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News about quantum energy teleportation raises questions about a universe from nothing
The Quanta Magazine report was intriguingly titled: “Physicists use quantum mechanics to pull energy out of nothing.” That could be big news, and could possibly help answer the ultimate question of where, how and why this universe came to be.
It’s one of the truly big questions: Does our current understanding of nature lead more to a bottom up or a top down understanding of ultimate cause? In other words, is it more rational to believe that the universe and the conscious mind who inhabit it are the result of mere chance and purposeless processes or are we here because we are part of an intentional process?
Physicalism is a belief system that denies the idea of creation, and with it the idea of purpose or intention. Within physicalism there can be no external causation. There can be nothing real that stands outside of the realm of physics. There are only blind, random forces and interactions. The search for physical causes is the basis of science and its success leads naturally to the conclusion that it is in this closed system that all answers are or will be found. That’s why science journalists and editors almost without fail represent a physicalist viewpoint.
As a “top downer” I grab onto any science report that appears to offer insight into the…