Wednesday 1 May 2019

Why is there Something Rather Than Nothing? (2019)

From The Philosopher, Volume CVII No. 1 Spring 2019

Artwork by Sandbox Studio, Chicago with Ana Kova for an essay in Symmetry Magazine on our intimate relationship with subatomic physics 

WHY IS THERE
SOMETHING
RATHER THAN
NOTHING?

By Muneeb Faiq



Three centuries back, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz argued, ‘The first question that should rightly be asked is, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” Martin Heidegger, in his book What is Metaphysics asked somewhat the same question: ‘Why are there beings at all, and why not rather nothing?’ Philosophers and thinkers have acknowledged this proclamation and agreed with Leibniz. This question invokes a deep inquiry which is perhaps among the fundamentals of human thought structure. While this question is among the first questions to be asked, I argue that it may not necessarily be ‘The First Question’ per se. Why not? The answer may appear to be absurd at the outset but, as Albert Einstein maintained ‘if at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it’ so let us, nevertheless, inquire.

Give a readymade universe for physics, it will make sense of all that is going on up to the precision of first trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. But ask why this universe and why these laws - and it mumbles miserably. Physics has been afflicted by the pathology of a never ending paradigm since millennia which persisted through Greek theories, classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, general theory of relativity as well as Maxwell’s theory of electrodynamics. String theory and inflation theory also seek refuge under the same umbrella. The paradigm is ‘Universe is a continuum of states evolving as per certain laws’. This paradigm never addresses the questions: Why a universe? Why does anything exist at all? Jim Holdt puts it in an neat perspective maintaining that contemporary physics at its best replaces God with a set of laws (laws not too different from God Himself) when it comes to bursting of the Universe into existence from nothing. He articulates that the original theological equation of ‘God plus nothing gives rise to Universe’ has been transmogrified by cosmology into something like ‘Laws (of physics) plus nothing yields the Universe’ - or Multiverse (or Multiverses if you will).

Despite stubborn efforts to remove God from the equation, Lawrence Krauss’s book, A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing, could not live to its expectations. His book is a peculiar demonstration of the persistent handicap of this sort. That is why David Albert came up with a negative review of Krauss’s book to which Jerry Coyne appears to agree to an extensive scope. Krauss’s own acquiescence presents far better a testimony when he enunciates ‘I don't ever claim to resolve that infinite regress of why-why-why-why-why; as far as I’m concerned it's turtles all the way down’. Sean Carrol also says ‘Nothing about modern physics explains why we have these laws rather than some totally different laws, although physicists sometimes talk that way- a mistake they might be able to avoid if they took philosophers more seriously’. George Dvorsky claims that there are certain questions that we will never be able to solve and the first question in his list is ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’

A caveat should be presented before we move on. How many things in total are there which we can collectively call ‘everything’? That begs the question; how do we define a thing? What is a thing? Physics has a contextualised definition of a thing (that is what we adopt in the present paper) which may or may not superimpose with the definitions in other subjects. If a thing is a thing if we can think or talk about, then anything that we can refer to as thing is a thing. This way, ‘everything’ turns out to be difficult to imagine because things can be real, they can be imaginary, they can be possible, they can even be impossible (an impossible thing may also be a thing), they can also be existent and also be non-existent. Nothing can also be a thing, nonetheless.

The question ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’ is based on two fundamental suppositions viz. there is something rather than nothing and ‘something’ and ‘nothing’ are different entities. The first question should be the one that does not need to invoke any assumption. In the case of ‘The Question’ in focus, the underlying beliefs are:
  • (1) something exists (or nothing does not exist) and 
  • (2) something and nothing are distinct entities. 
While “something exists” might appear to be profoundly obvious and intuitive, there is no raison d'être to hold this belief. Before accepting Leibniz’s proposition, it is important to have sufficient ground for the thesis that there is something rather than nothing. What if this decree that appears to be the most fundamental truth may not necessarily be as exact as it appears? Let us, for a moment, be sceptic of the basic premise (consideration of the existence of something) of this question. Let us consider this; may be the existence of something is not true. In that case the first question would be ‘Is there something rather than nothing?’ The absurdity of this question may seem to be obvious as it defies the most intuitive knowledge that we possibly can have.

