I’m sure we’re asking the wrong question but if we knew the right question we’d be done. And meanwhile, there’s a very real problem and trying to sweep it under the rug like this is every bit as bad as claiming that “God did it” cleans it up.
I’m not trying to sweep the problem under the rug. I just don’t want it to get tangled in a web of false dilemmas based on poor premises. Those kinds of questions are narrow in scope, and dwelling on them might prevent us from seeing the right questions. I don’t think the average person who asks this sort of question is seriously interested in solving the problem; ey already has a solution in mind, and the question is constructed to imply it.
I dunno. I think many people are at least interested/curious about the whole “why is there something instead of nothing?” and related “why these laws/equations and not others?” issues.
I know I am. There’s a genuine gap in our (or at least my) understanding. Obviously goddidit is not at all an answer, but that fact doesn’t mean that there’s nothing at all that needs to be answered (even if that answer turns out to amount to a precise way of untangling the confusion that led to the question.)
I think some people may settle for bad answers, but...
I’m not trying to sweep the problem under the rug. I just don’t want it to get tangled in a web of false dilemmas based on poor premises. Those kinds of questions are narrow in scope, and dwelling on them might prevent us from seeing the right questions. I don’t think the average person who asks this sort of question is seriously interested in solving the problem; ey already has a solution in mind, and the question is constructed to imply it.
I dunno. I think many people are at least interested/curious about the whole “why is there something instead of nothing?” and related “why these laws/equations and not others?” issues.
I know I am. There’s a genuine gap in our (or at least my) understanding. Obviously goddidit is not at all an answer, but that fact doesn’t mean that there’s nothing at all that needs to be answered (even if that answer turns out to amount to a precise way of untangling the confusion that led to the question.)
I think some people may settle for bad answers, but...