Answered: Why is there something rather than nothing?




Jim Holt's book Why Does the World Exist? explores what many call the fundamental question: why is there something rather than nothing? I think the book is dynamite, and Holt's TEDTalk is an engaging summary, recommended to anyone who may be unconvinced that this question is both profound and worthwhile.

And I have an answer: It's both something and nothing.

To see this, consider for a moment how big nothingness would be. How many nothings could you fit in the room you are in? Truly nothing, not even space, would be infinitesimally small, and so you could fit an unending number of nothings in your room. A universe of something can be chock full, both within and without, with infinite minuscule universes of nothing.

So, it seems you can have something AND nothing, because nothing fits very easily, inside and outside, of something.

More:
This bit by Louis CK on being and nothingness is just incredible.
Jim Holt's summary statement from the prologue is provocative:
“Suppose there were nothing. Then there would be no laws; for laws, after all, are something. If there were no laws, then everything would be permitted. If everything were permitted, then nothing would be forbidden. So if there were nothing, nothing would be forbidden. Thus nothing is self-forbidding. Therefore, there must be something. QED.”

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