René Descartes started with doubting the existence of anything and everything that he could think of. After doubting the existence of every conceivable thing, he went on to be skeptic of his own existence. No matter how hard he tried, he could not doubt his own existence and finally concluded cogito, ergo sum usually rendered in English as ‘I think, therefore I am’ indicating that even if the denial of existence of everything is accepted, one cannot deny his or her own existence. People have experimented with this thought and finally accepted Descartes’ avowal. If it is the ultimate answer to scepticism about existence then the first question would be ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’ But if the Descartes’ method/conclusion is not immune to the lancet of scepticism, then we may have to reconsider Leibniz’s view. For that to happen, we have to give rise to scepticism about ‘I think, therefore I am’ and transform it into ‘I think does not mean I am’ or at least come up with ‘I think, therefore I may or may not be’.

Consider you are sitting in a room in front of fire. You see the bright color of the fire, you feel the heat and hear the crackle of the burning wood. If you put your hand in the fire, it will burn you. But if you apply Descartes’ method you can doubt the existence of this fire, room or the chair you are sitting in. You may think that this fire does not exist because may be the heat, color, sound, chair, room and everything else is an illusion/apparition created by what Bertrand Russell called ‘sense data’. It is easy to agree that this fire may not exist as it may be an illusion but since you are experiencing this illusion, no matter how much you try to deny the fire and everything in the room, the room itself, your hands, feet, ears, skin, eyes; there is still some entity that experiences the fire and that is you. Now let us consider that you suddenly woke up and found it was a dream and you are now convinced that the fire, the chair and the room did not exist. Yet you are sure that you exist as you are the one who experienced it and are experiencing things in the world outside ‘the dream’ that you just woke up from.

Even if you are certain that the fire did not exist, you are convinced that the realm (let us call it realm) you now woke up in must exist. And even if the world you woke up in does not exist (as it may also be a dream), but you exist. May be a dream within a dream within a dream ad infinitum is the scenario and nothing in these dreams exist, but in no way, does it repudiate the existence of the entity that experiences the things in the dream (that is you). So here we fail to prove your own non-existence even if the fire, the heat, the color, the sound, the shape, the room, your body, hands, ears, eyes may not exist. It follows that ‘you’ as an observer do exist. In other words whatever you witnessed in the dream did not exist. It looks like even if there are multiple layers of dreams, you (the observer) do not pop out of existence though the ‘you’ that existed in your dream may not exist.

Does this ultimately prove Descartes’ assertion? Though it seems to be so but let us consider a slightly different scenario. We have agreed to the possibility that you (as an observer) do exist yet whatever you observed may not. We thought this because we considered that when you woke up from the dream, you moved into another realm of experience which may be similar or dissimilar but does not affect your existence because you as an observer may be dreaming at multiple distinct levels or realms. No matter each level turns out to be non-existent but you as an observer still exist because as soon as a particular realm turns out to be non-existent, you immediately wake up in a separate realm. But wait! Did we consider that there may not be a series of dreams which are serially and gradually broken into different realms of wakefulness? What if there is alternate/reciprocal dreaming? What is alternate/reciprocal dreaming? So far, we have considered that you woke up into a different world which is separate from the dream. And then this different world also may be a dream considering it to be a linear series of dream within a dream ad infinitum. 

What if there are two realms alternating/reciprocating with each other (or a loop of realms that move into one another; for explanation sake, let us keep our discussion to only two alternating realms). These two realms of alternate or reciprocal dreaming in which one dream is broken and you wake up into another dream and when this dream is broken, you again wake up in the first dream.

