doesn't make any sense then because this one got here, and so why not 2 & more you can still have other dimensions though. say it's the same, well looks the same, but humans never evolved. or maybe there wasn't a world war two. maybe a different batch of humans, etc. imagine a dimension where the dinosaurs are wiped out but this does not lead to the human race. so many alterations... how is choice handled. in that case does there need to be other dimensions
There could very well be multiple universes out there but they would be so far removed and detached from this reality and space that it would not matter. The biggest point is this is it along side the other dimensions that make up our universe
Here's my take. In a word, it is beyond human understanding. In order for causality to be a thing then something has to first cause causality. Whether you call that first cause God, or Sheeva, or quantum foam, or the laws of physics themselves... whatever you call it, the first place our minds jump to is to something that is supernatural. But then you can once again start the process all over again by asking what caused God? This is the point at which religious people will say that God is the uncaused cause. But then why couldn't we just say that the big bang itself is the uncaused cause? Once you settle for an "uncaused cause" you're contradicting yourself. Thus, the only way to get rid of the infinity is to force ourselves into a contradiction by saying "this over here is the uncaused cause", "that over there is the uncaused cause". Since we are forced into a contradiction, there is no starting point for us to start from. There is no direction we would know to orient ourselves so as at least to give us a clue on how to proceed.
If by “imagine” you mean “having a mental picture of it”, then of course you’ll never imagine it. It’s obviously impossible because it’s not something. However, to conceive (which is not necessarily the same as “imagine”) of the concept of “nothing” (as a universal negative) is easy: it’s no - thing - at all.
@@fraser_mr2009false question. It would be eternal, self existing. It didn't come from anywhere. It's clear, if you research enough in quantum physics and meta physics. Something at base reality is eternal, non created. That is the existence itself.
The real question that you are trying to ask is this,"what is something and what is nothing". The answer to your question is this,"there is no nothing if there is no nothing's.
9:58 "It's hard to give any substance to the notion of there being nothing." Within the vernacular it is difficult to express "nothing" even by an expert.
I remember as a kid thinking about matter and objects and wondered about the space between things. I thought that the in-between space was what nothing was. I think modern science has an explanation for that now (something to do with entangled virtual particles). But the nothing that this show is referring to is the concept of the absence of existence. It may just be that nothing CANNOT “exist”. It is inconsistent for nothing to be all that there is. Especially from the perspective of a conscious being’s awareness.
I have obsessed over that question since I was old enough to reason. How did everything begin and why are we here ......not a day goes by that I don't wrestle with that.
Thank you Mr. Kuhn for tackling this difficult subject that leaves many of us facing a dilemma: the impossibility of our own existence. The 16th Century English philosopher John Locke also tackled it in like manner. Ultimately, that which has always been in existence is the essence of all that is. It has intelligence, impetus, and value; therefore Creation has intelligence, impetus, and value.
This channel is superb. sir khun definitely great to see how you pull out the questions humanity is evolved into with science and religious with great peoples contributing with you collectively to bring us the information of deepest quest of the rails of the human life closer to truth . Greetings from India
The ending is brilliant Man, this is the deepest question. The unreachable mystery of existence. Something that, the most you get closer to it, the further it grows the abyss between you and it. I'm pretty sure that this couldn't be answered even by the "self existing substance", since it would just create stuff in its try, if the mere assumption of this specific trying has any kind of sense (which I think it doesn't).
From all the attempts to answer this fondamental question, this "...self existing" answer feels the most accepted even though I don't claim I understand it but it is so coherent with the intuition.
Dang, I watched the whole thing, and NOBODY answered the question of why there is something rather than nothing. No one interviewed here knows the answer, methinks. Just a bunch of damn lip-flapping!!
Maybe this universe could be nothing, in some other's point of view, " somebody" else could be looking at our universe and see nothing...anyway, existence and the fact that we can think about it , are an absolute miracle
I always thought I will never know the answer to this question yet now, after 35 years of pondering, I think I have. First, one eureka moment that I had came from the Closer to Truth interview with philosopher Colin McGinn, who correctly said that the question looks pertinent but it's not, because you're including in the question any possible answer. You can't leave anything outside of the question that could answer it, therefore it's an ill-posed question - something exists "necessarily". But what does "necessarily" really mean? And my answer to that is very simple - the laws of nature are abstract and cannot be destroyed. It's not that God made the laws of the universe, invented them, created them. God IS the laws, literally. You can call them "laws", you can call it "Nature", you can call it "God", it doesn't really matter. So actually it's the laws themselves that are eternal. If you could have a dialog with the laws and ask them "who created you?" or "when did you first appear?" they would say "what do you mean?". There is no need for them to be created, they "always" existed, they are not bound in space and time since they are abstract. More, if you want to destroy them, you can't. There's no way you can manipulate them such that you make them disappear. Of course, you can say "OK, but that only explains abstract objects, not physical ones". However, I think there's an error in that assertion - the error is that the ontology of physical objects is unknown. In science we only talk about the relationship between objects, not their ontology. It might be that the ontology of physical things is mathematical as well, meaning the ontology is once again abstract. And if that is the case, then that means the abstract nature of the laws explains everything, from the ontology of physical things to why there is something rather than nothing - because there is no way to destroy these abstract entities that exist irrespective of space and time - they have no choice but to exist.
Interesting thought. I personally feel that the fact that these laws are abstract and have not had a beginning does not make them impervious to questioning. They are not in an ebony tower.
@@Garghamellal Well, there's no way you can prevent them from existing, there's no way to "grab them" and destroy them (that we know of). In other words, there's no way that they couldn't exist. Granted, the problem of ontology is still there - what is the nature of nature? A question that is outside of science, which has no way of answering it since it deals with relationships between objects, not their ontology. So it might be that the idea that the universe is mathematical is not true - maybe that's not its ontology - maybe that's us (me) using whatever we have at our disposal to speculate on its ontology. But if Nature's ontology IS mathematical (somehow) then the problem is solved.
