Non-creationists: Do you ever worry about the universe suddenly blinking out of existence?

Question

Alright so we've figured it out. Nobel prizes have been awarded. The universe started with a Big Bang. It's a good theory. I like it. But I think it only make sense when you recognize that something had to cause that event to occur. And since that cause had to be outside the universe, do you really think it's such a stretch to say it was created? Given the multitude of precise conditions all the way down to the gravitational constant of the universe (think about it) that HAD to be exactly what they are for life to occur ANYWHERE in the universe much less here on Earth, I'd say theistic theory is a good one.

But hey if you think the universe randomly just blinked into existence why shouldn't the universe just blink out of existence? Maybe one day you'll wake up (or for that matter won't wake up) and the universe along with you and everything it will just suddenly cease to exist just like it suddenly started to exist.

I guess I just don't have the faith to be an atheist.

The point of this question wasn't find out if you literally worry about the sudden disapearance of the universe but to make you see how ridiculous it is to think that it just suddenly blinked into existence for no reason.

Answer 1

About as worried as I'll be hit by a bus. The end result is the same: I'll be gone.

In fact, blinking out of existence may be a good thing. If I die from being hit by a bus or falling down some stairs or lingering cancer, then it can be a painful end. Hopefully, a blink is quick and painless.

It is interesting to wonder if the universe will just end as quickly as it began (for those who believe in the Big Bang). There is no scientific basis for this thought. It doesn't mean it won't happen; we just have no way to foretell that it would happen.

Theistic theory does not make more sense than the Big Bang, though. You have the same question, just different wording. Instead of asking of the Big Bang, "How did something come from nothing," we are asking of the theistic theory, "How did something come from nothing."

The big difference is that the Big Bang is supported by science while theism has no empirical evidence pointing to it. Also, theism makes one feel good about himself. He may hate being alone in this universe, and the Big Bang won't fill his head with dreams of an afterlife. So, the theistic theory is more comforting to him.

Incidentally, you don't need faith to be an atheist. You were born an atheist and simply lost it when you clung to one of many religions. You may or may not want to return to being an atheist, but you don't need faith to do it.

Edit: In response to your additional details:
"…but to make you see how ridiculous it is to think that it just suddenly blinked into existence for no reason."
It may seem ridiculous to some to think that something blinking into existence for no reason, but it is equally ridiculous to think that someone blinked into existence for no reason in order to create a universe for some indiscernible reason. If the Big Bang is viewed as silly, then the notion of a god spontaneously coming about in order to create the universe is just as silly.

Answer 2

I would investigate the views of theoretical physicists, such as Lee Smolin. I personally not well versed enough to go into detail, but the basic gist deals with black holes, singularities, and multiverses/megaverses. Time is not necessarily linear, so some of the aspects of these theories make sense. The theistic theory is a bit vague and ambiguous, for there are many creation stories/myths throughout the various cultures, both present and extinct. Also, not all atheists subscribe to the notions I think you imply. Most Buddhists are atheist by description, but do have spiritual views. Another thing to think about is the anthropic carbon-based oxygen-nitrogen atmospheric conditions for life on Earth does no way imply that such conditions must exist for any other forms of life. As for worrying about blinking out of existence,it really doesn't concern me. After all, how would I know? While I do not entirely agree with your position, I am glad to see someone putting thought into their ideas instead of spouting some rote rhetoric. Keep on searching and thinking...you may win one of those Nobel Prizes yourself someday.

Answer 3

So, why couldnt the Big Bang be your Gods Doing?
How do think the universe would have come into existence, with a wisper?
And if the universe sudenly went out of existance, wouldnt that include YHVH?
Considering the whole 7 days of creation, on a time scale of existence, that is VERY sudden.
On a pagan note, the Goddess brought forth the universe with a self induced orgasm. So the story goes....
Now that what I call a BIG BANG!!LOL

Answer 4

Actually, such a scenario is perfectly allowed by quantum physics. Our universe has a certain minimal energy per volume, called vacuum energy or zero-point energy. That is, there is enough seething virtual particles in any given area of space that you cannot get below that energy density (and it is extremely high, surprisingly).

However, it is possible that the potential energy of our current zero-point is not the lowest possible potential energy of a zero-point field. Therefore, it is possible that the universe could, through the simple province of quantum indeterminancy, quantum tunnel into this new, lower energy state. This would destroy all existence of the universe as we know it and would spawn a new universe that would look as though it had been created by a big bang as the potential energy difference was released as an explosive creation of spacetime, energy, and matter.

This scenario is known as the "total existence failure" scenario, in homage to Douglas Adams and other authors who posited similiar situations in their fiction.

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I don't believe that the underlying substrate of the universe 'suddenly blinked into existence'. I believe it always existed, as this is the most simple way to understand the quantum dynamics of the universe as we currently understand them.

Answer 5

Nope, not worried about a blink. You are right in that we don't know what came before the big bang, or what there is outside the universe, but the answer does not necessarily lie in the area of theology.

Answer 6

I respect your right to believe that god caused the thing that started evolution in motion. So far there's a number of theories but none have been proved. The people I don't respect are those that don't like the truth and therefore demand it not be taught in schools.

Answer 7

If the universe suddenly blinked out of existence, I'd never know about it, and it wouldn't bother me, because I wouldn't exist anymore.

So, no I don't spend much time worrying about it. Someday I'll be dead and my consciousness won't exist. For now I'll just enjoy life as much as possible until that day comes.

Answer 8

I prefer that happening, to having to worry about some fickle god who may wipe out the world if he does not like what some of the people are doing. In your gods flood, he killed babys, animals, everything but one family. What did those children do to your god? All the women pregnate at that time on earth? Abortion directly from god? How strange to want to have faith in such a being.

Answer 9

I don't personally think about whether or not the universe would one day just cease to exist. But if it were to happen it wouldn't really bother any of us much would it? Just like if you died in your sleep, you wouldn't realize that you died, you'd just be dead.

It doesn't take any faith to be an atheist, it only takes faith to believe in what you can't see or touch or prove.

Answer 10

Personally, I'm more concerned with the Earth, our home, becoming a toxic waste dump. An unlivable dung heap created by those who are only concerned with what happens after death. What about the here and now?