Since everything in the first dream does not exist, by the same principle everything in the second dream does not exist. It is important to note that if you are a part of dream, you will also be subject to same conclusions. If the chair in the dream did not exist, the person sitting in the chair also does not exist. So if both the realms do not exist and everything in both the dreams (which includes you in both the dreams) does not exist, it can be inferred that nothing exists (which includes you). This is because you are a subset of everything in any of the two dreams. You are a part of everything in first dream (if you were there) and you are the part of second dream (if you were there). And you will be subject to same laws as everything else in these dreams.

This indicates that you have two forms: You in the first dream and another you in the second dream. So you are in a realm. Since the first realm turns out to be nonexistent, you do not exist (because you are a part of the realm). Looking at it the other way round, you do not exist because second realm is also subject to same principles. Since these non-existent realms oscillate with each other, the cumulative inference would be that you don’t exist leaving the question about your existence open to skepticism.

It is interesting to note the happenstance that the total energy of the universe cancels out to be zero and that is why Krauss thinks that the universe can burst into existence. A fundamental particle emerges into the observable universe with correspondence appearance of antiparticle. Matter and antimatter annihilate each other. Can it be that energy and anti-energy (as we may call it) annihilate each other in the same way (maybe the photon-antiphoton like particle-antiparticle analogy)? More remarkable is the coincidence of the so-called ‘oscillatory/cyclic model’ of the universe advocated by many modern physicists including Neil Turok.

According to this model, the universe bursts into existence from another universe imploding (the Big Crunch) onto itself and going through the implosion (an imaginary point of intersection with a zero value of time and space and presumably matter and energy also) to explode (the Big Bang) on the other side (so to speak) as a new universe. Through this process one universe pops out of existence to give birth to a new universe.

Doesn’t it look much like the reciprocating dreams we just discussed? One dream implodes and the other explodes into existence. Is it that the consciousness in one world implodes/collapses to explode into the other realm? Can this be happening in the above reciprocal dream analogy where the observer is just a point (much like an imaginary intersection without any existence of its own)? Howbeit, from above given dream argument, we can assert that ‘nothing exists’ is a possibility and therefore the first question should not be ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’

It may be something deeper and original which does not invoke any assumptive axiom. Before arriving at this question it seems that we have confront some other questions like ‘Is there something rather than nothing?’ Or maybe ‘Is something different than nothing?’ Or ‘Is something the same as nothing?’ Or even ‘What is nothing? What is something?’ These questions disturb the sediment of Cartesian certainty of our existence or of the existence of the universe in the first place.


About the author: Muneeb Faiq is a neuroscientist who recently described diabetes type 4 and is exploring intricate connections between brain, mind and human health.

Address for correspondence:
Muneeb A. Faiq, Neuroimaging and Visual Science Laboratory, Department of Ophthalmology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY-10016, USA

<muneeb1983@gmail.com>


71 comments:

  1. Though the language is most simple, the ideas are equally powerful. one of the most daring, thorough and fundamental investigations into the nature of existence. one of the best odysseys about the something-nothing riddle in decades.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Muneeb has offered here an interesting, informative, and novel discussion of one of the most thorny yet fundamental topics of why there is, or is not, 'something'.

    If any readers are curious enough about this topic, I'd like to point them in the direction of my own attempt at briefly tackling it. The title, too, is 'Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?'.

    The essay appears on The Philosopher's sister site, Philosophical Investigations. Here's the link, which you might have to cut and paste ...

    http://www.philosophical-investigations.org/2018/09/why-is-there-something-rather-than.html

    Thank you again, Muneeb, for significantly moving the needle forward.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very good read and a fresh take on this fundamental debate of thought.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nailed it! No anecdote in the modern physics and philosophy has touched this subject with such precision and clarity. The beauty of the article is its simplicity. Muneeb has resuscitated the dead discipline of what it means to exist. His thesis is the only powerful argument against Descartes' cogito ergo sum. Finally someone to rub shoulders with Descartes after almost four centuries. This paper is a must read!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chris Williams8 May 2019 at 18:43

    I never knew that I don't exist. Nobody ever knew that. After reading this breakthrough paper, I realized that may be I don't exist at all. May be we all don't exist at all. May be nothing exists in the sense we understand what it means to exist. This is not a simple article, this is a deconstruction of the most fundamental perceivable reality of human thought. Mark my words 'this is the most important and informative probe into the riddle of existence ever written'. Muneeb, thanks for being so simple yet so profound. Thanks for being a superstar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Had the great indian poet Mirza Ghalib been alive, he would write prose absolutely akin to this beautiful piece. Really provides a new direction!