@@Raptorel I find your perspective stimulating. When you say "there is no way to grab them and destroy them" and "in other words, there's no way they couldn't exist" I strongly agree with you. Nonetheless to me this does not suffice to explain the mystery of existence, and I am about to try to articulate the reason why, in a nutshell. And in order to do this I must utilize philosophize for a moment Science-Fictionally. Just try to think about how characters in a book written by someone would feel or how a character in a videogame (and therefore "inside" a computer) would feel and what would they think about their reality. They would acknowledge the existence of a world around them, physical objects (meaning stuff they can interact with), and ultimately "laws of nature" which they would perforce deem indestructible. And in the end they would be right. They would never be able to know (let alone conjecture) that there exists a superior level of reality which lies outside the computer which GENERATED those very laws of nature that they hold as ultimate (under the form of programming language, be it cobol, Fortran or what have you). Let alone conjecture that there is a man (or a Someone) who utilizes the computer. To sum it up, it is certainly true that laws of nature as we perceive are abstract immovable indestructible but they might not exhaust Reality. Characters in a book or in a video game would come to the same conclusions as us concerning their "abstract" quality and indestructibility - when they are nothing more than lines in a code inside a computer owned by an unknown someone.
@@Garghamellal Yes, I agree with that. The truth is that we will never know anything about the ontology of the universe. I see no way to do it. You can say that consciousness offers the ontology, but that might be a fabrication. Even more, what we percieve as 3d objects might be just holographic projections from the 2d surface of the observable universe and so on and so forth. However, it's hard to imagine "destroying" the logical and mathematical concepts - these would be true both in our universe and the universe that we are simulating, that the people you propose would also discover. So they would be true in both worlds. Of course, you can criticize that by saying "of course, that would be true if the simulated people would create their own simulated people - the simulated people's simulated people would share the laws of physics that we created for them and that the simulated people created for the simulated simulated people". You get the idea. So yeah, it's complicated.
As always. You progress each episode with an openness and unbiased sense of logical follow up. Masterful and meaningful in a age where meaning is difficult to.identify.
I acknowledge the others that have asked the same question at a young age. I did so at about ten. I attempted to imagine nothingness. The absence of space, time, anything. It was like trying to imagine five dimensions but more emotional(my existence was at stake). The result for me was a concept that was mind-blowing. Nothingness was incomprehensible, claustrophobic, empty, tiny, confined all at once. I could liken it to a singularity without the big bang. But I would agree with Robert that to get to something there would have to be an existence outside that confined room of nothingness. Meaning we can't answer that question with quantum fluctuations in a vacuum because we haven't started with nothing. We can't answer it with a big bang because the stuff came from somewhere. So this is how we get to God as a legitimate answer.
How fortunate we are that we can watch these things on RUclips.
This channel has become my favorite RUclips channel.
💯
🤖🤖
I'm glad Robert Kuhn exists.
To be haunted by fundamental questions is a beautiful thing.
I agree. The seeking may be the meaning.
Yes
Damn. Don’t know if I agree or disagree with this!
The trick is to be at peace, while living with uncertainty.
Unless it gives you panic attacks and terrible all consuming anxiety that makes you question existence and reality, then....I guess it's still beautiful, but it kind of sucks
I cant get enough of this series. It's the best.
Love Kuhns videos because he has a childlike curiosity to understand the deepest questions in physics and philosophy, in other words: the deepest questions that humanity can pose...
Don't you think it's a bit presumptuous to assume that this subject matter would be the deepest questions humanity can ask?
@@esmerillia I do not see it as a big question in philosophy because I simply believe that you cannot get something out of nothing,if you are someone that except the idea that zero is a true number then you have more of a scientific mind than a philosophical one,they are a lot of things in science that seems to only make since in theory but the role of philosophy is to defend common sense, the real is what is rational!
@@esmerillia No
@@mrmetaphysics9457 you misunderstood what I said
@@esmerillia no because this question IS objectively the most fundamental question, regardless of what you think 🙂🙂🙂
This series is pure 🔥. Keep them coming. I can't get enough.
These are great, but they're not new. A lot of people don't realize that.
These are all excerpts from the old PBS series Closer To Truth, which started in 2000.
I know they were still making it as recently as 2018 but it's not clear if they still are.
Most of the ones being released on RUclips are 10 to 15 years old. Kuhn is much older looking now than he appears currently, and David Chalmers looks like a long dirty blonde haired young rock star whereas today he has short white/grey thinning hair.
@@b.g.5869 yes but it doesn't diminish impact
Our main problem with the concept "God" is that we think, speak, or write with the "God of the Bible" in the background of our minds, but GOD is SOMETHING what we do not know: We have not the slightest idea of what 'GOD' really is! We have pictures in our minds, we have concepts in our minds, we speculate, but we do not know anything about HE/SHE/IT/God/GOD.
That plot twist at the end was something surprising rather than nothing at all. :)
Subconsciously you have answered the question this documentary posses at the start.
I really enjoy your great documentaries that try to tackle mind bending problems. I have a feeling that the answer of the question of why is there "something" rather than "nothing" lies in the deeper understanding of the concept of infinity!
“Because something does exist, there must be something that is self-existing; in that its essence is its existence.”
That is a strikingly profound statement.
Just someone's guess, no way to prove it.
"Because something does exist ..."
The only thing you know exists, is your consciousness. At least it's like this in my case.
That was the definition of God of the medieval theologians (both Muslims and Catholics )
Before God can exist the concept of existence has to exist first, the phrase God create existence is a logical contradiction_you can create a thing that needs to there in the first place for you to be and do anything all
@@suatustel746 The man in the interview is not saying that "God created existence". He is saying that God is existence itself.
Got acquainted with this enigma at age 7 and it's been haunting me ever since. I think the day you die is the ultimate liberation.
May be after life jannat is another. Universe 🙏
so life is a kind of prision ?
My friend your completely correct. Complete silence & peace, almost like before we were born..There is no hell or heaven, but the law of conservation..we return our atoms,etc back to the place they came from the start....Stars made every single thing that your body is made of...This is a fact.
Not according to most Eastern mystics and traditions. Of course, you can think what you like but there are feww who would agree that it is either that simple or that easy. Indeed both Buddhism and Hinduism carry warnings about such an apporach.
