Why don't things pop into existence without a cause? | The Kalam Argument from Chaos

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References:

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Timestamps:

00:00 Beethoven & bicycles
02:32 The argument
06:33 Other ways
18:04 Restricted principles
24:00 Overgeneralization
28:56 Wrapping up

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#kalam #philosophy

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And last but not least, a huge thank you once again to Josh Rasmussen for his insight on portions of the script.

@MajestyofReason

[dastutweh]

The real reason why our universe came into being is quite simple and known as Murphy's Law: anything that *can* go wrong *will* go wrong.

[fostena]

"Protons, electrons and photons do not pop into existence uncaused"
*Quantum physics entered the chat*

[johnsmith-svqq]

"In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

[corhydrae]

"Why don't we observe random things other than universes spring into existence from nothing?", Craig asks, safely tucked into his universe, far away from any "nothing" he could observe or make any claims about.

[knowdudegamingshow]

For me, the most troublesome aspect of that first premise is the grammatical clause "begins to exist." Beginnings are often arbitrary points in a wider process.

The only thing that I can think of which science has actually observed as a true beginning is a phenomenon which occurs in true vacuums, where a subatomic particle - anti-particle pair will spontaneously spring into existence, then immediately annihilate each other. This is problematic for the Kalam argument because as the only example we have of a true beginning in nature, the phenomenon appears to be a-causal. Even if we do find other examples of true beginnings, the first premise of the Kalam argument has still been shown to not be necessarily true.

[Jeff-cnup]

Me: "Well Craig, why is it that only gods (and specifically _ONLY_ the one you choose to believe in) that either comes into existence from nothing or exists forever? How is that easier to accept?"

[finestPlugins]

I haven't even watched yet, but it seems that the only way for random things to appear from nothing is via a deity.
And they don't.

[divineinyang]

Joe Schmidt is the guy to watch. He plays devil's advocate with such smoothness and dexterity you have to really stick around long enough to know what he actually thinks about something. Damn.

[OmegaMusicYT]

My main problem with the Kalam is with the second premise "The Universe began to exist"

If what you mean by that is that there was a time in which the universe didn't exist followed by a time where the universe existed, I dont believe that to be the case.

The fact that time is finite in the past does not mean that the universe came out of nothing. It might be the case that the universe has existed for every moment of time, including the first one.

[kelpkelp]

You've made me seriously consider how I pronounce both Beetroot and Beethoven now.

[wagnar]

It's amazing how WLC updates the kalam argument every year with more word salad and it keeps failing miserably.

[TheFuzzician]

I am constantly reminded of Sean Carroll's debate with Craig, where he dealt with this argument. That opening segment is really all anyone needs to deal with Kalam conclusively.

[Merilirem]

I do like this topic itself when its not being used to explain some deity. Its facinating to think about the fundamental workings of reality.

[Ididnahthither]

Having studied nothing extensively in a lab, WLC knows full well that it doesn't have any properties.

[johnnehrich]

Sorry. Low Bar Bill's argument won me over. Although I know he is wrong when he attributes everything to the biblical god. St. Dillahunty has convinced me it was universe-creating pixies that did it, so they would have a place to sip tea poured from all the orbiting teapots, while Schrödinger's cat watches/doesn't watch from a distance.
Of course, this cat does pop in and out of existence, often at the exact same time, so maybe . . .

[Boblw]

There never has been “nothing.” No one’s ever seen, experienced or can even define nothing. Even attempts to create “nothing “ under laboratory conditions result in the existence of quantum fields. It’s one of the great misconceptions of theists.

[mylesricker]

The pacing and switching between Stephen and Joe was a pretty digestible way to listen. Love your vids, I'm a little lost sometimes though

[I.____.....__...__]

0:10 Apparently Craig doesn't grasp the concept of entropy. The universe can come out of nothing because there's nothing special about it, it was just a random pile of energy and atoms farted into existence (not literally out of nothing) where as bicycles, Beethoven, and root-beer are structured, they are only those things if they are a very specific combination of atoms, so they can't come into existence by chance, they have to be made that way by something. The universe is random. 😒

[johnpelosi]

I will never forget the AXP episode in which Tracy Harris challenged the call-in Theist apologist to give an example of "Nothing" when he kept insisting that "Something" cannot emerge from "Nothing". Tracy kept up the point, "What is Nothing? If there were a "Nothing" to examine wouldn't that make it a "Something"? We cannot say "Something cannot come from Nothing" if we do not have a "Nothing" to examine. How can there even "Be" a "Nothing", since "To Be" indicates it is NOT "Nothing"" and so on. I treasure that question for it completely disarms the lazy sophistries of WLC.

[marks]

Things do randomly pop into existence on a quantum level all the time.