      Delete
  6. Duboya muj ko honey ne na hota kuch to kya hota... it gives goosebumps to a reader whether I am having any life,soul or substance or what exactly I m ....... beautiful and profuse

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vineet Deshpande9 May 2019 at 09:01

      @ Shayista & @ Adam.....
      This article is a combination of Mirja Ghalib and Albert Einstein as it hits cosmology at its fundamental level and yet talks about our own existence in the most simple way..... no jargon at all. best paper

      Delete
  7. Good and thorough. I was scared for a moment. I felt as if I have vanished into nothing.......... lovely ideas

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hennessey Watson10 May 2019 at 08:52

    I have thought about this all my life.... it is a question we all suffer through...and Muneeb gives a platform to tackle this scary ordeal in a lucid manner.... most beautiful article with a touch of philosophy simplicity physics and literature..... would definitely like to see more articles like this...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Answer to many of childhood questions... Thanks muneeb !

    ReplyDelete
  10. The question why there is something is a monster that scared philosophers and physicists for centuries.... there needs to be a unique blend of a philsoopher, a psychologist, a physicist and a simple layman to contextualize this question to its most fundamental state..... this article is the most beautiful painting painted by an artist who is a polymath of all these aspects.... never came across a masterpiece like this... new perspective, new thoughts, new questions an yet no answers... it stings you to awakening and you find yourself at a new horizon.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The area that this article could have expanded on is the 'nature of a question'. What does a question mean? going from a simple notation of interrogation to the information seeking act or a casual expression. this has relevance to the problem of whether there is or is not something/nothing. Then another aspect would be to deliberate upon who is asking the questions. "Who" and "what" is this Who? What is the nature of this "Who"? Though this article is by far the most brilliant philosophical narrative on Descartes' discourse, these aspects would have spiced it up with additional flavors. Muneeb Faiq has truly done a wonderful job.

    ReplyDelete
  12. when it comes to questions like this, first question is an extreme term and it is almost impossible to find a question to be dubbed as first question. who decides what is the first question? why should there be a first question in the first place? but the search for the most fundamental questions is as important for the foundations of philosophy/cosmology and Euclidean Elements in geometry and mathematics. This is exactly what Muneeb Faiq is trying to achieve in this article and it is obvious that the author is significantly successful in fulfilling this important objective. best paper in the past two decades of philosophy is here.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Alice Livingood15 May 2019 at 09:56

    Nice read. I am waiting to see a book written on this theme. Wish someone could tell the author to write a complete book on the subject. It is simple and the ideas will be accessible to common people. This writing style is a potential bestseller. Trust me on this Muneeb

    ReplyDelete
  14. Aronov Glimcher15 May 2019 at 11:30

    I agree with Alice !!! If I were a publisher, I would definitely commission a complete book from Muneeb. This article is indeed worth a potential bestseller.

    ReplyDelete
  15. strongly agree with alice and aronov

    ReplyDelete
  16. One important part that should have been added at the beginning of this paper is a discourse on existence; what is means to exist; how can we know or not know if something/nothing exists; what are the principles and criteria of existence/non-existence; can anything not exist; can anything exist and not exist at the same time; these are important questions the author could have taken into consideration. Or may be the author should consider writing a separate paper on that because muneeb's writing considerable beautiful and accessible. he is a master story teller. I would suggest the journal to commission an article on existence discourses from Muneeb. and yes, if he is planning to write a book, I would love to read that. it will be a bestseller ... highly likely

    ReplyDelete
  17. #BigBangTheory21 May 2019 at 16:45

    bravo.... very very interesting note on hopeless question

    ReplyDelete
  18. i never thought a neuroscientist will describe it this way. hats off!