@mike mars Firslty, what evidence do you have to support your claim? Secondly, what's speech got to do with anything?
I had some sort of an epiphany when I was 5 years old, I remember it very vividly, when I asked myself this exact question, and it's been torturing me ever since. I 'm happy to find someone else who has realised that this is the most important question that anyone can ask. Great video.
Btw, I like Heidegger and the fact that he- aside from an obscure ancient Greek philosopher(whose name I can't recall) - bothered to put so much effort to deal with this question- and, in the process, helped many people realise its' importance, which cannot be overstated. It's the absolute philosophical question. The moment you ask this, you propably suspect that you can never answer it, maybe because the answer is embedded in the question to begin with- nothing should exist. Existance is irrational... and yet, here we are. People who say ''it's irrelevant'' or ''you can't ask this'' only prove how threatened they feel, because in their gut they feel that the shallowness of their ideology would be exposed by this simple question.
I have the answer
@@ImranAli-lp4cg sure you do
The answer is probably way above our pay grade, our limited ability to understand it.
Its actually the most irrelevant, yet most interesting question
Robert, this is quite cleary the highest yield content I've ever observed on this platform. Bravo
My life journey has been a puzzling one. I learned this language not that long ago and fell in love with it and it has allowed me to enjoy shows like this one, I cannot get enough of this show
Hello Sy, I have a very similar feeling of happiness and joy of knowledge thanks to English language. My mother language is Spanish, what is yours?
Among all, Michio was the only one who didn’t answer the question at all, as if he didn’t hear it. He said things that are interesting but totally irrelevant to the question. Intellectual honesty calls for a simple “I don’t know” in situations like this.
Robert ends the episode brilliantly by confessing he hasn’t moved an inch closer to truth on this question. And who has?
Me. But maybe because I am inferior.
Yes. He has a habit of doing that. Look at some of the older videos with other interviewees...some of the answers are utterly irrelevant.
Michio's success turned him into an intellectual 'showman'. I like him but I don't like how he presents.
Kaku is a pseudo-scientist. I never watch him or Neil deGrasse Tyson. It would be charitable to call them "science popularizers".
@@AltonMoore I mentioned Tyson as on a similar par with Kaku in my comment but then edited him out for brevity and also because I like him even more than Kaku. But you're right.
This question has a special meaning. Its own sense and feeling. There's no use to speculate about it in terms of preset life notions, you loose the question - it cannot be truly expressed in other words, decomposed to other concepts. The best thing I could do to not lose it - stop reasoning around it, keep the feeling, follow it as it is and see where it arise, see what you mean and feel by asking it. Feeling goes first, only then you can communicate it to your companion if he feels it too.
@Love Logic You know, without feeling identities, rational mind could not operate because it would not have notions and categories to manipulate in the first place. And if it defined something artificial, then manipulation results would not have meaning or sense. Sure we need rational during life on this plane. But I think questions 'what is sense of life' or 'why anything exists' go beyond categories of our normal life. And so we fail to answer them. We just cannot match the feeling which initiated this question with any combo of normal categories that we experienced here. And whatever rational explanation we create, it cannot answer to that feeling, leaving us unsatisfied with any explanation.
I run a number of companies based in Hong Kong and one of my great pleasures is accompanying Mr. Kuhn on his journey. The gift of knowledge and a better understanding of ourselves and the nature of our existence. I and many others are in his debt.
This episode has the best introduction of them
all so far “...I’m not deluded, just obsessed” ha!
The question I always come back to is the peculiarity of being human. I assume that all things have being: rocks, televisions, and rabbits. And yet my experience of being is anchored to the one type of thing in the universe we know to be rational, capable of will and moral choice, and able to appreciate the awesomeness of reality. The odds and privilege of this seem beyond unfathomable.
True.
Beingness is EVERYTHING!
theotormon, that just means you are very bad at reasoning.
@@louiscyfer6944 Cool man, good for you.
I like the answer that there is “something” that is self existing. And that self existing “thing” was the ignition to start everything else.
That thesis is yet at the frontier of observation.
Once something exists, nothing is impossible. It is basic mathematics. Perception or questioning that existence is irrelevant, as they are only variables in the equation of that existence. Once something exist it will continue to exist just the form can be different just as the variables in an equation can be changed even if the result will always be the same. So if we exist, the only question that we should ask ourself: is what we was before? (so we can learn from it, even if that is something we can't change) and what we wanna be in the future? (we should focus on this question as is the only one we can do something about it) ... not why we are at all.
The ever existing one, the great I AM.
I agree, Richard. It's like an always-on circuit which controls when everything else within the electrical and mechanical components of a device is on or offline. Can something truly be self-existing? Yes, if its existence is logically necessary for reality to function correctly. This makes it something necessary to always exist, never nonexistent, never needing to be brought into existence in order for it to exist, and therefore something logically natural to exist. Speaking of logic, some philospohers have come to accept that, absent of everything nonexistent which can exist prior to the existence of those things, possibility---and the logic which underlies it---must exist a priori. So, ultimately, all---including consciousness (including particles, forces, force carriers, and fields---and possibly a "Creator")---can exist only in subservient harmony with a bedrock extradimensional field of Logic.
@@williamsparks1036 nope that's not the ever existing.
Sir Robert Laurence Kuhn is not only intriguing, eloquent and mysterious, but he’s also very fascinating and mystical too. I just simply like his modern and contemporary style. He knows exactly how to define things and he knows exactly how to ask the right kind of questions, during his one on one interviews, with each and every one of his guests. Thank you for this magnificent presentation! Johnny, Montréal, Canada!
Agreed. He’s talking to the preeminent thinkers of our time, but he brings an energy and curiosity to the interviews that really seems to bring out the best in all of them.
A very good entry in the series.
But I hope when the curtain rises, the door does not say: "Exit here the series."
@@johnbrzykcy3076 llllnllllllllnllllllllnllllllll we
yes, if people jumping off bridges onto a fast moving train for a ride is to you a normal means of travelling by train
I love this video. I also love how Dr Kuhn continues to stare at, nod, or stare and nod at the person he has interviewed long after they have finished their sentence. I'm glad his mannerisms are something rather than nothing...
