You know everything? That stuff that’s all around you? No? Well, I don’t quite know how to describe it
- it’s like this stuff that’s in every place and every moment, and - like - all things are made out of it. Everything - you know?

No?

Like, imagine there is nothing.
...
...
...
Ok that’s enough.

Now imagine nothing, but with something there.

Got that?

That’s everything. Like, all the stuff that isn’t nothing - all the stuff that is actually there - that’s everything. Got it? Do you understand now?

Good.

Now, where did it all come from?

Well, what a good question, I am glad you asked!

There are many good questions about life. Where did we come from? Where did life start? Is Earth the only planet where life exists? These are all great questions, but not as great as the one ultimate question - why is there anything at all?

Just think - we exist in a universe that none of us understand. We have had thousands of years of
scientific understanding being built up and answering question after question - but at the root of it all, the most fundamental question still evades us. Why do all of these laws of physics exist in the first place? Why does anything exist at all?


Where did it all come from?

In the past, people didn’t worry so much about this question. The answer to them was simple - God created us, out of his love for stuff. But in a modern era, this answer is unsatisfactory. Let us assume that there was a God that created everything - now the question has been changed. The new question is - where did God come from? Perhaps God is up there right now, wondering - like us - this very question: “where the ♥♥♥♥ did I come from?”

Let us travel back to the invention of logic - to the man who invented it himself, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. That’s right, Aristotle invented logic, don’t @ me. Aristotle had an understanding that the universe was composed of logical principles. You must understand that in Aristotle’s time, there was no concept of a solar system or a galaxy or other planets at all! All that existed was the Earth, and everything within the earth could be broken down into mathematical, logical principles. But however fundamental Aristotle thought these principles to be, they seem pretty stupid to us today. While we understand that a material like WOOD is made of fibres and elements and particles, Aristotle believed it to be an example of a fundamental material cause. What a stupid piece of ♥♥♥♥!

While Aristotle might have been comfortable claiming that something like wood is fundamental to the universe, today we are not happy with that. We know that wood is an organic material, and we question where even wood came from.

Well, since Aristotle - one of the greatest thinkers in history - couldn’t provide us with any value, maybe we should look a bit further ahead in history.

Perhaps you assume that science knows the answer to this question! Well it is true, through the field of physics, we have learnt a lot about the universe, and the various mechanisms it uses. But physics might give us maths, and satisfying models that map onto reality, but it does not answer the question of why these physical rules apply in the first place.

This question was made popular by a scientist called Lawrence Krauss, and he will make a good example. I’m sure Krauss is a very clever chap, and he came up with a great explanation using quantum field theory to explain how a universe of nothing could spawn a universe of something. Not only that, but he claims that from a universe of nothing - by nature of the laws of physics - a universe of something would inevitably follow. Why are you reading this? But whatever you think of his theory, it still relies on the assumption that the laws of physics have some kind of inherent validity, and the universe has some kind of obligation to follow them.

So, perhaps you assume that the laws on physics - including time itself - are just one of the many valid laws of physics, and we exist in a multiverse or different possible laws of physics. But the question has just been pushed back a step - why do these multiverses exist in the first place? I recognise that as your friendly neighbourhood idiot, you are expecting me to come up with an answer to this impossible question. However, I am sorry to disappoint. It is my belief that this question will never be answered - however far we progress in our understanding of the universe, we will never know why the universe even exists in the first place.

But there once was a time when we never thought we could create an airplane - there was once a time when we thought we would never reach the moon. If you can imagine it, there was once a time when GOOGLE did not exist. And yet, humanity has found a way to achieve these impossible tasks.

So I suppose my conclusion is - I talk a lot of ♥♥♥♥. Don’t listen to me - have faith in humanity, and the scientific method. We may never answer all the questions we have, but we will have a lot of fun trying.