Was the beginning of the universe caused??

Question

Do you believe the universe was caused to exist or it just came into existence out of nothing by nothing?

Answer 1

Neither, The universe was neither caused, nor did it come from nothing.

Luck has nothing to do with it. And neither do gods.

I have never seen credible evidence for any god. I see evidence for other things but no god. Sorry.

The lack of evidence for gods doesn't seem at all surprising. The idea that you need a more complex being to explain why we see apparent complexity just makes no sense. You can't explain the origin of apparent complexity by a greater prior complexity. That should be obvious. One doesn't explain the seemingly improbable with an even greater improbability.

As a mathematician I understand where apparent complexity comes from and it is not from design. Design only requires a greater complexity. Instead complexity ( What we mathematicians call Kolmogorov Complexity ) comes from selection operating on variance. The variance comes from mathematics itself. The selection comes from us. Our existence greatly restricts the regions of reality we can find ourselves in.

What confuses people is they don't understand that our understanding of nature is layered. They see objects like people and trees and understand that those people are made up of atoms. They may even understand that those atoms are made up of sub-atomic particles. They may even understand that those particles might be made up of knots in mathematical manifolds as part of string theory. But it doesn't really register to them that what we see as space and time are not fundamental and what that might mean. Einstein gave us our first clue that time was not fundamental when he combined it with space. The fact time may not be fundamental means that it is fundamentally wrong to think of reality as space changing with time. It looks like it is, but that is because we observe it as a layer above (or several layers above) what it really is . Rather it is eternal (timeless) space-time. Or better yet ( at a deeper layer ) it is eternal mathematical truth masquerading as space-time.

Another clue that time may not be fundamental is that we never ever measure time. We measure change between states of matter. If the state never changed you would nave no means of claiming that time had passed.

Reality looks like space changing with time because we see so little of it. This is because of the selection effect of our existence.
We see upper layers because we do not see the lower layers. We see trees because we don't see individual atoms. We see atoms because we don't see them as sub-atomic partices. We don't see reality as mathematics because we are unable to see reality as it truly is. Our layered understanding of reality is a direct result of our myopia.

I think it is Christians misunderstanding of the layered nature of reality that leads them to believe in gods and other superstitions. They conclude nature is not eternal because they see the wrong layer. Yes there is a big bang event but it is not a creation event. It is just a special point in reality. It only looks like a creation event because we are seeing the wrong layer.

Further they don't understand the power of selection effects and completely misread just how incredibly vast (infinite actually ) reality really is.

Answer 2

Your question is related to the cosmological argument for a First Cause of everything:

One needs to have a formalized understanding of logic and philosphy to understand the topic of God's existence. Here is a starting point:

Premise: Every event has a cause
Premise: The universe has a beginning
Premise: All beginnings involve an event

Inference: This implies that the beginning of the universe involved an event
Inference: Therefore the beginning of the universe had a cause
Conclusion: The universe had a cause

For something to have caused the universe it must have existed outside of the universe and time. That First Cause could only have been an omnipotent supernatural agent, God.

Another argument is one from design:

1. The universe began to exist
2. The universe has complexity, order and fine-tuning
3. Complexity, order and fine-tuning imply design
4. Design that began to exist implies a designer
5. Therefore, the universe has a designer

Premise 1: See Big Bang theorem (Hawking, Penrose) All matter and time itself began at this moment
Premise 2: Universe has complex designs, e.g, cellular DNA, Laws of Physics, fine-tuning for life on earth, etc.
Premise 3: Nothing ordered can come from chaos, an orderer is required. Laws of Nature are often cited, including Vuletic, as counterexamples, yet these very Laws are themselves ordered.

Premise 4: Self evident. If something did not exist, there is no beginner or designer

Thus, the universe has a designer.

Once I conclude logically that a designer exists, I must then look to evidence of this designer's will. After investigating, the bible appears to me to be the most reliable revelation of this supreme being. You can review the two links below for discussion about the reliability of the bible.

While all of my questions will never be definitively answered, I find that rationally my belief is on solid ground. There are many things in the world we do not fully understand, yet we have no problems in believing them. For example, solar physics is not fully known, yet we all accept the "fact" that the sun will rise tomorrow.

I have also taken the time to spend years in universities studying theology as well as science (have a Ph.D.), so I could more fully understand what I have staked my eternal soul upon. I don't advocate everyone do this before making a decision one way or the other, but I do suggest folks go beyond the rhetoric in these fourms, the media, and elsewhere, so they can be more grounded in their beliefs.

Answer 3

Most reasonable people think that the earth and universe is billyons and billyons of years old. (That is my Carl Sagan impression). My take on it is that it is trillions and trillions of years old, older than we can possibly imagine as mere mortals. My view is that there was a singularity, maybe this was god, and he Big Banged and the universe did its evolution and civilization thing. Then it contracted and did a Big Squeeze back to a singularity. This is a process of billyons and billyons of years. Then it Big Banged again and it is off and running again evolving and civilizing and eventually Big Squeezing again. Since the universe re-creates itself at each Big Bang we could be old beyond any possible comprehension. And to think that god gives this speck of a Big Blue Marble any thought is ludicrous. That is man, anthropomorphizing god. It just ain’t so. It would be like you being overly concerned about part of the mitochondria of a part of one cell somewhere in your body. God might be able to see and do something about that cell, but I doubt if he would even care, even if he knew we were there/here.

Answer 4

Everything that we have studied in the cosmos appears to evolve from a more simple state.
A singularity expands, matter and energy seperate, subatomic particles are created, space expands and cools, causing subatomic particles to form protons and neutrons, these form atoms of hydrogen (and traces and helium and lithium) which gravity collapses to form stars, whose nuclear fusion creates higher elements, which are spewed into cold space by supernovae, allowing for bonding for organic chemicals, etc.

On the other hand, if we assume everything is caused by something more complex, we get into an infinite regression of increasingly complexity. For example, if the universe was created by a complex intelligent god, what caused the existence of god? Something of greater intelligence and complexity? Then what caused that? You see the problem?

Answer 5

I think the Universe has always existed in some form or another.

Answer 6

Was there a beginning to the universe?

Answer 7

Caused by the collapse of the last universe.
Every action has a...
you know the drill.

Answer 8

It came into existence from nothing...by someone..God.

Answer 9

it was caused to exist by a higher power that most religions consider God! those people that think otherwise offer a lot of theory but no proof. look within your self for your answer

Answer 10

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.