I think that people like this, asking questions like that, are always worth listening to. Thanks for putting this on here.
My biggest question is why are humans so cruel to one another when everything shows that the contrary is beneficial to all?
💙 rightt , 😒
Exactly.
We need to break free from our human umwelt to figure something like this out.
I've done it. Many times. Donald Hoffman is on the right track, but certain variables aren't clear to him yet... I don't yet know if I should assist him with the progression. I'm so very conflicted..
@@MattSeconds i think you should
Why?
Top Shelf 10's sure bud. Sure
I remember Max Planck's saying about the thoughts of Heidegger. We cannot solve the greatest mysteries of existence, because we ourselves; are part of that mystery 🧠🤎
This learned man has had conversations on fundamental questions with a plethora of other learned persons. Regrettably, not a single one of those questions has been satisfactorily answered.
I appreciate that there is a show where people can just sit and ponder about the nature of nothing/existence even though it will never ever lead to any conclusive conclusion.
When he says that he's going to Berkeley to see Hubert Dreyfus, he shows himself walking across the Stanford campus. No wonder he has questions. Like, "Where the fuck _am_ I?"
Hahahahahahahahahaah
That cracked me right up
It is possible to start at Stanford and still arrive at Berkeley
@@howtobeatadrum Yes, but no one at Stanford would admit that.
@@1thomson haha
@@howtobeatadrum Stanford University is knowingly and deceitfully lying about physics. THE ABSOLUTE, BALANCED, EXTENSIVE, AND CLEAR MATHEMATICAL PROOF REGARDING E=MC2 AS F=MA:
Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy, AS E=MC2 IS F=MA. The Earth (A PLANET) is a MIDDLE DISTANCE form that is in BALANCED relation to the Sun AND the speed of light (c), AS the stars AND PLANETS are POINTS in the night sky; AS E=mc2 IS F=ma !!! This NECESSARILY represents, INVOLVES, AND DESCRIBES what is possible/potential AND actual IN BALANCE, AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. Very importantly, A PHOTON may be placed at the center of WHAT IS THE SUN (as A POINT, of course); AS the reduction of SPACE is offset by (or BALANCED with) the speed of light (c); AS E=mc2 is F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. The stars AND PLANETS are POINTS in the night sky. The sky is blue, AND the Earth is ALSO BLUE. (OVERLAY what is THE EYE in BALANCED RELATION to/WITH what is THE EARTH.) E=MC2 IS F=ma !!!
TIME DILATION ULTIMATELY proves (ON BALANCE) that ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity, AS E=mc2 is F=ma. INDEED, TIME is NECESSARILY possible/potential AND actual IN BALANCE; AS E=mc2 is F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. The stars AND PLANETS are POINTS in the night sky. SO, THE EARTH is E=mc2 AS F=ma IN BALANCE. Objects fall at the SAME RATE (neglecting air resistance, of course), AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy. It ALL CLEARLY makes perfect sense. BALANCE and completeness go hand in hand. So, get a very good LOOK at what is THE EYE. (Very importantly, outer "space" involves full inertia; AND it is fully invisible AND black.) "Mass"/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. E=MC2 IS F=ma.
Gravity AND ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy are linked AND BALANCED opposites, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity !!! Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy. BALANCE and completeness go hand in hand. Consider what is the speed of light (c) as well. Carefully consider the man who IS standing on what is THE EARTH/ground. Touch AND feeling BLEND, AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy IS gravity. Energy has/involves GRAVITY, AND ENERGY has/involves inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE. The ultimate mathematical unification of physics/physical experience combines, BALANCES, AND INCLUDES opposites, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma (ON BALANCE !!!); AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity !!!
"Mass"/ENERGY involves BALANCED inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE consistent with/as what is BALANCED electromagnetic/gravitational force/ENERGY, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY. Gravitational force/ENERGY IS proportional to (or BALANCED with/as) inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity. Gravity/acceleration involves BALANCED inertia/INERTIAL RESISTANCE, AS E=mc2 is F=ma IN BALANCE; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/ENERGY IS GRAVITY !!! Therefore, objects (AND the falling men) fall at the SAME RATE (neglecting air resistance, of course); AND the rotation of WHAT IS THE MOON matches it's revolution. MOREOVER, a given PLANET (INCLUDING WHAT IS THE EARTH) sweeps out EQUAL AREAS in equal times consistent WITH/AS F=ma, E=mc2, AND what is perpetual motion; AS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy is gravity; AS E=MC2 IS F=ma IN BALANCE !!!! Gravity IS ELECTROMAGNETISM/energy, AS E=MC2 IS F=ma. This NECESSARILY represents, INVOLVES, AND DESCRIBES what is possible/potential AND actual IN BALANCE !!! Great.
By Frank DiMeglio
Love these discussions, so many intelligent people running around
With the financial resources to run around too. 🙏🙏🙏🧡
These are stupid academics. I know a ton of people, including myself, smarter than these guys. They are nobodys. He doesnt interview the best intellectuals. Kuhn is also a closet atheist in disguise. Not a genuine truth seeker.
@@happierabroad troll
Please pardon my gushing, but this has got to be the best introduction to an episode ever. The poignant narrative and epic soundtrack are perfect. Thanks for this series.
I like your channel because you ask almost all the same questions that I have forever asked in my head.
And till date I haven't found one answer that could somewhat quench my thirst for knowing and understanding the concepts.
This is just so excellent like all of your pursuits! One of my very favorite channels. Thanks fo what do do!!!
"that's clever, i think. but sorry, John. *That's also ABSURD* "
lmao
As a Groovist; as we all are, I believe the reason we're here, as One of billions, is to create a global Groove! As One, we all are to love what we're doing (creating music), feeling the power of the virtual mob, are happy, and happily practicing the third & activating step of evolution! Our purpose is to Be enjoying creating, ... music!!!
Thanks for this video. Kuhn is always best.
I recently discovered your channel, and subscribed after first couple videos. Excellent format you have here. I love it
I mean how you simply sit in front of an expert and try to get to the questions and we all get educated, or left mystified
Yeah the trouble is...
This channel has been going for years...
And poor old Lawrence is no closer to truth...
