What can be created from nothing?

Question

"Nothing can be created from nothing."
Lucretius

If you believe nothing, how did we get here?

Answer 1

I have a faint suspicion that everything might well have come out of nothing.... yes, just a suspicion not yet converted into belief either way.



In Maths, zero can be represented as a sum of a positive and an equal quantum of negative. At a more elaborate level, zero can indeed be represented by innumerable positives and negatives such that the sum total of all positives exactly cancels out the sum total of all negatives. It is this analogy from Maths that gives me the suspicion that it may well be possible that everything has come from a split up or explosion or change of state of nothingness........ this is further strengthened by the fact that we do see abundant prevalence of opposites so much so that we are led to presume as though each thing must have its opposite somewhere (like the inevitability of the two sides of a coin)....... moreover, there does seem to be very strong indication that all these opposites in the Universe are in some kind of a perfect balance in totality, so much so that the slightest alteration seems invariably accompanied with a matching balancing reaction!!



I am at a state of mind where it is impossible as yet for me to believe that anything can come out of nothing, but given the Maths analogy as above, it is not impossible for me to imagine that it all might be an illusion amounting in totality to be nothing after all!!

Answer 2

What is 'nothing' and how can we propose that something can or cannot be created from it.



However looking at it mathematically: 0 (zero) is our definition of 'nothing'. From 0 we can extract -50 and 50. Together they are nothing, but alone they are indeed 'something'. How many nothings are in nothing? How many zeroes can be taking out of zero? None? One? or an Infinite number? If an infinite number of nothings split into positives and negatives, then there could be a whole universe of somethings, all trying to get back to that base state of nothing... from which they came and are still apart of.



Nothing is everything.

Answer 3

something can be created by nothingness to me. how we got here? who knows? but we're here.. some enjoying life, others brooding it, and yet others act as civil robots to society.



how we got here? wow.. what a question. maybe the rocks and asteroids decided to collide and create the earth. then certain chemicals mixed and an organism was made. how? wow. no one knows..not even the scientists are sure. Some say maybe god created it, if there was a god then why is the world so corrupt?... i predict some thumbs down for that statement. but hey it's true..well to me, i think too much of it



maybe just maybe, something was created out of nothing, as oppse to the quote "nothing can be created from nothing" how? no one knows.



not a good answer to you're question i'm guessing?

Answer 4

Rephrase that to read "No thing can come from nothing" and it makes more sense. "Nothing" is a concept that seems to refer more to the idea of "nothingness". "Nothing" seems to refer to a "thing" that we call "nothing".



To call "nothing" a thing is to reify it. Reify means to mistake that which is conceptual only for something that is empirical. "Nothingness" is not empirical.



Something from nothing is an ancient idea, which in Latin is "Ex nihilo", and not even the most ardent theologists believe it anymore. That is why they say "God existed first." That way, "something" did not come from "nothing."



So "how did we get here?" Well, first, think of this question: Why do we say that matter and energy are forever, they merely change, matter becoming energy and energy becoming matter? If you believe that to be true, then the following quote will make sense:



"Existence is a self-sufficient primary. It is not a product of a supernatural dimension, or of anything else. There is nothing antecedent to existence, nothing apart from it—and no alternative to it. Existence exists—and only existence exists. Its existence and its nature are irreducible and unalterable." Leonard Peikoff



Existence always "has been" and always "will be".

Answer 5

the word 'nothing' is simply a collective term for all thing that lie in the unknown. It is a term that was created by humans to explain the absence of 'something'. Therefore, of course something can be created from nothing -- we just don't know what that nothing is until it becomes something . . .

Answer 6

Actually I like that quote because it can be seen positively or negatively. It can mean yes nothing can come from nothing or no.



Everything is made out of nothing. Not that I believe in sin but I have always loved St. Augustine saying sin was the nothing trying to get out. He started me on my path of realizing that everything is nothing. So truly, nothing (meaning everything) is made out of nothing.

Answer 7

Something. If we say this universe came out of nothing, it's just our perspective of nothing since we are in the subsequent 'something'. But the existence of another universe is outside of our definition of nothing.......nothing HERE. So, I think finding absolutes doesn't show the limits of our thoughts, but rather the limits of reality as we see it. The fact there is an inconsistency just means our perception is limited somehow. Something CAN come from nothing since our idea of nothing is relatively limited.

Answer 8

I don't have the problem of believing in "nothing" because I believe in God. I don't really know much about lucretius.... if you care to explain then i am listening other than that "nothing can be created from nothing"

Answer 9

Correct, nothing can be created from nothing. So the only logical conclusion is that there was never nothing, whether you believe in a permanent universe or a permanent god (unless you think a god is nothing)

Answer 10

An entire planet filled with lifeforms of many types, and environment suitable for them to live in and a variety of items which can be manipulated by the life forms for their needs.

Answer 11

matter can be created from energy... energy can be created from matter

Answer 12

there cannot be something, without nothing.



and again, there cannot be nothing without something.

Answer 13

God of course