{"id":29867,"date":"2017-11-13T05:45:08","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T10:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=29867"},"modified":"2017-11-12T21:37:45","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T02:37:45","slug":"the-universe-should-not-actually-exist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/11\/the-universe-should-not-actually-exist\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Universe Should Not Actually Exist”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"contingency\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to contemporary physics, at the \u201cBig Bang\u201d at which the universe came into existence, there would have been an equal amount of matter and anti-matter.\u00a0\u00a0But if that were so, the matter and anti-matter would annihilate each other.\u00a0 Theorists have assumed that there must be some<\/em> kind of asymmetry between matter and anti-matter, since, obviously, matter exists.\u00a0 But a new experiment has found that the symmetry of matter and anti-matter is complete.\u00a0 So, in the words of one of the researchers, \u201cthe universe should not actually exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nFrom\u00a0CERN<\/a> Research Finds \u201cThe Universe Should Not Actually Exist\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in Futurism:<\/em>\n
\n

With exactly equal amounts of matter and antimatter, our universe is perfectly symmetrical. While that sounds beautiful, it creates a huge problem with existential consequences. Because it possesses this fundamental symmetry, our universe shouldn\u2019t exist at all.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the standard model of physics<\/a>, the universe had equal amounts of antimatter and matter when\u00a0it was created<\/a>. The problem with that is the fact that each antimatter particle should have canceled out its corresponding matter particle, leaving nothing behind. Except they didn\u2019t, and here we are left wondering why.<\/p>\n

This problem has been noted before<\/a>, and now, a study published in\u00a0Nature<\/a><\/i>\u00a0confirms that, indeed, our universe should never have come into existence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The researchers employed new methods of measuring the magnetism of anti-matter, doing so with unprecedented precision.\u00a0 But there was no difference between the magnetism and anti-matter and matter.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAll of our observations find a complete symmetry between matter and antimatter,\u201d said researcher christian Smorra, \u201cwhich is why the universe should not actually exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smorra went on to say,\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAn asymmetry must exist here somewhere, but we simply do not understand where the difference is.\u201d\u00a0 Since the universe does, in fact, exist, there must be some asymmetry that simply has not been detected yet.\u00a0 So let\u2019s assume that it will someday be discovered.\u00a0 Or perhaps that the standard model of physics will be modified accordingly.<\/p>\n

But the problem is an example of the philosophical concept of \u201ccontingency.\u201d\u00a0 Something\u00a0is \u201ccontingent\u201d if it might not have existed.\u00a0 You and I are contingent.\u00a0 Our parents might not have met, so we might not have come into existence.\u00a0 Our country, our technology, the particular life that we have right now, all could have been very different.<\/p>\n

Philosophers have argued\u2013and physicists seem to bear this out\u2013that the universe itself is contingent.\u00a0 It could have been otherwise.\u00a0 And it might not have existed at all.\u00a0 According to the matter\/anti-matter research, it shouldn\u2019t<\/em> have existed!<\/p>\n

Here is where it gets interesting:\u00a0 Contingent existence implies the reality of some\u00a0necessary<\/em> existence.\u00a0 This brings us to the classic proof of God\u2019s existence known as the Argument from Contingency.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll let this philosophy of religion site <\/a>explain it:<\/p>\n

It is because it is thought that the universe exists contingently that its existence is thought to require explanation. If the universe might not have existed, then why does it exist? Proponents of the cosmological argument suggest that questions like this always have answers. The existence of things that are necessary does not require explanation; their non-existence is impossible. The existence of anything contingent, however, does require explanation. They might not have existed, and so there must be some reason that they do so. . . .<\/p>\n

The only adequate explanation of the existence of the contingent universe, the argument from contingency suggests, is that there exists a necessary being on which its existence it rests. For the existence of the contingent universe must rest on something, and if it rested on some contingent being then that contingent being too would require some explanation of its existence. The ultimate explanation of the existence of all things, therefore, must be the existence of some necessary being. This necessary being is readily identified by proponents of the cosmological argument as God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By the way, this is why the rejoinder, \u201cWell, who created God?\u201d is philosophically naive.\u00a0 God is a necessary<\/em> being.\u00a0 That is, He has to exist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Only contingent beings are created.\u00a0 And\u00a0whatever or whoever created them has to exist necessarily.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Illustration by Nick Youngson,<\/a> from Picserver<\/a>,\u00a0Creative Commons 3 \u2013\u00a0CC BY-SA 3.0<\/u><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to contemporary physics, at the \u201cBig Bang\u201d at which the universe came into existence, there would have been an equal amount of matter and anti-matter.\u00a0\u00a0But if that were so, the matter and anti-matter would annihilate each other.\u00a0 Theorists have assumed that there must be some kind of asymmetry between matter and anti-matter, since, obviously, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":30049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,33,35,40],"tags":[5889,5888,1403,1728,1815],"class_list":["post-29867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apologetics","category-nature","category-philosophy-2","category-science","tag-argument-from-contingency","tag-contingency","tag-matter-and-anti-matter","tag-physics","tag-proofs-of-existence-of-god"],"yoast_head":"\n"The Universe Should Not Actually Exist"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Physicists say the universe shouldn't exist, since matter and anti-matter annihilate each other. 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