He never settles on a position...
I’m wondering how much longer he will continue
@@bazstrutt8247 its not about finding the truth. It's about seeking it
Food Stamp Champ
Seeking it forever??
A pointless, endless search for something that doesn’t exist??
@@bazstrutt8247 Would you prefer that he settles on a lie? Maybe he'll never find the Truth, but he can for sure eliminate many ideas that are not the Truth. By doing that, he will be closer to Truth (I think this was his idea behind the title as well). Maybe you're right: perhaps the hopeful idea that there are a finite amount of non-Truths and therefore within a reasonable time, one could go one-by-one through all of them and by elimination finally arrive at the Truth is ALSO an incorrect idea, because there are either (1) an infinite amount of non-Truths or (2) there are a finite number of them, but they are so many that one could never eliminate all in a reasonable amount of time. Then you have 2 choices: settle for a lie, or accept that your journey may never end. But which lie to settle for and why even settle for one? That would launch you on another journey perhaps, or you might just get tired and settle for your latest lie. Many people settle for lies because they honestly mistake them for the Truth or they just don't care. But what do you have to lose when seeking the Truth? The journey fills your soul with beauty, and keeps your mind sharp, so that it can function better when you are existentially threatened. It's better to continue seeking the Truth because you have nothing to gain from the alternative.
Man Afro But he’s not eliminating the false conclusions...
He can’t decide and just keeps going round and round in circles
Can honestly say i learned "Nothing" from this video...
Actualized (YT channel) has a video about this topic.
Things have to be in more than one place at the same time. That is the most mind blowing idea. It is so counterintuitive.
Incredible comments by Dr Michio Kaku. Thankyou both of you for making such a nice video.
The harder we look, the more apparent it becomes that nothing makes sense.
@Chris Wise Cogito ergo sum.
"Nothing makes sense."
@@marccas10: Indeed, the more we know, the more we realize what we don't know...so how is knowledge power?
If you project that forward maybe an advanced civilisation or A.I. would go insane as the horizon of knowledge exponentially expanded before them?
that doesn't make sense, though. if the universe can come from nothing, then why would it need a real beginning point? it has an infinite age then.
what i am saying is that the universe can push that nothing wall back forever. it doesn't have to ever not exist no matter how far you travel back in a ship
we can calculate the age of our universe but not the totality of existence.
Thank you so much for raising and discussing these questions. This mystery is so fundamental to our existence.
I found this online one day when I was once again wondering what on earth the purpose was for being here.
"There is a greater purpose for you in the world, a greater purpose that has brought you into the world, a greater purpose that is meant to serve the world that you see and the world to come. The reality of this purpose-its meaning and its expression-exists beyond the grasp of your intellect. It is something that resides deep within you. God has placed it deep within you, within a deeper Intelligence within you, an Intelligence that is called Knowledge.
Your attempt to understand this purpose with your intellect will always fall short of the mark, for the intellect was not designed to comprehend things of this magnitude. Trying to understand the deeper Mind of Knowledge is like trying to understand the Mind of God. It is better not to try." From the Revelation "Your purpose and destiny" by Marshall Vian Summers
Thanks!
Thank you, ALW.
Ty!
I am reminded of an encounter between Moses and God in the Old Testament. God was speaking to Moses and at one point Moses asked for God's name. Moses was supposed to deliver a message to his fellow Hebrews suffering in Egypt and Moses concluded that they would demand to know who sent him - they would want to know the name of the god that sent him. The gods of the different peoples had names like 'owner,' 'majestic king,' 'star,' 'grain,' and 'destroyer.' God responded somewhat cryptically. He said, "I AM WHO I AM (Yahweh)….tell them I AM has sent me to you.' Yahweh has also been translated to, "He brings into existence whatever exists." Yahweh - a name that references self-existence.
''Nothing'' is absolute. There's no time or space for anything to exist, neighter for a Big Bang to occur, The fact that we are here means there must always have been something.
Life is a test
I guess this series also needs to consider eastern philosophies which has tried to explore this question better than the western philosophers
Oh, really? And what's their conclusion?
I agree. Eastern philosophy has explored this stuff for thousands of years without the dogma of western religion doctrines.
Only humans need a 'why'. Reality doesn't need a 'why', it just is.
proving we dont 'all' need a 'why' ;)
Awake in bed I lie. I often wonder... "why?" I hear a distant cry. "Only humans seem to sigh." ( The mystery of "why" )
@@johnbrzykcy3076 That's beautiful, thanks for sharing.
@@Ndo01 Thanks. I've been awake since 2:30 this morning. The "poem" just popped into my head. Glad you like it. Good morning from Florida !
Simple, because there's a debate to determine if there's a creator or not, that's 'why'. No creator = just is, creator = why?. Creator assumes a motivation by an intelligence. I'm not arguing for either, simply explaining that a why may exist beyond humans if it's determined there's some type of creator or all of reality is a single entity that has a will and intent.
Thank you for sharing your quest with us Dr Kuhn. At 5 years old I had a meltdown because I couldn’t find anyone who could answer my distressing question :’what does nothing look like and what is outside the universe’. Until Now had no idea it was not a stupid question that nobody obsessed about. The question remains of course, but at least it’s a little less lonely to know others are disturbed by the same conundrum. The proposals in this video do not scratch the itch I suggest, or perhaps I am not smart enough for them to help scratch mine…🙏
Absolutely love Robert Kuhn's channel Closer To Truth. I've admired and listened to Michio Kaku so many times over the years. Perhaps the Genesis to it all is Time. One vibrating strand of possibility only exists because of it. Time can only exist if it's expanding forward, creating matter to push itself against , whic ultimately sets a sustainable Speed for Light , and quantum parameters. Matter didn't create Space. Space didn't create Matter or Time. Time created it all.
He's more curious than anything
That’s why he’s... closer, to truth.
We gotta be curious at least especially on things that are still unclear..
If you're not it means you're too immersed in the illusion wich means you are vibrating LOW
Thank you for another powerful installment in your mind-challenging video series.
Well done with insightful interviews of deep thinkers.
As for the question “Why something rather than nothing” or the mystery of existence, here’s my quick take.
