So, the other day, my mind started to wander. I think I got philosophical.
If you think about it, existence is pretty tenuous. I can sum it up with the question “Why is there something instead of nothing?” Why is their a universe at all? There could just as easily have been nothing at all. And if there was nothing, we would never have been around to perceive it. Even if there is a universe, it would be meaningless unless there was an intelligence to marvel at the creation. Is there a difference between absolute nothing, and a universe with no intelligence.
I suppose that is the wonder of life. If there is life, we can perceive the universe.
How does this work with Schrodinger? The act of observation affects the experiment? collapses the waveform? or something like that? So does the act of observing the universe, create the universe. That sounds circular: The universe exists because we perceived it; We exist because the universe does. i.e. The act of perceiving ourselves creates us. Does the universe only exist because we have perceived it?
“I think, therefore I am.” The more you contemplate Descartes saying, the more you can marvel at it.
I ‘m sure this is all covered in Philosophy 101, but I’ve never taken a philosophy course. I suppose if I was religious I wouldn’t have these contemplations. Because the existence of a god guarantees that there is somebody to observe the universe. Most religions assume he created it too. But I don’t have the comfort of believing in god. (I wish I could. It would be reassuring to know that there is an all powerful being protecting us. But I don’t, and I can’t change that.)
Have we put all the universe’s eggs in one basket. All life on one planet?
Spread out people!