Broken Circle

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20 years 11 months ago #7391 by jrich
Replied by jrich on topic Reply from
Mac,
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Mac</i>
It does not follow that something may have existed forever without having come into existance. By definition something that exists has been created. If it was never created then it does not exist. You have to alter the meanings of our language to suggest differently.

From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
ex·ist
intr.v. ex·ist·ed, ex·ist·ing, ex·ists
1. To have actual being; be real.
2. To have life; live: one of the worst actors that ever existed.
3. To live at a minimal level; subsist: barely enough income on which to exist.
4. To continue to be; persist: old customs that still exist in rural areas.
5. To be present under certain circumstances or in a specified place; occur: “Wealth and poverty exist in every demographic category” (Thomas G. Exter).

I think it is you that has a problem with language. I see nothing about creation in these definitions. Yours is a classic example of the logical fallacy of petitio principii - your conclusion is contained in your starting assumption.

<font color="yellow">Another nice try but no cigar.

Webster:

Create: To cause to come into existance.
Creation: 1 - A creating or being created.
2 - The Universe and everything in it, all the world. </font id="yellow">

The true meaning of the words are clear here. If it exists it was created. It specifically applies to the universe. If something is non-existant and has never existed you would agree that it was never created. YOur spin on the usage of the word in absence of its true meaning is nothing more than desperation in an attempt to salvage your over-simplified answer to existance.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Your appeal to definition is a logical fallacy. Since you have presented the same argument to Tom, he will probably have something to say on the matter so I'm not going to go there. However, turnabout is fairplay:

From <i>Merriam-Webster </i>
<b>eternal</b>
1 a : having infinite duration
b : of or relating to eternity
c : characterized by abiding fellowship with God
2 a : continued without intermission
b : seemingly endless
3 archaic
4 valid or <font color="yellow">existing at all times</font id="yellow">

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Touche. I'll save us both some time and effort. There are logical disproofs of both creation and eternal existence. To summarize them: the disproof of creation boils down to the violation of cause and effect, the disproof of eternal existence to the impossibility of counting infinity. There is considerable debate about the correctness of the eternal existence disproof, but the causality violation of creation is unavoidable.

<font color="yellow">There is no causality violation. The only violation is to exist without having been created.</font id="yellow"><hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
The causality violation in creation has been covered by Tom and probably others in this forum so I'm not sure what I can add by way of new insight. Since the arguments, both yours and mine, in the rest of your post hinge on this point I'm not going to pursue them for now.

I'm not making an appeal to authority in waiting to see what Tom is going to say, its just that he is much better at this than I am and you have posted your arguments to him. I simply don't have the time to devote to it. If he chooses not address them, I will try to do so myself.


JR

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20 years 11 months ago #7354 by Mac
Replied by Mac on topic Reply from Dan McCoin
Jeremy,

I do not accept your use of the dictionary in this instance, most dictionaries supply common conceptions and simplified definitions to be accessible to the public. They do not reflect a deeper examination of the issue. I believe Webster was influenced by the theological nature of his time which could not accept existence without God and simply threw the prejudice of his viewpoint into the definition. When I say that something "exists" I am not aware whatsoever that I am implying it was also created, I am simply asserting "I perceive something in my conciousness that is there". Perhaps the two conditions are inseparable for you and that is the core of the misunderstanding. Perhaps we eternalists need to coin a new word for "exist" that does not have that connotation?

<font color="yellow">I would agree you need some other word for the general conoottion is that anything that exists wqs once created. It simply follows from cross definitions.

You are more than welcome to your personal limitation of interpreting Webster, my only jpoint is that my view is not outside the norm, it is the norm.</font id="yellow">

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><b>Let us try this argument from another tack. Let us not speak of the beginning of the universe but of its end. You say the matter must pop out of nothing but is not required to go back to nothing. If that is the case than you tacitly accept that matter will exist eternally since it is not going to uncreate itself. And if you accept this in the forward direction of time you have no logical basis for denying it in the other direction. If the matter does spontaneously go back to nothing then you have two miracles to explain and not one.</b><hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

<font color="yellow">First I have not said what you claim I have said. I have said that "as to the end" it <b>may</b> continue eternally. Not that it will. We simply have no way of knowing that either. But in saying that one must also note that such a function can not be defined as a physical reality since one can never reach infinity which is a funcction hidden in the term eternity. To say eternity in this sense merely means there is no know or anticipated duration not that eternity is a conclusion.</font id="yellow">

quote:

No. I would only agree that it is unclear if there is an infinite future but I hold there is no existance without creation and claiming eternal existance violates more than logic it requires an accumulation of infinite time to have been eternal until now. Since nothing physical (and I assume you view time as a phusical reality) can become infinite that seems to say the eternal view is flawed.