I have never been heavily troubled by this query.
To ask “why something rather than nothing” presupposes that 1. the “default” and natural state of existence is that of simple nothingness (an unjustified assumption in my view); and 2. Simple nothingness is just simple and NOT what I call a “Perfect Absolute Eternal Nothingness.”
Perfect Absolute Eternal Nothingness for me is a PURE BLANK of space, matter, energy and time with NO possibilities or potentials for anything to ever come out of it and NO values, mathematics, numbers or any abstraction within it. There is NO option for anything other than Perfect Absolute Eternal Nothingness to ever exist - and it exists forever.
Since what obtains in our Reality is plainly NOT this perfect nothingness, there must always have been a primordial Something - which then produced something else, which then produced still something else, ad infinitum.
Thus, the solution is simply a definitional one - how one defines “nothingness.”
Thanks again for your video.
Agreed. I can't see how it could be any other way. Not only is it counter intuitive but it seems to be completely illogical.
True absolute nothingness in no way shape or form could ever give rise to something. That's why the nothingness as described by quantum mechanics is full of stuff lol.
There is a fundamental something that is necessary. That which has always existed and always will. That which is the 1st cause of all effects.
Great comment! But as i see it, nothingness doesn't exists as you state it, it just isn't. I don't think that the assumption of nothingness is unjustified either. Not in a sense of matter, but rather consciousness. If there is no life after death for example, i would just be that after i die, nothing at all. I think of it in a similar way to that there can be different types and sizes of infinity, then it could also maybe be different types of nothing. My nothing after i die would be smaller than the potential great nothing of a universe that never came to be, but it's still an justifiable example of nothing. Hope it makes any sense, lol.
Grattata Great response! But we can take what you call “nothing”, namely whatever definition you choose for it, and engage in a deep mental exercise; namely a process of elimination.
We can keep of taking away from it more and more aspects of reality.
At the end, the argument is that we are left with a Perfect Absolute Nothing - which is then an option for how Reality could be.
In fact, RLK has done this very analysis 7 years ago at a lecture for a Chopra Foundation seminar. It’s a fascinating talk.
Since such a “nothing” does not exist (since you and me and the world are obviously here), a primordial Something must obtain.
Make sense? Lol Cheers!
ruclips.net/video/DDr2K99FzAw/видео.html
@@grattata4364 I know this comment is a year old but I just wanted to say that your comment was exactly the same intuition that came to my mind and you helped crystallize my thoughts so thank you! I also don’t believe in nothing in the sense of space/time/matter nothing but certainly nothing as a concept is something (hehe). What did I experience before I was born? What will I experience after I die? What does a man with no eyes see? Maybe these are incoherent questions but their “nothingness” seems much more real than the absolute universal nothingness
nothing cannot exist. only something can exist.
KEvron
The only intuition I've had that allows me to think I'm making progress in answering Why Something..... is in thinking about the number one (1). Great series!
This is fabulous. Watching this again after nearly a year I am in awe of this question and the questioners. The world of course continues as a great mystery and wonder. Barry Weprin
"Nothing is what stones dream of "
...and what they know...
👌
And yet stones are something
@@adamantium4797 So what?
Consciousness and existence are one in the same.
Who told you that ?😀
Nothing is the same as before you were born.
Thank you for just being and asking the question good sir...!
The one thing I LOVE about life is.......
My existence. The wonder of it all.
🤠🙋♂️🇺🇲
Not saying I believe this but...Maybe that's one of the reasons why we are here. To give God or the universe the experience of wonder. Anything all knowing would lose wonder.
Yes he or she just want to wonder us that what he wants the ability of to creat or vanish some thing are not in our hands thts leads us to belive him GOD IS GREAT
Steve jobs while dying his last words WOW so wow is our answers and quistion and perpose nothing more...
💙👍 agree man same here lol
What about DEATH?
Reason 6 logic:
If there is something there cannot be nothing. There is something, so there cannot be nothing.
I really believe it is that simple. Nothing can't exist. We know there is something therefore there has always been something.
Imo the hardest questions about reality won't be answered completely by science alone.. I think at least some measure of philosophy will need to be invoked.
What if nothing comes after everything?
@@ferdinandkraft857 We currently 'assume with no evidence' that something has infinite life. If true where would it go? If false then that could be a possibility.
Imo unless their is a God...
this universe will end... and be again... and has been before. Why wouldn't it have? We know it is possible for it to exist ..
This is something I've been unable to shake, I've had this inner knowing that time is so short and I'll be an old man or gone in what feels like a few seconds but will be a lifetime, it's a constant dread. And what makes it even worse is not having answers and most likely never knowing the what, where, and how we're here.
That's the ultimate contradiction of human existence. We are able to ask these questions but also be aware that there's a possibility we'll never know the answers or even if they are knowable at all.
Try dmt, it'll convince you, you are eternal. Your human identity isn't you
We are multidimensional beings and can travel in and out space and time upon birth or death. Through cosmic gland aka third eye
Why is there anything at all? This question never stops haunting me. Since I was a child, ive been thinking about this. Its really creepy
It's all anthropomorphic semantics. But what else is there? We are the only conscious Observers that we know of. Why that is the case in a 14 billion year old universe should be the really scary question.
Beautiful!
The most fundamental question is also the most absurd. Existence and its inevitable counterpart, Non-existence, together comprise an inscrutable mystery.
If there were tangible answers to these philosophical riddles, there would be no wonder, no beauty, no art, and ergo, no reason left to live.
One cannot capture the Truth. The Truth is there. One can only look at it and be astonished.
For existence to arise from truly "nothing" is clearly impossible. Therefore, existence must be eternal. Eternal existence explains why something exists instead of nothing. Existence is -- because it always was!
What if it did arise from truly nothing? Then I guess nothing would be impossible.
The mistake in this type of a priori reasoning is the assumption that nothing and existence are related, that existence must be the product of nothing (which the a priorists consider to be impossible). Why is it not possible for existence to be self-generating? When existence emerges it leaves no space for nothing because there was nothing to obstruct its emergence.
19:35 Possibilities and the Laws of Probability are not nothing. They, too, are product of Mind / Consciousness / Intelligence..