    ReplyDelete
  19. It was a delight to walk along this trail of awesome sentences......... best article i read in decades..... what it means to exist... why nothing and something may just be the same thing.... wow.. awesome... would definitely like to see more on this subject... much love to muneeb

    ReplyDelete
  20. a peculiar question and unusual answers; it is a difficult territory to go into; descartes tried a great deal and i believe he is relevant today also; despite that muneeb gives a strong argument against his declaration; i dont know of any other paper or article written in last three centuries that produces such a great argument against descartes. that is what makes this paper an immense conceptual leap in philosophy. would like to see more coming from this philosopher; muneeb is the philosopher that modern cosmology direly needs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am Anonymous25 May 2019 at 10:05

      though I hate philosophy as I never understand it but Muneeb Faiq has presented such a complex topic in such a crystal clear way. Yes Muneeb ! You are the philosopher we need to gel between tough jargon of academics and laymen. Congratulations for this immense piece.

      Delete
  21. It reminded me of the paper -On Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies- written a hundred years back. a little bit of mathematics would have taken the paper to the next level. Easy and profound answers to ultimately difficult questions. No wonder the author is a neuroscientist of highest eminence. I am scared of the last two section of the article, they destroy all feeling of being in existence.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hennessey Watson26 May 2019 at 09:22

      I have thought about these questions all my life. Being a psychologist, I understand how difficult it is even to think of these questions and not to talk of attempting to answer and putting the questions in perspective. It is a great contribution without any doubt. This is a landmark paper and will prove to be a whistle blower of a new field of inquiry.............

      Delete
  22. sibgatul waris haneefi26 May 2019 at 16:26

    Questions like these are both important and difficult, everyone has faced these questions at some point in life, children have more such questions that adults, there is no satisfactory answer, experts have now decided to dub the question unanswerable, many physicists and philosophers regard this question as a silly question a reject it outright, the way forward is to understand the question properly and put the question in perspective, the present article goes a long way in serving this purpose and very successfully so

    ReplyDelete
  23. This paper lacks a discussion on the meaning of existence. If it explains what a thing means, it should explain what existence means. That important issue seems to be missing. A brilliant piece otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Not that this topic has been dealt with first time but the arguments like these have been put forth first time. I especially love the oscillatory dream analogy which is the only known effective arguments against Descartes' assertion of 'I think therefore I am'. I can see a great philosopher brewing in this anecdote.

    Keep the good work going !

    ReplyDelete
  25. A good piece

    ReplyDelete
  26. "Doesn’t it look much like the reciprocating dreams we just discussed? One dream implodes and the other explodes into existence. Is it that the consciousness in one world implodes/collapses to explode into the other realm? Can this be happening in the above reciprocal dream analogy where the observer is just a point (much like an imaginary intersection without any existence of its own)? Howbeit, from above given dream argument, we can assert that ‘nothing exists’ is a possibility and therefore the first question should not be ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?"

    This above quoted paragraph integrates all of the physics into a single unified concept. Grand unifying theory of physics and consciousness. Best words I read this year so far

    ReplyDelete
  27. I went through this article multiple times. I learn more every time I read it. It is like canvas painted in extreme brilliance

    ReplyDelete
  28. Science & Medicine News1 June 2019 at 08:06

    Hahahaha.. And thus spoke the Maverick ! Brilliant piece !!!! It shakes the foundations of human thought.


    What is a thing?

    AN impossible thing can also be a thing?

    a non-existent thing can also be a thing?

    a possible thing may not even exist in the first place?

    there is no difference between existence and non-existence?

    What does it mean to exist? Was Descartes right in his "ergito" assertion?

    Why should our perception be taken as a proof of our existence?

    and finally the deep question of all 'why there is something rather than nothing?'

    proved to be just as superficial as any other hackneyed act of seeking information.