<b>Time is not water, it does not "accumulate". I think you suffer from forward blinders kind of a like a horse. You don't have a problem with forward time eternity but backward eludes you. Yes, time was eternal before us just as it is eternal ahead of us. Why do you accept one direction and not the other?</b>

<font color="yellow"> You make the same mistake once again by making an absolute statement that time has been eternal. The directional jpreference is a natural consequence of seeing a necessiaty for an initial enception but not being able to forcast an actual eternaly duration.</font id="yellow">

"Imagination is more important than Knowledge" -- Albert Einstien

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20 years 11 months ago #7519 by tvanflandern
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Mac</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">[tvf]: What is unclear is how you justify applying this to the set of all forms.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Webster:
Create: To cause to come into existance.
Creation: 1 - A creating or being created.
2 - The Universe and everything in it, all the world.

The true meaning of the words are clear here. If it exists it was created. It specifically applies to the universe. If something is non-existant and has never existed you would agree that it was never created.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Reason carefully, not with fallacies. The meaning of the words is that, if it was created, it exists. The converse that you cite is not implied by these definitions except the last, which is the definition used in religions that have adopted a "creation" event for the universe. So that definition has no relevance to this discussion.

It is therefore still unclear how you justify applying the finite duration of all individual forms to the set of all forms. All integers are finite, but the set of all integers is infinite. The duraction of all forms is finite, but the duration of the set of all forms is infinite. This point by itself does not exclude creationism, but does show a viable alternative. Do you see any logical error in drawing this parallelism? Be specific. Logical errors must consist of invalid reasoning or incorrect premises. State which and why.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I would only agree that it is unclear if there is an infinite future but I hold there is no existance without creation and claiming eternal existance violates more than logic it requires an accumulation of infinite time to have been eternal until now. Since nothing physical (and I assume you view time as a physical reality) can become infinite that seems to say the eternal view is flawed.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Again you mix physical entities with concepts. These must be separated or we cannot reason without getting muddled. Time is a concept, not a physical entity. Time, space, and scale are all dimensions, which are concepts. Reasoning such as that in <i>Dark Matter...</i> concludes that these five dimensions must all be infinite, which is fine because they are not physical entities. Existence consists of both physical entities and concepts.

By contrast, time intervals are the physical entities accessible to us, that we can measure, and that must always be finite. Time intervals are like integers -- all are finite. Time is like the set of all integers -- infinite. Because time itself is not a physical entity but rather is a concept, your reason for excluding the possibility of time being infinite (the erroneous assumption that it is a physical entity rather than a concept) is invalidated.

A note about concepts: Webster defines "concept" as a broad abstract idea or a guiding general principle, such as one that determines how ... nature, reality, or events are perceived; e.g., the concept of time. This might leave the impression that concepts exist only in our minds. But as I use the word, the set of all integers is a concept, yet is infinite in an objective way that does not depend on our minds. So as I've said before in trying to tighten up definitions, we can call these "concepts" or "sets" or "properties" or "counts" or "measures" or whatever. The important points are that these exist outside our minds, and are part of any description of reality, even though they are not themselves "physical entities".

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">[tvf]: every single bit of every form remains accounted for, with no creation ex nihilo or demise ad nihil. The universe contains so many forms that we would expect to see these processes operating today if they were possible; but we do not see them despite the fact that we do see the continual appearance of new forms and the continual loss of old ones.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">it does seem to me that the expansion of space is ex nihilo.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">In the Big Bang, it is indeed <i>ex nihilo</i>. However, there is no reliable evidence that space is in fact expanding, much less that there ever was a Big Bang event. But I understand why it is an attractive theory for those who hold to a creation event.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">[tvf]: in the time span allotted to us, we observe that all forms are finite in duration, but the set of all forms shows no evolution one way or the other. To account for this, there are two and only two logical possibilities: (1) creation of a vast … amount of substance out of nothing in the past, with the ever-present threat of everything returning to nothing, perhaps suddenly, in the future; or (2) the past and future have the same assortment of finite-duration forms as the present, to eternity.