Conciousness is expressing itself in the form of universe.
What a journey , glad i am not alone. What a service.
When you go deeper and deeper into matter you go on the reverse trip to nothing. Something seems to be the perfect illusion of nothing.
Equations are made inside consciousness so they just came from consciouses , the entity that make question is the answer for that questions . Consciousness is the ultimate reality .
I can see where your coming from, but try staring at a Digital Clock and think "STOP" inside your head. It won't stop.
So from that we conclude that material existence != Mind/Perception.
You can't find my password or hack my account using your Mind either.
@@RiemannHypothesis2 mind -> body -> action
Yes a mind can hack your account, through a body
@@RiemannHypothesis2 he didn't say we as humans have special powers. The fundamental conciousness is nothing like our human form
It would be intetesting to interview Lawrence Krauss on this topic
Love this series. Imagine questions like this on mainstream minds rather than the empty thought everyone has. That would be something.
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Why do you feel it necessary to write in Jacobean English? Is that the language of God? On a serious note, why do you bother to type what you have typed? Do you think it will change the opinion of one person? Are you not merely virtue signalling, which I believe is a sin?
I love how michio just destroyed parallel universes by perfectly stating this is probably the only way a uni erse could exist
You do realize he basically said nothing at all?!
Because it can only exist that way - according to his limited view of the universe
The fact that no one knows how the universe works in the first place is the clear proof that we literally cannot disprove the existence of God, alternate universes and other unknown phenomena
well his argument doesn't make any sense then because this one got here, and so why not 2 & more
you can still have other dimensions though. say it's the same, well looks the same, but humans never evolved. or maybe there wasn't a world war two. maybe a different batch of humans, etc.
imagine a dimension where the dinosaurs are wiped out but this does not lead to the human race. so many alterations...
how is choice handled. in that case does there need to be other dimensions
There could very well be multiple universes out there but they would be so far removed and detached from this reality and space that it would not matter. The biggest point is this is it along side the other dimensions that make up our universe
Come ... Take yet another journey ...
With your host, Robert Lawrence Kuhn ... down yet another road to nowhere ...
There is nowhere else to go.
Here's my take. In a word, it is beyond human understanding. In order for causality to be a thing then something has to first cause causality. Whether you call that first cause God, or Sheeva, or quantum foam, or the laws of physics themselves... whatever you call it, the first place our minds jump to is to something that is supernatural. But then you can once again start the process all over again by asking what caused God? This is the point at which religious people will say that God is the uncaused cause. But then why couldn't we just say that the big bang itself is the uncaused cause? Once you settle for an "uncaused cause" you're contradicting yourself. Thus, the only way to get rid of the infinity is to force ourselves into a contradiction by saying "this over here is the uncaused cause", "that over there is the uncaused cause". Since we are forced into a contradiction, there is no starting point for us to start from. There is no direction we would know to orient ourselves so as at least to give us a clue on how to proceed.
I've got pleanty of nothin, and nothins pleanty for me
I've tried to imagine nothingness but my mind can't grasp it
Can you imagine space? you probably won't be able to grasp that as well..
If by “imagine” you mean “having a mental picture of it”, then of course you’ll never imagine it. It’s obviously impossible because it’s not something.
However, to conceive (which is not necessarily the same as “imagine”) of the concept of “nothing” (as a universal negative) is easy: it’s no - thing - at all.
If there ever was nothing, then there would always be nothing, because nothing can't do something, God is outside of His creation of everything
@@richardgangemi3143
then where did god come from?
@@fraser_mr2009false question. It would be eternal, self existing. It didn't come from anywhere. It's clear, if you research enough in quantum physics and meta physics. Something at base reality is eternal, non created. That is the existence itself.
The real question that you are trying to ask is this,"what is something and what is nothing". The answer to your question is this,"there is no nothing if there is no nothing's.
There is something in nothing and nothing in something.
I think about these things every day of my life. But, for me, there's no such thing as nothing.
I wonder how Michu speaks around the house, he seems to always be in radio announcer mode. I like him though
9:58 "It's hard to give any substance to the notion of there being nothing." Within the vernacular it is difficult to express "nothing" even by an expert.
A non existence cannot be identified as 'nothing'. Just thinking of non existence gives it life.
I remember as a kid thinking about matter and objects and wondered about the space between things. I thought that the in-between space was what nothing was. I think modern science has an explanation for that now (something to do with entangled virtual particles). But the nothing that this show is referring to is the concept of the absence of existence. It may just be that nothing CANNOT “exist”. It is inconsistent for nothing to be all that there is. Especially from the perspective of a conscious being’s awareness.
I have obsessed over that question since I was old enough to reason. How did everything begin and why are we here ......not a day goes by that I don't wrestle with that.
The answer of Mystery of existence is consciousness and it is the Mystery in itself . A Mystery inside a Mystery .
8:00 "The laws of Physics are not Nothing." ... Precisely.
He finally admitted it : "which does not mean that I am any closer to truth."
It's about time. It's like he's a slow learner.
@@rh001YT I'm a "slow learner" too. I've always been that way, but now my "chemo-brain" just compounds the problem.
What do you mean finally? He says that at the end of just about every episode.
@@cosmikrelic4815 Ooops. Did I misunderstand what he said? Thanks for the clarification. I appreciate it.
our purpose is to fight evil and spread LOVE. That's simple. enjoy the episode.
Thank you Mr. Kuhn for tackling this difficult subject that leaves many of us facing a dilemma: the impossibility of our own existence. The 16th Century English philosopher John Locke also tackled it in like manner. Ultimately, that which has always been in existence is the essence of all that is. It has intelligence, impetus, and value; therefore Creation has intelligence, impetus, and value.
I have always leaned towards finding it more plausible that nothingness is fictitious and the stuff has always been here in some form or another.
But how can that be possible? At one time there had to be actual nothing. These questions are very mind blowing.
@@hogg4229that is false. Nothing doesn't exist, by logic. Energy in some form has and will always exist. The human mind is to limited to fathom it
for next episode please interview Arthur Schopenhauer. He has everything figured out already.