    With above questions strategically put forth, Muneeb demolishes the definitions of things and existence. He asks the most powerful questions in such a beautiful sequence and finally proves existence to be a fragile concept. And he does not use simple arguments, he rather reveals it to you. Brlliant work of a brilliant philosopher.

    On a side-note, i happened to read his papers on science and Muneeb has immensely contributed from discovery of Diabetes type 4 to mechanism of brain defects in certain conditions to solving centuries old puzzles about human bodies. If justifiably recognized His work on neuroscience is likely to earn him highest eminence in science.

    Keep the good work going Muneeb and keep surprising us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, he has immensely contributed to biological and medical science in addition to his occasional contributions to physics and philosophy. Who knows his contributions may earn him a Nobel prize tomorrow!

      https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHZL_enIN746IN746&biw=1366&bih=657&tbm=nws&ei=ApXyXJXqHIaOggel1K6gAg&q=muneeb+faiq&oq=muneeb+faiq&gs_l=psy-ab.3...0.0.0.15035.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.qBflL6HdZbg

      Delete
    2. Yes that is true. The science and research on glaucoma had turned stale. Nobody ever thought of going beyond controlling eye-pressure in glaucoma. And any high school student can tell that glaucoma is not a pressure problem. Muneeb revived the discipline by his 2014 classical paper on brain diabetes and glaucoma. If there is a Nobel dedication to glaucoma, Muneeb should have a rightful hand over it.

      Delete
  29. nice piece. is there a reason philosophers have named this question of existence as the first question? Don't you think that it is a subjective opinion to decide what question you would refer to as the first question? and why should there be a first question at all? what methods are the best to know what is the most fundamental question? I think the three most fundamental questions are

    1. Why is there something rather than nothing?
    2. What is consciousness?
    3. What is life?

    I hope this author writes on the other two questions also as he is quite accessible to common people and does not use too technical jargon. I don't know, if the author reads these comments, if he does good. if not, could anyone convey this message to him/her? Many thanks

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi Monica ! I vote for a complete book for these three questions. Someone tell the author he has an audience :)

    ReplyDelete
  31. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_why_there_is_anything_at_all

    https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2018/02/08/why-is-there-something-rather-than-nothing-2/

    https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/why-is-there-something-rather-than-nothing/

    http://theconversation.com/answering-the-biggest-question-of-all-why-is-there-something-rather-than-nothing-65865

    https://arxiv.org/pdf/1802.02231.pdf


    ReplyDelete
  32. Caprice J Claude8 June 2019 at 05:57

    Why is NOTHING an impossibility? What is more fundamental and plausible NOTHING or SOMETHING? The answer is never obvious because for nothing we have to imagine absence of everything (even space). But absence of everything may also be a thing. In that case, can NOTHING also be something, albeit different kind of SOMETHING. If that is taken as the truth, then NOTHING is an imposibility and just a conceptual convenience. May be our thought process and intellect such that we cant imagine what NOTHING would be like. If we go to the edge of the universe or multiverse, if you will, will that outside at the just edge of that multiverse be NOTHING? Or if we get rid of every single imaginable thing, can we arrive at NOTHING. Or may be NOTHING is everywhere unless it is replaced with something.

    The above article addresses many important questions. The best part is it avoids co fusing jargon and complex mathematics. Most of the mathematics is false and trash. The equations are made to look complex in order to confuse and intimidate the audience. Mathematicians hide their inabilities and weaknesses behind mathematical equations. This article is the most lucid anecdote. Hats off

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the most beautiful aspect of this article is that it is the only article out there that justifiably and effectively places a strong doubt about our own existence. I am sure Descartes must have seen this counter-argument first time in the history of his 'ergito'

      Delete
  33. is there a continuum between something and nothing?

