Existence Definition and 570 Threads

Can any of you prove the existence of someone or something around you? Or better yet, your own existence? Because the only thing you can really know for certain is your own mind's existence, and even that, one can argue, doesn't exist.

What should I say to people who claim that QM supports the view that the universe couldn't exist without humans or some kind of "observer"? Really?? I see where this comes from, but what is the truth? I'm not talking about getting into an ontological argument- just what QM really has to say on...

"...if god exist..." ... and in the spirit of all those replies... ... let us vote!...

Do you think that Big Bang theory reject God existence? I don't know if you discuss about it before.But I want to know do you think that we couldn't accept Big Bang theory and God existence together?

and throughout all this I get the "feeling" that most of you just expect that the "laws" of physics, (whatever they ARE) will remain unchanged thoughout the future! This of course cannot be assumed! Time, space, matter, of ALL types could very well come to an END in the NEXT SECOND! Can...

I heard that there are so many conditions neccesary for us who are living on the Earth. Surely somebody must have collected them before. But I have a suggestion. What if PF people collect them once again in this thread? Anybody who knows some neccesary conditions for our existence on Earth...

Well hello i have a lots of russian books translated in english by mir publishers i am really fond of them they are quiet good. irodov being best in undergrad physics numericals. now i want to know that since these books were written at time of existence of soviet union and the copyright...

Here's the situation: I'm running over a few thousand files, some of which may have already been processed. In order to decide if a file has to be processed, I check if the corresponding output file exists. The problem: I tried using FILE *f = fopen(<filename>,"r"), and test for f!=0...

I know that the following could sound very ridiculous. But when it comes to the language needed to prove the three invalid, I can't think of any straight way to put it. Can anybody help? 1) The human body is vastly more complex than a jumbo jet. But we say that 'natural events' [Evolution]...

Hi, I have trouble constructing the proof for the existence of a solution u that vanishes at some point in an open interval (a, b) for the Sturm-Liouville differential equation: \frac{d}{dx} (P(x) \frac{du}{dx}) + Q(x)u = 0 We can assume that P is continuously differentiable and greater...

If I'm writing a proof that depends upon the assumption that a set of unique identifiers (integers, names, etc) must have a "greatest" element under some ordering scheme, what do I need in order to be entitled to make that assertion?

Hi everybody, I guess most of you know how a function is defined from a set A to a set B. How do we prove that many different functions exist (usually, if sets A and B are for example R) from A to B? Of course we can come up with many different functions, real ones for example, but is there...

Hartshorne's (1962) proof of the existence of god: (~) = not, (v) = or, (&) = and, (->) = implies (<->) = equivalence, [] = necessarily, <> = possibly, (=>) = strict implication, (p => q) =df [](p -> q) <>p =df ~[]~p. g = god exists. The argument is thus: 1. g => []g...

Our lecture on the Physics of Solid State raised a question. Professor postulated that the condition of the existence of metals is "Debay radius<Bohr radius", but the explanation was quite unclear. Could someone help me?

how does the impulse momentum theorem and conservation of momentum show the existence of the third law of motion? impulse momentum theorem- the force of an object a that hits object b will create a force. The force that object b exerts back on object a should be the same as the force object a...

Hello, How can i proof the existence of a solution of a PDE on H^(-1)( Omega)? :mad:

According to this page in wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark when quarks are pulled from one another at some point a new quark/anti quark pops into existence. What would happen if a lump of quark matter was captured by a black hole, Could it produce an endless stream of new quarks...

1st i am very glad to know that a very big number of peapople are really interested in this forum. i congratulate bcz ur treads are pretty impressive and i am enjoying my time. i am terribly sorry i couldn't be here before now i was very busy. about the subject now: for those who want proof of...

Can we proove that for any separated topological space, there exists a metric? Seratend.

Ok, I realize that this question is rather broad, but how can one determine whether a function has an antiderivative or not? I know that for an arbitrary function, chances are that it won't have a "nice" one. The function e^(-x²) comes to my mind. However, if I understand it correctly, its...

"Argument for the Existence of God" I find this very interesting and humorous: http://members.cox.net/wwcw/godexists.html#bot1 any thoughs?

What is the difference between being not alive and not existing? That is, does a dead body exist? Whitestar

According to this paper, http://arxiv.org/abs/math.GM/0108201 Paul Erdos (of Erdos number fame) conjectured the existence of The Book, a book that contains all the smallest proofs of mathematics arranged in lexical order. What are your thoughts on it, do you believe in the existence of such book?

So just how did the brain come into existence physically? ... To exploit an available resource perhaps? :wink: Which, I think is the whole point, why does anything evolve, if not to exploit the resources at hand? Why did our eyes elvolve, if not to exploit the available source of light? What...

Time is wholy contingent upon the fact that a material Universe exists. Meaning, if there is no physical distance by which to measure the rate of change, there would be no time. However, that isn't to say there wasn't an immaterial universe that existed prior to this, otherwise where would the...