This channel is superb. sir khun definitely great to see how you pull out the questions humanity is evolved into with science and religious with great peoples contributing with you collectively to bring us the information of deepest quest of the rails of the human life closer to truth . Greetings from India
The ending is brilliant
Man, this is the deepest question. The unreachable mystery of existence. Something that, the most you get closer to it, the further it grows the abyss between you and it.
I'm pretty sure that this couldn't be answered even by the "self existing substance", since it would just create stuff in its try, if the mere assumption of this specific trying has any kind of sense (which I think it doesn't).
24:50 "Because Something exists, there must be something that is self existing." I AM (Source: Bible). Sir, you DO seem Closer to Truth.
From all the attempts to answer this fondamental question, this "...self existing" answer feels the most accepted even though I don't claim I understand it but it is so coherent with the intuition.
Dang, I watched the whole thing, and NOBODY answered the question of why there is something rather than nothing. No one interviewed here knows the answer, methinks. Just a bunch of damn lip-flapping!!
Dude, we’re in a horror movie I’m convinced...🙃
Outstanding realization and perspective!
This is my new favorite channel on RUclips. The content lines up perfectly with how my brain works. Love this.
Maybe this universe could be nothing, in some other's point of view, " somebody" else could be looking at our universe and see nothing...anyway, existence and the fact that we can think about it , are an absolute miracle
I always thought I will never know the answer to this question yet now, after 35 years of pondering, I think I have.
First, one eureka moment that I had came from the Closer to Truth interview with philosopher Colin McGinn, who correctly said that the question looks pertinent but it's not, because you're including in the question any possible answer. You can't leave anything outside of the question that could answer it, therefore it's an ill-posed question - something exists "necessarily". But what does "necessarily" really mean? And my answer to that is very simple - the laws of nature are abstract and cannot be destroyed. It's not that God made the laws of the universe, invented them, created them. God IS the laws, literally. You can call them "laws", you can call it "Nature", you can call it "God", it doesn't really matter.
So actually it's the laws themselves that are eternal. If you could have a dialog with the laws and ask them "who created you?" or "when did you first appear?" they would say "what do you mean?". There is no need for them to be created, they "always" existed, they are not bound in space and time since they are abstract. More, if you want to destroy them, you can't. There's no way you can manipulate them such that you make them disappear.
Of course, you can say "OK, but that only explains abstract objects, not physical ones". However, I think there's an error in that assertion - the error is that the ontology of physical objects is unknown. In science we only talk about the relationship between objects, not their ontology. It might be that the ontology of physical things is mathematical as well, meaning the ontology is once again abstract. And if that is the case, then that means the abstract nature of the laws explains everything, from the ontology of physical things to why there is something rather than nothing - because there is no way to destroy these abstract entities that exist irrespective of space and time - they have no choice but to exist.
Interesting thought. I personally feel that the fact that these laws are abstract and have not had a beginning does not make them impervious to questioning. They are not in an ebony tower.
@@Garghamellal Well, there's no way you can prevent them from existing, there's no way to "grab them" and destroy them (that we know of). In other words, there's no way that they couldn't exist.
Granted, the problem of ontology is still there - what is the nature of nature? A question that is outside of science, which has no way of answering it since it deals with relationships between objects, not their ontology. So it might be that the idea that the universe is mathematical is not true - maybe that's not its ontology - maybe that's us (me) using whatever we have at our disposal to speculate on its ontology. But if Nature's ontology IS mathematical (somehow) then the problem is solved.
@@Raptorel I find your perspective stimulating. When you say "there is no way to grab them and destroy them" and "in other words, there's no way they couldn't exist" I strongly agree with you.
Nonetheless to me this does not suffice to explain the mystery of existence, and I am about to try to articulate the reason why, in a nutshell. And in order to do this I must utilize philosophize for a moment Science-Fictionally.
Just try to think about how characters in a book written by someone would feel or how a character in a videogame (and therefore "inside" a computer) would feel and what would they think about their reality.
They would acknowledge the existence of a world around them, physical objects (meaning stuff they can interact with), and ultimately "laws of nature" which they would perforce deem indestructible.
And in the end they would be right.
They would never be able to know (let alone conjecture) that there exists a superior level of reality which lies outside the computer which GENERATED those very laws of nature that they hold as ultimate (under the form of programming language, be it cobol, Fortran or what have you). Let alone conjecture that there is a man (or a Someone) who utilizes the computer.
To sum it up, it is certainly true that laws of nature as we perceive are abstract immovable indestructible but they might not exhaust Reality.
Characters in a book or in a video game would come to the same conclusions as us concerning their "abstract" quality and indestructibility - when they are nothing more than lines in a code inside a computer owned by an unknown someone.
@@Garghamellal Yes, I agree with that. The truth is that we will never know anything about the ontology of the universe. I see no way to do it. You can say that consciousness offers the ontology, but that might be a fabrication. Even more, what we percieve as 3d objects might be just holographic projections from the 2d surface of the observable universe and so on and so forth. However, it's hard to imagine "destroying" the logical and mathematical concepts - these would be true both in our universe and the universe that we are simulating, that the people you propose would also discover. So they would be true in both worlds.
Of course, you can criticize that by saying "of course, that would be true if the simulated people would create their own simulated people - the simulated people's simulated people would share the laws of physics that we created for them and that the simulated people created for the simulated simulated people". You get the idea.
So yeah, it's complicated.
As always. You progress each episode with an openness and unbiased sense of logical follow up. Masterful and meaningful in a age where meaning is difficult to.identify.
I acknowledge the others that have asked the same question at a young age. I did so at about ten. I attempted to imagine nothingness. The absence of space, time, anything. It was like trying to imagine five dimensions but more emotional(my existence was at stake). The result for me was a concept that was mind-blowing. Nothingness was incomprehensible, claustrophobic, empty, tiny, confined all at once. I could liken it to a singularity without the big bang. But I would agree with Robert that to get to something there would have to be an existence outside that confined room of nothingness. Meaning we can't answer that question with quantum fluctuations in a vacuum because we haven't started with nothing. We can't answer it with a big bang because the stuff came from somewhere. So this is how we get to God as a legitimate answer.