Why is there something instead of nothing?

Original Question from Yahoo Answers

Anything which is infinite, by the very nature of the concept becomes all things, as an infinite variety of apples includes at least one that is an orange and one that is an orangutan etc.. So an infinite amount of nothing eventually becomes something. 

Atheists do not so much have an argument with the existence of God as they do with the existence of infinity because if anything is infinite unicorns can fly. Infinitude opens the door to gods and monsters but the people who so love the Big Bang that they cannot say "theory" behind it want only one kind of unicorn in the universe - the creating singularity. If you are going to accept something so bizzare as the Big Bang (and Hubble and other long range pictures of the universe confirm it) why not go whole hog and imagine a multiverse where all of the other potential universes are NON-EXISTENCE and our little play gets to be real in REACTION to those shadow plays?

Potential particles rule the atom and the infinite nada rules us.

Old Man Infinity and Ms. Nada

What created the universe?
(The original question)


The universe is a result of a surfeit of non-existence. Think of it as a old married couple. Old infinity is the man, and non-existence is his wife. When you breed infinity with non-existence you get reality. Pretend instead of non-existence, you pair infinity with an apple. You get an infinite variety of apples, including red ones, green ones, blue ones, ultra-violet ones, square apples, tubular apples, apples that look like umbrellas, apples that TASTE like umbrellas, follow this list infinitely and you get the whole multiverse. You can do the same thing with non-existence; when you run out of all the non-existent types of non-existence you start to get all the existent types of non-existence, which is what I call the surfeit of non-existence.

The question is, do you believe in the infinite, and that my friend (unfortunately for you) is the God question again

The Creation Story (again)

The Original Question: Can infinite regress be applied to anything?

Infinite regression only applies to things which are infinite. I am a believer in God, but I agree with Dawkins that infinite regression - as I understand it, which is called eternal recurrence - applies to God. That which goes on forever loses all character and becomes a gray melange, everything and nothing, EXCEPT FOR ITS FINITE PARTS. So an infinite thing is no thing (nonexistence) and the surfeit of an infinite nonexistence is EXISTENCE (if something is infinite it becomes all possible - and impossible, versions of itself (which is exactly the infinite regression problem) so that the very thing that he uses to demand there be no creator DEMANDS a universe CREATED OUT OF NOTHING. 

We, those things that exist, are the absurd tip of non-existence, which is a vast ghost ship, as it were, of all our nonexistent potentials; in other words - God. 

God is above mere existence and is not the pantheist's delusion but more than everything and nothing COMBINED.

What is your personal philosophy of the universe?

The Original Question

The universe is a surfeit of non-existence. God swallows the flame ball of eternal recurrence for us and we serve as the valve that allows God to be discrete (meaningfully finite.) Man's finite and imperfect idea of God is our greatest gift to our creator. 

We live, like our creator as disembodied spirits, consciousness without color or shape, tied to a concrete body that identifies and serves us. Our body is our greatest asset. It allows us to be specific things. Limitations make us whole.

Our mind includes a conscience (usually) and an ability to identify patterns, (reason.) Life is meant to be lived, despite the relative misery that comes from the brevity of physical pleasures. Pleasures of the mind are more durable, but everything is an exercise, to be played with dignity and skill, like a game. In the end we go back to that dreaded infinity.  

The formula for beautiful life is finite from left to right and infinite from top to bottom. As Oscar Wilde said, we are all in the gutter but some of us are staring at the stars. 

Thank you for asking the question. I wish someone were able to figure out what I am taking about.

More refuting "theories" of creation

How can atheist live in a world created for no reason?
See the original question

I resent the idea you start with that a degree makes you worthy of discussion and my lack of one devalues my opinion. As a non-atheist, you make a strong case for the atheist BY USING THEIR TACTICS. 

If everyone who knows science better than me is a better judge then your opinion is an outlier and I should ignore it and go with the statistically more consistent answers.

Contradictions in particle physics and the disconnect with the theory of gravity give string theory and the multiverse traction, which by your logic is worthless (which also throws out the unprovable creative intelligence theory.) So rather than trying to use minimalism and reductionism to defeat well accepted theories, why not admit that if God is a cubit or a Higgs particle it diminishes God and your minimalism and disdain for theories is much more atheistic than anything you are arguing against. I believe God can only be encountered by faith and those who wrap God in "theory" are swindlers or fools. Which are you?

If you woke up one day as an atheist,,,

The Original Question (from Yahoo Answers)

I am not a Christian, but I find the people whom I know that are atheists are angrier and distrust a universe that coincidentally gave them a perfect environment to live in and supermarkets filled with food. 

They seem to have a Somali pirate mindset in a Disneyland environment.

It is worth maybe being delusional just to be less paranoid. What I would do differently if I were an atheist, is I would not rely on that part of my brain that is hardwired for faith (which apparently gave my ancestors an evolutionary advantage) and I would say "it's just you, no one or nothing else is going to help you, care about you or even leave you alone in peace." It is not faith in God my atheist would be lacking but faith in his fellow humans. 

If I thought other people's spiritual (moral) instincts were valid I would not need to question their faith and I would be an agnostic and a friend to faith rather than an enemy and parser of the values of others.

Addendum to Perils of Twitter

con·flate: \kən-ˈflāt\ verb

From Latin conflatus, past participle of conflare to blow together, fuse, from com- + flare to blow — more at blow

Date: 1610

transitive verb

1 a:  to bring together, fuse; 1b: confuse;  2: to combine (as two readings of a text) into a composite whole.

So in response to my asking why are you conflating ISIS with all of Islam (or in my exaggeration with the black community as well) my friend replies "I am sorry to disappoint you but I just hate them."

Who are THEM?

Hate ISIS? Sure. Hate all of Islam? Stop using math and science then (oh wait, I take that back, they will be banning higher math and science next) Hate the fact that the liberal media gives some blacks a pass on violence? Reinstitute Jim Crow Laws, and don't allow them out after dark. I mean after all, conflating a criminal group with a whole community (or in the case of Islam about 20 communities) is an appropriate response and a MEASURED RESPONSE is just a sign of weakness.

I have discovered first hand what I already knew about the left (that they cannot hear anything but their own side,) is equally true of the right. 

So Twitter away, reinforcing what you already believe and damning language with your nonsense shorthand. I'm done.

It's just with society polarizing and speaking different languages, I am left (right of center) with nobody to talk to.

But I will be voting for Hillary Clinton I assure you. Nixon was the last free president (free of the IMF that is) and Clinton was the last SANE president. I'm gonna get in my time machine I vote for the Clintons (as I never did in the nineties) and see if maybe they will bring some sanity back.

As the divide between left and right becomes a chasm, Russia, and other petty dictators around the world are smiling (and killing babies, but the media is only hyping ISIS.)