{"id":35628,"date":"2012-06-08T00:01:46","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T07:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=35628"},"modified":"2014-12-30T16:25:23","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T23:25:23","slug":"a-physicist-tries-his-best-to-explain-how-everything-comes-from-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2012\/06\/a-physicist-tries-his-best-to-explain-how-everything-comes-from-nothing.html","title":{"rendered":"A Physicist Tries His Best to Explain How Everything Comes from Nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/startswithabang\/2012\/05\/19\/its-supposed-to-hurt-to-think\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u2026but winds up saying that everything came from Something (gravity, physical laws that were already there). <\/a> In short, he doesn\u2019t really tell us how Everything came from nothing.  He just renames the Something the universe came from \u201cNothing\u201d and then doesn\u2019t explain where that Something came from.<\/p>\n<p>He seems to me, in the end, to be like the guy who looks for his lost car keys under the lamp post since since that\u2019s where the light is, even though the keys disappeared when he was in the bar down the street.  At least, that\u2019s all I can glean from a concluding remark like this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>For whatever it\u2019s worth, when I think of nothing, I think about empty spacetime and the physical Universe: that\u2019s where my interests lie, and that\u2019s where I believe the knowable lies. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>At the same time, at least he has more humility than a lot of devotees of intellect worship and acknowledges that philosophy might have something to teach him:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But that doesn\u2019t mean there isn\u2019t something wonderful to be gained from philosophizing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/tofspot.blogspot.com\/2012\/03\/columbia-university-philosopher-david.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">I would love to put him and Mike Flynn together for a conversation.<\/a>  I think a real conversation could happen.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2026but winds up saying that everything came from Something (gravity, physical laws that were already there). In short, he doesn\u2019t really tell us how Everything came from nothing. He just renames the Something the universe came from \u201cNothing\u201d and then doesn\u2019t explain where that Something came from. He seems to me, in the end, to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[92],"class_list":["post-35628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fides-et-ratio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Physicist Tries His Best to Explain How Everything Comes from Nothing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"...but winds up saying that everything came from Something (gravity, physical laws that were already there). In short, he doesn&#039;t really tell us how\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2012\/06\/a-physicist-tries-his-best-to-explain-how-everything-comes-from-nothing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Physicist Tries His Best to Explain How Everything Comes from Nothing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"...but winds up saying that everything came from Something (gravity, physical laws that were already there). In short, he doesn&#039;t really tell us how\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2012\/06\/a-physicist-tries-his-best-to-explain-how-everything-comes-from-nothing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-08T07:01:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-30T23:25:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2012\/06\/a-physicist-tries-his-best-to-explain-how-everything-comes-from-nothing.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2012\/06\/a-physicist-tries-his-best-to-explain-how-everything-comes-from-nothing.html\",\"name\":\"A Physicist Tries His Best to Explain How Everything Comes from Nothing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-08T07:01:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-30T23:25:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"...but winds up saying that everything came from Something (gravity, physical laws that were already there). 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