    ReplyDelete
  34. If we remove every something what left is nothing ! Haha. Good piece

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe Muneeb has a far far better way of explaining this. he says even nothing is a thing and hence nothing is something. and if nothing is something what then is nothing if not something. then muneeb explains that something actually may not be something per se. Muneeb further explains that something actually may be nothing. It is the other way round and then again the other way round. The author turns all arguments on their head and proves that every probe that has been done on this issue is absurd. This article is a masterpiece. The best that has been written on this subject.

      Delete
  35. piecemeal revelation towards ending up in knowing nothing; towards realizing our non-existence; towards i don't know what... i never knew our minds are so feeble to be deceived so easily. this guy is a perpetual story teller and he does a great job. i was scared to death (ooops scared to nothing) by the time i finished reading this addictive e-scroll. more power to you as far as i am concerned

    ReplyDelete
  36. Asheera the Escape Artist13 June 2019 at 06:40

    I feel the title could have better been a journey towards nothing :) lol

    or may be we are all doomed. did is say the right word? Hahaha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very correct

      but then the story is important rather than the title and the story says it all.

      Delete
  37. Is there any damn thing that we atleast know for sure? this essay deconstructs it all

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. what u r asking is ; is there an ultimate reality & if there is, can we know that? the answer to first part is -i dont know- and the answer to the second part, most certainly, should be 'NO'. muneeb also means the same-more or less

      Delete
  38. had they not mentioned the author as Muneeb Faiq, I would have thought it is Yuval Noah Harari :)

    ReplyDelete
  39. omg !!!!!!!! that is exactly what I was also thinking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Anonymous
      @ChordatesXXY

      though I dont see much similarity between the writing style and choice of words between Yuval Noah Harari and Muneeb Faiq but it is easy to note that they both have similarly profound ideas and both are equally skilled to weave ideas into good stories.

      I think Yuval Noah Harari writes in Hebrew and then the books are translated in Elglish. SO it seems the two authors cant be compared with respect to linguistic prowess and choice of words. I dont know if Muneeb writes directly in English or his writings are translated. Also, I have never been able to read any book by Muneeb.

      Delete
    2. @Monica; it was just a thought. i have myself never seen any book by Muneeb Faiq. May be has has not written any. Google search gives you a huge number of scientific articles and some interesting posts on philosophical investigations. a few of his interviews also. May be he considers writing one.

      Delete
  40. 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' by Muneeb Faiq is not just another paper on the subject. It is rather a new way of thinking. The seductive part of the article is that it enables a layman like me to think over this subject confidently. Muneeb makes the remotest and the toughest corners of philosophy and physics accessible to a common man who never has had any previous exposure to the subjects. The more I read this paper, the more I fall in love with this. These ideas are addicitve.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am Anonymous15 June 2019 at 19:36

      very true Sahil. This is indeed a seductive trail of idea. :) :) :)

      Delete
  41. Allen Schoenefeld16 June 2019 at 07:26

    This question never sounded like approachable.

    Philosoph des Jahrtausends

    Warum ist da eher etwas als nichts?

    ReplyDelete
  42. Klara Humstard16 June 2019 at 15:14

    Die Existenz von irgendetwas ist eine subjektive Erfahrung. Wenn Sie nicht bei Bewusstsein sind, wissen Sie nicht, dass es etwas gibt, und daher gibt es nichts für Sie. Dieser Artikel bietet eine großartige Gelegenheit zu erkennen, dass es nicht ausreicht, bewusst zu sein. Ich kann sagen, dass dieser Autor einer der bekanntesten Denker der Neuzeit ist.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Pamela Skelter17 June 2019 at 06:50

    After an eternally long time I saw philosophy being put in public domain. I have often observed the arrogance of philosophers and mathematicians when they hide their in-capabilities behind the complex inaccessible jargon. Though it goes without saying that something, nothing, consciousness, existence and the likes are relatively complex when scrutinized in a professional manner. albeit Einstein stressed that if you are not able to explain it in easy language, you have most certainly not understood it. Here is how this odyssey by Muneeb becomes important and exemplary. This paper describes and exposes the remotest corners of this subject in such a clear and easy way. All modern philosophers and mathematicians should learn from this paper. This manuscript is an immense indication towards a new eminent philosopher being born and that philosopher is Muneeb. He is, without doubt, one of the most prominent thinkers of our age.

