Why the universe exists
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14th December 2014

WARNING: this post has a sort of philosophical nature, but I know nothing about philosophy so I may show myself up to be an uneducated idiot with this post. But hopefully some people will find my thoughts interesting.

One of the roles religion filled in my life before I relinquished it, was to "fill in the missing gaps" that science couldn't explain. Science has not yet completely unravelled the secrets of the universe, and it possibly never will.

So there are many questions that a non-religious person cannot truthfully claim to know the answer to. But even if you don't know the answer to something you can have theories that you like.

I would like to present my theory as to the answer to:

Why the universe exists

Well in order to explain my idea on this I want to do a thought experiment. Imagine the universe didn't exist. What would it be like? Well if there was no universe then there would surely also be no rules to govern it. Not only would there be no "laws of physics" but even the fundamental laws we take for granted such as the law of "cause and effect" would not exist.

Now I am going to explain two things that I believe, which shape my theory as to why the universe exists. Both of these ideas are completely un-provable but they make sense to me and I like them.

1. I believe that, without any laws there would be a state of perfect chaos. There would be an infinite number of universes, an infinite amount of stuff, an infinite number of laws all scattered all over the place and chaotically interacting.
2. I believe that such a state exists and our "universe" is part of it.

But how can the universe be in a state of perfect chaos? It doesn't look completely chaotic. Well the thing is that chaotic systems seem to organise themselves. Mix olive oil and water and watch them separate out. Look at space and see amorphous gas clouds coalescing into star systems. And look at life. Life forms basically gather nutrients from their environment and order it.

So that is my theory and belief as to why the universe exists. I like it because:

• I like it because it makes the universe very fundamental and un-arbitrary. It gives everything, animate or inanimate, a sort of dignity as being part of something real and deep. Not just the creation of a god.
• I like it because it makes the universe very big, and makes almost anything possible somewhere in the universe.
• I like it because I think it is a very beautiful universe.

If I find an idea I like better I may change my beliefs, but that's how I think right now :).

a photo of the Cederblad 51 nebula from Wikipedia a picture I took in Saltdean, England; another beautiful part of the universe :)