Dreaded_Anomaly comments on Rationality Outreach: A Parable - Less Wrong

24 [deleted] 17 March 2011 01:10PM

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Comment author: Dreaded_Anomaly 23 March 2011 07:35:46PM 0 points [-]

Update: I have started a discussion topic related to this issue. It's based on a recent essay by Sean Carroll, who is certainly better versed in cosmology than I am.

Comment author: JGWeissman 23 March 2011 07:48:55PM 0 points [-]

McAllister already explained:

The question "Why does something exist instead of nothing?" is different from "What caused the Universe?". The former question is not asking about causation in time.

The essay you cite is addressing "What caused the Universe?", not the question we are concerned with.

Comment author: Dreaded_Anomaly 23 March 2011 08:09:47PM 0 points [-]

The essay, in my opinion, dissolves that question as well. In any case, it's a more relevant place to have the discussion than a tangent comment thread.

Comment author: JGWeissman 23 March 2011 09:01:00PM 0 points [-]

The essay, in my opinion, dissolves that question as well.

I don't care about your opinion. The parts of the essay you quoted certainly do not dissolve the question "Why does something exist instead of nothing?". If you think it does elsewhere, then quote that part.

In any case, it's a more relevant place to have the discussion than a tangent comment thread.

Until your discussion post at least claims to address the question of "Why does something exist instead of nothing?", I prefer the thread, however tangential, that provides the context of exploring that question.

Comment author: Dreaded_Anomaly 23 March 2011 09:46:16PM 0 points [-]

I see the distinction you're making. I have added a bullet point for the section of the essay which discusses "meta-explanatory accounts"