Physics Help Forum Does everything have a start?

 Philosophy of Physics Philosophy of Physics Forum - Philosophical questions about our universe

 Oct 18th 2018, 02:23 AM #1 Junior Member   Join Date: Oct 2018 Posts: 1 Does everything have a start? Does everything things have a start?… a simple enough proposition, yet with important implications if its true. For example, time and the universe ; do they have a start? Can you think of anything without a start? What do I mean by start: - Everything has spacial start point(s). For example, a human you could choose head or feet - Everything has a temporal start. This might be a window of time rather than a point. An example for a human would be birth. And the definition of a thing? A collection of related parts. Is there anything without a start? I can’t think of anything from the natural world without a start. As far as concepts go, all I can think of is Negative infinity. But negative infinity does not actually exist: There is no quantity -oo such that -oo < all other quantities because oo - 1 < oo. So they does not seem to be anything without a start (a circle has multiple start points). What does it mean not to have a start? It means that the object is partially undefined; which means it is actually undefined and can’t exist. What would it mean to exist without a start? Would you exist if you were not born? Would the universe exist if the Big Bang did not happen? If the proposition is correct, it follows that: - The universe has a start in time and space - Time had a start - Matter/Energy had a start
Oct 23rd 2018, 11:01 AM   #2
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 Originally Posted by Devans99 Does everything things have a start?… a simple enough proposition, yet with important implications if its true. For example, time and the universe ; do they have a start? Can you think of anything without a start? What do I mean by start: - Everything has spacial start point(s). For example, a human you could choose head or feet - Everything has a temporal start. This might be a window of time rather than a point. An example for a human would be birth. And the definition of a thing? A collection of related parts. Is there anything without a start? I can’t think of anything from the natural world without a start. As far as concepts go, all I can think of is Negative infinity. But negative infinity does not actually exist: There is no quantity -oo such that -oo < all other quantities because oo - 1 < oo.
That is not true- mathematically "$\displaystyle -\infty$" exists but is not a "real number" and "$\displaystyle \infty -1$" is not defined.

 So they does not seem to be anything without a start (a circle has multiple start points).
Well saying that does not prove it!

 What does it mean not to have a start? It means that the object is partially undefined; which means it is actually undefined and can’t exist. What would it mean to exist without a start? Would you exist if you were not born? Would the universe exist if the Big Bang did not happen? If the proposition is correct, it follows that: - The universe has a start in time and space - Time had a start - Matter/Energy had a start
Again, saying that you do not understand it does not mean it is not true!

 Oct 24th 2018, 01:42 AM #3 Senior Member     Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: England Posts: 733 While the theoretical idea of infinity can be reasonably extrapolated from basic mathematics and the concepts knocked back and forth by philosophers, Humans find the actuality of infinity profoundly unsettling. However the alternative to infinity is a start, and presumably a finish. That leaves us with an equally unsettling concept, Nothing. There must be nothing outside of the start and finish of the universe, otherwise we are back to the questions about the start and finish (verses infinity) of whatever is beyond the start and finish of the universe. __________________ ~\o/~
 Oct 24th 2018, 08:52 AM #4 Senior Member   Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: NC Posts: 410 Start at the beginning... Hello Devans99, Two aspects of "start" are time and event. These are used in mathematical problem formulation. "Events in Time" might be a read of interest to you. 1.21 Events and Time | THERMO Spoken Here! Good Luck with your studies... JP

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