How would we prove that something exists? What is the least amount of information we would need to prove the existence of a rock? Descartes' "I think therefore I am" comes to mind. Let's limit the proof to only inanimate objects.

I contend that it is not. No proof will be given. I would however like to see some comments that it is. What proof do we have that our Existence is physical?

When I took a math foundations class we only did naive set theory and took as an axiom that the empty set is a member of every set. The book had formal set theory and thus listed the ZFC axioms. One of them was that the empty set exists and that it was a member of every set. I've looked at a...

It is true in Relativity that is it impossible to enihilate matter or energy to the extent that it would not come back again in some other form of information. Where did Life on Earth come from? It is also true to relativity that there is always cause to an action. (Action/Reaction) The...

How does physics allow for the existence of observers?

Alright, if any of you have seen The Matrix, then you have heard Morpheous's question to Neo concerning reality. In the matrix, Neo and Morpheous see a red chair and a television. Neo says that none of it is real, based on the logic that it is all of a computer program. Morpheous responds by...

Is this true?? I was explaining the impossibility of a complete vacuum to a friend when another friend overheard us talking. He then posed a claim that relativity says that "Something can't exist unless you see it". I have a very hard time believing this has any validity since the statement...

Photons are deemed to have their own anti-matter mirror particles (they ARE their own anti-mirror particles), does this mean that single photons do not exist? or is it that the E-M part of a photon is really the 'other' photon? Are there such a thing as Double Photon-Wavefunctions?

Mankind is irrational. Their political decisions are often not made uppon logic and science. I have critisized mankind for this. And each time I've done so, people say that I am stupid, an idiot or something like that. That have raised the question: Do mankind deserves its existence...

Are there any photographic proof of the atoms, electrons, protons and all these particles? Or do we simply see the effects of these so called particles and conclude from that evidence that there must be some sort of particles?

Nothing can be proven to exist Truth, Us, Universe, etc ... :cry: So ... is existence an idea cooked up by sum1? :-p Whether existence can be proven or not - does it matter? :zzz:

evidence against existence of dark matter?? Hi have there been any recent publications that u guyz may have read that are against the idea of dark matter and have other theories on wot keeps galaxies in orbit.? I really need ure help coz its for an essay that i have been working on. cheers.

ie. plants that get you high. Why is it they evolved? What is the purpose of these plants that induce such states? Or is it just something "that happened"? I read that Terance McKenna (strong supporter of psychedelic drug use, philosopher, etc.) believed that mushrooms in specific is what...

So, the Earth is not the http://www.dionysus.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61 huh? How so? If the Universe is endless, then we must be in its center. In fact we always will be. Why? Because that's what existence is all about, being in the center of who we are ... If you told the bug under the...

Pre-amble: This post is in no way original or even discussing an original topic if anything it is merely stating the obvious and no doubt has been discussed at this forum umpteen times.....so... Having visited and read at many internet forums and real location discussion groups I have noticed...

Dear Readers, I am Dr. Raj Baldev, Cosmo Theorist, author of Two Big Bangs created the Universe (Formed in Eternal Space), a new hypothesis, which I wrote being inspired by Stephen Hawking's appeal given in his book "A Brief History of Time", reproduced below: "However, if we discover a...

If someone is dead, do they still exist?

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/hep-ph/pdf/0306/0306024.pdf Cold dark matter may be made of superweakly-interacting massive particles, superWIMPs, that naturally inherit the desired relic density from late decays of metastable WIMPs. Well-motivated examples are weak-scale gravitinos in...

http://physicsweb.org/article/news/8/2/4 6 February 2004 Many astronomers believe that the universe is dominated by cold 'dark matter' and 'dark energy' - a view that has been confirmed by recent measurements on the cosmic background radiation. Now, however, a group of astrophysicists in...

Have you ever considered that absolutely nothing actually exists? It existed before time started, along with absolutely everything. The awareness of this basic paradoxical duality, (Absolutely Everything & Absolutely Nothing coexisting simultaneously, together, intricately intertwined), caused...

holographic universe and our very existence in general... One night i was in a strange mood and wrote this... i don't really remember writing most of it... but i thought i would share with the community here and i am definately searching for any feedback on my ideas that anyone might have! I...

Thoughts on holographic universe and existence in general... One night i was in a strange mood and wrote this... i don't really remember writing most of it... but i thought i would share with the community here and i am definately searching for any feedback on my ideas that anyone might have...

Disclaimer I: The human mind is not well suited for perceiving such complete and utter perfection. Upon viewing this video, you may collapse in tears of dumbstruck awe and terrible joy. You may hyperventilate from the shock and never fully recover. You may even spontaneously combust...

How do we know that we are alive right now? or for that matter are we dead? , we call this life but is it a illusion ? i mean am i typing this right now onto a PC or am i thinking about typing this and some of you are seeing this in your minds eye? to many question not enough answers.

i remember a referance to, binary pairs in the kuiper belt, i can not remember if a mass for the objects was given or orbital distance, my memory may be fading or wrong, can someone comfirm or dispute the existence of these objects?