The universe consist entirely of all matter, energy, and space-time that exist. This includes all galaxy, planets, stars, and all other celestial bodies that exist. Universe also consist of all forms of radiation energy such as dark matter.
It is clear that the universe is the reason for our own existence. With the evolution from the “big bang”, to humanity existing, the age of evolution that happened not only biologically but also technologically, we adapted, we explored, we gained knowledge. To the point of which begged the question.
What if there was no universe?
Like stated, the universe consists of all matter, energy, and space-time. It is by far difficult to even imagine what a scenario that universe did not exist as the term itself implies that something and everything exist. It is also worth knowing that universe did not exist 13.8 billion years ago during an event known as “The Big Bang”
It is also worth noting that the absence of a universe would have a significant ramification for the idea of presence itself. It is absolutely difficult to imagine what such situation/scenario would entail. But also leads to question.
What would be “nothing” if the universe did not exist?
If the universe did not exist, it’s elements wont exist. Space-time, all matter, and energy as we know. It is. The very concept of nothingness depends on the existence of something to contrast with it, hence why it is very difficult to imagine what “nothing” would be like, as it is also difficult to define what “nothing” is in this scenario.
The in-depth explanation of the existence of nothingness, without it being existing at the same time could be what we can call a “ a state of pure potentiality or possibility, without any actualized existence.” It could also be that in this state of nothingness, there could still be some fundamental laws, or principles governing reality.
The concept of nothingness is not the same as the absence of “something”. Not even something can define nothing at this point. Instead, it is a state that there is “no thing” or object in existence. We can’t simply say that there is nothing in nothingness. It is not even clear wether nothingness can be considered a “thing” in and of itself. But could it be that it’s a conceptual framework that arises from absence of anything?
What nothing would look like, it is difficult to imagine, not even speculate, as there would be no spatial, visual, and temporal reference point we can compare it to. This speculative idea of what it could look like has no empirical evidence. We don't have the technology and deeper knowledge of anything yet. We cant even explain why we exist. But we are given a perspective point of view to define it yourself. “Nothingness” can something, the point is, it can be nothing, but at least we are living in something. the concept of nothingness remains a philosophical and metaphysical question that is difficult to answer definitively.
We get so fixated on the words humans came up with in our made up languages to describe these complex concepts but I think our obsession with labeling and categorizing things to a degree has confined the way we're able to think of them. while language has certainly allowed us to evolve mathematically and express our understanding of the universe.
Ligolas Neo Malicdem | April 2, 2023