Because (1) requires a miracle or miracles, it is excluded from consideration in physics. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">This is an erroneous assumption. Failure to understand a process does not make it a miracle. Your statement that creation is excluded from consideration in physics is simply false. Although you personally disagree with it the Big Bang is just such an example which happens to be the mainstream-accepted view; which is #1 not #2. At least in the BB view that starts with a singularity which is one view.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">I said miracles were excluded from physics. Creation is excluded only to the extent that it requires something arising from truly nothing, which is a miracle by definition. [Webster: "an event that appears to be contrary to the laws of nature and is regarded as an act of God."]

I agree that the Big Bang is the mainstream-accepted view, and is #1 not #2. But it is still based on a miracle and is therefore excluded as a physical possibility. Some cosmologists try to get around this internal contradiction by positing cyclic Big Bangs followed by Big Crunches, or by positing that the BB is an explosion OF time and space, not an explosion of matter INTO pre-existing time and space. But ultimately, these all require "an act of God", which is just fine with the religious portion of society.

Here, we are trying to apply reason to the problem <i>ab initio</i>, so the fact that x% of society and y% of scientists accept miracles is not relevant. Here, if it requires a miracle, it is excluded. To the extent that #1 requires creation of something from truly nothing, that is a miracle and #1 is excluded. I see no valid grounds for the exclusion of possibility #2.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I for one would say that to exist without ever having come into existence requires the miracle.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">What miracle? If there was no act bringing it into existence, then there was

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20 years 11 months ago #7358 by Mac
Replied by Mac on topic Reply from Dan McCoin
Tom,

<b>Reason carefully, not with fallacies. The meaning of the words is that, if it was created, it exists. The converse that you cite is not implied by these definitions except the last, which is the definition used in religions that have adopted a "creation" event for the universe. So that definition has no relevance to this discussion.</b>

<font color="yellow">I'm afraid I don't accept your rejection of definitions from Webster as being a religous document. It is the standard by which the mainstream veiw existance and creation. That has nothing to do with religion. Your own admission below is that the mainstream does view the Big Bang as the point of origin and that it is creation ex nihilo. I am satisfied with that. that is that you (and some others here) have a different view. that is your perogative but in contrast to the enuendos that were starting to fly mine at least is within the mainstream on this issue (not all my views are)[:D]</font id="yellow">

<b>It is therefore still unclear how you justify applying the finite duration of all individual forms to the set of all forms. All integers are finite, but the set of all integers is infinite. The duraction of all forms is finite, but the duration of the set of all forms is infinite. This point by itself does not exclude creationism, but does show a viable alternative. Do you see any logical error in drawing this parallelism? Be specific. Logical errors must consist of invalid reasoning or incorrect premises. State which and why.</b>

<font color="yellow">No real disagreement here. But only because you have carefully left your infinite duration out of the concept of origin and have said creationism could be valid but that infinite duration could still be indicated. I would only caution that only means there is no projected end; which physically never actually reaches eternity. So I am puzzled a bit as to why one would even want to invoke the term since it can never be reached and hence is and can never be a physical reality.</font id="yellow">

<b>Again you mix physical entities with concepts. These must be separated or we cannot reason without getting muddled. Time is a concept, not a physical entity. Time, space, and scale are all dimensions, which are concepts. Reasoning such as that in Dark Matter... concludes that these five dimensions must all be infinite, which is fine because they are not physical entities. Existence consists of both physical entities and concepts.</b>

<font color="yellow">I feel it is you that mix philosophy with science here. Infinity and Eternity are not physical terms.</font id="yellow">

<b>By contrast, time intervals are the physical entities accessible to us, that we can measure, and that must always be finite. Time intervals are like integers -- all are finite. Time is like the set of all integers -- infinite. Because time itself is not a physical entity but rather is a concept, your reason for excluding the possibility of time being infinite (the erroneous assumption that it is a physical entity rather than a concept) is invalidated.</b>

<font color="yellow">Personally I don't believe you can seperate time measurement as being physical and time itself being non-physical. You can't physically measure something that is nothing.</font id="yellow">

<b>A note about concepts: Webster defines "concept" as a broad abstract idea or a guiding general principle, such as one that determines how ... nature, reality, or events are perceived; e.g., the concept of time. This might leave the impression that concepts exist only in our minds. But as I use the word, the set of all integers is a concept, yet is infinite in an objective way that does not depend on our minds. So as I've said before in trying to tighten up definitions, we can call these "concepts" or "sets" or "properties" or "counts" or "measures" or whatever. The important points are that these exist outside our minds, and are part of any description of reality, even though they are not themselves "physical entities".</b>

