Philosopher AI - Why is there something rather than nothing?

Why is there something rather than nothing?

First, I should say that as far as we know, this universe is the only one there is. Therefore it cannot be created or destroyed. It just exists.

10 Sep 2020, 13:42

A possible solution to the question is that there have always been something rather than nothing. This universe has no beginning or end, and was never created.

10 Sep 2020, 13:42

Consider first a possible solution in which there was "nothing" before the universe came into existence. If we define nothing as simply not existing, then it can't be that no thing ever existed.

10 Sep 2020, 13:42

Consider the following: If nothing existed before, it would be impossible to define whether there was anything that did not exist. For example, if no rocks ever existed on a planet and then they were introduced from outside, we could say "there are now rocks on this planet", but I couldn't have said any such thing beforehand.

10 Sep 2020, 13:42

Therefore, if I define "nothing" as not existing, then it cannot be that nothing ever existed. So let's define nothing as the absence of anything.

10 Sep 2020, 13:42

Now, I should say that this universe has no beginning or end, and was never created. It just exists.

10 Sep 2020, 13:42

You are getting an AI to generate text on different topics.

This is an experiment in what one might call "prompt engineering", which is a way to utilize GPT-3, a neural network trained and hosted by OpenAI.

GPT-3 is a language model. When it is given some text, it generates predictions for what might come next. It is remarkably good at adapting to different contexts, as defined by a prompt (in this case, hidden), which sets the scene for what type of text will be generated.

Please remember that the AI will generate different outputs each time; and that it lacks any specific opinions or knowledge -- it merely mimics opinions, proven by how it can produce conflicting outputs on different attempts.

Feel free to share interesting outputs to /r/philosopherAI on Reddit.

by Murat Ayfer