    Being trained in philosophy and mathematics myself, I am absolutely certain of my statement.

    ReplyDelete
  44. ***************ABC17 June 2019 at 07:08

    The best part that I liked is the note on what is a thing? Oscillatory dream analogy is awesome! Descartes here we come !!

    ReplyDelete
  45. A dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream is inception but a dream imploding into another exploding dream and then exploding back from an imploding dream and then oscillating with other dreams by sharing existence which may not be there is, no doubt a confusion but the best idea ever propounded on our existence, perception, consciousness. Such an articulate piece. I never saw this much beauty in any article up there.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Allex Sandermann18 June 2019 at 05:40

    The realization that nothing is just not nothing and nothing and something may be same provides an easy mental workshop to experience why there is something rather than nothing. David Allen, Lawrence Krauss, Neil Turok, Stephen Hawking all deal with this issue in a traditional manner and hence have not been successful in taking the debate to the next level. Muneeb provides an integrative model of consciousness and matter and opens a new door for inquiry through the oscillatory dream analogy. And that is why this article is unique and better.

    Enjoyed reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Is finally someone telling me what is nothing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is exactly what this article discusses. Muneeb asserts that there is no final answer. That is the essence of philosophy. Knowing that we know is science which is the trade of idiots and knowing that we don't know is a slight advantage. This article is a great example.

      Delete
  48. Finalllllyyyyyyy finaly someone asks the wrong question and gets the right answer. And finally we are told that no question is the first question. I knew Leibniz was wrong but this article puts forth strong foothold to prove him wrong. And I agree with the author to the extent to which he/she is agreeing with himself/herself !! This manuscript is interesting and beyond

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Finally finally we get to know something concrete. nothing is the only reality. O i mean NOTHING though. nothing matters ultimately or NOTHING matters. articulate set of conjectures. Oscillatory dream analogy is fantastic

      Delete
  49. ***************ABC22 June 2019 at 07:33

    Nothing is something and what is that something that is not something. is dream a thing . what is existence

    ReplyDelete
  50. One word for this articulate gamut of ideas... Brilliant

    ReplyDelete
  51. Any mathematician out there to translate this piece ! if yes, this article is a revolution! It marks the beginning if a New Era of ideas !!! Thus promises the Zarathustra! If you know what I mean.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Nothing indeed is something and how does that something look like is a real question. What his article does is that it presents a novel way of looking onto this question. It may not answer the question directly but it provides a lot of cognitive material to play with. As far as I'm concerned, I have seen such a lucid and deep inquiry after decades. This person must be splendid; a perpetual story teller of highest eminence.

    ReplyDelete
  53. As per the following link, Muneeb Faiq is one of the greatest thinkers of this century. We could's agree more. There is philosophy and then there is "Faiqism" and Faiqism is "Philosophy Plus"

    https://futuristspeaker.com/futurist-thomas-frey-insights/10-unanswerable-questions-that-neither-science-nor-religion-can-answer/

    ReplyDelete
  54. Every single thing and concept is crazy. That is what this paper explains so well.

    ReplyDelete
  55. This is not just another article, it an institution, it is a discipline in itself. I am already feeling the text in my nerves. This paper is a verbal dance that is so trancendental that you need to read it to feel it. Muneeb please continue writing. Make a book of this article. trust me, your writing is above ordinary.

    ReplyDelete
  56. My soul danced while reading this. No jargon, no arguments, no unnecessary wool. Clean text, easy words and easier sentences and yet the ideas are so profound. World owes a recognition to this author. The best article I have come across on the internet so far!

    ReplyDelete

Our authors very much value feedback from readers. Unfortunately, there is so much spam on the internet now that we now have to moderate posts on the older articles. Please accept our apologies for any extra time this may require of you.