<font color="red">But as I use the word":</font id="red"><font color="yellow">You are using your own modified definitons to support your out of the ordinary concept. that is your perogative. I don't accept it.</font id="yellow">


<b>In the Big Bang, it is indeed ex nihilo. However, there is no reliable evidence that space is in fact expanding, much less that there ever was a Big Bang event. But I understand why it is an attractive theory for those who hold to a creation event.</b>

<font color="yellow">I am not specifically a Big Bang advocate. Especially in terms of singularities, etc. But I do believe (and did believe) the universe ws not only expanding but undergoing an accelerated expansion. My bases however are far from solid or supported by anything other than it being a logical conclusion of UniKEF (Pushing Gravity) concept. The expansion can only be avoided if ones assume an infinite universe, which I do not. </font id="yellow">


<b>I said miracles were excluded from physics. Creation is excluded only to the extent that it requires something arising from truly nothing, which is a miracle by definition. [Webster: "an event that appears to be contrary to the laws of nature and is regarded as an act of God."]<b>

<font color="yellow">Your statement is not substantiated for three reasons.

1 - It is only your assumption that creation ex nihilo is against the laws of nature because as of this time you have no understanding of how nature can account for it.

2 - N
&gt;(+s)+(-s)requires no miracle. As is plain to see it is within a valid mathematical proposition which is less extreme than infinity or eternity.

3 - For the formula to represent origin invokes no act of God, or at least no more so than infinity or eternity. </font id="yellow">

<b>I agree that the Big Bang is the mainstream-accepted view, and is #1 not #2. But it is still based on a miracle and is therefore excluded as a physical possibility. Some cosmologists try to get around this internal contradiction by positing cyclic Big Bangs followed by Big Crunches, or by positing that the BB is an explosion OF time and space, not an explosion of matter INTO pre-existing time and space. But ultimately, these all require "an act of God", which is just fine with the religious portion of society.</b>

<font color="yellow">I simply do not agree. You are making absolute statements for which you have no actual evidence. It is only in thought that any of these scenarios can be considered and it is only in your thoughts that such a function is a miracle and requires an act of God.

I see it just the opposite. the formula provides a mechanisim for creation ex nihilo that is devoid of the need of a God.</font id="yellow">

<b>Here, we are trying to apply reason to the problem ab initio, so the fact that x% of society and y% of scientists accept miracles is not relevant. Here, if it requires a miracle, it is excluded. To the extent that #1 requires creation of something from truly nothing, that is a miracle and #1 is excluded. I see no valid grounds for the exclusion of possibility #2.</b>

<font color="yellow">I agree that miracles are not physics but I most certainly disagree that creation ex nihilo is known to be a miracle. You are merely assuming it is a miracle and hence prohibited because you fail to see that it is permissable mathematically into the laws of physics, even though we have no immediate understanding of the process. The moral would be that according to you ignorance is a miracle. It is only our ignorance of the process that makes you believe it is a miracle. </font id="yellow">

<b>The problem here seems to be that you think of the universe as mostly empty with matter occasionally existing in it. I agree that view makes no sense. But in MM, where we make no assumptions but apply pure logic, a different view arises using deductive reasoning from

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20 years 11 months ago #7359 by Jim
Replied by Jim on topic Reply from
This stuff is all a matter of faith in one model or another and isn't that what a cult is all about? I would not elevate this drivel to the level of religion but it ain't science. The idea the real universe is expanding cannot be established because the means are not known-the BB is a model that sort of works and is fiction having little to do with the universe at all and I think most people understand that simple fact even if most of the fighting is about weather or not the universe really does expand.

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20 years 11 months ago #7759 by north
Replied by north on topic Reply from
mac

how about this,lets say for arguments sake that,the universe was created from nothing and this nothing is nothing within nothing which is within nothing which is within nothing and so on.sort of a sphere within a sphere within a sphere of nothing(Aristotle). this is the infinity of nothing,this is the purist form of infinity that exists, period.what can destroy it?what can remove its infinity?not even something,because something does not have that possibility in the infinite nothing.nothing cannot be less than infinite because there is no substance,existence or becomeing of any sort to change this.

now infinite something IS because this is the only way that creation can become, because nothing is inherently infinite and therefore not capable of any becoming of any sort.

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