The answer I prefer is to say that the Nothing and the Everything are the same Thing. (or rather that they are complementary aspects of the same thing). Its a bit mystical I know, but the inspiration comes from the notion of duality in Category theory - for example in the theory of Venn diagrams, the universal set and the empty set are closely related (one can find a transformation whereby any theorem expressed in terms of universal sets can be transformed into an equivalent theorem containing empty sets).
Hal Ruhl tried a theory based on logical contradictions inherent in nothings and evrything, that he posted on this list, which was kind of interesting... Cheers Eric Hawthorne wrote: > > In the spirit of this list, one might instead phrase the question as: > > Why is there everything instead of nothing? > > As soon as we have that there is everything, then we have that some aspects > of everything will mold themselves into observable universes. > > It is unsatisfying though true to observe that there of course cannot be > a case in which the question itself can be asked, and there simultaneously > be nothing in that universe. > > I'm with the last respondent though in thinking that the right answer is > that there is BOTH nothing and everything, but that the nothing is > necessarily > inherently unobservable by curious questioners like ourselves. > > > Norman Samish wrote: Why is there something instead of nothing? > > >Does this question have an answer? I think the question shows there is a > >limit to our understanding of things and is unanswerable. Does anybody > >disagree? > > > >Norman > > > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/Prof Russell Standish Director High Performance Computing Support Unit, Phone 9385 6967, 8308 3119 (mobile) UNSW SYDNEY 2052 Fax 9385 6965, 0425 253119 (") Australia [EMAIL PROTECTED] Room 2075, Red Centre http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks International prefix +612, Interstate prefix 02 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------